Sarawak Energy’s senior manager for corporate social responsibility Jiwari Abdullah said the company was glad residents from the two villages had decided to move in, and was looking forward to the other two remaining villages at Long Luar and Long Singu, to be relocated in the next few days.
In fact, the majority of those who participated in the recent blockade were from Long Tangau and Long Menapa, and, we are glad they have given their full support to relocate after numerous engagements with them,” he said in a statement in Kuching today.
Under the Murum Resettlement Action Plan, families living in Metalun will receive immediate benefits, including clean water and electricity, besides enjoying various economic benefits and assistance, such as temporary income support of RM850 per month, and access to medical care and education that are designed to lift them above the poverty line.
All this from an SEB company executive sitting comfortably in Kuching. How long would the RM12,000 he finally coughed up in compensation last him?
He knows and we know that the Penan could never win against the rising waters that have now almost cut them off from their homes, forcing them to give up their blockade in order to try and rescue their remaining belongings before it was too late.
But, SEB will never be able to shift the stain of this brutal treatment of Sarawak’s native people. They have broken every rule in the book. They know it and the world knows it and the Penan families’ heroic 77 day blockade stands as testimony to this scandal.
For SEB to claim there is even adequate water and electricity supplies in the resettlement areas is a known lie and there is no question of education or health care so far. The former hunter gatherers are stranded without transport or occupation and are hugely depressed already.
The ‘temporary’ RM850 monthly compensation support is BELOW the official poverty line and even this is now mainly being distributed ‘in kind’, as determined by SEB, leaving only RM250 in actual cash!
How do these people from SEB sleep at night?