In May this year I visited Kampung Tambatuon at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu and which will be totally drowned in a proposed RM450 million Tambatuon Dam project.

Although the proposed Tambatuon Dam had been mooted for two years, there had been no proper and full consultation by the relevant authorities, including the MP for Kota Belud, who has become the strongest advocate for the Dam project, with the people who would be directly affected with the destruction of their traditional habitat and way of life.

The people of Kampung Tambatuon and concerned communities have protested to the various state authorities against the proposed Tambatuon Dam project.

For instance, there is the memorandum to the Sabah Chief Minister and other authorities by the Jawatankuasa Induk Badan Bertindak Bantahan Pembinaan Empangan Sungai Kadamaian Kampung Tambatuon in November 2010, signed by its Pengerusi Jahim Singkui, Ketua Kampong Kampong Tambatuon Amin Goling, Ketua Kampung Kampung Ratau, Mait Matundian, Ketua Kampung Bundu Paka Singan Loki, Wakil Mukim Kabayau Sayhui Sumbin and Ketua Kampung, Kampung Lingkubang Kubing Sudompong, entitled “Memorandum Bantahan Rancangan Pembinaan Empangan Tambatuon Di Kampung Tambatuon – Sungai Kedamaian – Kota Belud”, which read:

“Sebagaimana Yang Berhormat telah sedia maklum bahawa pembinaan empangan di sungai Kadamaian yang terletak di Kampong Tambatuon, Kota Belud akan mengakibatkan Kampung Tambatuon sebuah perkampungan asli yang telah wujud sejak sebelum Malaysia merdeka dan sedang berkembang maju akan tenggelam sementara tiga buah perkampungan lagi akan dipindahkan iaitu Kampung Bundu Paka, Kampung Lingkubang dan Kampung Kaung Ulu.

“Sesungguhnya kami penduduk kampong yang terlibat amat terkejut dan kecewa kerana seolah olah pembinaan empangan tersebut tidak dibertimbangkan kesan baik dan buruk bukan sahaja kepada penduduk kampong yang terlibat tetapi juga kesan yang menyeluruh iaitu bencana yang mungkin berlaku kepada penduduk di sepanjang sungai Kadamaian dan di seluruh daerah Kota Belud seandainya pembinaan empangaten ini nanti mengalami masalah yang tidak dijangka akan berlaku.

“Maka dengan itu, kami berharap dengan memorandum ini pihak Kerajaan Negeri Sabah memastikan agar kehidupan kami terus terjamin dengan MEMBATALKAN RANCANGAN PEMBINAAN EMPANGAN TAMBATUON di Kampung Tambatuon ini. Ini juga adalah selaras dengan konsep 1MALAYSIA, RAKYAT DIDAHULUKAN, PENCAPAIAN DIUTAMAKAN.

“Sebagai makluman awal pihak Kerajaan Negeri Sabah dan Yang Berhormat Datuk, kami telah tinggal, mendiami dan mengusahakan kawasan kawasan kami di kampong kami sejak dari datuk nenek moyang kami yakni sekurang kurangnya 8 generasi (Menurut cerita datuk-nenek kami mungkin sudah 17 generasi). Sebagai penduduk yang memegang status Warganegara Malaysia dan merupakan Anak Negeri Sabah, kami sedar dan percaya bahawa kami berhak keatas kehidupan dan tanah adat kami. Pihak Kerajaan Malaysia juga telah memberi pengiktirafan dan komitmen untuk menghormati Hak Hak Orang Asal Sedunia dengan menyokong dan menerima deklarasi Pertubuhan Bangsa Bangsa Bersatu Berkenaan Hak Hak Orang Asal Sedunia.”

The time has come for Parliament and the Federal Government to take fully into account the views, grievances and concerns of the people of Kampung Tambatuon and adjacent kampungs as well as their unanimous stand that the authorities “BATALKAN SERTA MERTA CADANGAN RANCANGAN PEMBINAAN EMPANGAN TAMBATUON DI KAMPONG TAMBATUON DI SUNGAI KADAMAIAN, KOTA BELUD ATAU MEMINDAHKANNYA DI TEMPAT YANG TIDAK MENYUSAHYKAN PENDUDUK ORANG ASAL”.

The worst flooding in decades of the region’s rice growing areas in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – with about 1.5 million ha of padi fields or about the size of 21 Singapores having been damaged or are at risk from floods – has again brought to the fore the problem of food security for Malaysia.

This however cannot detract from the need for the people who will be directly affected by the proposed Tambatuon Dam, whether from Kampung Tambatuon, the other kampungs on Sungai Kadamaian and in Kota Belud to be fully consulted and involved in every step of the decision-making process about whether a Tambatuon Dam is necessary, or whether increasing padi yields and Malaysia’s comparatively low rice productivity is a better way to look after Malaysia’s food security; taking cognisance of the fact that the problem in Kota Belud is not that there is not enough water but too much water with very inefficient drainage and irrigation system;b whether a series of small dams rather than a mega-dam would be more appropriate and sustainable and the need for structural and institutional reforms whether in size of landholdings, susidies and price of padi and the role of Bernas and its Sabah subsidiary Sazarice.

I call on all the relevant government authorities whether at federal or state level to fully consult and involve the people who will be directly affected by the dam project before a final decision is reached.

Speech (7) in Parliament on the 2012 Budget on Monday 17th October 2011