SBS Dateline | The Last Frontier

ALERT: THIS STORY WAS THE SUBJECT OF A FORMAL COMPLAINT. THE SBS OMBUDSMAN FOUND IT CONTAINED INACCURACIES AND BIAS. THE STORY HAS NOW BEEN MODIFIED TO ADDRESS THE OMBUDSMAN’S FINDINGS.

Thousands of people in the wilderness of Malaysian Borneo are set to lose their homes, as a controversial plan to build a string of huge hydro dams gets under way.

In the state of Sarawak, the Bakun Dam has already flooded an area the size of Singapore, displacing indigenous communities, some of whom say they’ve never received the full compensation they were promised.

David O’Shea has a special investigation, looking at the relationship between the energy company behind the project and Hydro Tasmania’s contract to work on it.

David also examines links between the logging industry in Sarawak and Tasmania.

In Sarawak, some communities say they’ve been intimidated and threatened in an attempt to force them off their land.

And could Australia’s wilderness also be under threat? Forestry Tasmania has a 20 year contract to supply the same logging company David is investigating in Malaysia.

David meets the campaigners in Borneo and Tasmania, and hears the companies involved deny any wrongdoing.

WATCH - David's investigation is in two parts...
PART ONE: THE DAMNED looks at the hydro dam project.
PART TWO: LOGGED OUT? reports on the logging controversy.

MORE INFORMATION - Follow the links under 'resources' on the right-hand side of the page to find out more about those featured in David's story.

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