KUALA LUMPUR: Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople blockaded the construction site of a dam yesterday which is set to force them from their homes in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, activists said. The Baram dam is the latest in a series of controversial hydroelectric mega-dams planned by the Sarawak government. Indigenous Kenyah, Kayan and Penan people began blocking the main road to the dam’s location and the site where the developer, state-owned Sarawak Energy has stored heavy machinery, according to NGO Save Sarawak’s Rivers Network. The dam has been dogged by controversy as activists allege massive corruption while indigenous people complain it has flooded rainforests and uprooted thousands of people.
Complaint against rebel
MANILA: An Army officer has accused a Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Milf) leader of conniving with Abu Sayyaf and called for sanctions against those who provide safe haven to terrorists. Col Carlito Galvez Jr, chief of the Army’s 104th brigade, filed a protest with Ad Hoc Joint Action Group against Malista Malanka over his supposed involvement in lawless activities like kidnapping and land grabbing. The group consists of representatives from the government and the Milf and is tasked to isolate criminal and lawless elements in Mindanao.
Estrada apology to HK defended
MANILA: Manila Vice Mayor Isko Moreno defended Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada’s move to apologise to Hong Kong government for the 2010 hostage crisis at Quirino Grandstand. Moreno said it was the local and foreign Chinese businessmen who urged Estrada, a former president, to help ease the tension between Hong Kong and the Philippines. Hong Kong, to whom President Benigno Aquino III has not given an apology, has issued a “black” travel advisory for the Philippines as a result of what was called a “bungled” affair that left eight Hong Kong tourists trapped in a bus with the perpetrator, a former police official, dead. He said the city council gave consent to Estrada to apologise on behalf of the government for the mishandling of the incident. AGENCIES
