Suaram director urges Dr M to visit S’wak natives displaced by Bakun dam

PETALING JAYA (June 19): Human rights activist Kua Kia Soong said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should pay a visit to the Sarawak natives who were forced to leave their ancestral homes due to the Bakun dam project 20 years ago, the Malay Mail reported.

Kua, who is Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) director, said 10,000 people from 15 ethnic groups were displaced for the Bakun dam in 1998, which happened during Dr Mahathir’s rule as prime minister from 1981 to 2003.

He added that, just half a year after the natives' displacement, Suaram had found the situation in the Sungai Asap resettlement area in Sarawak to be akin to a “ghetto”.

“I appeal to Dr Mahathir to pay a visit to the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme to see these 10,000 indigenous people who had been displaced, what life is like for them, what housing is like for them,” he said.

The daily also noted that, last April, Sungai Asap villagers still lacked a regular supply of clean water.

Bakun dam is said to be Asia’s largest dam outside China.