Antares (Kit Leee)
Ceremonial Guardian
MAGICK RIVER
Antares (Kit Leee)
Magick River
44000 Kuala Kubu Baru
Ulu Selangor
16 March 1999
Open Letter to Mr Ooi Boon Keng and Tan Sri Wan Azmi Wan Hamzah of the TSWA-Gamuda-KDEB would-be dam-building consortiumDear Mr Ooi and Tan Sri Wan Azmi:
I cannot put off writing to you any longer with regard to the proposed Selangor Dam. The crassness and recklessness of your proposed dam project offend all decent souls who seek to live in peace and harmony with nature. I speak in my capacity as Ceremonial Guardian of Magick River and on behalf of everyone who wishes to see the Selangor Dam project halted at once.
We live in the same country, on the same planet. We are of the same race (human, I hope) and yet we seem to view reality from opposite ends of the spectrum. Surely, there must be ways we can communicate that can lead to feelings of kinship and reconciliation rather than enmity? This is my personal initiative to build a bridge of understanding between our worldviews. I ask only that you read this letter in the spirit in which it is written. That you grant me a hearing - not just with your ears and your minds, but with your hearts.
I am a practitioner of the arts who has chosen to live close to nature amongst the Temuan community. Having lived in Kuala Lumpur for 22 years and 7 years in Pertak, I am in a unique position to serve as translator and intermediary between urban and rural perceptions, between the rational and the intuitive worlds. Modern man has pitted himself against mother nature to the detriment of his own long-term prospects for survival.
When I was nineteen I discovered there were many layers, many levels, many unseen dimensions of reality, each interacting with the other in very complex ways. I realized that many of the conflicts arising in human affairs resulted from modern man’s insensitivity to subtle energies and frequencies. This has led to our valuing quantity over quality, material gain over spiritual maturity. Our hard-headed, narrow-minded denial of the Unseen Realms is very silly. Just because we cannot see electricity or magnetism, can we deny they exist?
We do this at our own peril, for we are already on the brink of worldwide ecosystemic collapse. Your proposal to dam up the Selangor River is yet another step towards ruining our efforts to heal the Earth. The systematic degradation of our environment is what causes our worsening air and water quality. It’s not so much the quantity that’s a problem - it’s the quality. Let’s admit it: your dam project can only alleviate our water woes and your economic distress in the very short term. Within a few years we shall all find ourselves in a far worse situation. Unless we heed the warning signs and change course while we still can.
You are about to commit a gross error in public relations. Your proposed dam will meet with a million times more resistance than you expected and the project will be dogged by horrendous problems at every step. If you are foolhardy enough to persist, you will be inundated by negative public opinion. Please withdraw gracefully while you have the chance.
The Temuan have stories that tell how Selangor state received its name. Selangor comes from a Temuan word, celango, which means “dangling” and is also the name of a fruit native to the area. Yes, this state was named by the ancestors of its original inhabitants, the Temuan. To have dwelt in the magnificent rainforest for hundreds, even thousands of generations, only to be forcefully evicted from their beloved birthplace - their tanah pusaka - is indeed a crime and a tragedy. A crime on the part of those who would evict them and a tragedy for those evicted; and for those who will be drowned or rendered homeless by the guardian spirits’ wrathful and inevitable retribution.
Having conferred with the Elders of the Temuan tribe and with the guardian spirits of the area, I am charged with the mission of conveying to you in plain words exactly what will happen should you insist on carrying out your dam proposal. The site you have chosen for the Selangor Dam is known to the Temuan as the gathering place of the Orang Halus. Anyone who attempts to desecrate the spot will collide head-on with mysterious forces. I am told that one life has already been claimed in the process of performing the preliminary soil tests for the dam. The Temuan say this is not the first time. Nor will it be the last.
There is a major dragon’s path not far from where you intend to construct the dam wall. Modern engineers generally do not believe in dimensional realities beyond the physical and therefore are confounded when their structures collapse for no apparent reason. Should this happen once the dam is built and the reservoir filled, you will have a calamity on your hands of the first magnitude. A tribal elder named Utat announced recently that the spirit guardian of Gunung Raja (which the Temuan regard as Pusat Negeri - Navel of the Nation - and revere as the birthplace of their divine ancestors Mamak and Inak Bongsu) appeared before him in a dream and warned him that there would be massive retaliation against those who dare encroach upon the sacred sites. This could result in disastrous consequences reaching as far as Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam. Interestingly, a similar dream was received last week by an urban expatriate in KL who awoke crying uncontrollably, whereupon he telephoned me, beseeching me to do everything I could to avert a potential tragedy.
This is a worst-case disaster scenario I have no desire to see fulfilled, and therefore I write to you at the risk of sounding like a superstitious fool. Having lived amongst the Temuan for seven years, I have come to respect their magical beliefs which I shall attempt to interpret for you in “scientific” terms.
The unique combination of crystals, rocks and metals in the Pertak area, and the riverine topology of the land, combine to generate powerful electromagnetic vortices which function as enormous tube toruses: Pertak is indeed the solar plexus chakra of the Peninsula. Many other earth chakra fields intersect this magical area, creating a multitude of “doorways” into various dimensional realities. Building a dam here would severely upset the dynamic equilibrium of the electromagnetic grid, leading to large-scale disintegration and decay - which, on the physical plane, manifests as massive erosion, landslides, and severe flash floods - accompanied by new strains of disease. Huge chunks of hillslopes will collapse, causing ruptures in the reservoir and triggering the nightmarish possibility of dam failure.
To claim that the Selangor Dam will be “fail safe” is tempting fate. Every burst dam was thought to be “fail-safe” - until it failed! This specifically applies to dams taller than 15 metres. Especially rockfill dams subject to the constant and relentless force of moving water. Reservoir Induced Seismicity is also a distinct danger that cannot be glossed over.
You have absolutely no right to embark on such a high-risk construction venture, utterly disregarding the safety and peace-of-mind of thousands who live downstream of the proposed dam. As prime movers of the project, you will be held responsible for whatever happens. Rather than being hailed as heroes who saved the taps of KL and PJ from running dry, you will be booed as the villainous rogues who conspired to desecrate one of the most beautiful and dearly beloved spots in the Peninsula, and in the process jeopardized the lives and livelihoods of thousands.
The involvement of Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad, the Selangor State government’s investment agency, only adds to the sordidness of the Selangor Dam project. The line between private and public interest is blurred indeed. Do you honestly believe no one can see through your naughty schemes?
Having told you in no uncertain terms that we do not want you to push ahead with the project, I feel I must mitigate my harsh words with some helpful and positive suggestions.
On Sunday, 21st March, the Concerned for Sungai Selangor are hosting in conjunction with Magick River a Selangor River Festival and Open House - stretching from Kg Gerachi to Kg Pertak - to which all are welcome. I take this opportunity to personally invite you to join us in this weekend celebration of life and nature and the matchless beauty of Pertak. I’m positive that if you can accept this invitation in good faith and come along with open hearts and open minds (you don’t even have to identify yourselves, if you’re really that shy), you will find it surprisingly easy to announce a change of plans - and you will perhaps thank us for saving you from ignominy and possible ruin. Enclosed is a programme for the Selangor River Festival which I hope you will share with the other partners in your consortium.
My sincere wish is that you will quickly recognize that we are NOT your enemies. We really have no desire to interfere with your business - as long as your business does not result in the wholesale destruction of a priceless natural heritage of which the Temuan are hereditary custodians; and if your plans in no way endanger the future prospects or well-being of others.
Nothing would work better in your individual and corporate favour at this point than for you to call a press conference announcing your decision to CANCEL the Selangor Dam project. I know you have incurred some expenses to date, but please remember that much of your past earnings has been at the expense of the environment. It would indeed be a blessed feeling to regain the goodwill of the Temuan community and Kuala Kubu Baru residents (not to mention all those who live along Sungai Selangor, and the further thousands who love the river and her tributaries). And if you then decided to help the residents of Kg Gerachi and Kg Pertak by presenting them with two medium-sized water-powered turbines that can generate eco-friendly, free electricity, it would go even farther towards improving your companies’ standing as community-minded corporate citizens.
Sincerely,
Antares (Kit Leee)
Ceremonial Guardian
MAGICK RIVER
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