Sources told The Star that villagers living in and around the 60,000 ha site in
Belaga district had known about the sex trade since 1996 when the Bakun project
started.
"No one dared to speak up openly because there are gangsters involved and
because the sex trade involved a complicated network that originates from
outside Bakun.
The source added that gangsters from urban centres, like Bintulu and Miri,
would find local and foreign girls to be used as prostitutes.
"These gangsters would liaise with those who have the transport and linkages to
send these girls into Bakun to serve the workers.
"Certain people, working in supervisory levels in sub-contracts and contracts
in the Bakun area, would then arrange for these girls to have sex with the
workers at specific places and at specific times of the month," the source
said.
The Star reported yesterday that it had received SMSes and calls for help from
the women, who claimed to be living in fear as sex slaves at the site.
The report also quoted Sarawak Police Comm Datuk Talib Jamal as saying that the
police had evidence of people bringing women for sex at the project site, which
is about the size of Singapore.
It is learned that the state and federal police are trying their best to trace
the source of the desperate appeals for help.
The Star also learned that local Bakun residents had complained before to their
local political representatives about the presence of these foreign women and
foreign labourers.
The issue has prompted calls from various groups for the police to urgently
quash the sex trade at the dam and arrest the brains behind the syndicates.
Environmental watchdog and community rights group, Borneo Resources Institute,
wants state and federal police to investigate the matter fast.
Institute coordinator for Sarawak, Raymond Abin, said his institute had
received such complaints from Bakun villagers before.
"Residents itold us that these mobile brothels would come every month, just
after payday," Abin said when interviewed.
