An oil tanker rumbles down the new RM200 million Bakun road, ploughing through gravelled sections, creating potholes and sweeping aside everything in its way.

A young dog lies crushed, run over by the monstrous vehicle speeding down the road. Unlike the old days when the lorry driver would have been fined or reprimanded, the owner of the animal is not perturbed as he ask his workers to get rid of the carcass.

Life in the Bakun outback is cheap. Since the advent of the latest phase of development - the Bakun hydro-electric dam and the recent large-scale oil palm plantations, people have become used to the destruction that comes with good with the new Bakun highway.

Since the road opened for use several months ago, Bakun is changing so fast that the people have learnt to adapt and accept the fact that if they do not join the rat race, they will be left far behind.

Outlook travelled on the Bakun highway and discovered that this has become evidently so. Over the last six years when the "on-and-off" RM15 million Bakun hydroelectric dam was given the green light in l994, the people have become a hardened lot.

On this trip alone, this writer was able to visit typical areas affected by progress by travelling on a brand new tar sealed road, muddy and dusty inaccessible roads into a region where only the tough will survive.

In the midst of all this development (logging continues together with the other related activities) the Tubau log pond is still a "gambling" and trading centre for the visitors and the cash rich locals just an hour away from the Bakun dam resettlement site.

At the Bakun resettlement site, Penghulu Nyurang Uloi from Long Gang, one of the four "Big Chiefs" (there is one "Temenggong", three "Penghulus" and more than a dozen longhouse heads to Cater for the 10,000 residents living in 15 communities of Kenyah, Kayan, Lahanan, Ukit and Penan) admitted that the consequences of rapid development had taken its toll.

Following the payment of almost RM300 million in promised compensations, a large number of activities have been started including foodstalls, shops with video games, sundry shops and mechanic workshops. Many have invested their money wisely like Penghulu Nyurang in shares and in the banks, but others have lost their money (some in the millions) in failed business deals.

"Progress, while it is good has resulted in social changes that have affected all levels of our people. No doubt, we (the Bakun settlers) are the richest people in the area in terms of cash received through compensations, but have lost much more," he said during an interview at his home.

"Money and more money has become the main purpose for living."

The pace is so fast that there has been no time to repair the road system within Long Gang which turns into a "mudfield" during the rain or cut the long grass which has swamped the so-called soccer pitch.

Old men and women, mothers with their young and children (it's the school holidays) dominate the impressive long verandah of the longhouse. Inside the rooms, wedding pictures, souvenirs and posters of Jesus Christ adorn and decorate the walls on the predominantly Catholic enclave of Long Gang.

Despite the charge that the area is devoid of raw materials, a Badang craftsman works with rottan (which was apparently obtained from the distant jungle) with the hope of producing mats for sale.

Driving along the broken gravel road system past other longhouse communities, bands of youth loiter around a popular coffee shop which is the "waterhole" for youths" with a lot of money.

My guide Ricky Lihon, 23, who plies the Bakun highway regularly (between Bakun and Bintulu) could only affirm that there is a difference with the richer folk in Bakun.

Ricky, a member of the Sambop community from Long Bangan said that unlike those directly affected by the dam, the host communities received very little compensation, if not none.

He said: "Most of the young people who have money do not like to work because the hours are long and the pay is small. Oil palm owners pay as little as RM8 per day (about RM240 per month) for manual workers, a salary which most of the residents said is 'ridiculously low'."

"Even if you pay a salary of RM12 per day, many of our youngsters do not want to work. They prefer to do other things, hunt, fish or go to town. As such, the companies are forced to employ foreign workers such as Indonesians and Filipinos," he said adding that many senior staff involved in the Bakun highway are from Peninsular Malaysia.

Some of the foreign workers have taken local wives and this has caused some friction with the longhouse residents. Some have been blamed for theft in the area and to be in league with town-folk who entered the area to steal logs in broad daylight.

Longhouse head Alip Koleh who leads more than 200 resident at Long Unan, an hour's drive by logging road from Kosap-Asap resettlement, said the new 100km Bakun highway had opened the floodgates of greater change and problems.

He feared the worse when the "highway" (expected to be completed at the end of the year) brings in more foreigners when the Bakun dam is revived.

Said the father of eight "The highway has provided an alternative means of travel as people initially travelled by express boat from Bintulu to Tubau and then by logging track to Belaga or the resettlement site, a trip that took five hours altogether. Now people take a short two hour drive from Bintulu and they can reach our villages. Even the Perodua Kancil can get here.

"Life in rural Belaga has been transformed to the point that we just accept the change as part of life. My fear is that many outsiders continue to carry out illegal hunting in the areas. We see vehicles with refrigerators (to store wild meat) but no enforcement officers to check their activities," he said.

What he was particularly worried 'about was the recent problem of water pollution by oil palm estates and hoped that the authorities concerned would address this problem before it worsened.

"Our newly-opened oil palm estate is about 2km from our longhouse and everytime they spray pesticides it gets into the water. We have heard complaints of people getting skin irritation after bathing in the river," he added.

Up River Agent (URA) Usat Padan, 52, confirmed that most of the oil palm estates used weedicides such as the (hundreds of thousands of litres) "grammoxone" brand to destroy the undergrowth. When the rain comes, the pesticide is washed into the water and flows into the rivers, destroying fish stocks and other forms of edible marine life.

"Many of the people living around the Bakun resettlement site depend on farming, hunting, and gathering around these estates. I have received complaints of skin irritation and diarrhoea after cooking and drinking the water," he said pointing out that polluted rivers started after logging activities started in the 1980s.

A Kenyah farmer, Jau Usat, 57, said that the Lagi river is one of the sources of pollution.

"My son Matteus had skin problems after using the river. The SESCO (Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation) pumped water in from the Lagi river for drinking but they too have discontinued this after the complaints of diarrhoea," he added.

Now the river is devoid of marine life. Jau said that the gradual deterioration of the river was started by timber companies taking the easy way out by dumping oil in the rivers instead of on land and in the days when logs were exported by river (the companies used preservatives to cure timber before being dumped into the river).

Jau hoped that the Sarawak Rivers Board or Department of Environment (DOE) could investigate his complaints to ensure that remedial action can be taken before it is too late.

Jau, a father of two, said one of the solutions was to provide water tanks to farms affected by polluted water. But their appeals have fallen upon deaf ears. "We have brought up these issues to the powers that be with no success. I hope that something can be done to listen to us and make an effort to solve our problems so that we can get on with life."

"What we need is a little bit of understanding. Normally people who come to our area and respect us, are accorded mutual respect. But this cannot happen if there is little or no communication between the authorities and the people on the ground. In this respect, the breakdown in communication is the problem. We hope that in this way we can become partners in development."