Malaysia's dam plans condemned by international group

The construction of 12 hydroelectric dams in Sarawak is being opposed by an international NGO coalition.

Consisting of organizations from the US, Norway and Switzerland, it is expressing its solidarity with Malaysian groups who are demanding an immediate halt to the dams.

The dams threaten to displace tens of thousands of Sarawak natives and flood hundreds of square miles of Sarawak's precious tropical rainforests.

The Bruno Manser Fund, International Rivers,; Borneo Project, Rainforest Action Network, al from the US, along with the Rainforest Foundation Norway, are emphasizing the adverse social and ecological consequences of the
planned dams and question their economic viability.

The recently founded 'Save Sarawak's Rivers' network, under the lead of its chairperson Peter  Kallang, announced the start of the local protests against the planned twelve dams in the Sarawak rainforest.

"The construction of the dams will not bring development to the people directly affected but it does bring severe and permanent damages to the whole environment and to the community at large. Development for the people must be for the immediate and above all, long term good of all the people and not just a few, who own shares in power generation and big corporations," the group said.

With the completion of the largest dam in Asia outside of China, the Bakun dam, with its capacity of 2,400 Megawatts and the additional 900-Megawatt Murum dam, which is currently under construction, Sarawak will be producing massive amounts of surplus power. The state's current electricity consumption only rises to 972 Megawatts during periods of peak demand.

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