Penan families not going to get a sen more, says Sarawak Chief Minister

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (pic, left) continued to play hardball with the state's long-suffering Penan tribe when he said his government will not pay an extra sen to the 100 families displaced by the Murum hydroelectric dam project.

He called their cash demands "outrageous" and insisted the state government will not budge as the demands "would be rejected anywhere in the world".

The 100 Penan families, who have set up a blockade on the access road to the dam site, are demanding RM500,000 compensation for each family while the state government is only prepared to pay RM15,000 per family.

"Their demands are often over exorbitant cash payouts. The government will continue to reject their most outrageous demands because they are unreasonable," Taib said when concluding the debates in the state assembly this afternoon.

The chief minister also hinted that the Penan had been made use of when he said: "What they have managed to achieve is a lot of publicity for the instigators behind them, who received cash from their sponsors outside Sarawak".

He said that to those affected by the proposed construction of a larger dam in Baram and another proposed dam in Baleh along the Rajang River, the government would devise a resettlement plan that is acceptable to all parties.

In Baram, the project would displace thousands of people in 33 villages.

The dams are the cornerstone of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), the industrial corridor of the state government’s industrialisation plan.

Taib said the success of Score depended on the successful resettlement of the affected communities.

"There is no doubt in my mind in the link between Score and resettlement.

"The government is committed to a successful resettlement exercise because the people of Sarawak owe it to the affected communities.

"We owe it to the indigenous people that they should also benefit from the development programme which we are pursuing for Sarawak," he said.

Taib also said Sarawakians should be proud of their present resettlement policy because "it is probably among the best in the world".

The chief minister also acknowledged that Sarawak had not taken adequate measures in the past to provide for better resettlement because "we could not afford them".

"Now that we are able to integrate hydro development as part of our hinterland development strategy, we are in a position to plan better and have a better approach."

On another contentious issue, the Malaysia Agreement, Taib said it should not be questioned as Sarawak had benefitted much in the 50 years after it gained independence and became an integral member of Malaysia.

He said the people had enjoyed peace and harmony, tackled poverty which fell from 60% in the 60s to only 2.4%.

"The standard of living in Sarawak has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years," he said. – November 27, 2013.