A number of communities and areas in Southeast Asia inhabited by ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples are conflict hotspots where mega-development projects or resource-extraction activities such as commercial logging and large-scale mining are being carried out as part of state policy to attract foreign and big business.
A number of communities and areas in Southeast Asia inhabited by ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples are conflict hotspots where mega-development projects or resource-extraction activities such as commercial logging and large-scale mining are being carried out as part of state policy to attract foreign and big business.
Under the sign-board of “national development”, bankrolled by billions from corporate and big-time foreign lenders such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund-World Bank and other big commercial banks—governments through the protection and enforcement of their laws, policies and armed forces, literally bulldoze their way through resource-rich, arable and sacred grounds and communities that have outlived generations of ethnic villagers.
Often the price for this paradigm of “economic development” is enormous and the toll irreversible—in terms of environmental destruction, displacements of entire communities and with them, an entire way of life as well as a race pushed to the brink of extinction.
This scenario of death and destruction finds striking similarities in many ASEAN countries: from the resistance of indigenous peoples and Muslims in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao against mining encroachments into their sacred grounds, and in recent weeks, in the intense struggles of West Papuans against the continued operations of the US-owned Freeport Mining in Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
Last 18 and 19 April, Burmese activists , mostly from the Arakan ethnic nationalities, staged rallies in front of Korean embassies in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur respectively to oppose the planned Shwe Gas Project in Arakan state, western Burma. The gas project is reportedly the biggest project in Burma and Southeast Asia, and implemented by the Korean firm, Daewoo International.
The resistance by ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples are often fiercest in the contested areas – in the villages and communities targeted for flooding to give way to mega-dams, or for logging and mining operations.
The reason is simple: resistance is the only option left for the victims as they are defending as much as their abode and sources of subsistence as their way of life.
Often this stark truth escapes the narrow logic of profit and so-called “development”, with tragic consequences. As one tribal leader, Macliing Dulag from northern Philippines, who led the eventual successful struggle against the dam that threatened to drown his village, once said “Nobody owns the land, for how can one own that which outlives you?”
Macliiing Dulag was murdered by suspected government troopers before the dam project was cancelled.
Last 20 April, as the entire world commemorated Earth Day , indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities in various parts of the world, including those in the Southeast Asian countries were busy warding off incursions into their ancestral domain and protected areas, reclaiming their dispossessed villages, defending and preserving what remains of the last forest frontiers such as the Meratus mountain ranges in Kalimantan, Indonesia.
FORUM-ASIA, together with human rights and environmental movements in various parts of the world, join billions of grateful citizens in paying homage and tribute to the world’s indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities.
These peoples are in the forefront of the struggle for saving and preserving the earth and the world’s environment, carving out an alternative development path that is sustainable while upholding the dignity and integrity of nature and life. (by Sammy Gamboa, Consultant, Ethnic Minorities project)
See the list of ‘collateral damages’ in development on Southeast Asia (.pdf, 128kb, 10pp.).
