http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0723-sarawak.html
Secret power plan would devastate Sarawak's rainforest with 12 new hydropower plants
mongabay.com
July 23, 2008
Environmentalists have called on the Malaysian government to develop a comprehensive energy policy, following the discovery of secret plans to build a network of power plants across interior Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
The confidential document, "Chinese Power Plants in Malaysia — Present and Future Development", was accidentally published on a Chinese web site. It details power projects planned for construction in Sarawak, between now and 2020, including two coal fired power plants and a dozen hydropower dams across Sarawak's rainforest.
According to Bruno-Manser-Fonds, a Malaysian NGO, "the dams could possibly submerge several Penan, Kelabit and Kenyah villages, potentially displacing at least a thousand people. One of the proposed dams, Tutoh dam, raises questions on whether Mulu National Park will be able to maintain the UNESCO World Heritage Site status as the dam may submerge parts of the national park."
Gurmit Singh, the chairman of Malaysia's Centre for the Environment, Technology & Development (CETDEM), said that the plans reflect inconsistencies in the country's energy and environment policies.
"It illustrates an energy planning strategy that is supply driven and inconsistent with the principles of sustainable development," he said. "At the same time, it fails to adequately factor in impending environmental threats such climate change, which is projected to cause water scarcity and ecosystem disruptions... We simply cannot mortgage our children and our grandchildren's future for the sake of short-term gains."
The proposed dams will increase Sarawak's generating capacity to many times that which is used by Sarawak's population. Bakun dam alone has the capacity to generate three times the amount of energy that is currently consumed by the state. Bakun dam, which is under construction, has the potential to generate 2400MW of electricity.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Funding of historical sites proposed for 10MP
http://www.mysarawak.org/2009/07/18/funding-of-historical-sites-proposed-for-10mp.html
Funding of historical sites proposed for 10MP
Posted on 18 July 2009.
Sarawak Museum wants sites in Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands to be conserved, developed for posterity
KUCHING: Sarawak Museum is hoping to get funding from the federal government to preserve, conserve and develop historical sites in the Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands.
Its director Gilbert Ipoi Datan said the museum, through the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism, had submitted a proposal for the project to be included in the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
“Hopefully, and God willing, we can get some federal funds so that the historical sites can be visited not only by the Kelabit and Lun Bawang people but also other ethnic groups and tourists,” he said.
Ipoi said with the funding, the museum would be able to properly identify the sites and put up signs to explain their significance and ask for cooperation from the people to help look after them.
“Also included in the proposed project are the building of some sort of protective sheds and fencing, rest stops and track links in between the historical sites,” he said when met during a dinner in a restaurant here Thursday.
The dinner was jointly hosted by Lun Bawang Association Kuching Branch and Rurum Kelabit Sarawak Kuching Branch in appreciation of and celebration of his appointment as the museum director and the appointment of Datu Ose Murang as permanent secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism.
Ipoi, who is the first Lun Bawang to head the State Museum, said an information centre would also be set up either in Bario or Ba Kelalan.
“With the cooperation of Sarah Hitchner (a student from the University of Georgia, United States doing a PhD degree in ecological anthropology) and the Forest Department, we have more or less identified and documented more than 250 sites and with the funds from the federal government, we can preserve and develop them,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Ipoi thanked Ose, former state minister Datuk Sri Balan Seling and others for their continuous support and guidance.
He also welcomed constructive criticisms
and suggestions from the public regarding the activities carried out by the museum.
On his part, Ose expressed his and Ipoi’s gratitude to the state government for entrusting them with the big responsibilities.
The former Miri Resident also thanked everybody including mentors Gerald Lee for the academic guidance and Balan for his political guidance, encouragement and support through the years.
“We will continue to work closely with the Kelabits and Lun Bawangs on issues that are important to them,” he said.
Rurum Kelabit Sarawak president Gerawat Gala and Lun Bawang Association Kuching branch vice-chairman Petrus Asai were among those present at the dinner.
Funding of historical sites proposed for 10MP
Posted on 18 July 2009.
Sarawak Museum wants sites in Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands to be conserved, developed for posterity
KUCHING: Sarawak Museum is hoping to get funding from the federal government to preserve, conserve and develop historical sites in the Meligan, Kelabit and Bario highlands.
Its director Gilbert Ipoi Datan said the museum, through the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism, had submitted a proposal for the project to be included in the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
“Hopefully, and God willing, we can get some federal funds so that the historical sites can be visited not only by the Kelabit and Lun Bawang people but also other ethnic groups and tourists,” he said.
Ipoi said with the funding, the museum would be able to properly identify the sites and put up signs to explain their significance and ask for cooperation from the people to help look after them.
“Also included in the proposed project are the building of some sort of protective sheds and fencing, rest stops and track links in between the historical sites,” he said when met during a dinner in a restaurant here Thursday.
The dinner was jointly hosted by Lun Bawang Association Kuching Branch and Rurum Kelabit Sarawak Kuching Branch in appreciation of and celebration of his appointment as the museum director and the appointment of Datu Ose Murang as permanent secretary to the Ministry of Urban Development and Tourism.
Ipoi, who is the first Lun Bawang to head the State Museum, said an information centre would also be set up either in Bario or Ba Kelalan.
“With the cooperation of Sarah Hitchner (a student from the University of Georgia, United States doing a PhD degree in ecological anthropology) and the Forest Department, we have more or less identified and documented more than 250 sites and with the funds from the federal government, we can preserve and develop them,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Ipoi thanked Ose, former state minister Datuk Sri Balan Seling and others for their continuous support and guidance.
He also welcomed constructive criticisms
and suggestions from the public regarding the activities carried out by the museum.
On his part, Ose expressed his and Ipoi’s gratitude to the state government for entrusting them with the big responsibilities.
The former Miri Resident also thanked everybody including mentors Gerald Lee for the academic guidance and Balan for his political guidance, encouragement and support through the years.
“We will continue to work closely with the Kelabits and Lun Bawangs on issues that are important to them,” he said.
Rurum Kelabit Sarawak president Gerawat Gala and Lun Bawang Association Kuching branch vice-chairman Petrus Asai were among those present at the dinner.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/11/nation/4290529&sec=nation
Saturday July 11, 2009
High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The price of cooking oil in the interior highlands of Bario in northern Sarawak has skyrocketed to almost RM15 per kg, compared to between RM6 and RM6.50 in urban areas here.
It was sold at about RM8 to RM10 per kg in Bario last year.
Rural folk in the highland regions, who are mostly living below the poverty line, find it hard to grasp the situation.
The Star met yesterday with a group of Penans from Pa’tih and Long Selaan – remote villages in the Bario highlands – who are struggling with the high costs of consumer products.
Housewife Rose Melai, who came to Miri to seek medical help for her daughter, said: “My husband is a padi planter. I have no job. We have four school-going children.
“Our family is already paying a lot for diesel fuel (RM8 per litre in Bario) just to operate our generators.”
Now, she has to fork out even more just to buy cooking oil every month.
“In some of our settlements, traders sell one kg of cooking oil at RM12. In places upstream of Pa’tih, the price can be RM15 per kg.”
She questioned why the prices always went up “all the time” in Bario.
“I heard from the people living in Miri that the Government had not announced any increase in cooking oil price. Why did it go up in Bario?” she asked.
Pa’tih is located two days by foot from Bario Village; Bario is 480km from Miri city.
Pangai Lusang, a Penan farmer from Long Selaan, said even sugar which was priced at RM5 per kg was costly.
“Businessmen always say the high prices are due to high transportation costs. But from what I know, the Government had not increased the price of diesel (since last year),” he said.
An enforcement officer from the Miri Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Department, when contacted, said the transportation arrangements to send goods into the interior from urban cities and Sarawak towns was not under the ministry’s jurisdiction.
“It is the Resident’s Office and the respective wakil rakyat who are handling the issue concerning transportation.
“They are supposed to appoint transporters who can give reasonable charges.”
He said the authorities were supposed to subsidise transportation costs so that the prices of goods sent to the interior would be on par with those sold in urban areas.
“However, up to now, these transportation issues have not been sorted out as yet,” he said.
Saturday July 11, 2009
High price of cooking oil confuses Bario villagers
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The price of cooking oil in the interior highlands of Bario in northern Sarawak has skyrocketed to almost RM15 per kg, compared to between RM6 and RM6.50 in urban areas here.
It was sold at about RM8 to RM10 per kg in Bario last year.
Rural folk in the highland regions, who are mostly living below the poverty line, find it hard to grasp the situation.
The Star met yesterday with a group of Penans from Pa’tih and Long Selaan – remote villages in the Bario highlands – who are struggling with the high costs of consumer products.
Housewife Rose Melai, who came to Miri to seek medical help for her daughter, said: “My husband is a padi planter. I have no job. We have four school-going children.
“Our family is already paying a lot for diesel fuel (RM8 per litre in Bario) just to operate our generators.”
Now, she has to fork out even more just to buy cooking oil every month.
“In some of our settlements, traders sell one kg of cooking oil at RM12. In places upstream of Pa’tih, the price can be RM15 per kg.”
She questioned why the prices always went up “all the time” in Bario.
“I heard from the people living in Miri that the Government had not announced any increase in cooking oil price. Why did it go up in Bario?” she asked.
Pa’tih is located two days by foot from Bario Village; Bario is 480km from Miri city.
Pangai Lusang, a Penan farmer from Long Selaan, said even sugar which was priced at RM5 per kg was costly.
“Businessmen always say the high prices are due to high transportation costs. But from what I know, the Government had not increased the price of diesel (since last year),” he said.
An enforcement officer from the Miri Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Department, when contacted, said the transportation arrangements to send goods into the interior from urban cities and Sarawak towns was not under the ministry’s jurisdiction.
“It is the Resident’s Office and the respective wakil rakyat who are handling the issue concerning transportation.
“They are supposed to appoint transporters who can give reasonable charges.”
He said the authorities were supposed to subsidise transportation costs so that the prices of goods sent to the interior would be on par with those sold in urban areas.
“However, up to now, these transportation issues have not been sorted out as yet,” he said.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
E-Bario for more Sarawak outposts
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/8/nation/4272153&sec=nation
Wednesday July 8, 2009
E-Bario for more Sarawak outposts
KUCHING: The successful e-Bario project in the Kelabit Highlands of northern Sarawak will be implemented in four other remote settlements in Sabah and Sarawak.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) deputy vice-chancellor (research and information) Prof Peter Songan said the e-Bario model would be used in Ba’kelalan and Long Lamai in Sarawak, Buayan near Penam pang and a yet to be identified settlement in Tawau district in Sabah.
“We have done the groundwork,” he told reporters after the opening of the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at the Kuching Hilton yesterday.
Prof Songan said Unimas had worked with Universiti Malaysia Sabah and a non-governmental organisation for the projects in Sabah.
The four projects are funded by a RM4mil grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.
Prof Songan said the projects would be implemented through regular dialogues with the villagers and based on their needs. Training the villagers in ICT would also be carried out.
Prof Songan said Unimas’ e-Bario project, which connects the Kelabit Highlands to the world through an information and communication telecentre, has benefited about 5,000 villagers, including students.
The project, which was implemented in 2000, has won numerous international IT awards.
At present, the people of Bario are able to independently maintain the telecentre and related equipment.
Prof Songan said Unimas was now working to upgrade e-Bario to a pilot model broadband network site for rural communities.
Wednesday July 8, 2009
E-Bario for more Sarawak outposts
KUCHING: The successful e-Bario project in the Kelabit Highlands of northern Sarawak will be implemented in four other remote settlements in Sabah and Sarawak.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) deputy vice-chancellor (research and information) Prof Peter Songan said the e-Bario model would be used in Ba’kelalan and Long Lamai in Sarawak, Buayan near Penam pang and a yet to be identified settlement in Tawau district in Sabah.
“We have done the groundwork,” he told reporters after the opening of the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at the Kuching Hilton yesterday.
Prof Songan said Unimas had worked with Universiti Malaysia Sabah and a non-governmental organisation for the projects in Sabah.
The four projects are funded by a RM4mil grant from the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry.
Prof Songan said the projects would be implemented through regular dialogues with the villagers and based on their needs. Training the villagers in ICT would also be carried out.
Prof Songan said Unimas’ e-Bario project, which connects the Kelabit Highlands to the world through an information and communication telecentre, has benefited about 5,000 villagers, including students.
The project, which was implemented in 2000, has won numerous international IT awards.
At present, the people of Bario are able to independently maintain the telecentre and related equipment.
Prof Songan said Unimas was now working to upgrade e-Bario to a pilot model broadband network site for rural communities.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
ICT to preserve indigenous traditional knowledge
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/7/7/nation/20090707122037&sec=nation
Published: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:18:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:19:11 PM
ICT to preserve indigenous traditional knowledge
By JACK WONG
jackwong@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud wants the traditional knowledge of the state’s nearly 30 ethnic groups to be preserved through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
He said many of these ethnic groups passed down knowledge orally from one generation to the next, through stories and songs for example.
“There is much to be learnt from these communities, the knowledge they have on health, history and way of life,” he said in a speech to open the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at Kuching Hilton Tuesday.
Taib’s text of speech was read by his deputy Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.
Taib urged Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), which organised the four-day conference, and other research institutions to identify ways in which ICT could be used to preserve traditional knowledge.
“There is a need, for example, to enhance speech-recognition technologies to speed up the process of converting speech to text so that the text can be stored and analysed.”
He said machine translation software, which Unimas was doing research on, should be developed for local languages.
The move, he added, would enable indigenous languages to be translated to English.
Taib commended Unimas for its successful e-Bario project, which enabled students and villagers in the Kelabit highland in northern Sarawak to connect to the world through ICT telecentres.
He said as the state was still short of competent and skilled IT and engineering professionals, Unimas could play a vital role in human resource development programmes.
“Unimas will be at the heart of the state’s Multimedia Super Corridor activities, particularly looking at the incubation facilities for technology startups and in addressing the state’s human resource development needs.
“This would assist very much in the Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy project which aims to create 1.6 million jobs with 10 social and commercial sectors to be opened up,” said Taib.
Published: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:18:00 PM
Updated: Tuesday July 7, 2009 MYT 12:19:11 PM
ICT to preserve indigenous traditional knowledge
By JACK WONG
jackwong@thestar.com.my
KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud wants the traditional knowledge of the state’s nearly 30 ethnic groups to be preserved through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
He said many of these ethnic groups passed down knowledge orally from one generation to the next, through stories and songs for example.
“There is much to be learnt from these communities, the knowledge they have on health, history and way of life,” he said in a speech to open the sixth international conference on information technology in Asia at Kuching Hilton Tuesday.
Taib’s text of speech was read by his deputy Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.
Taib urged Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), which organised the four-day conference, and other research institutions to identify ways in which ICT could be used to preserve traditional knowledge.
“There is a need, for example, to enhance speech-recognition technologies to speed up the process of converting speech to text so that the text can be stored and analysed.”
He said machine translation software, which Unimas was doing research on, should be developed for local languages.
The move, he added, would enable indigenous languages to be translated to English.
Taib commended Unimas for its successful e-Bario project, which enabled students and villagers in the Kelabit highland in northern Sarawak to connect to the world through ICT telecentres.
He said as the state was still short of competent and skilled IT and engineering professionals, Unimas could play a vital role in human resource development programmes.
“Unimas will be at the heart of the state’s Multimedia Super Corridor activities, particularly looking at the incubation facilities for technology startups and in addressing the state’s human resource development needs.
“This would assist very much in the Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy project which aims to create 1.6 million jobs with 10 social and commercial sectors to be opened up,” said Taib.
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