China and Malaysia signed an energy master plan last month that involves the building of massive dams and surface coal mines in the Borneo Island province of Sarawak. The plan was negotiated in secret and is likely to require the removal of some 608,000 indigenous people living in the rainforest interior. The Malaysian government is eager to receive the projected $11 billion dollar Chinese investment in energy infrastructure. The plan, labeled SCORE for Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, will exploit 41,000bn cubic feet of natural gas and $1.46bn worth of coal reserves. The Bruno Manser Fund which funds legal representation for indigenous land claims says the project will benefit construction companies linked to Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud family interests. An opposition politician called the unfinished multi-billion dollar Bakun dam [photo] a "monument to corruption".
