News: The Last Frontier

Video: Cursed Baram Dam

News: Villagers shocked at ‘sudden’ loss of NCR rights

MIRI: The natives of Baram, affected by the construction of the Baram dam, are claiming that they were not aware of the extinguishment of their native customary rights (NCR) over their land.

Accusing the government of surreptitiously implementing its contentious plans to build the dam, they said that they were unaware that the government had begun extinguishing such rights since last June.

“Most of the landowners are not aware of the extinguishment exercise on their land. It means they have lost their rights and will not be paid any compensation,” said Peter Kallang, chairman of the SAVE Rivers Network.

Kallang said usually land owners are given a period of 60 days to submit their NCR claims over the acquired land.

If they failed to submit their claims, then they would not be paid any compensation.

According to Kallang, one of the landowners, Dorus Katan went with eight others to seek information from the Land and Survey Department, and to their surprise, the department had carried out its survey works.

“There was a lot of dissatisfaction because the survey work was done without proper consultation. As a result, their crops, plants, fruit and rubber trees were felled and destroyed,” he said.

Kallang said that some 70 natives from Baram held a meeting in Miri last Friday to discuss a joint letter which is to be addressed to the CEO of Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), Torstein Dale Sjotveit.

“The letter wants the SEB to stop all works which are related to the construction of the dams,” he said, saying that copies of the letter are to be sent to the Prime Minister, the Sarawak Chief Minister, Suhakam, Baram MP Dungau Sagan and Telang Usan sssemblyman Dennis Ngau.

Said Kallang: “In implementing projects of this nature, we request for the authorities to abide by the international standard and requirements especially the United Nation Declaration for the Right of the Indigenous People (UNDRIP).

“The rights of the indigenous people must be respected and they must not be relocated against their will.”

‘SEB chief lying to public’

Meanwhile, the Norwegian CEO of Sarawak Energy Berhad Torstein Dale Sjotveit came under fire for systematically withholding information on the implementation of 12 planned dams in Sarawak.

In a statement emailed to FMT, the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) said: “Despite demands from local communities and opposition politicians for full transparency over the Sarawak dam plans, Sarawak Energy is deliberately and systematically pushing forward its dam plans under a cloud of secrecy.

“According to official plans, the 12 dams are to be completed by 2020 despite growing criticism over a power glut caused by the recent completion of the 2400 MW Bakun dam, Asia’s largest hydro-power project outside China.

“Native communities affected by the 900MW Murum dam, which is currently under construction, complain that they have never (been) properly informed on this project which will cause the displacement of thousands of locals.

“The Murum construction site has been sealed off from the public and no journalists have been allowed to visit the site.

“It is open secret that the dam is being constructed by a workforce of thousands of Chinese workers brought to Sarawak by contractors from mainland China, ” the statement said.

BMF also pointed out that the 100MW Baram dam, which is to be started soon, is being pushed forward in massive violation of the affected communities’ basic right to information.

“The locals are kept in the dark in order to stifle potential opposition against the dam,” noted BMF.

The 100MW Baram dam will cause the flooding of large tracts of the Borneo rainforest and the displacement of over 20,000 indigenous people. The earlier Bakun dam had also similarly drowned a land size as big as Singapore.

According to BMF Sjotveit is ‘deliberately’ misleading the public on matters related to the issue.

“Sjotveit’s conduct is appalling and absolutely unacceptable. In Norway, he would be charged for fraud for deliberately misleading the public in such a deceitful way.

“With an annual salary of 1.2 million US dollars, Sjotveit is one Malaysia’s best-paid executives. He works under Hamid Sepawi, the first cousin of Sarawak’s extremely corrupt Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud,” alleged BMF.

The BMF calls on SEB to release all relevant plans and information on the dam to the public, including maps, feasibility studies, environment and social impact assessments, projects finances and resettlement plans.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/03/26/villagers-shocked-at-sudden-loss-of-ncr-rights/

News: ‘Dams built to keep Taib’s CMS in business’

KUCHING: The opposition here claim that the real reason the state government is constructing 12 hydro-electric dams in Sarawak is to ensure a ‘guaranteed business’ for Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS), a company owned by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s family members.

Making this allegation, Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said: “I think the whole thing about the state government going on foolhardily on these dam construction is to give a guaranteed business to CMS which is owned by Taib’s family members.

“These dam projects will need a lot of cement and building materials from CMS.”

“The second reason is that under the pretext of constructing the dams, they can go on uninhibited logging activities.

“Those are the real reasons for this foolhardiness,” he added.

Chong said CMS has since its inception in 1974 evolved from being a single product manufacturer of cement in Sarawak to a conglomerate with 40 companies under its wings.

The CMS conglomerate with more than 2,000 employees is involved in cement manufacturing, construction materials, trading, construction, road maintenance, property development, financial services, education and other services.

Chong was commenting on remarks made by the Barisan Nasional MP for Kapit, Alex Nanta Linggi in parliament.

Nanta had bemoaned that nothing had been done to help the people in and around the dams.

He said that the dams would bring billions of ringgit to the nation, state and the contractors at the expense of the local people.

Nanta had suggested that 5% of the funds that had been allocated to the construction of these dams should be channeled to help alleviate the miseries of the people who live within the vicinity of the dams.

Chong, who is Sarawak DAP secretary, agreed with Nantha.

“I fully agree with his statement. I was in Parliament and read the statement. Although the dams can generate three times electricity consumption of Sarawak, yet the villagers beside the dams have no electricity.

“That is the irony,” Chong said.

No social impact studies

Chong said that he was not aware if the EIA reports took into account the social impact of the dam’s construction.

“Like the Bengoh dam, even at the time of impoundment the state government has not done any EIA reports on its social impact.

“And the Bakun hydro-electric dam, the displaced indigenous people who have been resettled at Sungai Asap cannot even earn a living.

“So there are no proper studies or efforts to ensure the indigenous people’s lives are not unduly and adversely affected in the construction of the dams.

“The areas where they have been resettled as Land Development Minister James Masing has admitted are not suitable,” he said.

The state government has so far built Batang Ai and Bakun hydro-electric dams which are now in operation.

The Bengoh dam will be ready at any time while Murum and Baram dams are under construction. Ten more dams are being planned.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/03/26/dams-built-to-keep-taibs-cms-in-business/

Video: Fight the power

Announcement: Stop ASP linked with SAVE Rivers Network on cyber campaigning

Dear SAVE Rivers,

First, I would like to introduce myself. I am one of the admin for a people movement in Facebook called Stop ASP. Due to the pressure from government, most of the newspapers, tv program, radio program didn't deliver the information completely to the public. So, my friends and I decided to use Facebook, blog, and other internet sources to spread the news and information about the Aluminium Smelting Plant. This is our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-ASP/334599206581381

We are a non-profit people movement, not registered, and not aligned to any political party. Our aim is simple, get more "likes", urge the fans to share the information and attract media attention. For your information, our movement had been reported by Malaysiakini and Merdeka Review but both of it are in mandarin version. 

http://www.merdekareview.com/news_v2.php?n=22993
http://malaysiakini.com/news/190101

I understand that your side are working hard on the Save River campaign (JSSS). The dams are crucial to the establishment of ASP because ASP require huge electric power to operate. We wish to use our network to campaign for the Save River message too. So, I hope you can consider to make a pact with us on the cyber campaign part. We would like to hear from you as soon as possible. Thank you.


Sincerely,
Stop ASP People Movement
Email: stopasp@gmail.com
Blog: stopasp.blogspot.com






Reply frm SAVE Rivers Network


Dear Stop ASP,

Thank you for inviting me to like the Stop ASP FB page. I have already liked it. Also, we would be most happy in SAVE Rivers Network to link up with Stop ASP as all of the dams, aluminium smelter plants and heavy polluting industries are all link up to SCORE. SAVE Rivers Network is not a registered organisation, but a network of civil society organisations (CSOs), Indigenous Peoples Organisations (IPOs), community based organisations (CBOs) and concerned individuals.

My email is ————@gmail.com. We can further communicate through email.

Regards,
Secretary, SAVE Rivers Network

** The content was edited to protect the person involved.

Video: Row over Malaysia's hydropower plans

Environmental activists want Malaysia to stop building 12 more hydroelectric dams. The government says the dams are crucial for generating much needed power.

However, critics say existing dams already produce more than enough electricity. Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett reports from Sarawak in eastern Malaysia.

Web: Scandal of SALCO – How Taib Plans To Make Billions From Bakun!

Posted Thursday, February 16th, 2012

Scandal of SALCO – How Taib Plans To Make Billions

From Bakun!

 

This post is also available in: Iban, Malay

SALCO discussions in January - Taib, brother in law Robert Geneid, CMS Chief Richard Curtis meet with Rio Tinto Alcan executives in Kuching

Displaced families, who have received so little compensation from Bakun, may be interested to learn how Taib and his own family are planning to make billions for themselves out of the hydro-electric dam, based on an investment of just RM2.00!

We can reveal that SALCO (Sarawak Aluminium Company Sdn Bhd), the company that has been handed a licence to build a vast smelter in Simalaju, powered by cheap electricity from the dam, is secretively entirely owned by the Taib family company, CMS.

So far, they have only issued two shares for the company, worth a mere one ringgit each!

Scandalous SALCO scam!

Controlling interest - SALCO is run out of the Taib building, Wisma Mahmud

Our revelation sheds light on a classic money-making scam, that is still in its early stages for the Chief Minister, but where the planned outcome is plain to see.

It depends on a blatant willingness by Taib to abuse his political influence, in order to divert public money into his own pocket.

At the centre of the ploy, is the company Sarawak Aluminium Company Sdn Bhd, which has always been officially presented as a ‘Joint Venture’  between the giant multinational, Rio Tinto Alcan and CMS, after the two companies signed a so-called Heads of Agreement in 2007 to explore the possibility of investing in the smelter project.

Government support - invaluable for a company with just RM2.00 investment!

In 2008 this supposed joint venture received a manufacturing licence from the Malaysian Federal Government’s Industrial Development Authority and it also established a Memorandum of Understanding to open negotiations with Sarawak’s energy authority, SEB, over access to the electricity.

Ever since, the planned SALCO aluminium smelter has been placed at the top of Taib’s proclaimed SCORE agenda for developing the potential of the Bakun Dam.

SALCO - is this really who we are?

And, whenever the project is referred to, whether in press releases, statements by ministers, interviews by CMS executives or, indeed, on SALCO’s own website (above) it has always been clearly suggested that the company is 60% owned by Rio Tinto and 40% owned by CMS.

Likewise, the licences and agreements granted by government agencies have further implied that SALCO represents a serious joint financial investment backed by the multi-national.

Heads of agreement between Rio Tinto and CMS's Richard Curtis - with Chief Minister (and Chief Shareholder) Taib Mahmud centre stage in a deal designed to net him a fortune!

However, our company research reveals that in fact SALCO consists of just two shares, issued for a mere one ringgit each, both owned  by a company called Samalaju Aluminium Industries Sdn Bhd.

Just two shares at one ringgit each

We can further demonstrate that this Samalaju Aluminium Industries Sdn Bhd is in turn entirely owned by another company named Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd.

Samalaju Aluminium Industries Sdn Bhd is owned by Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd

… and this Samalaju Industries Sdn Bhd is 100% owned by CMS!

One ringgit per share

Earlier this week a spokesman for Rio Tinto Alcan in the company’s Montreal headquarters conceded to Sarawak Report that as yet the multi-national has no direct investment in Sarawak:

“There is not much news to report in terms of the Joint Venture”, he said and he stressed that the aluminium manufacturing giant would not buy into the SALCO project “unless the price is right” for the electricity:

“We are actively participating in the negotiations for the power purchase agreement for the feasibility studies to commence”[RTA spokesman]

Since the Taib family company CMS has itself no credentials as an aluminium manufacturer it seems extraordinary that the State of Sarawak and Federal authorities have nevertheless given its 100% subsidiary SALCO the licence and go ahead to start manufacturing!

For Taib and his family side-kick Robert Geneid this 'important meeting' had a personal significance. If they can flog 60% of SALCO to RTS they should make billions of ringgit.

However, for CMS there is all to play for. The RTA spokesman confirmed to Sarawak Report that the multi-national is indeed interested in the proposed 60% stake in SALCO, as long as it can negotiate the large amounts of cheap electricity it wants.

Given that, as predicted, the Bakun Dam has created a glut of electricity in the state, even with just two of its eight turbines in action, and given there are few other customers in sight, it is likely to succeed.

This means that the stage is now set for Rio Tinto Alcan to buy over a 60% stake in SALCO!  Its the deal that Taib and his latest top family side-kick Robert Geneid have been frantically trying to pull together, holding ‘important meetings’ (Borneo Post) with Rio Tinto in Kuching just last month.

Who wins?

Promoting SALCO - so much political support!

Think of the potential profit for the main shareholders of CMS, if Rio Tinto Alcan moves in to take a 60% stake of this giant aluminium smelter project!

These shareholders, of course, are firstly Taib’s own long dead wife Laila, followed by his four children.

In total, as has been detailed many times on this site, the Taib family own at least half the company and all the top management positions – so plenty of bonus opportunities there as well!

Remember, Taib has so far invested just RM2.00.  Yet this factory is expected to absorb an enormous RM7billion in construction costs and it is then expected to produce at least 550,000 tons of aluminium a year, worth an annual RM2.4billion to Malaysian GDP. This could be extended to a full capacity of 1.5 million tons! [Rio Tinto Alcan press information]

Getting in there - Australia has been happy to promote Rio Tinto's bid to work with Taib in Sarawak

So, why would CMS, with such a project under its control, hand over 60% of it to Rio Tinto Alcan for less than a commensurate price?

In fact, once a nice cheap electricity deal has been cut with SEB (run by Taib’s cousin and proxy Hamed Sepawi), CMS will be in a position to make a fat multi-billion ringgit profit out of their tiny two ringgit investment in SALCO!

And, further down the line, consider what a 40% stake in such a venture would be worth should Taib and his family eventually decide to sell it off!  They could even decide to cash in early and sell off their holding for a few billion up front – after all they only invested RM2.00!

Indeed, such RM2.00 companies have been the method by which corrupt politicians in Malaysia have exploited their positions for years, passing huge contracts and concessions into these empty shells, so that they can then be sold or the work sub-contracted to a real working concern.

But, this project is on a scale of its own!  The question is, why does Rio Tinto Alcan, a supposedly respectable multi-national, think it is appropriate to become involved?

Off repeated lie - "we are a joint venture between RTA and CMS"!

The losers

The losers are just as easy to identify.  To start with, Taib failed to tender the project, so the State of Sarawak stands to get no realistic premium from the licence.  Likewise, with the rock bottom price for the hydro electricity, SEB is likely to make very little with which to improve its services and infrastructure.

As usual, other construction companies have found themselves squeezed out of the opportunity, but will probably end up sub-contracting for CMS.

Then consider the Civil Service pension funds, which were forced by ministers to invest billions in the Bakun Dam project to keep it afloat, because private investors were too wary.  The promise of rock bottom prices for the resulting hydro-power does not provide much prospect of any reasonable return on that investment, which means civil service pensioners will lose out!

Noxious - the Pressmetal plant in Mukah has provided no jobs for the locals, but it has taken their land and poisoned their fields and their health

And what of the local people in the area?  They are already living in terror of the arrival of the plant, because of the worrying levels of pollution already being experienced by the people of Mukah, who are affected by the existing Pressmetal aluminium plant.

Aluminium manufacturing can be a highly toxic process, unless carefully managed, and the people of Mukah, who have of course lost much of their NCR land to the plant that now looms over them, are suffering health problems and their plants are dying.

And what about the possibility of jobs for such people?  Well, unfortunately, it appears they are not suitable.  Rio Tinto Alcan has announced a projected 4,700 jobs on the plant, however none of the local people have managed to find employment at Pressmetal.

Instead, Taib has already made clear in his announcements that he plans to import tens of thousands of foreigners from places like India to work in his SCORE projects.  Doubtless these immigrants will be given houses, identity cards and voting rights, all of which so many local people find hard to obtain.

Just days ago the Australian High Commissioner was over in Kuching promoting Rio Tinto Alcan's involvement in SCORE. He is supporting Australian big businesses venture with the Taib family, but what will it mean for jobs back in Tasmania's aluminium plant which Rio Tinto is planning to shut?

Doubtless, they will be expected to vote BN in return!

Finally, what about the workers in existing Rio Tinto Alcan plants in places like Tasmania?

Rio Tinto Alcan have in fact just signalled that they are interested in selling off their Tasmania plant, presumably because they have a cheaper option elsewhere!

Rio Tinto Alcan and its Corporate Social Responsibility

RTA spokesmen have made plain that they have yet to move to the stage of feasibility studies and environmental and social impact assessments for this Simalaju smelter project.

However, they can be under no illusion that in conducting prospective business with CMS they are proposing to enter into a joint venture partnership with one of the world’s most notoriously corrupted and politically exposed companies.

Taib stands to make billions (as usual), but what is in this project for local people?

Taib Mahmud himself is being formally investigated by his own federal government’s anti-corruption commission (MACC).  And countries all over the globe have confirmed that they are looking into the assets of Taib and his family, with respect to money laundering!

So, what on earth do Rio Tinto Alcan think they are doing even considering entering into such a deal with a company that is blatantly owned by Taib?

Of course, they stand to make a fortune for their shareholders if they are able to swing a ludicrously cheap deal for their electricity and to set up in a country like Sarawak, which has no carbon taxes and low standards of supervision on matters like the environment and labour matters.

But these days shareholders also expect certain basic ethical standards.  Do they include doing business with corrupt companies personally owned by Chief Minister of the state in which they are investing?

Is this what Rio Tinto Alcan mean by the statement:

“We respect the laws and customs of our host countries and communities. We work with them to ensure benefits and opportunities are shared”?

To the contrary, the Bakun Dam and the whole planned string of future dams and SCORE related projects that are now being rolled out in Sarawak, represent nothing less than a human and environmental disaster in one of the world’s last remaining great tropical rainforests.

What's in store? A Rio Tinto Alcan factory in Canada

The driving motivation behind this project is the desire by Taib Mahmud and relatives like his brother in law Robert Geneid (who now features as a key negotiator in the SALCO ‘joint venture’ project) to become personally even richer.

So, is it right for companies like Rio Tinto Alcan to threaten to pull out of established locations like Tasmania in order to get involved with a man like Taib in a place like Sarawak?

Source: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2012/02/scandal-of-salco-how-taib-plans-to-make-billions-from-bakun/