SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2013 INTERNATIONAL

In Borneo jungle, natives stand up against Malaysian dams

LONG KESEH: With a grimace on his sun- “We don’t want the dam and will do family of illegally running indigenous bronzed face, Borneo tribal chieftain whatever we have to do. If they bring a people off ancestral lands and plunder- Lenjau Tusau glares down a dirt road that dam, I bring a spear,” said Daniel Jalong ing Sarawak’s rich resources, charges he vanishes into a rainforest mist, on alert Manok, 49, one of dozens of Kenyah, denies. Swiss environmental and human for what he views as a mortal enemy. Kayan and Penan people manning the rights group the Bruno Manser Fund Evoking their past as feared headhunters, Baram blockades. Scores of Penan, upset (BMF) last year estimated his wealth at Malaysian indigenous men and women with relocation terms, have blocked $15 billion, citing financial records, which in traditional longboats knifed down the access to the newly completed Murum would make him Malaysia’s richest per- Baram river in Sarawak state on October Dam 120 kilometers away since authori- son. Sarawak’s first mega-dam-the 2,400- 23 to chase off surveyors and road- ties began filling it in late September. megawatt Bakun facility, one of the builders at the site of a proposed dam. Eight were briefly arrested in early world’s largest-went online in 2011 after They now man two blockades on November and dozens remain defiantly decades of delays plagued by corruption roads into the remote region, the latest in their homes, despite rising waters. and mismanagement. front in a battle against a colossal plan to Tribes who depend on jungles and Locals say it has destroyed the Balui convert Malaysia’s largest, wildest state rivers for survival say Sarawak’s once-rich River ecosystem, and many relocated vil- into an industrial powerhouse. “We will rainforests are already rapidly disappear- lages accuse authorities of shabby treat- not leave. Our life is here, our culture. The ing due to decades of state-backed log- ment. A joint statement by 80 leading land, rivers, and rocks belong to us,” said ging and expanding plantations. Data Malaysian NGOs this month accused Taib Lenjau, 70, whose ear lobes droop from published in the US journal Science this of “cultural genocide” and “systematic tribal piercing. Occupying northern month showed Malaysia lost 14.4 per- and disastrous environmental destruc- Borneo island, much of Sarawak is a jun- cent of its forests from 2000-2012, the tion”. Bakun’s capacity alone dwarfs gled landscape crossed by untamed world’s highest rate. In the 1980s, the Sarawak’s current 1,000-megawatt con- rivers. State authorities are pushing plans nomadic Penan were swept aside when sumption, but Sarawak Energy insists all to build as many as a dozen hydroelectric they tried to block timber companies by Bakun and Murum output has been sold LONG KESEH: Villagers sort vegetables at the second blockade camp near the dams-Sarawak already has three-hoping seizing roads into interior regions. to prospective industrial investors. proposed dam on the Baram River in Long Keseh, in Malaysia’s Sarawak state that cheap electricity will lure foreign But Baram residents say a new resolve Suggestions of massive oversupply are on the island of Borneo. — AFP industrial investment to the underdevel- has developed as a budding native “ignorant or malicious”, it added. Taib’s Usang, 63, said logging has severely has been made on whether to build the oped state. activist movement has grown, spreading office did not respond to a request for depleted the forest’s bounty. The Baram, Baram dam. Billions of dollars in such investment the anti-dam message through visits to comment. clear in his youth, runs brown due to log- But activists say the company-whose have been committed, the authorities remote areas and word of mouth. Some Indigenous activists say the Baram ging-related erosion and fish are scarce. chairman is Taib’s cousin-has a history of say. “The state has not only the right, but key activists are also using social media dam would flood an area half the size of Many villagers make ends meet by misleading communities and shutting the duty to develop the state’s resources to project their concerns abroad. “We Singapore and displace 20,000 people working for timber companies or in out dissenting voices, which Sarawak for the benefit of present and future gen- trusted the government,” Lenjau said in including villages like Tanjung Tepalit. cities. Nyurang, who travelled to Murum Energy fiercely denies. Instead of dams, erations,” state-linked Sarawak Energy, Kenyah through an interpreter. “But there The Kenyah community is set in a ver- and Bakun to view conditions there, said Nyurang wants government investment. which is spearheading the dam cam- is a change of our mindset, how we view dant Baram valley several hours many felt tricked and promised jobs at His village has no electricity, school, or paign, said in a statement to AFP. But the world, the land and the rivers.” At a upstream from the blockades. Bakun did not materialize. “If we have to road access besides the logging roads environmentalists believe the project road blockade on a stunning ridge-top, Dominated by a huge longhouse the size move, it will be the end of us,” said along which huge trucks laden with threatens one of the world’s last great Baram protesters rail against authorities of a city block, it has a Catholic church, Nyurang, whose longhouse quarters fea- giant trees thunder toward the coast. rainforests at the heart of Borneo, an between joyous bursts of native song volleyball court and landscaped walk- ture the mounted skin of a clouded leop- Neither Sarawak Energy nor the govern- island shared by Muslim-majority and dance. Their ultimate target is ways. Residents fish and hunt game and ard, wooden Kenyah war shields and a ment has indicated their next Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Sarawak’s all-powerful chief minister for tend paddy fields, oil palm, and other wide-screen TV. “I don’t know if I can hold steps.”Whatever millions they give, I To members of Sarawak’s mostly the last 32 years, Taib Mahmud. small-scale agriculture in surrounding the community together somewhere don’t want it. Money vanishes, land does Christian tribes, their culture is in peril. Opponents accuse Taib, 77, and his forests. But village chief James Nyurang else.” Sarawak Energy insists no decision not,” said Jalong.—AFP Britain’s Cameron ‘turns page’ on Dalai Lama row UK tries to deepen economic ties LONDON: Britain has put a diplo- a meeting with the Dalai Lama, he should raise the issue of Tibet Both men declined to discuss matic rift with China over the Dalai whom Beijing deems a separatist. with the Chinese. “It’s clear from the Dalai Lama, focusing instead Lama behind it and Prime Minister China summoned the British this poll that only a handful of on what they said was the huge David Cameron has no plans to ambassador to protest at the time, British people believe trade with potential for enhanced economic meet Tibet’s spiritual leader again, saying the meeting had “seriously China is more important than ties. Osborne announced less strin- a senior source in his office said interfered with China’s internal human rights in Tibet and that they gent rules for Chinese banks oper- ahead of a visit by the British affairs”, urging Britain to “correct expect Mr Cameron to act like a ating in London in a push to make leader to Beijing. Instead, Cameron the error”. statesman, not a salesman,” Eleanor the British capital the main off- will use a three-day visit to China shore hub for trading in China’s next week, his first since the Dalai currency and bonds. He also Lama rift, to focus on deepening opened the door to Chinese trade ties with the world’s second investors taking majority stakes in largest economy, taking with him a future British nuclear plants. The delegation of around 100 business source said British exports to China people. had increased by 20 percent in the “This visit is forward looking. We first six months of this year, while have turned a page on that issue,” inward investment by China was at said the source when asked its highest level in decades. whether Cameron would raise the The timing of Cameron’s trip issue of Tibet during his trip. “It’s was good, the source said, because about shifting UK relations up a it came soon after China’s commu- gear and looking to the future.” nist leadership set new long-term Foreign trips often pose a public policy priorities which included relations problem for the British opening up the economy further. : US citizen Merrill Newman reads a written apology for his alleged leader as he has to balance his poli- Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of crimes both as a tourist and during his participation in the in cy of helping Britain win what he the London Stock Exchange, is Pyongyang. — AFP calls the global economic “race” expected to travel with Cameron. with speaking out about any The business delegation is also human rights concerns. NEW DELHI: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama laughs as he talks expected to include Andrew Witty, N Korea showcases detained It is a circle he has sometimes on Wisdom Of Compassion organized by Apollo Hospital in New Delhi, the chief executive of found hard to square and cam- India yesterday. — AP GlaxoSmithKline. The company US pensioner as war criminal paigners often accuse him of put- was drawn into a bribery case in ting trade before rights. Cameron, Free Tibet, a group that cam- Byrne-Rosengren, the group’s China earlier this year which result- SEOUL: accused a detained US ities against the DPRK and in this course he who is likely to visit Beijing, paigns against what it says are director, said in a statement. Last ed in police detaining four Chinese veteran yesterday of killing civilians during was involved in killings of service person- Shanghai and Chengdu, had been rights abuses in the autonomous month, George Osborne, Britain’s GSK executives. Peter Humphrey, a the Korean War 60 years ago and showed a nel of the Korean People’s Army and inno- expected to travel to China last Chinese region, released a poll on finance minister, visited China with British man running a risk advisory video of the 85-year-old making a full con- cent civilians,” KCNA said. autumn. But he didn’t go after the eve of Cameron’s visit showing Boris Johnson, the mayor of group, was also detained and is still fession and apology as if the battles are still Newman, in his statement carried by China took offence at him holding that 58 percent of Britons thought London. being held.—Reuters raging. The North’s KCNA news agency said KCNA, said he trained scores of men in Merrill E Newman, a former Special Forces guerrilla warfare against the North, includ- officer, was a mastermind of clandestine ing how to sabotage communications and operations and had confessed to being transport lines and disrupt munitions sup- “guilty of a long list of indelible crimes ply. “In the process of following tasks given US forces, planes operating against DPRK government and Korean peo- by me, I believe they would kill more inno- ple.” cent people,” Newman said in the state- In the patchy video, Newman appears ment. Public documents in South Korea ‘normally’ in China air zone composed and is shown reading aloud and the United States show US officers from a handwritten statement dated Nov 9, worked as “advisers” to groups of anti-com- 2013 in a wood-paneled meeting room. At munist partisans during the Korean War. BEIJING: US military chiefs have insisted they Wednesday, after initially complying. In its community”. Beijing is facing considerable inter- the end, he bows and places a finger print The conflict pitted the Communist North, will not change their operations despite China evening edition yesterday, the Yomiuri Shimbun nal pressure to assert itself. China’s state media on the document. “I realize that I cannot be backed by China and the Soviet Union, scrambling fighter jets to monitor American and newspaper said Japan’s two biggest airlines called Friday for “timely countermeasures with- forgiven for my offensives (offenses) but I against the republican South, backed by Japanese aircraft in Beijing’s newly declared air were unlikely to change their stance even after out hesitation” if Japan violates the zone but it beg for pardon on my knees by apologiz- the United States. These officers trained defense zone. But the State Department said US the US announcement that commercial airlines shied away from threatening Washington. ing for my offensives (offenses) sincerely Korean anti-communist guerilla units to commercial airlines should observe China’s should observe China’s demand. Japan Airlines Washington has security alliances with both toward the DPRK government and the launch attacks behind enemy lines. demand to be given notice of aircraft entering said it had “no plan to change our stance at the Tokyo and Seoul, and analysts say that neither Korean people and I want not punish me (I Newman belonged to the 8240th Unit, the zone, while stating that compliance “does moment” while All Nippon Airways said it would China nor Japan-the world’s second and third- wish not to be punished),” Newman, who nicknamed the ‘White Tigers’, said guerrillas not indicate US government acceptance of follow instructions from the transport ministry, biggest economies, and major trading partners has a heart rhythm disorder, was quoted as who were trained by him. “We co-operated China’s requirements”. the daily reported the two companies as saying. of each other-want to engage in armed conflict. saying by KCNA. and helped with each other and fought,” China flew warplanes into its air defense Chinese air force spokesman Shen Jinke said The Communist Party seeks to bolster its public DPRK is short for the North’s formal Kim Hyeon who lives south of Seoul said in identification zone (ADIZ) on Friday, Chinese Friday that several combat aircraft were scram- support by tapping into deep-seated resent- name, the Democratic People’s Republic of an interview with Reuters. Hyeon remained state media said, nearly a week after it bled to “verify the identities” of US and Japanese ment of Japan for its brutal invasion of the coun- Korea. One of the world’s most isolated in touch with Newman after the war and announced the zone, which covers islands at the aircraft entering the air defence zone, according try in the 1930s. Such passions are easily ignited, states, it nourishes memories of the 1950- visited him with his family in 2004. “In the 53 war with South Korea and the United past we couldn’t even speak up (about our centre of a dispute between Beijing and Tokyo, to Xinhua. The Chinese planes, which included and posters on Chinese social media networks States to keep its impoverished people dis- activities,)” said Kim, who served as a staff raising regional tensions. The Xinhua report indi- at least two fighter jets, identified two US sur- have urged Beijing to act. tracted and the family of founder Kim Il officer of the Kuwol Regiment of partisans, cated that Japan and the United States are con- veillance aircraft and 10 Japanese aircraft includ- China’s rules covering the zone require air- Sung in power. His grandson, Kim Jong Un, referring to the clandestine operations it tinuing to disregard China’s demands that air- ing an F-15 warplane, Shen said. Japan and craft to provide their flight plan, declare their is North Korea’s current ruler. It remains conducted under Newman’s supervision. craft submit flight plans when traversing the South Korea both said Thursday they had disre- nationality and maintain two-way radio commu- technically in a state of war with the South KCNA gave no indication of what might area in the East China Sea or face unspecified garded the ADIZ, showing a united front after US nication-or face unspecified “defensive emer- and with the United States because the happen to Newman.His family has “defensive emergency measures”. B-52 bombers also entered the area. gency measures”. Both Japan, which denies that 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce, not a appealed to the North Korean government “We have flights routinely transiting interna- Despite the scrambling of jets referred to in there is a dispute over the islands, and peace treaty. Newman, a pensioner from for his release saying they believed “some tional airspace throughout the Pacific, including China’s state media, Japanese Defense Minister Washington have ADIZs of their own, and China Palo Alto, California, was pulled off an Air dreadful misunderstanding” was behind the area China is including in their ADIZ,” Itsunori Onodera yesterday said there were no accuses them of double standards though Koryo flight in North Korea minutes before the detention. “If Newman was with the Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said “peculiar developments”. “We do not recognize China’s zone includes a rock that is disputed it was due to depart for Beijing on Oct 26. partisans that may explain his detention,” on Friday. “These flights are consistent with there have been peculiar developments that we between Beijing and Seoul, as well as islands His wife, Lee Newman, told CNN earlier Bruce Cumings, an expert on the Korean long-standing and well-known US freedom of should disclose such as one where aircraft sud- controlled by Japan and claimed by China. this week that her husband went to North War at the University of Chicago said. “The navigation policies that are applied in many denly came close as the Chinese side announced The European Union added its voice to the Korea to “put some closure” on his time North Koreans would treat someone like areas of operation around the world. I can con- yesterday,” he said. “We have been making our criticism of the zone, with its top foreign affairs during the US military. It was “an important that with much more disdain than a regular firm that the US has and will continue to operate utmost efforts to be vigilant and we will contin- official Catherine Ashton saying it “contributes to part of his life,” she said. Newman worked line soldier or officer in the American in the area as normal.” Compliance by commer- ue,” he added. raising tensions in the region”. The Yomiuri as an “adviser” to a partisan regiment dur- forces.” A US State Department spokesman cial flights “does not indicate US government Onodera also called on China to use “com- Shimbun yesterday reported that the United ing the Korean War as “part of the said there was no immediate comment on acceptance of China’s requirements for operat- mon sense” over the air defense zone. “It is States and Japan would issue a joint statement Intelligence Bureau of the Command of the the news. The State Department had previ- ing in the newly declared ADIZ,” the State important for both sides to respond in a calm demanding China scrap the air zone during a US Forces in the Far East,” KCNA said in a ously refused to provide any details of the Department said in a statement. manner,” he said, according to the Kyodo news visit to Tokyo by US Vice President this separate report. “He is a criminal as he mas- arrest other than confirming the detention Japanese airlines, under pressure from Tokyo, agency. “We want (China) to deal with this issue week. Biden will meet Prime Minister Shinzo Abe terminded espionage and subversive activ- of a US citizen.— Reuters stopped following China’s new rules on according to common sense in the international on Tuesday.—AFP