PUTRAJAYA – Over 100 Orang Asli members, mostly from the Temiar tribe, gathered in Putrajaya today to urge the federal government to put a stop to the Nenggiri Dam project planned over some 5,384ha of virgin rainforest in Gua Musang, Kelantan.
The protest, organised by indigenous rights group Jaringan Kampung Orang Asli Kelantan (JKOAK), saw affected community members who had travelled from Gua Musang submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob at the Perdana Putra complex.
They stated that the hydroelectric dam threatens the livelihoods, rights and identities of some 5,000 Orang Asli residing in the sprawling area in southern Kelantan.
“The construction of the Nenggiri dam will clearly negatively impact our way of life, history, customs, and the culture of the Orang Asli community in Gua Musang.
“The project will destroy a huge part of our forest, our ancestral lands. It will jeopardise our access to clean water, food, medicine, and materials for our homes and rituals.
“We will also lose our means of security, source of income and eventually destroy our relationship with nature,” said JKOAK chairman Mustafa Along.
Apart from ecological worries such as the massive noise, water and air pollution, the construction could potentially flood several Orang Asli settlements within its vicinity, he said.
“Settlements such as Gua Cha, Gua Chawas along with Pos Pulat, Gua Keledung, Gua Cahaya, Gua Kecil, Gua Lubang Kelewar, Gua Perdang, Gua Rahmat, Gua Kemiri and Gua Tok Batin could be flooded.
“Many of these places also are of historical significance to the Temiar tribe.
“With the loss of the settlement, the history of the Temiar tribe in the Malaysian peninsula could effectively be lost to us,” he said.
Mustafa also expressed concern over logging activities related to the construction, which have led to the loss of animal habitat and increased incidents of wild animals such as elephants trespassing into their settlement.
“In the history of this nation, the construction of hydroelectric dams has never benefited the Orang Asli or Orang Asal community.
“Many of the affected communities were not given fair compensation and justice despite being promised the moon,” he said.
In the memorandum, JKOAK has also called on the government to find a less risky solution such as building several smaller dams in the state or depending on renewable energy.
They also urged both the state and federal governments not to approve any more logging concessions, especially in Gua Musang and Hulu Kelantan. They claimed these have contributed to incidents of flooding and drought in Kelantan.
JKOAK will also present the same memorandum to the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry and Tenaga Nasional Bhd later today.
Mustafa stated that JKOAK will not hesitate to take legal action against the government if it does not meet their demands for a fair and equitable solution to the matter.
The Nenggiri dam is expected to operate in 2026 and is planned to deliver 300 megawatts of power to the national grid when completed, apart from being touted as a source of water supply. – The Vibes, June 7, 2022
