ONE of the respected voices in Baram, Sarawak is now questioning the never ending promises made by the ruling Barisan Nasional to (BN) provide basic infrastructure projects – roads, piped fresh water and 24-hour electricity – in this rural federal constituency.

One of the most frequently used excuses given by BN candidate Anyi Ngau and elected representatives of the ruling government for the backwardness of Baram, or its under-development, is that it is too large and the mountainous terrain of Baram difficult to develop, environmental activist Peter Kallang, said.

Kallang, who led the opposition of the proposed Baram hydroelectric dam, in a letter said the people of Baram were often told to be patient and wait as the promised development would come.

The dam, which would generate 1,000MW of electricity and costs RM4 billion to build, would have forced the relocation of some 20,000 people in 25 longhouses.

“The politicians would would often use the classical, but boring saying, ‘Rome was not built in a day’.”

Kallang, chairman of the pressure group Save River, and whose campaign led to a moratorium on the construction of the dam in November 2015, said this reason had been used “over and over again” throughout the years by a succession of BN elected representatives to justify why the promises were slow in coming.

But when it comes to raping the forest and exploiting the wealth of Baram, why is there are no such constraint, he asked.

Only on Friday, at the rural settlement of Long Nakan deep in Baram, the Telang Usan BN assemblyman Dennis Ngau appealed to the people there to continue supporting the coalition by voting for its candidate Anyi Ngau “if they want to continue seeing development in their constituency”.

“Baram is neglected in development but remembered for their votes.

“When they extract the timber, there is no hill too high, no river too wide, and no terrain too difficult.”

Kallang also asked where have all the “millions and millions of timber revenue” gone when logging has been going on for years until “the primary forest is almost all gone”.

“Who are the beneficiaries of the logging activities?”

Certainly not the people of Baram, he said, as he appealed to the 35,685 voters here “ to replace those who have neglected them since independence day”.

Anyi won the seat by just 194 votes in a three-way fight against PKR’s Roland Enggan and independent Patrick Sibat in GE13.

In this GE14, it will be a straight fight between Anyi and Enggan. – May 5, 2018.