NEWS & UPDATES

Murum, January 18, 2013 – When one of the four longhouses in Long Wat, Murum, burnt down in the middle of the night on November 18, 2012, Sarawak Energy immediately made the long journey to deliver aid to the community of Penans. This initial assistance was followed up recently when Sarawak Energy’s team visited the 89 households in Long Wat again to deliver the latest batch of donations.

Speaking about the assistance given, Encik Jiwari Abdullah, Sarawak Energy’s Community Relations Manager for Murum said, “Because of our close relationship with the long house communities, we found out about the fire almost instantly which allowed us to respond immediately with very necessary food aid, bedding and clothes. This instant help made life a little more bearable for families who in some cases lost everything they own.

Contrary to claims of some NGOs that Sarawak Energy does not engage with the indigenous communities, we have actually been working with them for nearly half a decade. In the case of Long Wat for example, we built and helped staff a kindergarten for them in 2009.”

The 8 man team from Sarawak Energy’s CSR, Community Relations and Corporate Communications team travelled around six hours from Bintulu, deep into the Sarawak interior for the second time to deliver donations of food, household items, clothing, children’s footwear and toys. Upon arrival, the team was greeted by waves and beaming smiles of adults and children. Over 30 people huddled in the Ketua Kampung’s home eagerly waiting to unwrap the donations which had been unloaded from the four 4x4 vehicles.

“Sarawak Energy has taken up the role as one of the catalysts to bring the state’s vision of socio-economic growth to fruition through SCORE. Most people understand the job opportunities and investment prospects will deliver however, what is not as widely known is the positive impact that SCORE will have on the indigenous communities.

Part of this SCORE socio-economic growth realization will see the indigenous communities from the affected hydropower project sites receiving new long houses which have access to clean water, electricity, amenities, utilities, education, medical and enhanced infrastructure. This can only be done by continuing to work hand-in-glove with the communities as we have been doing for years,” added Jiwari.