Bengoh film in the news: rural folks are key to change in Malaysia!

Activists reveal Bengoh villagers puzzling voting trend

By Yam Phui Yee

To whose benefit… the Bengoh Dam will benefit greater Kuching and Samarahan but displace about 1,500 Bidayuhs from their ancestral land. Photos courtesy of Joachim Leong In rural Bengoh, Sarawak, 1,500 villagers will be displaced by the Bengoh Dam. They have to give up their ancestral land, relocate and settle for compensation they are not sure is fair and whether it will be forthcoming. Despite faithfully voting in the Barisan Nasional government for years, they still lack basic amenities. But, they still vote for the BN.

Politics of mini hydro in Lacau-hidden story revealed!

Barnie Lasimbang(L) and Niloh(R) in BB Cafe in KK

We published a story of a mini hydro in Kg Abok Mawang, Lachau previously. It was reportedly a story of community self-help and gotong royong. There was more to this story that met the eyes, according to Banie Lasimbang, an laternative energy consultant who has installed more than a couple of dozens of mini hydros before in Sabah and Sarawak in the last decade. The story was shocking: the original beneficiary of the mini hydro project was another kampong (Kg Apin?) -but due to the `generous' contribution by local `YBs' the power was supplied to Kg Abok Mawang-which was as far as the YB's generosity could reach! The people involved ignored the consultant's suggestion to modify the design slightly so that there would be enough power to supply to both villagers!

Fundraising for Bengoh villagers' mini hydro go public!

Joachim Leong recording for a video `Make your vote count'

The Bengoh film finally is exposed to the public in Sarawak itself via a report in Borneo Post today! (See attachment below). It is the only film about Sarawak in the Freedom Film Fest-and made by Kuching born director Joachim Leong, Niloh Ason of Simunjan and also Lee Zhi Eng of Bintulu! A quible by the director on the report is that he did not quite put choice of candidate as `the major' factor' behind the voters choosing a dam-supporting candidate in Bengoh. He clarified that he only said that the factor could be a reason for that happening, in a context where there is little information on how democracy can work for voters benefits.

Update one: public fundraising for Bengoh villagers' mini hydro is now open! If you are interested to donate, please contact organiser through meonet2010@gmail.com

Update two: as of now the gross amount of fund raised is closed to Rm4k!

So: Malaysians -do come forward to show you care to take Bengoh villagers out of the darkness that engulfed them thus far!

Truth on Bengoh emerge from Auditor General's report!

Re-settlement site still not ready for Bengoh folks.

Earlier there was a report that the government selected re-settlement site was not suitable-but now fuller details from the much missed report reveal more problems with the dam: cost over-run!

Acquisition, resettlement send Bengoh cost spiralling


Sarawak's yet-to-be completed Bengoh Dam could cost an additional RM60.57 million, according to the 2010 Auditor General's Report.

PETALING JAYA: Severe delays in the construction of Sarawak’s Bengoh Dam could send costs skyrocketing by an additional RM60.57 million, warned the 2010 Auditor-General’s Report.

Scandal:Auditor General report exposed Bengoh re-settlement site as `unsuitable'!

Kg Semadang re-settlement area has just been started-but its unsuitability could have been known 2 years back!

According to the Auditor General's report just released at Parliament the government's re-settlement for villagers displaced by the Bengoh dam has been found to be `unsuitable', as quoted by journalist Sulok Tawie. The disclosure is scadalous: the AG report is usually dated 2 years back; so why is the developer still proceeding with the building of the new re-settlement scheme at Kampong Semadang while the `unsuitability' of the site has already been known 2 years back? Are they forging ahead following the same pattern that they had been building the dam ie keep the villagers in the dark?

Raising fund for Bengoh's mini hydros-1 DVD at a time! !

A `dream' for Bengoh folks?But you can help them make it come true! Will you-fellow Malaysians-to liberate fellow citizens from darkness lietrally and figuratively?

This next week will see us going to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to screen the Bengoh film, while promoting the voter education and voter observation programs to Sabah. No where is too far for us to promote the DVDs and voters rights!

We will have a screening of the Bengoh film according to the following details:
Date: Oct 26th(Wednesday)
Time: 7.00pm
Venue: Celyn Hotel, next to City Mall
Programs: *Talk on `Why election observation for coming 13th General Elections?'
                *screening of `Ulu Bengoh Darom Piin'
Speaker: Ong BK, MEO-Net National Coordinator
Entrance: FREE-bring all your friends!

Sales and collection from our DVDs cross RM3000.00 mark today! Gross total stands at Rm3017.00 as of now.

Ever wonder why there are not many mini hydros in Sarawak's interior?

A 10kW mini hydro installed in Penampang, Sabah 

If you have a chance to travel in Sarawak's interior you will find this familiar landscape: long houses with no electricity supply located next to fast streams or even waterfalls. Why is not mini hyro more popular in such locations? These are the 4 major reasons I had come across why mini hydro, despite its merit and low costs, don't quite make it big in rural Sarawak:

5th screening and discussion on anti-dam campaign: more to come!

Engineer, housewife, geologist, cab driver, construction worker, lecturer etc gathered for the Bengoh film screening last night at Puchong Book Club. (Thanks Cynthia for photo)

Last night there was a small group screening session of the Bengoh film cum discussion on the anti-dam campaign, held at Puchong's Book Club at 4.00pm. 16 persons turned up and a sum of RM154.00 was collected from the group through sales of DVD (12 copies) and donation(Rm10.00). This is the kind of activity that we will keep doing to spread the message where the mainstream media refused to print/air/broadcast. Big sections of the public will miss out if we hope to catch them by a few big scale screenings.No one should be deprived of such information if they want to access it. More groups are also approached to hold small gatherings where we can send presenter to speak to the group about the grave issues involved. Since the screening and discussions are informal, small scale, usually held indoor, there will not be problems which arise from big open gatherings. Also: only in small enough groups like this that effective discussion of issues and members participation can be assured.

Bengoh DVDs to be censored before it can be sent overseas!

DVD sleeve design for the Bengoh film

It was a pleasant surprise to get 2 orders for Bengoh DVDs from overseas. So I enquired about the postage at the Pos Laju and Post Office to find out the poatage so that I can inform the orderers the amount they have to add on to the DVD cost. To my surprise the Pos Laju asked me to obtain a stamp fro the KDN (Kementerian Dalam Negeri/Interior Ministry) before they will process the posting.He tried to reassure me that it does not take long and there is no extra charges to get the stamp. I tried the post office for regular mail. The answer was the same-need a stamp from the KDN. Well, look like there is no way to escape that. I remember that there were some hassles like this when I tried to send an entry to a Japanese film competition before, via a private courier company. Just could not remember how they finally settled it-but the DVD was sent over in time. Now I just have to try my luck personally this time.

Bengoh film sparked off forward looking reflection

This is the response in Face Book from Willie Mongin who was the only candidate who agreed to be interviewed for the Bengoh film-hope the film will spark off more positive forward looking reflection among all parties concerned:

• 
  
• • 
    

    Willie Mongin
    

    Thanks for the highlight. In fact this is known, as I am the one who told them that I did not manage to cover the four villages but we do have our network that moving around in that area. This is why we managed to garnered some votes. Being transparent, we do admit our weaknesses and will formulate a better move next round.
    
    On the financial matter, it is also known and it is not only in Bengoh, it is state – wide as our PKR State Chief has mentioned it just right after the state elections was concluded. For me, I am ready to take any bricks and stones thrown at me and use it to build a solid foundation and wall of struggles instead. In politics, comes what may ! :)
    
    

Lachau residents installed mini-hydro before-why not Bengoh villagers?

Bojong villagers formed committee to oversee mini hydro installation

Our effort to install mini hydro for ulu Bengoh had attracted interests:  a reader of the news about the Bengoh villagers trying to instal mini hydro informed us of a successful attempt to bring electricity to long house folks-in Lachau, near Sri Aman in recent years. If the folks there can do it -why not folks in Bengoh villages? Yet from another friend the location has now been supplied with electricity from SESCO -so the mini hydro is either lying idle or could be sold off? Read on:

Now, they have electricity...self supplied

Saturday, 28 July 2007 Tony Thien (Malaysiakini) For the residents of the 14-door Iban longhouse in Kampung Abok Mawang, located 150km on the Kuching-Sri Aman Road, the one invaluable lesson they have learnt well is about the importance of self-reliance and initiative to make things better for themselves. At the corner of every general elections, they heard promises that electricity from the state utility company would come to the longhouse, situated along the highway, soon. But those promises have remained largely unfulfilled.

Site investigation for Bengoh's mini-hydro return promising reports!

Waterfall near Kg Rejoi's new settlement

Waterfall near Kg Bojong's new settlement

Looking at the waterfalls near to the 2 villages where the mini-hydro were to be installed: aren't they promising, with plenty of `head' (height of waterfall) and reasonable volume of water in Kg Rejoi's case and plentifull supply in Kg Bojong's case! It appear that producing over 15kW of electricity from both sites together is feasible-especially considering that there are likely to be much more height to the waterfall below the ponds shown here. A crude way to measure the flow rate of the waterfall near Kg Rejoi shows that the big water container filled in few seconds! From these basic information it is possible to work out the energy output, and from there to work out an appropriate turbine design and the dynamo/generator capacity. We are also near to estimating the costs of implementing the project, with the distances of the waterfalls from the new villages already measured. We thank the villagers who took quick action to report back to us, from the last meeting less than 2 weeks ago!

Gross DVD sales & donation for Bengoh's mini-hydro project approach RM2k! More welcome!

Media launch of Bengoh film in Penang

Kg Rejoi's 5-man committee to take charge of the mini-hydro.

Halo folks,
Thanks to the enthusiastic response from the Bengoh film audiences over the last 2 weeks we had collected from sales and donation in KL and Penang a total of RM1911.00 as of today, which will go towards installing mini-hydro for Bengoh villagers, many of whom are still living in the dark literally and figuratively! While we have yet to calculate the costs involved to instal mini-hydro for families involved we are looking at RM35-40k to instal about 15kw of hydro electricity for the villages. So: we have made the 1st step and achieved 5% of the donations required by selling the DVD of the new Bengoh film. Please do your part to bring light to the villagers! The faster we achieve the target the earlier we can instal the mini-hydro generators. Interested folks can also hike up to the site to witness the installation of the mini-hydro.

Anyone interested to donate can write to our email: meonet2010@gmail.com or call me at 013-5900339(Ong BK-producer).

Gross DVD sales & donations   

DVDs sold=126 XRm12.00=RM1512.00     ;

Donations                            =RM399.00                                                                             

                                           =RM1911.00

Merdeka Review: Donate towards mini-hydro for soon-to-be evicted Bengoh villagers!

砂政府将火速建巴勒水坝 反水坝运动须东西马合作 作者／本刊曾薛霏 Oct 09, 2011 03:52:49 pm

【本刊曾薛霏撰述】由于砂州政府面对来自峇南上游原住民的大力发对，因而决定暂时搁置峇南水坝；不过，砂政府将加速建造巴勒水坝（Baleh Dam）。由于巴列河附近涉及的原住民仅约三百人，反对建造水坝人士担心这项计划在面对极少阻力的情况下火速完成。 狄莫迪（Timoti Anak Chundi）昨天在吉隆坡表示，他相信巴勒水坝很快就会进行，因为该地受影响的原住民人数很少，仅200至300人，政府可以轻易地赔偿他们。 不过，他表示，目前只知道政府要在那里建一座可供应1400兆瓦（megawatt）水坝，计划费用估计多达马币20亿元至40亿元之外，水坝的大小、涉及的范围多广、对环境影响的评估、赔偿事宜等皆一无所知。

Film review: `More objective assessment of rural votes needed'-Malaysiakini

More reviews are welcome from the growing viewers of the film! Send it to us at: meonet2010@gmail.com 

勿只一味归咎买票或幽灵选民
选举改革需考虑东马特殊情况

刘嘉铭 10月5日 晚上9点16分(Malaysiakini Chinese section)

尽管净选盟2.0推介“第13届全国大选前落实8项诉求”运动，而政府也成立选举改革国会特别遴选委员会呼应选举改革呼声，但是马来西亚选举观察联盟（MEO-net）观察员黄文强却提醒，选举改革议程不可把东马的地理环境与精神面貌排除在外。

Film review: 'An eye opener' -Malaysiakini

Changing the world, one film at a time

— Hornbill Unleashed @ 12:03 AM

Keruah Usit
The camerawork was admittedly shaky, but a short documentary called ‘Ulu Bengoh Darom Piin‘ (or ‘Upper Bengoh, underwater’ in one of the Bidayuh languages) that premiered at the Freedom Film Fest on Oct 2, was quite an eye-opener.

Save the last Eagle dance for.....?

The Semban's ladies who wear copper rings on their limbs from young perform a unique dance called the Eagle Dance for visitors. But since they will be evicted to make way for the Bengoh dam soon they may dance their last dance-at least in their ancestral home, very soon as well. The other villagers don't have such tradition. It means that when these ladies stop the whole tradition may come to a halt. The eviction does not help. Actually the village itself is 200 meters above the dam's reservoir and at least 2 km away-giving rise to suspicion that this could be just another of the hundreds of land grabs around the state! Worse their houses are said to be converted into tourist homestay props! Come to watch the Bengoh film to find out how ridiculous the whole thing could be!

What help do the Bengoh villagers need?

Candle light dinner-but not for every night?

New Rejoi village-but unlit houses

While there are increasingly more people coming to know the plight of the Bengoh villagers due to the construction of the Bengoh dam there is a need to find out how the public/outsiders can most meaningfully lend them a hand. During the filming process the villagers showed great interests to instal mini-hydro generators for their new houses constructed at higher altitudes to avoid the dam. The crews were not able to document the potential sites for the mini-hydro generators yet-but the enthusiastic villagers told me recently that they are willing to send photos of the potential sites/waterfalls to me at the 1st week of October. So the much spoken about mission to deliver mini-hydro to the interior folks has heated up again. In fact the hope is not just for these 3 affected villagers which had constructed new homes at higher altitudes-but to also extend to all other suitable villages in upper Bengoh.

Renown waterfalls to be drowned by the Bengoh dam

Hardest thing to do: seeing things from the other point of view?

What do you think-the question goes both ways!

The Bengoh film started from a question which ask: why the oppressed voters of Bengoh don't use their ballot to voice their unhappiness-as all voters are so entitled? It is not apparent that the question is actually loaded-the question's implied background is urban and mostly West Malaysian oriented! The making of the film actually become an experience to try to see things from another point of view: if you step into their shoes would you vote differently?

Can the government dam up people's dissatisfaction-12 more huge dams to go!

12 more huge dams coming up!

After the completion of Bengoh dam there will be 12 more other giant dams to be built by the state government across the state, not to count the biggest Bakun dam which is a Federal project. There is a need to monitor the dam development as we found out in the Bengoh dam case: the people are seldom consulted; elected representatives and government departments are mobilised to bulldoze the projects through with threats and inducements; dams are built over the size that are really needed to give extra benefit to the builders-who are all closely linked to the Chief Minister of Sarawak; environmental destruction not factored in the dam design-with the EIA and SIA not required by laws to be made public etc. So if the public cannot make the government accountable on the dam buildings in Bengoh and Bakun,the same negative trends will extend to the rest of the 12 dams in Sarawak-multiplying the agonies and dissatisfaction caused by the over-sized Bengoh dam and also Bakun dam! What can the desperate people do??? Can the government dam up the people's dissatisfaction forever after they dam up the water?

More rural representatives become heavier burden on the rural folks?(updated)

More representatives for rural areas-more burden?

The assumption of giving more rural representatives to the rural areas and voters is that the bigger number of representatives will allow these representatives to speak out for the rural folks who face under-development in all aspect of their lives. However the reality seems to be the opposite in Sarawak! Far from speaking out for the rural folks who voted them into the legislatures the representatives become more the speaker of the government to the people, and worse, filter out many allocations to the rural areas such that it gives an original meaning to the `trickle down' theory in economics! Let's look at the evidence -which is coming out in a new film on rural Bengoh!

Bengoh dam's hardsell tactics working?

How do you persuade the villagers to give up their ancestral lands so that infra structures meant for other people can be built where these folks have lived for generations? The Bengoh dam make a good case study of how hard sell `works'! The villagers were united not to go at the beginning-but slowly their resistance was worn down by a combination of  segmentalised breakthrough, cash inducement and more other promises which are not even confirmed at the time of the promises were made! Let's look at the 3 step strategies here:

Hard sell involved to remove the original inhabitants of upper-Bengoh?

STEP 1: From the villagers' information the government as the instigator of the dam project first targeted the 10 civil servants families in Kampong Taba Sait-the village closest to the main road. Once the civil servants are overcome (possibly with inducement of promotions,or threat of sacking?) they were probably turned into the government's tools to push other members of the villagers to fall in line. Given that civil servants are held in high esteem by the local community the roping in of these civil servants were strategic for the dam instigator. And this is definitely not the first time the government utilise the civil servants to push even unpopular government projects onto the people! Other than this group of village families the chiefs of the villagers were probably given loads of carrot and stick treatment to get these government salaried headmen to toe the line. (Already numerous headmen elsewhere were sacked after the state elections where they were accused of supporting the opposition!)

Justice ala Bato Bagi's case: how does it compare to normal property transaction?

The Taman Tun Abdul Razak resettlement housing is supposed to be ready last year-but???

If you buy a piece of property you can pay 10% deposit and then you are given a certain period to finalise complete payment and paperwork to acquire the property in your name. If you fail to come out with the payment the deposit is forfeited and you will not be able to touch the property-it remains with the original owner.So how does the acquisition of the Bengoh dam sites by the government differ from the normal property transaction that we normally practice?

The government provided some compensation money to the villagers affected in 2008-actually part of them, and promised to finalise all compensation package and payment by middle of last year, where the villagers are moved to completed new housing in Kg Semadang, in a `taman' called Taman Tun Adbul Razak. Now the deal actually did not go this way.  After the deposit payment to some of the villagers the government failed to provide for alternative housing and failed to settle the balance of payment. It has been 1 year or more now. So: is the deal still valid?

How some Bengoh villagers escaped Bato Bagi's judgement in NCR claim

Pastor Simo and his folks resisted the temptation of compensation money -so their chances of reclaiming their NCR is higher post-Bato Bagi judgement!

The Bato Bagi judgement will reverberate in Sarawak's jungles(if there is any left) for years and decades to come. Put briefly the judgement by the departing Chief Justice is to say that anyone who had taken, no matter how small a portion, of the compensation money from the developer/logger etc their NCR land is gone! Many natives might have been duped into taking some money as `sagu hati' ( appeasement) or donations to the village, not knowing that the money amount to agreement to give up their NCR lands-especially when the agreement to that effect had never been given to them. But there are also likely cases where greed may have tempted these cash-strapped folks. In any case there are also folks who resist the cash offer and make their NCR land claim through the court. The folks from Kampong Rejoi is one such group-who had started a court case since 2009 to reclaim their NCR land rather than receiving compensation under dubious and dangerous circumstances from the developer! If they are successful they can stay on the lands they build their new houses on-which are on higher ground to the Bengoh dam!

Bengoh dam builder also among Sarawak's who is who

Abdul Hamid bin Sepawi-Bengoh dam's builder & cousin of Sarawak's CM

Real Estate Management and Development

Naim Cendera Sdn. Bhd.

SnapshotPeople

OverviewBoard MembersCommittees

KEY EXECUTIVES FOR Naim Cendera Sdn. Bhd.*

Name	Board Relationships		Title	Age
Hasmi Bin Hasnan		20 Relationships	Founder, Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director	55
Suyanto Bin Haji Osman		1 Relationships	Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director	50
Kueh Hoi Chuang		12 Relationships	Executive Director of Property Management Development & Construction	55

Naim Cendera Sdn. Bhd. Board Members*

Name	Board Relationships		Primary Company	Age
Abdul Hamed bin Sepawi P.G.B.K.		42 Relationships	TA Ann Holdings Bhd	59
Suyanto Bin Haji Osman		1 Relationships	Naim Cendera Sdn. Bhd.	50

View All Board Members

Between cheerleading and `alternative' bias

`Grey area'

He he he...who will have the last laugh?

There is a great disparity between the expectation on the Bengoh seat before the polling and the results after...why? Face it: the great expectations, in a big part, derived from the media we consume! The mainstream media, while always do cheer leading for the incumbent party that support the dam- that worried the residents to no end, they did concede the Bengoh seat as `grey' eg Borneo Post. But some mainstream media eg Astro Awani which ran a nightly `Focus on Sarawak' talk-show did had a panel of assessors -mainly local academics, who tagged Bengoh as a `hot seat'. So if you read the mainstream media you will get a hint of worry on the part of the incumbent candidate and party as well. When you read the alternative and Opposition media the description of Bengoh is not only `hot seat' but also at the fore front of change for the 6 Bidayuh majority seats! This is helped along by You Tube videos which interviewed local voters in Bengoh's town areas which featured the highly disgruntled voters spewing overflowing local dissatisfaction against the incumbent party. In a background of images of overflowing crowds in the nightly rallies of major cities reported in alternative media who would be faulted for thinking of Bengoh as a sizzling red hot seat? Each side is trying to be the cheer leader of their favorite side, leaving the truth, welcomed or not, to be exposed only on the polling night!

Campaign only to where cars can go, OK?

The end of the road for cars...

..the beginning of the road to Sarawak's vast interior!

I came across a party chief in a certain town who told me that his team will set a limit to campaign to where cars can reach because his party members cannot go further than that. I was stunned because there are many constituencies in Sarawak where the car's reach is only a minority of the constituencies! Beyond that the campaigners need to walk, take boat, or if they afford, fly in! Of course not many campaigners, except those from ruling parties, can afford to fly in with a helicopter. So they need to walk, hike, and take boats to those outlying areas where the voters are scattered. In researching about Bengoh constituency for making the film we can confirm that Bengoh is one such constituency! While some folks may say that the voters in each kampong (village) is too small for the campaigners to give them much priority the truth is-the combined number of voters in all these kampongs are significant!

Sarawak's `development' leave Bengoh's folks in pre-car time-capsule!

The `developed' city of Kuching is a mere 45min drive away from Kg Bengoh, the entry point to walk-only Bengoh villages. Yet the `development' boasted by the rulers of Sarawak had left this part of Sarawak in a time capsule of pre-car days: traveling is only by walking, carrying of goods is only by human hauling, carrying of the sick and the young to klinic outside is also by human power. As though to supplement a `period' film some of the houses are still using candles and kerosene lamps-officially estimated at 10% but reality may be more.There is no air-con or fans-so heat could be killing at times, especially when there is no wind. A state that afford over half-a billion Ringgit state assembly building somehow, cannot afford to spread a bit of its amenities to the communities nearby. At the end of the days it is these humble folks who are asked to give up their ancestral lands-their only possession, so that those who are better off in town can have unending supply of water! Such is the `justice' under the `trickle up' economy! Could Sarawak's politicians who travel in big cars, helicopter and private jets make some amendments to such a blatantly skewed system?

Carrying a generator set for repair in town?

Gas tank is also carried for hours UPHILL!

Urban-Rural : Take Two Part 3 - Rest-Stop

In this series of posts, we show you a contrast of stuff we use in our urban lives against what the locals used and have across our journey. We hope this gives you a better picture of life in rural areas or rural Sarawak.

Rest-stops

Anyone travelling during the festive season, would make a rest-stop along the North-South Highway to grab a drink/bite or maybe a toilet break or two.

Need a break after a long drive on a Highway?

No fear, for the reststop's here! (Pic: Pagoh Reststop)

For the villagers, in between the long treks, they too have reststops!

Villagers put down their Bagans and take the opportunity to exchange stories and news. (Reststop between Kpg Semban and Kpg Bujong)

Another shady rest-stop to catch our breath.

(reststop to Kpg Taba Sait)

Our guide Simou offered us some of his salted fish and rice as we trekked to his village, Kpg. Rejoi from Kpg. Taba Sait at a reststop build with bamboo and covered with a zinc roof.

Not the rest-stop we are used to on our journey north and south the peninsular and certainly a far cry from the offerings we can enjoy along those journeys. Simple, rural reststops just require some creativity with bamboo which they can acquire easily from the surrounding forests. Simply a case of putting to good use what mother nature gives you.

Look out as we make more comparisons between urban-rural (Sarawak - Bengoh).

Past Parts:

Part 1 - Carrying Supplies

Part 2 - Highways