Prelude: Baram dam, ending a legacy

In 1998, nearly 10,000 Sarawak natives lost their homes and native land for the Bakun dam mega project; the second tallest concrete-faced rockfill dam in the world.

Despite the natives losing their land, home and livelihood, this mega project did not bring any benefits to them, but had instead inflicted emotional trauma upon these gentle natives.

But their suffering of the native would only get worse the Sarawak government is planning to build another 11 new dams and the Baram dam is one which may bring more far-reaching effect to the natives; the Baram dam will effect more than 20,000 natives in 26 villages. The area where these villages sit, will be flooded for the Baram dam.

Leading the way to bring awareness to the people of Sarawak on the potential human and environmental catastrophe that Baram will present is NGO, Save Rivers Network.

Malaysiakini together with veteran documentary filmmaker, Leerang Bato visited the long houses which are expected to be affected by the Baram dam.

In this prelude to a series of special reports on the Baram dam project, various NGOs will explain to the people of Baram the destructive impact of the project to their lives, their livelihood and the environmental damage that it poses.

Camera/Editing: Tan Jiun Wuu