A recent report of three Sarawak activists making representations to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila against its loan facility to build an electrical transmission line from Sarawak to West Kalimantan highlights how destructively myopic some lone-wolf, single-issue activists can be.
The representation comes a little too late, given the construction of the transmission line is progressing apace and is fast nearing completion. It also totally ignores what a boon the transmission line will be for the long-suffering citizens and business people in the Indonesian province bordering Sarawak.
They have long endured intermittent power which requires businesses to run their own expensive and highly polluting diesel-powered generators to avoid intolerable and frequent disruptions to power from the local grid. It is exactly projects such as this, that promise to deliver electricity with any consistency and certainty at reasonable cost from one energy-surplus country to another that suffers a supply deficiency, the ADB should fund more of.
Human welfare across the border, perhaps. But what with the welfare and interests of locals that are trampled? Inalterable fact? That is to be determined by the demand essentially. Yes, sell it abroad even to the Peninsula despite energy lost in transmission and let Sarawak be the super centre of dirty, energy-guzzling industries.
The fact that Dr M has called for reconsideration of the mega dam policy despite him being the Bakun dam champion simply means that the policy is not a well-conceived one. And dare we speculate that in hindsight, he probably realised what a sham the project was in terms of ‘bringing development to the people’ when those who are displaced are worse off now in the shabby Sg Assap settlement.
Obviously, John Teo has not factored in the effects of climate change on the viability of large dams, what more the negative role played by multilateral banks like ADB in financing infrastructure projects that do more harm than good for the people. It is obvious whose interests the writer is representing in trying to justify this insane, outdated development model.