Upper Bengoh Under Water

by Joachim Leong — August 08, 2012

Upper Bengoh Under Water highlights the plight of four villages that will soon be submerged under water by the Bengoh Dam in Sarawak, Malaysia. These villagers will have to leave their homes, farmland and orchards - and yet, during the recent State Elections, they did not voice their objections at the ballot box against the government's resettlement plans. We take Bengoh as a case study to find out why rural Sarawak in general did not vote against the ruling coalition.

Synopsis:

Upper Bengoh Under Water highlights the plight of four villages that will soon be submerged under water because of the impoundment of the nearby Bengoh Dam. These villagers will have to leave their homes, farmland and orchards - and yet, during the recent State Elections, they did not voice their objections at the ballot box against the ruling government's resettlement plans. We take Bengoh as a case study to find out why rural Sarawak in general did not vote against the ruling coalition.

Join us on our journey as we learn more about these soon to be submerged homes and get an insight into Rural Sarawak.

Fact: Did you know that two thirds of the population in West Malaysia live in urban areas, yet in Sarawak, nearly two thirds of the population are in rural areas?

Screenings/Premier

This film premiered at the Freedom Film Fest 2011 in October in Petaling Jaya, Kuala Lumpur and has been shown across the country.

Fundraising
All donations and DVD sales will go towards a mini hydro-electric project for Rejoi village and Bujong village resettlements within the impoundment area to help them have sustainable energy as opposed to wasteful gas generators. Cost estimates are around RM 20k for each project (USD6.5k). So, we will need around 40k in total (USD 13k). So far we have collected RM 4k (USD 1.3k) as of 9.11.2011. All donations are accounted for on our blog.

Question/Donations/Screening Requests? Please email : meonet2010@gmail.com

To find out more, visit our blog bengohdry.blogspot.com and do drop a comment below.

In the Media

Malaysiakini: http://bengohdry.blogspot.com/2011/10/film-reviews-eye-opener-malaysiakini.html

Malaysiakini: (Mandarin)- http://bengohdry.blogspot.com/2011/10/film-review-more-objective-assessment.html

Borneo Post - http://www.theborneopost.com/2011/10/30/film-director-to-get-generator-for-bengoh-folk/

Goodtimes: http://goodtimes.my/index.php/Community/the-voting-mystery-of-bengoh.html

Merdeka Review (in Mandarin) -http://bengohdry.blogspot.com/2011/10/merdeka-review-donate-towards-mini.html

Video Info

Duration	24:39
Genres	Documentary
Topics	Civil Liberties Forests Human Rights Indigenous
Tags	Bengoh Dam Sarawakian Dams Freedom Film Fest
Country	Malaysia
Language	Malay
Producer	TV Bebas Sarawak
Director	Joachim Leong
Contact	write the producer
Website	http://bengohdry.blogspot.com
Year produced	2011
Production Company	TV Bebas Sarawak

Contact this author

Cite/attribute Resource. jleongmy. (November 09, 2011). Upper Bengoh Under Water. Retrieved August 20, 2019, from EngageMedia Web site: https://www.engagemedia.org/Members/jleongmy/videos/upper-bengoh-under-water.

yerry says:

November 22, 2011

hello we're glad that you send this video to our website..the only question is, could you resize it, maybe until below 500 Megabytes..fully appreciate..

peace

yerry says:

November 22, 2011

hi thanks for changing this video file:)

Joachim Leong says:

November 22, 2011

Cheers for publishing!

Upper Bengoh Under Water

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Upper Bengoh Under Water

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