Sarawak elections: Score own goal (9)

Sarawak elections: Score own goal (9)

Penan settlement in Long Wat, one of the 10 longhouses to be displaced by the Murum Dam. The village has no access to electricity, piped water or sanitation.

By LC Bulan
Penan settlement in Long Wat, one of the 10 longhouses to be displaced by the Murum Dam. The village has no access to electricity, piped water or sanitation. The community is demanding that these services be provided for free as part of their compensation for being displaced. They did not have a say in the Social Environmental Impact Assessment completed last year.

Penan ancestral graves. The graves have to be exhumed ahead of the dam’s impoundment.


Most families in Long Wat cannot afford to send all their children to school; male children are often picked over female to attend school.