PM’s aides stymie Sabah green activists
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Jul 19, 10
4:19pm
They turned up at three places – two in Kota Kinabalu and one in Lahad Datu – yesterday to express their concerns over the controversial project.
Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak (right), who was in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, was again prevented by his aides from receiving a memorandum on energy options for Sabah put together by Green Surf, an alliance of anti-coal NGOs in the state.
Green Surf activist Cynthia Ong expressed fears that Najib may not be getting the correct information on the plant.
“There are local, national and global movements against this plant. All we wanted was a few moments of his time to explain our stand,” she said.
This is the second such disappointment for the movement which wants to put the permier’s ‘People First, Performance Now’ administration to the test.
Activists had visited Kuala Lumpur last month where they tried to corner Najib in Parliament House, with a memorandum for him. However, he gave them the slip as his aides tied up the activists in delaying tactics.
Yesterday, too, more than 400 villagers from Kampung Sinakut and Lahad Datu protested with banners at Sinakut, the proposed site of the plant in their area (left, artist’s impresion) or anywhere else in the state.
They were led by Kampung Sinakut chief Jimi Uddin, 55, who denied that they were in favour of the coal plant.
“The authorities claim that we are squatters and will be relocated to Sungai Merah which is away from the sea,” said Jimi who has been living in the village since 1970.
“We are fishermen and we depend on the sea. We also have seaweed farms which help us out with extra income.”
The villagers wanted their demonstration to coincide with Najib’s visit. They hoped that their message – ‘we are not squatters, no to the coal plant, no to relocation’ – would get through to the prime minister.
“Over 200 people drove up from Lahad Datu to express their solidarity with the villagers of Sinakut who will be uprooted to make way for the project,” said Vincent Ng of the Sabah Environment Protection Association, a component of Green Surf.
He said the people of Lahad Datu also want to impress upon the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) that they are strongly opposed to the plant . He noted that the east coast town will be the first to experience the negative environmental impact of the ‘dirty energy’ option.
