The State versus Indigenous Peoples: The Impact of Hydraulic Projects on Indigenous Peoples

of Asia
Author(s): Nguyen Thi Dieu
Source: Journal of World History, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 101-130
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20078660
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The

State versus

Indigenous

Peoples:

The Impact of Hydraulic Projects on

Indigenous Peoples of Asia
NGUYEN

THI DIEU

Temple University

to nation
from kingdoms
ages and continents,
throughout
to im
in
territorial
have
their
expansion
always attempted
Politiesstates,
on
various
certain
economic
the
sociocultural
values and
pose
patterns
the modern
ethnic groups that form their societies. Entering
age, most
states had evolved national
identities determined
defined
and
by the
certain eth
dominant
ethnic group(s). This process usually excluded
nic minorities,
in particular
the peoples
that were variously named
"tribal peoples,"
"savages," "barbarians," "slaves," "original people," or
centuries
of neglect
and spoliation,
the
"indigenous
people." After
declared
United
Nations
1993 the Year of the Indigenous
Peoples of
interest and concern
International
and Latin America.1
Asia, Africa,
in the present day do not signify that the interaction
between
indige
1The

or indigenous peoples, as defined

term indigenous populations
in the latest revised
and Tribal Populations
Convention,
(1990) of the Indigenous
applies to the following
in independent
countries whose
social, cultural
ua) tribal (peoples/populations)
categories:
conditions
them from other sections of the national
and economic
community
distinguish
. . .b)
on
in independent
countries
who are regarded as indigenous
(peoples/populations)
account of their descent
which
inhabited
the country, or a geographi
from the populations
. . . and
or colonization
at the time of conquest
cal region to which
the country
belongs,
. . . retain some or all of their own social, economic,
institutions.
cultural and political
who
as indigenous
or tribal shall be regarded as a fundamental
criterion
for
Self-identification
of this Convention
the groups to which
the provisions
determining
apply" (Van de Fliert
as op
1994, p. 64). The choice of the terms that have been used to refer to them?people
as the preference
of one over
connotations,
fraught with political
posed to population?is
of self-determination.
See Johnston, Knight,
and Kofman,
eds.
the other raises the prospect
draft

(1988).
Journal ofWorld History, Vol. 7, No. 1
of Hawai'i Press
by University

?1996

101

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nous peoples and the dominant

is recent and has
mainstream
society
come to light only in the twentieth
in Asia
On
the
century.
contrary,
in
with
of
the
relations
other
the
(as
world),
parts
indigenous peoples'
and treatment by exogenous
forces spanned centuries of the history of
in which
the kingdoms
and then nation-states
they lived. In India an
cient Sanskrit
of the adivasi (aborigi
literature made frequent mention
or vanyajati
nal people)
(forest-dwellers)
(Hasnain
1983, pp. 9-10).
the existence
of such interactions
mountains
and
and the lowland,
peoples
In
from
while
the Yellow River
inhabitants.
China,
expanding
valley
non-Han
for
of years.
Han
rulers
dealt
with
thousands
basin,
peoples
once
at
more
mutu
and
This
than millennial
adversarial
relationship,

Archaeological
between
forest

evidence

has shown
of the hills

in China's
is reflected
of myths
rich cultural heritage
ally dependent,
in
from the non-Han
both directions,
and folktales
that have traveled
to the Han culture and vice-versa.
In southeast Asia
of
the kingdoms
or Angkor
in their hegemonic
rise displaced
Pagan, Siam, Vietnam,
to
them away from the fertile lowlands
forcing
indigenous
peoples,
the
between
seek refuge in the mountainous
regions. The relationship
or tribal peoples has thus been a
and the minority
dominant
group(s)
land spolia
long, enduring one, often fraught with misunderstandings,
or assimilation
of the
and in most cases, extinction
tion, bloodshed,
or tribal peoples.
minority
In the twentieth
the help of activist
groups and
century, with
international
organizations,
indigenous
peoples have fought and lost
their rights?in
that of
many
particular,
struggles as they defended
resources
At
of land and
tribal ownership
(Wilmer
present,
1993).
of
the combined
this situation
has become
pressure
urgent under
mosaic
of
In
the
ethnic
and
dictates
demographics.
developmental
in China
and India where
there are more
than 150
Asia, particularly
have
and
tribal
the mis
million
peoples
people, minority
indigenous
on a long
in nation-states
that have embarked
fortune of existing
econo
to transform
into modern
industrial
themselves
measures
been
that
have
and
the many projects
adopted
of gigantic, multipurpose
the construction
governments,
cure to the woes of under
as the ultimate
dams has been conceived

term effort
mies. Among
by the Asian

development.
of what a
With
Egypt's Aswan High Dam as the leading example
in terms of engineering
Third World
feats,
country could accomplish
in
of dams over the last three decades has greatly
the construction
three decades
later?
creased?from
5,000 dams in 1950 to 36,200
in developing
above all in China, which accounts
for
countries,
mostly
or multi
the world during this period. Singlehalf the dams builHn

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

103

for bringing
purpose dams have been hailed
cheap, clean, and abun
dant electricity;
for controlling
floods; and for making
pos
devastating
water
sible large-scale
and
Dam con
storage,
irrigation,
navigation.2
struction represents a major, visible, and costly effort in these nations'
For international
organizations,
long-term
developmental
planning.
such as the World
the
lender
and financial backer of most
Bank,
prime
inAsia,
the Asian
hydraulic projects, and its counterpart
dams
Bank,
represent concrete,
symbols of
Development
quantifiable
returns.
almost
immediate
Abundant
that
progress
yield
hydroelectric
to produce
is less expensive
than electric power gener
power, which
ated by thermal or nuclear
energy, has fueled the dreams of all devel
of the world's

their economies.
But little notice
oping nations
seeking to industrialize
to
enormous
in governmental
has
been
the
human and
given
planning
costs of such projects.
ecological
This paper explores
the impact of hydraulic
such as dams
projects
on the peoples who used to make the forests and the hills of Asia
their
homes

and the burial grounds

and the riverine and mountain

Some
with

of their

ancestors:

the forest-dwellers
India, and China.

peoples of Malaysia,
these indigenous
peoples have had only sporadic relations
the mainstream
society; some have existed side by side?distinct
of

and yet interrelated?with

the dominant
for thousands
of
society
as
the success or failure of nation-states,
years. This paper will examine
to
in integrating
territories and peoples,
and
industrialize,
they hasten
it will consider
the choices
these nation-states
have to make between,
on the one hand, national
interests, and economic
identity, national
that would
the larger society and, on the
encompass
development
other hand,
the extinction
of an apparently
the
segment,
negligible
It will conclude
into the
remaining
indigenous
peoples.
by looking
a present reality?with
future?one
that is quickly becoming
the case
on
of China's mammoth
Three Gorges
the Yangzi. It
(Sanxia) Project
on China's
will examine
the possible
of the project
repercussions
it entails for the relationship
and what
between
for
the conflicting
peoples,
imperatives of national
versus
and security
the reclaiming
trend of
unity,
development,
to
the Yangzi as opposed
regional history,
identity, and economy?for
the Yellow River basin.

national minorities
Han and non-Han

2The case of the Aswan

High
negative
impacts on the
profoundly
is a rich literature on the impacts
tions. See, for example, Goldsmith
(1992).

Dam

has

shown

that

such

a colossal
can have
project
of the Nile basin. There
and on human
popula

and people
economy,
ecology,
of dams on the environment
and Hildyard
(1984); Hirsch

(1982);

and Thukral,

ed.

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Past

is
With
few exceptions,
the world of the indigenous
peoples of Asia
remote riverine valleys, and steep hills. The indige
that of rainforests,
one
nous peoples'
is a symbiotic
with
the environment
relationship
as
and defined
their ethnic
that has determined
orang ulu
identity
or
of
the
interior)
(forest-dwellers).
practice
vanyajati
They
(people
the economic
(slash-and-burn
system
agriculture),
a patch of primary or secondary forest is cut down,
crops, such as corn,
burned, and planted with rice or other subsistence
manioc.
and
The
swidden
bananas,
crop is complemented
peanuts,
with fruits, edible roots, and spices from the forest. The flora and fauna
the indigenous
but also
provide
peoples not only with nourishment,
with cultural,
The
land
that
sustains
and
social,
religious significance.
It is
them is also the burial ground for the family and the community.
one
none
to
to
to
rest
in
It
all
and
where
they may hope
day.
belongs
swidden cultivation
of land use in which

since it is ultimately
the property of the gods. The concept
particular,
of land (with registered
and practices
of private ownership
title) did
not exist in most swidden societies. Land and forests alike were sacred
to be gifts from the creator to all. Whoever
because they were believed
to another
it from one generation
land
and
cultivated
cleared
the
as
as
to
it
he
and
his
kin
the
usufructuary
respected
long
enjoyed
rights
the customary
law, a complex web of customs referred to as adat in the
as "all of the various customary
Malay world. Adat may be defined
that guide an
ritual
interdictions
and injunctions
norms,
jurai rules,
and forms of redress by which
and the sanctions
individual's conduct,
these norms and rules are upheld"
(Sandin
1980, p. xi). As such, adat
are closely
?or
its equivalent?and
swidden cultivation
intertwined.
use regi
of
land
To indigenous peoples,
thanks to the complex
system
of the community
has the
laws, every member
by customary
to
to
live
the
and
from
the
land.
cultivate
Hence,
family's needs
right
or tribe are equally tended to, leading to
and those of the community
of all.
the self-sufficiency
that existed
before colonial
This was the situation
rule, which
notion
of territory and in certain cases the
the political
introduced
notion
that can be parceled out and pri
of land as a source of wealth

mented

It also brought with it the

owned,
sold, or bought by individuals.
intensive
of natu
and
exploitation
practice of large-scale commercial
was
resources.
that
It
thus during
the colonial
the two
ral
period
on
each
other's margins
that had coexisted
and interacted
worlds
of tributes, for instance)
the exchange
collided,
(through
leading to
taken by the
the intrusion by one on the other. Among many measures
vately

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

105

land acts
central power during colonial
times, the passing of multiple
to take over land that it considered
territorium
allowed the government
ethnic groups.
nullius, virgin territory, unexploited
by the dominant
in Malaysia,
State
For example,
land acts?the
the successive
Malay
of 1957?recognized
of 1934 and the Land Code
Forest Enactment
of land titles, reject
private land ownership
only through registration
and cultivated
land
notion
owned
the
of
ing
communally
unregistered,
customs
Forests
had
native
of
that
the
peoples.
long recognized
by
tribal property became mostly
state-owned,
public land. Swidden
their
and often forbidden from practicing
cultivators were discouraged
were
which
considered
slash-and-burn
traditional
"damag
techniques,
on
(Hurst 1987, p. 171). Thus, encroachment
ing to the environment"
common
it public?a
land and the official
theft of land by declaring
in the postin
continued
authorities?was
enough practice by colonial

been

dependence
period.
in population
the dominant
With
society, increasing
independence
its
the
and spearheaded
nation-state,
expression,
expanded
by
political
as national
further into the tribal world of forests and rivers, claiming
resources heretofore
natural
space and wealth
seemingly
untapped,
land that was

the communal
property of tribal peoples.3 The
now
dominated
government,
by landed elites and financial
was
and deter
faced
with
interests,
problems
multiple
developmental
to embark on the long and arduous road to industrialization
mined
by
means of exploitation
In its path stood
of all available natural wealth.
one of the last vestiges of the past, the tribal peoples.
grabbing
national

in the possession
of the Brooke
Sarawak,
formerly
family (1841
crown
under
the
British
and
then
( 1946-63),
1941 )
joined the Federa
is
in 1963. About
tion of Malaysia
of Sarawak
70% of the population
more
land area comprises
than
rural. Some 76% of Sarawak's
forests,
is primary
of which
forest (Ngau, Apoi,
and Ling
one-third
1987,
an
to
in
its
In
the
effort
oil
for
1970s,
p. 175).
diversify
dependency
the federal government
identified Sarawak and its
power production,
numerous
rivers as a region with
rich hydroelectric
potential
(Hong
locations
that could be developed,
1987, p. 169). Of the six possible
was
in the Second
Division
the Batang Ai River
(Batang Lupar)
in 1977 (Hong
work began
for construction;
selected
1987, p. 170).
to projects
in India or China,
the Batang Ai dam is a rela
Compared
tively modest
3The

venture

conceived

with

the sole goal of electricity

seizure of tribal land was not a purely colonial

phenomenon.
and empires had appropriated
conquest,
ceding colonial
kingdoms
out pioneer
settlers (de Koninck
and McTaggart
1987, pp. 342-56).

In the centuries
tribal

pro

pre
lands by sending

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duction
and
per year) for consumption
(92 megawatts
by Kuching
cost was paid for by local and foreign
Sibu. Its M$525
million
loans,
acres of land, an important part of
It flooded 42,000
mainly
Japanese.
which was tropical primary forest. It also led to the displacement
of
and
3,000 Iban (500 families)
(Ngau, Apoi,
Ling 1987, p. 176).
Of Sarawak's multiethnic
to the Iban eth
33% belongs
population
nic group. The Iban are long-house
dwellers who practice
swidden cul
tivation of hill rice; the availability
to the survival
of forest is essential
of their socioeconomic
and religious system (Lebar 1972, 1:181; Free
man
forests that were flooded
1970; Sutlive,
Jr., 1978). The
by the
were
Ai
the
habitat
of
the
Iban.4
traditional
project
Batang
hydraulic
to
Ai
the
According
anthropologist
Evelyn Hong,
Batang
valley was
the "repository of the oldest and best of Iban oral tradition"
(Hong
out of their ancestral
lands to be
1987, p. 171). The Iban were moved
on land belonging
to other Iban who,
resettled downstream,
in turn,
had to be transplanted
elsewhere. At the beginning
of the project,
the
Sarawak
Land Consolidation
and Rehabilitation
government?the
to
made
(SALCRA)?had
them, including that of
promises
Authority
to
cash compensation
for lost land, fruit trees, and farms, in addition
acres
the grant of permanent
of
eleven
each
for
plots
family
displaced
1987).
acres of cleared
eleven
with
cocoa,
land, planted
rubber,
trees
were only that: a
and
fruit
the
government
by
paddy,
promised
that was never fulfilled. Each family actually
received
promise
only
one acre. The cocoa, rubber, and fruit trees had to be planted
(and the
(Hong
The

seeds purchased)
free
by the Iban themselves.
They had been promised
water
in
for
their
lost
free
and
electric
housing
exchange
long houses,
all, the dam was being built to produce
ity?after
electricity?and
at the dam site. None
of it materialized.
The cash com
employment
was
amount
to
to
which
millions
of dollars, was
pensation,
supposed
never paid in full. Those
some compensation
Iban who did receive
lost it in gambling
and on futile consumer
quickly
and electric
cars, televisions,
gadgets. But, worst
Ai
had
lost
their
ancestral
burial grounds,
Batang
hence,
are now

purchases
of all, the

such as
Iban of

forests, fields, and

souls. The
self-subsistent
formerly free-roaming,
people
trapped in the world of the dominant
peoples with their con

their

4The
in the interior hills of
Iban are a riverine people who practice
shifting cultivation
are further differentiated
Iban refers to several
Sarawak. The name
tribes, which
by their
riverine
location. Because
of their endless
search for virgin rainforest,
the Iban, an agricul
the jungles of Sarawak,
tural, warrior people, had been on a constant migration
throughout
and headhunting.
Rice hill cultivation
is essential
enslavement
waging war and practicing
to the Iban

in terms of both

economy

and religion

(Lebar

1972,

1:180-81).

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

107

the necessary
and water bills, but without
for jobs, electricity,
skills to survive in the urban jungle (Colchester
60-61).
pp.
1989,
into becoming
forced
The
Iban of Batang Ai were
permanent
Al
to
cultivation.
no
their
allowed
shifting
settlers,
practice
longer
ob
their
to
of
the
construction
resist
the
dam,
though they attempted
in 1985. The harsh
struction could not prevent the project's completion
that
led the Iban to conclude
settlement
reality of life on a permanent
once
the
been
had
government.
again
duped by
they
that
The Batang Ai dam was not the sole hydroelectric
project
forest world of the natives
to put an end to the traditional
threatened
to build another,
also planned
of Sarawak. The Malaysian
government

cerns

of the upper Rajang and

much
larger dam in Bakun, at the confluence
cost was to range
whose
estimated
Seventh
Balui Rivers,
Division,
to $2 billion.
It will be the largest dam in southeast
billion
from US$i
some
capacity of 2,400 megawatts,
Asia, with an electricity-generating
of which will be transferred to peninsular Malaysia
(Colchester
1989,
along with
p. 58). Five thousand Kenyah, Kayan, and Kajang natives,
ten thousand Penan aborigines, will be displaced. A Kenyah,
possibly
reflecting on the joys that his traditional way of life has given him and
said:
his people,
We

Kenyah

whoever

are living our own way of life.We

except

our

own

tuai

kampong

[village

are not controlled

elders].

. . We
.

by

search

can stop us and we have a

for wild boar freely in the jungle?nobody
very beautiful river, beautiful mountain, beautiful scenery and beauti
ful trees.We enjoy them all from the very old to the young. And with
all

these,

we

have

our

culture

that make

us Kenyah.

. . .And

now

an

other Rajah is coming. ... It is coming to kill us, flood us and to flood
our ancestors, flood the fish, flood the trees, chase the birds away.
(Hong 1987, pp. 185-86)
In light of the fate of the resettled people of Batang Ai, the Kenyah
and the other peoples who will be affected by the Bakun project vowed
to fight on. Fortunately,
the natives of Sarawak are not without
politi
thanks to their tradition of community
cal experience,
leadership and
and postcolonial
action during the colonial
1967,
period (Kunstadter
their interests,
the Iban and the Bidayuh
1:336). In 1983, to defend
that
formed a political
(PBDS)
party, the Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak
ran
state
fifteen of the
for Sarawak
elections,
winning
successfully
seats
learned a
state
in
1991,
22).
p.
(Aznam
Having
1987
forty-eight
of the Iban of Batang Ai,
lesson from the tragic experience
valuable
for dam construction
have
selected
of the river valleys
the natives

io8

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I996

to voice their concerns

themselves
in meet
and opposition
organized
and demonstrations.
The struggle against the dam and
ings, petitions,
seems to have reaffirmed the identity
resettlement
against involuntary
as indigenous
of the threatened
communities
peoples,
proud of their
culture and of their adat (Oliver-Smith
1991, p. 149). In the face of
such opposition,
in
the Bakun dam project was temporarily
canceled
the Malaysian
1987. However,
gov
despite all the political
opposition,
ernment
to revive the project, unable
to resist the appeal of
decided
a major energy source in southeast Asia.
Sarawak becoming

The

Present

Since
allowed
pying
world.

the vastness
of the Indian subcontinent
had
to
occu
in
and
exist
tribes
mutual
each
kingdoms
ignorance,
its own space without
the need for either to transgress the other's
there were also instances
of interactions
between
Naturally,
ancient

times

societies
brahmanical
and the adivasi world based on mutual
needs,
however
and
and Huber
(Anderson
unequal
exploitative
they were
studies have equally demonstrated
that adivasi "are
1988). Numerous
not only forest dwellers but also for centuries
they have evolved a way
on the one hand,
of life which,
round forest ecology and for
[is] woven
est resources and, on the other, ensures
that the forest is protected
against depredation
by man and nature" (Sinha, Basu, and Basu 1989,
p. 198).
The

of the British Raj shattered

this situation. The new
in
the
British
the
of their empire
scrutiny brought by
management
lifted the veils of mystery
that had enveloped
the forests. As they ex
the subcontinent,
throughout
panded
subduing
rajahs and sultans,
an
extended
network
of
and canals
that
roads, railroads,
building
tribal
the
colonizers
territories,
opened up
imposed the same systems of
land tenure and taxation on tribals as they did on nontribals
in prince
advent

In 1894 the British Raj enforced sweep

provinces.
ly states and Mughal
that despoiled
tribals of natural resources having
ing forest legislation
value. For instance,
the "Rules for the Treatment
and
high commercial
of Hillmen"
that the tribals were henceforth
Management
stipulated
to be under
the Forestry Department's
the
and, denying
authority
tribals any right to their ancestral forests, declared all forests to be state
forests thus made public
(Morris 1986, p. 255).
property
Indigenous
were
leased out to private contractors
for the exploitation
of timber,
santal oil, myrobolam
(used for tanning
leather), and other resources.
In states that belong to the tribal belt of India (Orissa and Madhya

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

109

in place of forests rose coffee and tea planta

for instance),
Pradesh,
tions that totally changed
the ecological
system as well as the equilib
rium that had existed between
adivasi and forests (Sinha, Basu, and
"the
Basu 1989, p. 234). In the words of a British governor of Madras,
but confiscation'1 (Sinha,
forest policy was not of conservation
such as the Forestry Depart
Basu, and Basu 1989, p. 257). Agencies
ment were established
with full executive
powers to enforce a policy
a
that directly regulated tribal lives. As
result, many tribals rapidly be
came migrant workers on these same plantations
for miserable
wages,
the same hand that took
if they were not reduced to servitude. With
tradition of
the long colonial
away tribal lands, the British Raj?in
its
under
colonized
legislation
guardianship?enacted
peoples
placing
whose official purpose was to protect the "innocent
savages" by giving
them a special status and treating them as wards of the state (Govern
British

with this, the territories

of India Act of 1919 and 1935). Along
time were declared "Sched
that had been theirs since their forefathers'
or "Backward Tracts" and governed
uled Districts"
by special legisla
tion (Furer-Haimendorf
1982, p. 39).
In the postindependence
this policy of "tribal disenfran
period,
in
of 1950, which
the
Constitution
chisement" was continued,
notably
in every state
Tribes" and "Scheduled Areas"
established
"Scheduled

ment

for their protec

that had tribal populations
and, in theory, provided
statuses
Huber
tion with
and
and
(Anderson
1988, p.
special rights
constitutes
the
tribal
At
present
7% of the overall
population
39).
as
than 400 tribes officially
with more
Indian population,
recognized
88% of all tribals are agriculturists. Accord
"Scheduled Tribes." About
is the only source of livelihood
Hasnain,
ing to Nadeem
"agriculture
which most of them have known for centuries"
(Hasnain
1983, p. 82).
in both tribal and nontribal
because of the rapid increase
However,
pressure on land is rising, and "those tribals who practice
population,
are growing
in numbers and the jhum [swidden cul
cultivation
shifting
in most places. Similarly
those
tivation] cycle is shortening
alarmingly
are also increasing
in
taken to settled cultivation
tribals who have
numbers"

(Hasnain
1983).
to this demographic
pressure on land and its resulting scar
Adding
recent
in
the
has passed legis
decades,
government
city
postcolonial
and restrict tribal rights. The most
lative acts that further constrain
of these concern
forest legislation. The Forest Act of 1952,
damaging
that did not pre
for example,
gave the tribals "rights and concessions"
to timber contractors
vent their loss of forest ownership
(Anderson
and Huber
seding the

Act of 1980, super

1988, p. 44). The Forest Conservation
to forest officials, who
powers
1952 act, gave magistrate

I IO

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1996

in
could arbitrarily
impose and collect heavy fines from tribals caught
the act of collecting
It even allowed
forest produce or cutting firewood.
these officials to jail any "perpetrator"
due pro
(tribal, that is) without
cess of law. In sum, the forest policy became more repressive as it fur
ther limited and penalized
tribals in their ancestral
territory.
This policy has actually
led to an accelerated
pace of deforestation.
The forests of India covered a third of the country's
land surface until
a
a
to
about half
United Nations
century ago, but according
study, "in
there
less than twenty years, given the current rate of deforestation,
will be no natural forests left in South Asia"
(Morris 1986, p. 256). It is
to a large
is caused
useful to point out that this rapid deforestation
extent by the governmental
policy of leasing vast forest acreage to pri
vate timber companies
To add to such deterioration,
for exploitation.
of India over several decades has launched vast pro
the government
of hydraulic
grams of construction
projects on most of the subconti
nent's

rivers.

itself on being one of the

India has prided
independence,
countries
first Third World
capable of building giant dams such as the
no account
and the Hirakud
Damodar
1991, p. 76). However,
(Seshadri
was taken of the impact of such projects on the displaced
people and
As these hydraulic projects multiplied?in
their environment.
particu
in the Western
of dissent
Ghat?voices
lar in the region of Kerala,
became
louder, and the suffering endured
by the people who were
It appeared
that a disproportionately
ousted came to public notice.
to
and most excluded
the
them
of
seg
poorest
belonged
large majority
Since

to the tribal people.

In fact, 40%
of the society and in particular
of the displaced people were tribals (Thukral
1992, p. 8). In the case of
as the Cholanaicker,
and
the Kurumbas,
such tribal peoples
Kerala,
losses of
have suffered tremendous
and Malampuzha
those of Wynad
of dams.
land and culture as the result of the construction
is one among many
ambitious
River Valley Project
The Narmada
to
to the
launched
has
Indian
that
the
prove
government
projects
feats on the scale of the Tennessee
world that it is capable of technical

ments

in the plateau
of
River
The Narmada
originates
Valley Authority.
and flows westward
in the state of Madhya
Pradesh
Amarkantak
forested hills and culti
and Gujarat,
through
through Maharashtra
on an 808-mile
vated
course,
lands, and out to the Gulf of Cambay
en route more
than forty tributaries
(Alvares and Billorey
collecting
Its river basin sustains more than 20 million
people,
1987, pp. 62-63).
alike. Several years ago the basin and, in particu
tribals and nontribals
were famous for the
and the Satpura Mountains,
lar, the Vindhyas
richness of their flora and fauna (Alvares and Billorey
1987, p. 75).

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

in

of the river, up in the hills, and in the forests of

live the adivasi or vanyajati,
and Rajasthan
Pradesh, Gujarat,
Madhya
from the land, the
tribal peoples of India who have derived sustenance
waters
since
time
and
of
these
immemorial
the
(Helm
forests,
regions
inhabit
tribal peoples who
1968, p. 186). Some of the more notable
the region of the Narmada
basin are Gonds,
Bhils, Korju, Pardhans,
Along

the banks

Kol, and Baigas. Their number and state of material

and the Bhils are several million
vary. The Gonds
strong
development
in the states of Madhya
and concentrated
Pradesh and Maharashtra
like the Bharia-Bhumia
and
(Furer-Haimendorf
1982, p. 14). Others,
the Kol, barely number
several thousand. The Gonds had participated
in the history of the subcontinent
and had formed small independent
states that lasted until the end of the nineteenth
century. But as Furer

Bharia-Bhumia,

the proud Gonds

have now
The
laborers.
wage
Baigas of
was
Pradesh
which
believe
practice
they
Madhya
shifting cultivation,
to
In
their mythology
dictated
them by their bhagwan (god).
the plow
Earth is akin to torture, and the adoption
of such prac
ing of Mother
tice could bring disaster (Hasnain
1983, p. 87).
Most
tribals who have had prolonged
exposure to the society of the
are
some
own small plots of land, but
lowlands
settled agriculturists;
in India is
of the total tribal population
about "one-fifth
presently
as wage earners" (Hasnain
in agriculture
1983, p. 26). Some
engaged
on the hills
in the few states
tribes still practice
swidden cultivation
as
it is allowed,
such
where
Pradesh and the Northeast
region.
Madhya
has demonstrated
Haimendorf
to the status of
been reduced

(1982),
landless

are hunters and gatherers;

Others
still others combine
both economic
activities.
The Bhils, for instance, make
the forests of Gujarat
their
tree worship
fruits and vegetables
and practicing
habitat,
gathering
1978, pp. 63-64).
(mango and pipal trees) (Chattopadhyay
in the region where
Such was the situation of tribal peoples
the
is taking place. The Narmada Valley
much criticized Narmada
Project
in 1946 and approved by the Rajiv Gandhi
gov
Project was conceived
ernment
in 1987. It would
involve
the construction
along the Nar
mada River
and its tributaries of 30 giant dams,
135 medium-sized
some
dams, and
3,000 smaller dams and irrigation works. The project
in its entirety would take more than a century and lead to the displace
ment
two major dams that have been ap
of 1 million
people. The
are
construction
for
Narmada
the
(or Indira) Sagar dam in
proved
in Gujarat. The Nar
and
the
Sardar
Sarovar
dam
Pradesh
Madhya
is an upstream project
mada Sagar, in the state of Madhya
Pradesh,
acres of land in the
to provide
for the irrigation of 303,945
designed
two districts of East and West Nimar. The
irrigation goal is also com

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SPRING

I996

of 223
bined with
the projected
production
in the
The Sardar Sarovar dam, downstream
is
will
built
first
and
combine
District,
being
more than 3 million
acres and producing
300

of electricity.
megawatts
state of Gujarat, Bharuch
the benefits of irrigating
of electricity.
megawatts
It will flood a total of 289 villages, most of them in Madhya
Pradesh
are
two
to
The
additional
(Rich 1989, p. 48).
projects
bring
expected
to the surrounding
states characteristic
of such multipur
advantages
and tourism)
pose projects
(flood control,
irrigation,
pisciculture,
a
create
series
will
of pools,
(Alvares and Billorey
1987, p. 63). They
acres
reservoirs
that will submerge 865,000
of forest and
lakes, and
more
acres of cultivated
than 400,000
land (Seshadri
1991, p. 77).
The

two projects
The Narmada

will

200,000 people.
displace approximately
strong
Sagar and the Sardar Sarovar have attracted
both from Indian nontribal
and tribal
and long-standing
opposition,
activists
All
and from
international
environmental
organizations.
the
dams?the
the risk?present
major
larger they are, the higher
same weaknesses:
in terms of the dam itself, the dangers of siltation,
and the spread of water-borne
dis
waterlogging,
salinity, earthquake,
eases such as schistosomiasis,
and cholera. But in this case the
malaria,
most
serious threat is to the peoples who
live along the river in the
in particular,
and forest
Narmada
the tribal cultivators
watershed,
dwellers.
In Gujarat where
the Sardar Sarovar dam is located, about a hun
of produce
from the
dred thousand
families depend on the collection
forests. The
tribals have no titled rights to the land and forests in
which
they have been living (Rich 1989, p. 50). Legally the land and
River valley belong to the Forestry Department,
forest of the Narmada
that is, to the state. Before their submersion,
the forests will be clear
and the Bhils, Pawara, Baigas, and other tribal peoples will be
without
The union and the state govern
any compensation.
for the Narmada
the different departments
ments,
responsible
Valley
and land compensation,
such as five acres
monetary
Project, mention
of land for each displaced
family that can show titled rights to the
felled,
ousted

raised and to which

that have been repeatedly
land. But the questions
will the
refuses to give clear answers are these: Where
the government
will be the amount of the compensation?
land come from? What
And
what of those peoples who do not have titled rights to their lands? The
in 1985 approved
the loan to India of US$450
Bank, which
of the Sardar Sarovar dam, acknowledged
for the construction
million
would be the largest ever (Jackman
that the population
displacement
The
loan
between
the World
Bank and the
agreement
1989, p. 11).

World

Indian

government

dictates

the conditions

of

the

resettlement

and

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

113

that are also under

conditions
of the ousted villagers,
rehabilitation
the responsibility
of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal
(Rich 1989,
Bank and
the World
p. 48). Yet the signatories of the loan agreement,
the government
of India, have broken most of the rules that govern
in particular,
those pro
and rehabilitation,
of resettlement
questions
as
the
International
Labor
the
tribal
tecting
by
stipulated
peoples
of
and
Convention
107
1957
(ILO)
signed by India
Organization
(Alvares and Billorey
The World
Bank

1987, p. 64).5
of India
the loan to the government
approved
and
of
the
without
conclusion
economic,
environmental,
awaiting
treat
fauna
flora
and
social studies (public health
studies,
impacts,
ment
of concerned
and development
area, and the like). However,
under the pressure of numerous human rights groups and international
a
to send its own team to conduct
it finally decided
organizations,
impacts. Led by Brad
study of the project's social and environmental
Nations
former head of the UNDP
ford Morse,
(United
Development
and Thomas
justice,
Berger, a Canadian
Supreme Court
Programme),
Its
in 1991-92
the team surveyed the project
1993, p. A5).
(Holmes
was
serious
rife
with
Sarovar
that the Sardar
project
report concluded
the World
and advised
environmental
and resettlement
problems,
it.
Bank to reconsider
from all quarters is
One problem
that has attracted much criticism
a certain expe
and rehabilitation.
the question of resettlement
Despite
in charge of the Sardar
rience in dam building,
the Indian authorities
to the fate of the dis
Sarovar dam seem not to have paid any attention
as
the Bhils and Gonds,
the tribals. For peoples such
placed, especially
forest
but also make a living by gathering
who are hill agriculturists
produce, and whose very cultural
identity was defined by the existence
and
of their habitat,
their displacement
of the forests, the destruction
in different,
and overcrowded
land, or their
scattering
forest-poor,
to urban work will
lead either to their
forced conversion
inevitably
or
as
a
to
into non
their forced integration
extinction
tribal group
tribal society. Thus,

the construction

of the dam and the forced

reset

5The

Labor Organization
International
(ILO) was the first international
body to focus
to promote
of indigenous
their rights through different
the question
attempting
peoples,
In 1957 the ILO developed
Convention
conventions
107,
signed by several countries.
as "the original
inhabitants
of lands subjugated
defined
which
by for
peoples
indigenous
in 1989, was more
in its articulation:
Convention
169, adopted
specific
eign occupation."
of their legal status, indigenous
should retain some or all of their own
"irrespective
people
on

cultural and political

economic,
institutions,
ways of life and economic
development
the boundaries
of States where
169 also deals with the diffi
they live." Convention
resources
and individual
of natural
in
land rights and ownership
cult issue of "collective
habitats"
traditional
(Van de Fliert 1994, pp. 56-74).
peoples'
indigenous

social,
within

JOURNAL

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OF WORLD

HISTORY,

SPRING

I996

of these tribals without

taken to alleviate
adequate measures
their suffering may equate to genocide.
farmers who had been promised
Even the nontribal,
smallholding
five acres of land have not seen this promise made good by the states of
reason is simply that there is no
Pradesh. The
and Madhya
Gujarat
to be
in either state. The
inhabitants
of the first villages
land available
was
on
state
that
the
land
themselves
resettled
found
submerged
by
tlement

landowners. The
already owned and tilled by a village or by individual
two states have also promised
in lieu of land com
cash compensation
to aWorld
"cash compensa
Bank consultant,
pensation.
According
tion usually results in lower living standards and reduced quality of life
of relocatees"
and Billorey
the large majority
(Alvares
1987,
a
worse
suffer
fate.
The
landless
families
About
p. 64).
30% of the pop
to be submerged were
landless. For
ulation
of twenty-three
villages
measure
was
no
in
and
the
words
of the
taken,
these,
compensation
Narmada
of
the
chairman
(former)
Agency
Valley
Development
most
of these
"Under
these circumstances
S. C. Varma,
(NVDA),
to agriculture"
in activities
unrelated
landless will have to be absorbed
Not
did
the
of
governments
(Alvares and Billorey
1987, p. 65).
only
states
to
but
have
fulfill their promises,
both
fail
they also
repeatedly
ignored and refused to inform the very people who will be displaced.6
for the suffering of tribal
shows contempt
This denial of information
was
to the villagers was con
available
information
peoples. Whatever
uneven.
Most
of
the
and
villagers had little or no
fusing, misleading,
among

their rights or the state's plans for them, and hence

of.
taken
advantage
easily
on
Sarovar dam started several decades
work
the
Sardar
Preliminary
its
construction
the submergence
of the first vil
and
actual
ago, and
Sardar Sarovar
S.
C.
Varma
the
that
acknowledged
lages have begun.
Narmada
lead to
whole
the
and, indeed,
Project will
Valley
Project

knowledge
they were

about

of thousands of people and, in particular,

suffering for hundreds
own
in
has to be done.
"the uprooting
his
for the tribals. But
words,
is
Because
the land occupied
by the family
required for a development
for the country
project which holds promise of progress and prosperity
a
in general. The family getting displaced
thus makes
and the people
untold

and dis
It undergoes hardship
sacrifice for the sake of the community.
tress and faces an uncertain
future so that others may live in happiness
better off (Alvares and Billorey
and be economically
1987, p. 64).
6The Land
of 1894
Act
Acquisition
that public notice be given to the occupier
(Rich 1989, p. 49).
any surveying

(Section
4) and its 1984 adaptation
of land to be used by the state before

stipulated
the start of

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

115

all the impossible

odds of displacement
and a lack of
the
tribals
and
nontribals
governmental
alike, have
help,
displaced,
banded together to defend themselves
the
In Janu
authorities.
against
ary 1988, when faced with the submergence,
3,000-4,000
people from
all three states gathered at the site of the Sardar Sarovar dam to pro
test the project
1988, p. 829). The number of
(Sarangi and Billorey
nonviolent
demonstrations
increased as the first villages began to be
flooded. Hundreds
of people put their lives at risk by lying down on
the road to block the path of vehicles
going to the site. The dissent
reached a level that even the union government
could not
ignore,
Faced with

since

was
attention
the world's
activist
and international

to the project,
thanks to
its
Given
tradition
of au
groups.7
New
Delhi
the
chose?under
of
thoritarianism,
pressure
political
families
interests
landed
industrial
and
of
powerful
Gujarat, Madhya
and Maharashtra,
which
will benefit
the most
from the
Pradesh,
use
to
on
methods
down
the
project(s)?to
repressive
protest.
clamp
to close the areas
The government
enforced
the Official
Secrets Act
to nonlocal
affected by the two projects
criticism
people. Mounting
Indian

attracted

and the thorough surveys carried out in the wake of all the protests led
to reconsider
such as Japan and the World
major aid donors,
Bank,
their loans. In 1985 the Japanese Overseas
Economic
Cooperation
to the Indian government,
Fund had extended US$18
million
specifi
at the Sardar Sarovar
for power generation
cally earmarked
equipment
dam.8 But the campaign
by the Japanese environmentalists
organized
to suspend action.
forced the government
in May
1990, as
Finally,
environmental
to withdraw
increased, Japan decided
groups' pressure
its Official
Assistance
Development
funding from India, an unprece
to international
action. New Delhi's
dented
reaction
pressure, how
a
to
trend
countries:
the pref
ever, points
among Asian
disturbing
erence for foregoing
and
foreign aid rather than meeting
ecological
standards
that these Third World
countries
feel are
on
them
international
Western
unfairly
organizations,
imposed
by
and nongovernmental
In March
nations,
1993 the
organizations.
to cancel a large part of the
its decision
Indian government
announced
Bank's US$450
million
loan rather than meet
World
its environmen
resettlement
tal and
standards concerning
the project. New Delhi also
human

rights

7For
as the New Delhi-based
the work of such organizations
Action
example,
Multiple
the grassroots Chipco
Research
the London-based
movement,
(MARG),
Group
organiza
tion Survival
and the Berkeley-based
International
Rivers Network.
International,
8As is often the case with
aid of this nature,
bilateral
three Japanese companies?Sum
itomo Corporation,
and Toshiba?have
been given a US$183
contract
to
million
Hitachi,
for the project
(Schoenberger
1990).
supply equipment

ii6

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HISTORY,

SPRING

I996

to continue
its intention
the US$3
billion Narmada
declared
Project
on its own without
institu
assistance
from
international
any
lending
tions. It does not bode well for the future of the riparian inhabitants,
and particularly
for the tribals, when
the union government
prefers to
aid rather than to com
financial
and technical
forsake much needed
Bank. The Sardar
the "benchmarks"
ply with
imposed by the World
is not the only project that is being built on the Nar
Sarovar Project
and others on its
mada; the Narmada
(Indira) Sagar on the Narmada
tributaries will likely be approved and realized in the near future.
In India's authoritarian
between
the union
system, the relationship
on the one hand and the tribals on the other
and state governments
of a
has been fraught with arbitrary decisions
that give the benefits
to powerful
interests,
project such as the Narmada
development
such
the people who are most directly affected by the project,
as their villages,
are helpless,
Bhils and the Gonds,
land, and
are submerged. The flood will wash away their traditional mode

while
as the
forests
of sub

their ethnic
sistence,
identity, and their forest gods of yore. Eventually,
a large number of the tribals will be forced to find subsistence
in an
or
in the slums of Bombay
urban environment,
Calcutta,
shedding
the goal that all nation
their ethnic
identity as adivasi but fulfilling
states seek: the complete
integration
into one society. The cry of
minorities
summarizes
be displaced
well
their
"Are we animals to be left to drown?"

The

and assimilation
of their ethnic
one of the tribal people about to
the future:
concerning
anguish
(Rich

1989, p. 49).

Future

India's Narmada
most
extensive
China's

to be one of the largest and

is believed
Valley Project
in world history.
river basin developmental
projects
to
the Narmada
(TGP) is similar
Gorges Project
Valley

Three
in terms

scale of the project,

number
of
of the mammoth
in
construction
before
and
ultimate
affected,
Long
began
goals.
people
for several decades
1994, the TGP had been a subject of controversy
first but short-lived Green
and had even led to the creation of China's
a journalist and critic of the project.
headed by Dai Qing,
movement,
in India or the Batang Ai and
But unlike the Narmada Valley Project
Project

and tribal
affect minority
which
directly
exacerbate
the
relations
will
be
project
indirectly
peoples,
tween Beijing and its national minorities
that live in the highlands
of
and farther inland west of the Yangzi basin.
central China
which has thousands of years of experi
like China,
For a country

Bakun

dams

in Malaysia,

China's

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

117

ence

in the mastery
and of shuili (water conservation),
of hydraulics
communist
but which
is ruled by a totalitarian,
regime, the symbolic
feat
the question
of an engineering
value of a dam extends far beyond
of
and economic
It harks to the time of construction
development.
as the Great Wall
and the
such monuments
(third century B.C.E.)
when
the ruler could muster
Grand Canal
(seventh
century C.E.),
resources
to build great works
in
the country's human
and material
as symbols of his protection
to himself,
and also of his power.
homage
China's
folklore and history mention
legends such as that of the Great
ancestor of hydraulic
the founder of the
Yu, the mythical
engineering,
in the twenty-first
construction
Xia dynasty
century B.C.E. Large-scale
built
dam in Sichuan,
of canals, dikes, and dams (such as the Dujiang
in the third century B.C.E. and still in use) had been an intrinsic part
works
of Chinese
civilization
(Hsu 1965, p. 131). These
hydraulic
to increase its agricultural wealth
and expand its fluvial
allowed China
to the unification
of the empire. At present
network,
contributing
water conservation
take up more than 4% of all government
projects
is produced
in China
20% of all generated
electricity
by
spending;
plants.
hydroelectric
the Yangzi basin is a region that gave birth to a non
Historically,
Han civilization?that
of the state of Zhu?as
old as that of the Han
the rise of powerfully
of the Yellow River basin.9 With
centralizing
the Yangzi basin came to be pro
and culture of the north,
dynasties
was facilitated
settled by Han peoples whose migration
gressively
by
the construction
of imperial highways,
fortresses, canals, and dikes like
the ones built by the great engineer, Li Bing, more
than 2,000 years
in Jiefang
such as the Dual Temple
abound,
ago. Cultural monuments
in Yanyang County. Cities
and the Zhangfei Temple
such as Chengdu,
and Wuhan
along the Yangzi River's banks are centuries
Chongqing,
battles as far back as
old. The Yangzi Gorges were the sites of historical
when General Guan Yu of the Shu
the time of the Three Kingdoms,
state defeated his enemies of the north, and as recent as the civil war
and the Communists
between
the Nationalists
1971,
(de Crespigny
the process of hanhua (sinicization)
be
pp. 141-47). Thus,
apparently
gan millennia
ago in a region that used to be inhabited by non-Han
such as the Yi, Qiang, Miao-Yao,
and Tujia. Classified
by the
peoples
as part of China's
central government
fifty-five national
some of the non-Han
to live in the
that
used
peoples
into
mountains
the
and highlands.
moved
valleys
higher up
y

For a debate

Friedman

(1994).

on

the question

of China's

Han

versus

non-Han

national

minorities,
fertile river

identity,

see

ii8

JOURNAL

OF WORLD

HISTORY,

SPRING

1996

the Yangzi River

drains
19% of China's
(Changjiang)
Physically,
of China,
total area, and its basin, the agricultural
industrial
heart
and
more
in
which
live
than
includes
400 million
provinces
eighteen
of
China's
about 40%
(Boxer
output
agricultural
people,
producing
its
the river has shaped the landscape with
1988, p. 95). For millennia,
its
and
with
silt
both
destruc
floods
also
deposits, bringing
devastating
tion and fertility to the basin. From the time of the settlements
under
the early Han to the end of the Qing dynasty
C.E.),
(185 B.C.E.-1911
there were more than 200 floods
1993, p. 45). The
(Luk and Whitney
in the recent past.
of thousands
Yangzi's floods have killed hundreds
and terrible damages;
The flood of 1870, the highest,
caused extensive
that of 1954 affected
the lives of 20 million
people; and that of 1981
an
its flooding,
To contain
left more than 1million
people homeless.
ancient
of dikes, canals, and reservoirs had been built and
network
In 1954 addi
since antiquity by the imperial bureaucracy.
maintained
tional dikes and reservoirs were set up, but to no avail, as proven by
the
the desire to master
the recent floods
(Jhaveri 1988, p. 57). Thus,
in the mind
of every ruler, from
Yangzi has always been foremost
to communist
in particular,
the present-day
leaders?and,
emperors
Li Peng, a Soviet-trained
of China,
engineer.
prime minister
hydraulic
one has been
the many projects that have been conceived,
Among
leaders' pro
for more than sixty years at the center of many Chinese
the Three Gorges Project on the Yangzi, located at
grams and debates:
in central China.
in Hubei Province
(The project's name
Sandouping
comes from the three deep gorges that it would submerge?Qutangxia,
that have inspired painters and poets
and Xilingxia?and
Wushanxia,
in his 1919
Sun Yatsen
envisioned
the project
alike for centuries.)
"Plan to Develop
Industry" and in successive
speeches pushed for its
In 1944 the U.S.
realization
1993, pp. 42-43).
(Luk and Whitney
in the person of John L. Sav
lent its expertise,
Bureau of Reclamation
to help the nationalist
Chinese
govern
age, its chief design engineer,
ment

the first design for the Three Gorges Project

(Luk and
in
the
turmoil
that
The
follow
China
1993,
p.
44).
engulfed
Whitney
it and
its
revived
In
Mao
halted
decades
1953
progress.
Zedong
ing
assistance.
In 1958, in the
for technical
called on the Soviet Union
and in line with his force
midst of the Great Leap Forward movement,
to
industrialize
ful campaign
China, Mao entrusted Premier
objective
formulate

the pace of
the planning
efforts. Henceforth,
and
1993, pp. 49-50).
(Luk
Whitney
began accelerating
preparation
The eighteen-year
billion
project, which would cost from US$11
to $30 billion, would
dam (the world's highest)
include a 607-foot-tall
and a 367-mile-long
located in western Hubei Province
reservoir, 525

Zhou Enlai himself

with

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

119

in Sichuan
with a capacity
of producing
situated
17,680
of electricity.
The project would have a direct
impact on
of central China:
Sichuan
upstream,
riparian provinces
Hunan
The
downstream.
affected
region
by the Three
area with scarce agricultural
is a mostly mountainous
Project

feet deep,
megawatts
the three
Hubei
and

Gorges
and industrial resources that has long been underdeveloped.
The dam's
basic goals are threefold: flood control, energy production,
and naviga
to eco
tion that will open the poor and densely populated
hinterland
nomic development
(Sun 1992, p. 18).
contro
Ever since it was first conceived,
the dam has generated
at
all levels. Its colossal size and the profound,
irreversible changes
versy
that it would bring have caused concern over its ecological
and human
serious problems
of the most
One
repercussions.
has not come
The Chinese
government
question.
1
to
and feasible plan
deal with the million
people
affected
Bank)
ing to the World
by the project,
whom are urban residents and about half of whom
or fishermen
on the Yangzi for generations.10
The

is the resettlement
up with any clear
accord
( 1.4 million
a large number
of
have

been

farmers

Yangzi Valley Plan

(the most conser
(YVPO) plans to put half of the 330,000
ning Office
vative figure) to-be-displaced
farmers to work on agricultural
projects;
to nonagricultural
activities. There
the other half will have to convert
was no mention
of any rehabilitation
such as training for
measures,
inhabitants.
urban or industrial jobs for the displaced
Further, the land
in the Yangzi basin, from the valleys to the highlands,
has been defor
to its maximum
if
and populated
ested, cultivated,
capacity for decades
a further in
not centuries now, and it cannot possibly accommodate
crease

in human

settlements.

from the innumerable

of overpopulation
and the
Apart
problems
land degradation
there is that of the non-Han
and pollution,
ensuing
minorities
who live in the highlands
of central China
and who will be
that rise above the banks
directly affected by the TGP. The highlands
of the Yangzi have a long and turbulent history of uprisings by minori
and the Tujia and by religious sects such as the
ties such as the Miao
centuries.
In the twen
Lotus in the eighteenth
and nineteenth
White
the highlands
have seen civil wars waged by warlords,
tieth century
in their struggle for power and con
the National
Army, and Red Army
fortresses and forti
trol of China. As a result of the constant
upheaval,
The population
feature of the highlands.
fied villages were a common
from the north and of non-Han
minori
is a mixture
of Han migrants
10The

persons vary according

figures given for the numbers of displaced
to 1.2 million
to organization.
and also according
people)
(from 539,000

to dam heights

I20

JOURNAL

OF WORLD

HISTORY,

SPRING

I996

such as the Qiang, Naxi,

and Miao-Yao,
who have
lived side by
a framework
within
of economic
and sociocultural
side, tentatively,
to neighboring
beneficial
exchanges mutually
parties, but not without
a histo
to Jerome Ch'en,
tensions and animosities.
ethnic
According
rian of the highlands
it is obvious
of central China,
that the process of
"Hanification"
has not worked very well (Ch'en 1992, pp. 31-32).
Without
with or agreement
of the local inhabit
prior consultations
ties,

the authorities
have already
them in pioneer
settlement

and relo
40,000
displaced
people
areas high up on the mountainous
slopes (Tyson 1991b, p. 6). The government
fully intends to continue
in the coming years at the rate of 10,000 persons per
the displacement
from the farmers
year. Those who resist will be forced to move. Apart
who will lose their orchards, forests, and fields, the 137,000 fishermen
in
who have traditionally
lived off the river are not even mentioned
cause
as
the
will
ruin
dam
their
any government
documents,
although
well (Tyson 1992, p. 20). More
than 10 cities dating back to before the
ants,
cated

Tang dynasty, more

tile plants, chemical

tex
than 620 local industrial facilities
(including
and mining
and
food
fac
companies,
processing
tories), roads, railways, and electric power stations will also be flooded
1993, p. 93).
(Luk and Whitney
The
studies of existing hydraulic
but
projects, not only in China
also in India, Malaysia,
and all the regions where
there are major

and resettlements,
projects necessitating
hydraulic
large displacements
in their new environment,
show that once
the relocated
people are
not able to improve their way of life or increase their income. The
to those who will be relocated
has announced
government
by the
com
receive
that
will
in
Three Gorges
each
Project
they
US$1,850
to
in
this
sum?if
distributed
full
the
pensation.
Naturally,
actually
to
the
low
average
($61)
per-capita
rightful
recipients?compared
in the region may appear
income
like an incredible
yearly
bounty.
the promises of a better life, better housing,
and better schooling
Also,
softened
the pain of being uprooted
and have blurred
have somewhat
visions of a future that may be miserable.
ifwhat their neigh
However,
went through
is any indication,
the villagers around
bors downstream
site should be wary. Several
the Three Gorges
the
years ago, when
dam was constructed,
the government
made the same prom
Gezhouba
ises to the people, but the harsh reality of successive
relocations,
par
and the absence of housing,
and job oppor
tial payment,
schooling,
a disastrous one (Tyson 1991b, p. 6).
tunities made the experience
are indications
There
that the central government
may be forced
to resettle the relocated people, mostly members
of the dominant Han
autonomous
ethnic group, in non-Han
and
regions, such as Xinjiang,

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

121

in Asia

in the southern province

of Yunnan. The
the Yangzi Valley Planning Office
(YVPO)
in remote,
the possibility
of resettling people
or Tibet
regions," such as Inner Mongolia
on
non-Han
Han
of
Chinese
relocation
solve the problem of resettling more
than

of
director of resettlement
to rule out
has "declined
barren, and impoverished
(Tyson 1991b, p. 6). This
land would
simultaneously
1 million
people and also,
that of integrating China's
the cen
territory by allowing
incidentally,
to hanhua these regions more
tral government
and bring
thoroughly
into the Han mainstream.
the national minorities
in China
is extremely
The current population
distribution
uneven,
since 96% live in eastern China,
in the
while only 4% are scattered

west.

to remedy
For decades
the Chinese
has attempted
government
this imbalance
either through the encouragement
of voluntary migra
tion or through forced relocation
from the crowded cities of the east to
In China and Its National Minorities,
the minority
regions of the west.
Thomas Heberer mentioned
that in the 1960s there were "workers and
their families who were sent into virgin regions, or peasants who were
resettled
from the densely populated
regions of eastern
systematically
... to the northwest
to cultivate new land"
China
(Ningxia, Xinjiang)
12 million
the Cultural
(Heberer
Revolution,
1989, p. 93). During
to work and also to "teach" the
youths were sent to northern China
into non-Han
This Han migration
"backward" minorities.
regions
serve several purposes.
would
the
First, from the military
standpoint
Han presence would
reinforce China's
borders, as the central govern
ment does not trust its national minorities
in this regard. Second,
it
would allow a more
of
the
northwest's
natural
thorough
exploitation
resources
(oil, coal, and minerals),
open up tillable acreage, and foster
would
relieve the cities of the north
industry. Finally, the migration
east of the present demographic
pressure.
the Three Gorges
the authorities
However,
concerning
Project,
since
have been careful not to mention
this strong possibility
publicly,
it would conflict with
the World
Bank's policy on tribal peoples,
and
on World
Bank financing.
Further, any official
Beijing has counted
to such a project would
allusion
likely cause unrest in the autonomous
to Philip M. Fearnside,
of the 1 million-1.4
mil
regions. According
... are farmers
to be displaced,
lion people
330,000
"approximately
are much more easily
and the rest urban dwellers. Urban
populations
than are farmers since cities can be rebuilt on higher ground
moved
is already occupied"
farmland
but all comparable
(Fearnside
1988, p.
there is not much
farmland available
618). Since
nearby, Fearnside
the possibility
that "the farmers, who share the Han race
mentioned
and

culture

with

the majority

of China's

population,

might

be de

122

JOURNAL

OF WORLD

HISTORY,

SPRING

I 996

areas where minority

settlement
ported to distant
groups now domi
near
nate, either in the semi-arid western
China's
border with
regions
or in the tropical areas near the Burmese
the Soviet Union
and Thai
border. Settlement
have
in
been
these
border
areas,
projects
underway
in part in an effort of the central government
to populate
them with
Hans"
(Fearnside
1988, p. 619).
China's
its national
with
an
minorities
has been
relationship
sensitive
issue.
Its
ethnic
minorities
form
extremely
fifty-five
7-8% of
the population?that
is,more than 100 million
64%
people occupying
of China's
1992, p. 9). After past excesses dur
territory ("Party Chief
and the Cultural
ing the periods of the Great Leap Forward (1957-59)
one of the best defined
Revolution
China
has developed
(1966-71),
policies with regard to its ethnic minorities
1981, pp. 145
(Wirsing
tensions between
the dominant
ethnic group and
69). Nevertheless,
are ever present. Speaking
the minorities
to the National
Conference
on Nationality
Affairs,
Jiang Zemin, general secretary of the Chinese
Communist
the following
Party, emphasized
"First, economic
points:
areas should be
in ethnic minority
development
speeded up so as to
. . .
[T]he policy of reform and
keep pace with the rest of the country.
to
the outside world should be continued
in order to increase
opening
... Fi
the vitality
of minority
in their self development.
people
. . .China
will further strengthen
the grand unity between
all
nally
Chinese
and firmly safeguard the unity of the country"
nationalities,
1981, pp. 145-69).
(Wirsing
that no separatist activities will be tolerated.
Jiang also emphasized
In a long speech made
in February
1990, Premier Li Peng strongly
warned against any ethnic unrest, which he promised would be crushed
without
fail (Kristoff 1990, p. A5). This fear of separatist movements
from the minorities,
in China's minorities
omnipresent
policy, has in
recent years become more palpable,
given the wave of ethnic separat
ism in the former Soviet
It is further
republics and in eastern Europe.
reinforced by the ethnic unrest on China's northern
and northwestern
in Xinjiang
and Tibet.11
If the democracy
should spread to Inner Mongolia,
China
Mongolia
an "arc of crisis," stretching
with
from the north
borders

movement

from
would be faced
to northwestern

11
to the central
has a long history
of opposition
was a
There
Xinjiang
government.
of Han Chinese
into the region controlled
communist
cadres
strong migration
by Chinese
sent from Beijing.
Several
directives
of forceful development
were
years ago, the central
into account
and ethnic
nuclear
arbitrarily
applied without
sensitivities;
taking
religious
tests were performed
that caused the contamination
of large areas. As a consequence,
there
were numerous
to a heavy military
anti-Chinese
incidents
in Xinjiang
presence
leading
Threaten"
("Ethnic Minorities
nowadays
1990).

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

123

for more
than a
1990, p. 39). Concurrently,
regions ("Arc of Crisis"
a
"a
movement
in
what
Edward
Friedman
search
of
called
decade,
arisen
the
that
has
national
Southern-oriented
questions
identity"
and
of the northern Han culture, economy,
and dominance
centrality
over
In
south
that
of
the
1994, p. 78).
(Friedman
conjunction
history
carries
such a movement
with
the deep current of ethnic
unrest,
it the seeds of secession and possible fragmentation
of the Han
within
state. Hence,
it cannot be tolerated.
some
In the past, Beijing
has encouraged
assimilation?which
been carrying out?
the government
claim
has actually
of
the
Han
cultural
(domina
language), political
through
(imposition
tion of top and middle positions
and
by Han cadres sent from Beijing),
measures
in
economic
of
Han
the
(resettlement
minority
population

minorities

to
belongs
regions)
(Tyson 1991c, p. 12). This strategy of assimilation
or
versus
Han
the long and chauvinistic
tradition of
non-Han
"barba
in Chinese
since the begin
rian" people that has been present
history
has recently
ning of the first unified Qin
empire. The government
it has granted
the one hand,
adopted a more ambivalent
policy. On
of having
such as the possibility
ethnic minorities
special privileges,
more than one child or admission
to universities
with lower examina
tion scores. On
it has increased
of
the other hand,
the resettlement
in non-Han
Han people
from eastern China
regions. Consequently,
in the non-Han
and
provinces
people currently form the majority
in the
the five autonomous
(Yin 1985, p. 32). For instance,
regions
autonomous
in the western
of Xishuangbanna,
prefecture
tropical
of Yunnan, which has more than twenty-four
ethnic groups,
province

Han

has
the Chinese
government
tions employing Han Chinese.

state-owned
established
rubber planta
The presence
of these plantations
and
of Han Chinese
amid swidden cultivators
such as the Yu and Kawa
and non-Han
has created friction between
the Han
(Kristoff
1991,
to heightened
In addition,
other factors have
contributed
p. E2).
of Han
the emphasis
"imperialism":
perception
placed on the use
of Chinese
instead of minority
(and teaching)
languages,
despite
in the Chinese
this practice
Constitu
against
protection
promised
use and exhaustion
of pasture
land and
tion, the Han population's
Han attitude
the contemptuous
toward the cultures and
at
of non-Han
attempts
(Tyson 1991c, p. 12). Obviously,
have not had positive
results at all times. At
integration
a geopolitical
the north and northwestern
regions constitute
present
unrest that Beijing does not wish to
of Uygur
and Tibetan
cauldron
in spite of rumbles of protest,
the minorities'
stir. However,
fear of
forests,

and

religions
minority

acculturation,

and other manifestations

of discontent,

the central

gov

JOURNAL

124

ernment

has not hesitated

to suppress

OF WORLD

any ethnic

HISTORY,

uprising,

SPRING

1996

by force

if

necessary.

of the Three Gorges

the govern
To return to the matter
Project,
autonomous
ment could resettle the i million
in
the
people
displaced
there are ample natural
but then it would
resources,
regions, where
from the minorities.
In the words of
have to face possible
rebellions
rear
a
mountains
of
after
the
would
Ch'en,
calm,
period
"probably
as against the state of the Han
against landowners
is for the govern
alternative
Another
1992, p. 34).
(Ch'en
people"
to continue
to exhaust the last natural resources by resettling
ment
the
of
the
and
the
Yangzi through pioneer
valley
higher up
people higher
farms. A large number of the displaced
settlement
people would prob
to
in
cities
overcrowded
search
for jobs, thus in
already
ably migrate
unrest
centers.
in
crime
of
and
social
urban
the
incidence
creasing
again, not

so much

times. In the
has been postponed
many
project's construction
as
on
the
of
became
information
impact
1980s,
projects
hydraulic
more widely known, opposition
to the Three Gorges
intensi
Project
a
at
debate
all
levels.
The
and
and
fied,
protests
peti
emerged
public
tions against the dam in 1989 were the first public manifestations
of
The

with a project that had obviously

disagreement
already been approved
Communist
by the Chinese
Party. The government
initially yielded to
the postponement
of any construction
the pressure, announcing
ap
of the project did not come solely from
proval for five years. Critics
the gov
but also from within
environmental
groups and intellectuals,
even from the two ministries
that should have been support
ernment,
and of electric
of communications
ing it, the ministries
power.12
as
as Li Rui, a former vice minister
of water con
Officials
experienced
servation
of the party's Central Advisory
and member
Commission,
as Qu Geping,
and as knowledgeable
the director of the State Environ
to stem the
ment
the dam's capacity
Protection
Bureau,
question
will ensue if the
floods and warn that calamities
Yangzi's destructive
Even the National
China's
government
People's Congress,
proceeds.
its opposition
in April
1989
usually docile
legislative body, manifested
of the
when more
the postponement
than 200 deputies
suggested
the
(Delfs 1990b, pp. 26-28). However,
project until the next century
in the 1980s was ended in June 1989, when
the govern
liberalization
movement.
ment cracked down on the pro-democracy
In its wake, out
12
When
the Ministry
Power
(opposed

of Water
and the Ministry
Resources
of
(in favor of the project)
were merged
to the project)
into one,
of Water
the Ministry
to the lead
in favor were appointed
Power
those who were
and Electric
Resources
(1982),
in the new ministry
the multiple
(Fearnside
agen
1988, p. 618). Concerning
ing positions
see Levey, ed. (1988).
in hydraulic
involved
cies and ministries
projects,
Electric

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

125

spoken critics of the dam, such as Dai Qing or Li Rui, were silenced,
put under house arrest, or jailed.
to the project has allowed the
The silencing of internal opposition
renew
to
its
effort
the Three Gorges
government
concerning
Project.
escalated
and
the World
Bank began
international
Yet, when
pressure
to demand
studies be conducted
that social and environmental
prior
to approval for loans, China?like
India concerning
the Narmada Val
in January 1993 to carry out the project alone
ley Project?decided
institutions.
without
the aid of any international
financial
Roads and
were
in
construction
built
preparation. To show its deter
headquarters
to use its foreign cur
its willingness
mination,
Beijing has announced
the project
should no foreign aid become
even
has
government
strategy that
prepared a financial
would allow the construction
of the project with minimal
imports of
The Three Gorges
1993, p. Aio).
equipment
foreign
(McGregor
within
the Chinese
and the hardliners
Project has allowed Beijing
over segments
their control
Communist
of society
Party to tighten
that had dared to voice their criticisms
and concerns.
is part of a vast hydraulic
The Three Gorges
program that
Project
rency reserves
available. The

to finance

has launched over the years for the transfer or diversion

of water
surplus from the Yangzi to the north China
plain to remedy its acute
water shortage, to end destructive
and to produce cheap and
flooding,
to the present
Its success
is important
abundant
energy.
leadership,
which will be able to leave its imprint for posterity
the
along with
even if this means
Great Wall
and the Grand Canal,
the displacement
China

of 1million
the loss of ancient cultural and historical
sites, and
people,
mean
it
the destruction
of the environment.
will
also
Significantly,
that the energy, the wealth,
and the resources of the south will go to
consolidate
the north. The central government
will be faced with the
of the social pressure and demands of resettlers and their in
question
evitable clash with the minorities
living in the remote regions of reset
tlement. Beijing would have to allow the latter to remain autonomous,
as an industrialized
its vision of China
while
forcing them to accept
amounts of cheap energy to
world power that would require enormous
its voracious
of water for its teeming,
industry and vast quantities
the ever increasing population.
thirsty cities and for its fields to nourish

feed

The

Battle

of the Ant

and

the

Elephant

Some of the most

important projects discussed
the Batang Ai dam in Sarawak, Malaysia?are

in this paper?such
in remote
situated

as
re

I2?

JOURNAL

OF WORLD

HISTORY,

SPRING

I 996

in the mountains
and deep in the jungles, regions where
high
the
and where
control has been weak and ineffective
governmental
and their
have been able to preserve a certain autonomy
inhabitants
once built, these dams will remove
traditional ways of life. However,
insulated
the tribal peoples
barriers that have
the physical protective
central power and indigenous
from the lowlanders,
peoples
bringing
to inte
determination
face to face. The dams test the government's
nation
into one uniform entity?the
grate its territory and its people
be
state. As a result, more often than not, the indigenous
peoples,
cause of their numerical
their material
weakness,
poverty, and in some
gions,

cannot hope to preserve

their
experience,
of
subsistence.13
identity,
as the Narmada
in central
India and the
Other
projects?such
in
river
that have a
in China?are
built
Three Gorges
valleys
being
a
and within
settlement
and
history,
long
density
high population
the
have
coexisted
which
tribal and minority
closely with
peoples
in a fragile equilibrium.
This
ethnic
dominant
groups for centuries
acculturation
has led in some cases to the progressive
long coexistence
at coopta
For those who have resisted attempts
of the tribal peoples.
the nation-state
could lead to a final clash with
tion, these projects
cases,

their

lack of political
and mode

culture,

of their tribal
in the process
themselves
force them to divest
a
new
to
mainstream
identity.
adopt
ethnicity
demand
the world are increasingly
throughout
peoples
Indigenous
of
their
and
and
international
national
respect
recognition
rights
ing
to their ancestral
lands, forests, and water. They are, in fact, demand
of their right to self-rule and autonomy?a
right
ing the recognition
can grant without
of seces
that no nation-state
facing the possibility
a context
sion. Furthermore,
their present
struggle takes place within

and

to fulfill economic
of nation-states
goals
developmental
attempting
of demo
made
pressure
urgent
by the compounded
increasingly
or its
that the government
goals demand
graphics and poverty. These
resources
of
this
natural
all
available
fostering
capable
agents exploit
resources
in
lie
often
the
natural
these
Unfortunately,
development.
of
state's
these
From
the
last
view,
point
refuge.
indigenous
peoples'
to be inte
areas are considered
that need
regions
underdeveloped
to
outside
world.
them
the
into
overall
the
territory
opening
by
grated

13
This
includes
"detribalization."
James Eder terms this phenomenon
Anthropologist
and decul
social disorganization,
loss of political
"economic
autonomy,
impoverishment,
a phenomenon
and
that is prevalent
among contemporary
turation,"
indigenous
peoples
societies
(Eder 1987, p. 106).

Nguyen:

Hydraulic

Projects

and

Indigenous

Peoples

in Asia

127

to the nation
benefits
dam construction
brings multiple
Theoretically,
and its people, which
for the flooding
than compensate
should more
the destruc
and losses of a few trees, the deaths of some wild animals,
tion of an unimportant
extinction
and
the
of minor
"primitive" culture,
groups

of

"savages."

un
went mostly
In the past the indigenous peoples' disappearance
new
come
to
the
factors
have
noticed
and unrecorded.
Fortunately,
movement
to the development
fore. Thanks
of a worldwide
that aims
at the protection
of these last witnesses
of a remote time, their fate
has been
nizations.

taken
increasingly
themselves
They

into consideration
orga
by international
aware of
become more politically

have

to
and have been able, to a certain
extent,
identity
nation-state.
and their world
the
In
the
themselves
against
referred to as
so, the indigenous
process of doing
peoples, whether
a discourse
have developed
that
"tribals" or as "national minorities,"
terms of mediat
from the exogenous
world?in
borrows heavily
one
values?and
ization, symbolism,
groups, and political
pressure
inter
similar to that of the different mainstream
that is increasingly
est groups. Does
it signify
that such discourse
would
eventually
into a form of ethnic nationalism
evolve
that would clash with that of
their

ethnic

defend

state? In the end, would

the clash between
the nation-state
to
its indigenous
be
akin
the
battle
of
the
and
peoples
elephant
the ant?
In the background,
there lurks a powerful
Bank.
actor, the World
as
most
its
institution
of
role
the
for
Because
primary lending
hydrau
it
Bank could act as a possible
lic projects,
the World
safeguard?as
in
done
the
under
from
environmentalists?for
the
has
pressure
past
that the national
take
government
indigenous
peoples by demanding
into consideration
the protests of the indigenous
Neverthe
peoples.
of nations
such as India or China
less, authoritarian
governments
to forge ahead regardless by relying on their own re
could choose
sources and by crushing
in their path. For both New
all opposition
vast
ex
territories and immense,
Delhi
and Beijing, holding
together
a
to
that
has
been
threatens
become
challenge
populations
ploding
the
and

more

the rising opposition

of these little ants, the indig
in
the
end the ants might
disturb
enous, minority
peoples.
Perhaps
to
for
them
be
left
alone.
The
dream
of
the elephant
enough
plurality,
as
that many nations
of Asia have adopted
of "unity in diversity,"
more so
is a difficult
if not impossible goal to accomplish,
their motto
in nations
that are governed
regimes dominated
by authoritarian
by a
single

difficult

ethnic

with

group.

128

JOURNAL

OF WORLD

HISTORY,

SPRING

I 996

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