KUCHING: Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg denied that Murum and Bakun dams are destroying the environment and villages.

He said the government was aware of the obligation to protect and preserve the environment, and would not carry out projects to the extent of damaging it.

RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION: Bujang (left), Johari (centre) and Bujang Ambol (right) give a cow the once-over before its slaughter.

According to him, the government is aware of the responsibility of protecting and preserving the environment, so it is wrong to claim that the projects are destroying it.

He stressed that all necessary studies on environmental impact were carried out before the projects started.

He told reporters this after presenting sacrificial meat at Kampung No. 5.

Johari, who is also deputy president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), believed that the people living near the projects will enjoy more decent living and be provided with infrastructure like roads.

In the gathering, Johari advised the people to work together and care for their neighbours.

He said working together was very important for the progress of society and the state.

He also urged the people to organise more recreational activities where they could mingle with each other, and in the process create better understanding and tolerance.

“Working together should be promoted as it could lead to the development of a peaceful and harmonious society,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, village chief Bujang Ambol said attendance at this year’s gathering was overwhelming.

The meat of the slaughtered cows was yesterday donated by Tan Sri Bujang Nor and Senator Idris Buang, Community Development Department and the village committee.