Police have swooped into the Murum Dam site in central Sarawak and arrested a group of Penan protestors - who were staging blockades to protest the move by the state authorities to uproot them from their longhouses following the construction of the RM4bil hydroelectric dam.
According The Star, the police deployed teams into the dam area located in the middle region of the Belaga district where the more than 100 Penans have been protesting since two weeks ago and they have arrested at least eight of these Penan protestors.
The protesting Penans are from four settlements located in the Murum valley who have continuosly refused to be relocated into resettlement schemes despite the fact that Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) had started the flooding of the Murum Dam reservoir behind the dam's main wall.
The blockade were manned by more than 100 Penan protestors who had camped day and night for more than two weeks along the entrance to the assess road leading to the dam.
The blockade were manned by more than 100 Penan protestors who had camped day and night for more than two weeks along the entrance to the assess road leading to the dam.