The Damned Dams of Sabah
Very soon the camel’s back will be broken, and the last straw to break it will be the approval of the proposed Kaiduan Dam in Papar. Sabahans have had enough of the pressure by the President of Parti Bersatu Sabah Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister cum Infrastructure Development Minister in his efforts in pursuing the proposed Kaiduan Dam which he claims will be sufficient to supply water to several nearby districts. Let’s take a walk down memory lane.
Gerrard Damien Montikiu
Pemuda Parti Kebangsaan – N20
The Moyog Dam
Built during the 90’s (PBS State Government), with the cost of RM 200 million and covers an area of 400 acres. The villagers relocated at the time were promised 200 acres of land with native reserve titles. What they got in the end was only 50 acres, and these 50 acres was never gazetted as a village settlement area. The relocated villagers are currently facing action from Sabah Parks for encroaching on the Crocker range. No compensation was ever given. As for the people of Moyog, they have to bear with floods almost every monsoon season where there is nonstop rain for a few days, this brings to the Moyog Dam being released as the authorities say that the Dam will not hold if it starts to overflow. It takes less than an hour to flood the entire Penampang district once the dam is released.
The Milau Dam
Located in Kudat and was commissioned in 2011. The Dam was first proposed 20 years ago (1995). The cost of the project was initially RM 235 million but “somehow” the amount ballooned to more than RM 300 million. It was reported back in 2011 that the dam was empty and not a trace of water could be seen. There were pictures of the empty dam circulated on the internet during that time. A few days ago, the Pakatan Rakyat turncoat ADUN of Matunggong (Datuk Jelani Hamdan) had in his written question during the State Legislative sitting, asked Pairin as to why the dam in Milau was still not producing water after 4 years in operation. And this was not the first time Jelani is asking, he did so as well in the previous sitting. Pairin refuses to answer Jelani and has chosen to ignore him altogether. The villagers who were supposed to benefit from this project with the promise of clean treated water are still relying on rain water, gravity water, and river water to meet their needs for water.
The Proposed Kaiduan Dam (Present)
In 2008, the Chief Minister (Datuk Seri Musa Aman) decided that a dam should be built in Papar. This dam is projected to be able to supply water to Kota Kinabalu and its surrounding areas until 2050. The estimated cost of this project is a whopping RM 2.8 billion. There has been so much revolt from the villagers who are on the verge of being relocated to make way for the project. The Papar elected representatives won’t entertain them as Papar is a BN stronghold. They had no choice but to turn to their neighbors, Penampang, which was once a BN strong hold and saw all the BN elected representatives kicked out of office after the 13th GE. DUN Moyog swung to PKR, previously held by UPKO. DUN Kepayan swung to the DAP, previously held by MCA, and the P174 Penampang seat swung to PKR, previously held by UPKO, which saw the ouster of the political giant Tan Sri Bernard Dompok who was Federal Commodities minister at the time. With Penampang held firmly at the hands of PR representatives, the villagers of Kaiduan turned to them for help and are currently assisted by the Moyog ADUN YB Terence Siambun. Terence has been very vocal in defending the villagers against Pairin’s hopes of making the Kaiduan dam a reality. Recently, a social impact study was to be carried out in Kaiduan, but the researchers were blocked from entering the proposed area as the villagers raised their Parangs (Machetes) at the researchers. This incident did not go down well with Pairin and he is now fuming.
I would like to advice Tan Sri Pairin to consider the plight of the people first before pressing forward with his dams. There is a joke around town now that acronym PBS seems more like Pairin the Beaver of Sabah, instead of Parti Bersatu Sabah. Pairin and PBS have lost their direction; we cannot say that they failed the people of Sabah. Leaders don’t fail, they give up. Championing the rights of the people is not a test or exam that we can pass or fail. It is a continued effort that that will never end. We will not ask, nor will we demand that Pairin resigns and relinquishes all his posts. In fact we welcome his challenge if he should seek to be re-elected in the 14th GE, where he will feel the full force of the youths and send him into retirement.
