For Justice, Freedom & Solidarity PP3739/12/2009(022904) ISSN 0127 - 5127 RM4.00 2009:Vol.29No.2 Aliran Monthly : Vol.29(2) Page 1 COVER STORY Agi Idup, Agi Ngelaban? Will the River burst the Dam? Surveying Batang Ai before the 7 April by-election by Yi Ge Qiu atang Ai – the River. By BB consensus, this was the BBB source area from which the Iban spread all over Sarawak. Batang Ai – the Dam. This was the River, dammed at the Irup rapids in the mid-1980s, to become Malaysia’s largest operating hy- dro-electric dam. Between the River and the Dam is a tale of pain and hardship for 21 longhouse communities of about 520 families or 3,600 people. Tan Seng Keat The ghost of Road to Sayat flooded resettlement Between 1982 and 1984, they were torn from a homeland and cata- pulted into a resettlement. They were wrenched from a way of life, many left without rice lands in the resettlement when rice cultivation still lay at the heart of Iban cul- ture and its annual cycle of life and ritual. They were promised development and modernity which turned out to be principally out-migration in search of employment and in- come. From 1991 – when Vision 2020 was proclaimed – to 2000 – Tan Seng Keat when the new millennium by the Anwar at Jawah's long house Aliran Monthly : Vol.29(2) Page 2 EDITOR'S NOTE Barely a week after assuming the top posts in Umno, Najib Razak and his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin will CONTENTS face a referendum of sorts – a triple by-election show- down. COVER STORY Yi Ge Qiu surveys the Batang Ai state seat ahead of ••• Agi Idup, Agi Ngelaban? polling day. A defeat for the BN could spell long Will The River Burst The Dam? 222 term trouble for the Taib Mahmud-led ruling coali- ••• A Referendum On The Perak tion in the state. Win or lose, PKR will have to do Power Grab 888 some soul-searching over the choice of its candi- • MIC's Future Hangs In The Balance 101010 date. Over in the peninsula, Anil Netto takes a look at the FEATURES Bakit Selambau state seat in Kedah and the Bukit ••• A Philosophy Of Happiness 121212 Gantang parliamentary seat in Perak. At Bukit ••• Genocide And Ethic Cleansing 151515 Selambau, the MIC faces crunch time as Samy Vellu ••• Tree: God's Gift To Humanity 191919 promises to go house-to-house campaigning while ••• People's Hope In The Judiciary Bukit Gantang should indicate to us whether the Has Been Misplaced 232323 people regard Nizar as their “Mentri Besar yang ••• Did You Know...? 252525 sah”. ••• Sungai Siput: One Year After 404040 The results will have deeper significance for the fu- ture of our fledgling democracy, still trying to break REGULARS free from the old order. Our centre pages feature the ••• LettersLettersLetters 323232 historic Perak State Assembly held beneath the now •• Current Concerns 33 famous Democracy Tree. ••• Current Concerns 33 Even after winning elections, there is still much work to be done in transforming local communities, as OTHERSOTHERSOTHERS Jeyakumar Devaraj shares with us his experience in ••• Subscription Form 181818 Sungai Siput. ••• Brave Heart 272727 ••• The Horror Of Southern Thailand, In our new Statistics Corner, readers will get a rare And A Solution 292929 glimpse at the distribution of ASB holdings among the bumiputera community. On a lighter note, Angeline Loh reviews the movie Brave Heart, which Published by still carries a relevant message for freedom lovers Persatuan Aliran Kesedaran Negara everywhere. Finally, Koon Yew Yin shares with us (ALIRAN)(ALIRAN)(ALIRAN) his philosophy of happiness based on compassion 103, Medan Penaga, 11600 Jelutong, for others. Penang, Malaysia. Tel: (04) 658 5251 Fax: (04) 658 5197 Email (Letters to Editor): ALIRANALIRANALIRAN is a Reform Movement dedicated to Justice, Freedom & Solidarity and listed on the [email protected] roster of the Economic and Social Council of the Email (General): [email protected] United Nations. Founded in 1977, Aliran welcomes Homepage : http://www.aliran.com all Malaysians above 21 to be members. Contact the Hon. Secretary or visit our webpage. Printed by Konway Industries Sdn. Bhd. Plot 78, Lebuhraya Kampung Jawa, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang Aliran Monthly : Vol.29(2) Page 3 western calendar was celebrated – the sub-district of Lubok Antu, Basic facts about Batang Ai the Pool of Ghosts, lived up to its name as people left it in droves. Size of constituency 1,340 sq km (about twice the size of Penang state), includ- Scars of their experience may be ing the 240-sq km Batang Ai National Park in the catch- seen from Lubok Antu’s demo- ment of the Batang Ai Dam. Total dam catchment is 1,200 graphic pattern. Its population sq km. growth rate of 0.6 per cent per year was one of Sarawak’s lowest. Its PopulationPopulationPopulation proportion of people over 65 was In 2000, 10,200 (for Lubok Antu, the sub-district corre- one of the highest; at 6.5 per cent, sponding to the constituency); projected to be 10,800 in it far exceeded an average of 4.3 2009, based on 1991-2000 growth rate per cent for Sarawak and 3.9 perc ent for Malaysia. And Lubok Antu Ethnic composition had one of the lowest sex ratios: 95 percent Iban 97.4 males for every 100 females. Principal cultivated land use The impact of the Dam can be seen Oil palm under Sarawak Land Consolidation and Reha- in raw electoral numbers, too. bilitation Authority Lubok Antu has 8,000 voters out of a population that is slightly Electorate in 2009 lower than 11,000. In contrast, Ma- 8,006 voters laysia in 2008 had 11 million vot- ers in a total citizen population of about 25 million. those who continued to live in native sues in response to a demand by customary rights lands in upstream Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Nicholas Escaping Batang Ai (without the Project) … Bawin. impoverishment At the time of the [ADB’s] Mission, Problems from In Sarawak, one clue to the eco- their incomes were restored or ex- long ago nomic fortune of a rural area is the ceeded expectations due to employ- level of its Chinese population. ment in Kuching and other towns and Today, 25 years later, the roads in The Chinese population in Lubok at industrial locations. the resettlement are yet to be tar- Antu declined between 1991 and sealed as is evident from the sud- 2000. In other words, the promised de- den promise of RM12 million an- velopment turned out to be im- nounced by the Barisan When the Asian Development poverishment which the resettled Nasional’s Director of Operations Bank, which partly funded the could only escape by out-migrat- for the Batang Ai by-election. Batang Ai Dam, reviewed the im- ing with unstated consequences pact of the project in 1999, it found, to their communities, culture and How amazing it is that a little among other things, that: way of life. organised opposition and a fear of possible defeat have the won- Resettlers’ average income from their As though this wasn’t enough, derful effect of concentrating at- plantations was substantially lower land issues have plagued the re- tention on matters neglected for (about RM230 a month) compared settlement since Day One. This over 25 years! How interesting it’d with the income (RM523 a month) was conceded by Parti Rakyat be to track whether the promises that was envisaged from plantations Sarawak (PRS) President and are kept should BN lose the elec- after 10 years. This also compared Minister for Land Development, tion – that is, whether the prom- unfavourably with the average James Masing, on 25 March, when ises constitute electoral bribery or monthly family income of RM675 of he promised to address such is- express genuine concern and re- Aliran Monthly : Vol.29(2) Page 4 spect for what is, rightfully, the people’s due. This is especially pertinent since the problems of resettlement are hardly a revelation to BN. James Masing and Deputy Chief Minis- ter Alfred Jabu knew but did little to resolve the problems. Masing was a SESCo officer in the early 1980s when Jabu headed the re- settlement committee. But, to Jabu, all such problems are, of course, simply the result of the people’s bad attitudes, his government be- ing Perfection itself. Tan Seng Keat Anwar, Jawah, Bawin In those 25 years, the Dam’s ben- eficiary, the Sarawak Electricity because they can’t live on the pit- A quick calculation shows that Supply Corporation (SESCo), now tances offered as wages. A field even in a bumper year such as Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), employee, working at slashing 2008, when the average oil palm raked in billions of ringgit in rev- and spraying, recounted that he fresh fruit bunch (FFB) price was enue. made the grand sum of RM300 a RM638 per tonne, SALCRA’s month that was reduced to a net doubled dividends amounted to Yet, approaching the end of the cash receipt of RM50 after deduc- an average of RM3,000 per partici- first decade of the 21st century, the tions for provisions supplied on pant. Very likely, more than half resettlement has no access to tele- credit by the retail store! the participants received less than phone services, fixed line or cel- that amount. lular. Today, telephone services At those wages, even two work- are a necessity, not a luxury, es- ers would not take a household Thus far in 2009, the average FFB pecially not when families are to the poverty line income.