BAKUN HYDROELECTRIC PLANT
Corporate Social Responsibility & Social Impact Management
To further strengthen relationships with the community, manage stakeholder expectations and maintain our social license to operate, Sarawak Energy continues to support the community through the following four social investment focus areas:
- Education and young people
- Environmental management and conservation
- Culture and heritage
- Community development and entrepreneurship
1. Education and Young People
Bakun Charitable Trust:
Sarawak Energy collaborated with the Bakun Charitable Trust to set up four Education Funds for communities in Bakun with an annual revolving fund of RM 200,000.
This special fund is dedicated to supporting the educational needs of the targeted rural communities where we operate in.
The fund is used to provide educational incentives to encourage academic excellence for primary and secondary students from the area and acts as financial aid for further studies at higher learning institutions. The fund is also used for other educational development programme as well as to improve learning facilities for the benefits of the Kayan, Kenyah, Kajang and Penan communities residing in the Bakun Resettlement Scheme.
Since the year 2019, Sarawak Energy has funded and benefited 827 students from local communities within Belaga.
Year |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Total students benefited |
136 |
126 |
116 |
215 |
234 |
The Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between Sarawak Energy and Bakun Charitable Trust in 2019
Sarawak Energy Bursary Programme:
Sarawak Energy Bursary Programme was established to build a robust talent bench to realise its Talent Management Excellence by identifying, attracting, recruiting and retaining local talents as early as possible. It is also part of Sarawak Energy’s Corporate Social Responsibly (CSR) plan, in providing deserving secondary students financial assistance for their studies. From 2022 onwards, RM 300,000 is allocated annually for this programme.
Statistics in Belaga area:
In Belaga area, 2 secondary schools - SMK Bakun and SMK Belaga, participated under this programme. From 2019 - 2023, 80 students (breakdown below) from these schools have benefited from this programme.
SMK Bakun |
76 |
SMK Belaga |
4 |
Sarawak Energy Scholarship Programme:
Sarawak Energy aims to attract top Sarawakian talents to help us realise our vision of achieving sustainable growth and prosperity for Sarawak and its people by meeting the region’s need for reliable and renewable energy. With a strong focus on talent management and development, we are building a high performing team that can compete with other top quartile utilities and companies across Southeast Asia. Aligned with this, we are actively looking to invest in and develop Sarawak’s brightest young talents, allowing them to pursue their studies at local and international universities. The programme was first established in 2014.
From 2022 onwards, the budget was doubled to RM 16 Million annually. With a ratio of 70 talents : 30 CSR, approximately 30% of the annual budget are utilizsd for students local in Project Affected Communities area (i.e. Balaga, Kapit, Mukah) or students from low-income families.
Statistics in Belaga area:
In Belaga area, total of 9 students have benefited from the programme since its establishment:
Area |
No. of Students |
Kapit |
10 |
Baram |
2 |
Belaga |
9 |
Dalat |
3 |
Matu |
1 |
Mukah |
11 |
Tertiary Education Support
Sarawak Energy strongly believes that education can bring long term positive impacts to the society, especially on community development and uplifting quality of living. In line with its CSR key focus area on education and young people, Sarawak Energy has collaborated with the Kelab Belia Belaga Sarawak and Bakun Charitable Trust in the organising of the ‘Jom Masuk U’ programme to encourage students to enrol for their tertiary education.
The purpose of the programme is to directly connect secondary school leavers from both Sg. Asap’s Apau Koyan resettled community in Bakun and Belaga to higher education institutions in Sarawak and to facilitate their application forhigher learning.
The ‘Jom Masuk U’ programme also exposes the youth to the opportunities and courses offered by each respective institution including campus tours.
This programme is part of Sarawak Energy’s commitment to supporting the educational enhancement and youth development for the Apau Koyan resettled community.
Students attending a briefing at a higher learning institution in Kuching during their campus tour
Academic Incentives
By engaging and working closely with the communities, Sarawak Energy has developed a suite of programmes that address the community’s needs. In 2018, a total of 25 high achieving students from SMK Bakun and SMK Belaga were presented with academic incentives to recognise their achievements during the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam.
A total of 350 dictionaries were also handed over to the students and libraries of SMK Bakun and SMK Belaga during the ceremony.
Students representative receiving the dictionaries which were contributed by Sarawak Energy
The table below shows the number of students who received academic incentives from Sarawak Energy.
No of Students |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
SMK Bakun |
18 |
16 |
31 |
28 |
22 |
SMK Belaga |
5 |
11 |
22 |
31 |
20 |
2. Community Development and Entrepreneurship
Longhouse Adoption Programme
In 2019, Sarawak Energy implemented a five-year longhouse adoption programme at Bakun Resettlement Scheme which covers all the 15 resettled longhouses with 15,600 residents. The longhouses will be adopted on a rotation basis to streamline efforts in improving support for the individual longhouses.
The programme focused on improving the longhouse environment through beautification and improving basic facilities and infrastructure. The programme supports the villagers in their cultural and heritage, community development and entrepreneurial activities.
Table shows the list of longhouses in the adoption programme.
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
Uma Ukit *650 villagers, 79 households |
Uma Badeng *1780 villagers, 170 households |
Uma Kelap *1063 villagers, 104 households |
Uma Kulit *1775 villagers, 247 households |
Uma Juman *749 villagers, 103 households |
Uma Lahanan *800 villagers, 101 households |
Uma Bawang *811 villagers, 117 households |
Uma Balui Ukap *632 villagers, 86 households |
Uma Nyaving *1200 villagers, 122 households |
Uma Daro *686 villagers, 115 households |
Uma Penan Talun *300 villagers, 94 households |
Uma Lesong *1255 villagers, 137 households |
Uma Balui Liko *591 villagers, 77 households |
Uma Belor *850 villagers, 101 households |
Uma Baha *1566 villagers, 581 households |
To better facilitate this programme, Sarawak Energy partnered with the resettlement’s respective Longhouse Security and Development Committee or Jawatankuasa Kemajuan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JKKK) to propose and endorse community-oriented solutions which addresses some of the challenges that the longhouses face post-resettlement. In addition, we collaborate with the community to enhance infrastructure, including land levelling within village compounds to accommodate additional housing for the growing population and expanding gravesite areas.
Fire Safety Awareness & Prevention Programme for Project Affected Communities
As part of our generative HSSE culture, we are also instilling safety awareness and responsibility within our resettled communities, ensuring they take safety measures and are prepared to take decisive action whenever necessary.
In collaboration with the Fire and Rescue Department (BOMBA) Bintulu Zone and Persatuan Bomba Sukarela Sungai Asap, Sarawak Energy conducts annual fire safety awareness and prevention programmes to create greater awareness of fire safety and prevention measures for the Apau Koyan communities in Belaga. Sarawak Energy also contributed fire extinguishers and a set of firefighting equipment comprising a hose, nozzles, joints and fire extinguisher cabinets to the local communities.
This programme is part of Sarawak Energy’s community development initiatives which includes the provision and assessment of firefighting tools at the longhouses.
BOMBA Bintulu Zone Chief Unjar Lum (5th right), Murum Assemblyman Kennedy Chukpai (4th right), Sarawak Energy General Manager for CSR, Jiwari Abdullah (3rd right) along with the longhouse chiefs of Apau Koyan and others at the ‘Fire Safety Awareness and Prevention Programme’
Immediate Relief Assistance to Fire Victims
Sarawak Energy provides support and aids local communities within hydro project areas whenever there is a fire incident. The Persatuan BOMBA Sukarela of Sungai Asap, a volunteer community organisation, supported by Sarawak Energy, also renders their assistance during incidents. On 26 March 2021, the upstream longhouse community of Bakun HEP, Uma Lesong Sg. Batu Keling in Ulu Balui were provided immediate relief assistance following a fire at their longhouse. 32 affected households received food aid and essential supplies delivered by staff from the Bakun Hydroelectric Plant.
3. Culture & Heritage
Upon assuming operatorship of the Bakun HEP, Sarawak Energy intensified social investments for the Bakun Resettlement community of Apau Koyan by implementing several programmes and initiatives focusing on enhancing and uplifting the wellbeing of the community, including the preservation of culture and heritage.
The 2019 Malaysia Book of Records achievement for the ‘Tungun Belawing Pebeka Tawai’ was one of our initiatives to support the Uma Baha Community in Apau Koyan Belaga to set a new record for the tallest Belawing Tower in Malaysia.
The record-breaking entry was delivered in partnership with Sarawak Energy as part of the company's continuing support for the Bakun Resettlement community of Apau Koyan who were relocated from their original villages upstream of the Balui River.
Initiated by Kenyah Community Leader, Pemanca Tony Kulleh and his team, the Belawing Tower which is embellished with ethnic motifs, is a heritage landmark symbolising the strength in unity of the community. At 80-feet tall, the record-setting tower made of belian trees (ironwood) took about three months of communal efforts to complete.
The event to commemorate the record-breaking tower was held in conjunction with the Apau Koyan Festival held from 25 to 27 October 2019. Both initiatives aim to promote Sarawak’s indigenous cultural identity and were primarily funded by Sarawak Energy.
The achievement enhances Apau Koyan’s appeal as a Sarawak tourist attraction.
Environmental Management and Conservation
Benefiting Our Hydropower Communities: Sarawak Energy Joins River Clean-up Activity at Long Kebuho, Upstream Bakun with Sarawak Rivers Board & Bakun’s Lakeside Community
Around 50 volunteers comprising Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) officers, Sarawak Energy and Bakun’s lakeside community of Uma Balui Long Kebuho Naha Jaley participated in a gotong-royong exercise on 23 March 2021 o clear floating debris at Long Kebuho, about 80km upstream from Bakun Hydroelectric Plant (HEP).
This activity is part of Sarawak Energy’s environmental stewardship and corporate social responsibility efforts.
We also contributed 30 units of life vests, 1,000 face masks and 10 bottles of hand sanitisers to the Long Kebuho community to keep them safe from the risk of COVID-19 transmission, which was still prevalent then.
The clearing of floating debris eases boat passage for villagers who live and commute upstream on the lake and through upriver tributaries.