Clean energy collaboration, kuching

Romuald Siew

Romuald Siew, 55 years old, has actively been involved in environmental and human rights work and the Indigenous Peoples’ movement since 2010. He is currently the President of Jaringan Orang Asal Semalaysia (JOAS).

Dr Chen Shiun

Dr Chen Shiun is the Vice President for Rural Electrification in Sarawak Energy Berhad, the electrical power utility group in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. He possessed a B. Eng. (EEE) and a Ph.D. (Power Systems) from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Before returning to Sarawak in 2008, he served as associate professor with Nanyang Technological University of Singapore for over 10 years. In joining Sarawak Energy, he set up the research and development department, focusing on improving the performance of generation, transmission and distribution systems while exploring new energy resources, smart grid solutions and innovative use of ICT, drone and GIS technologies.

YB Baru Bian

Baru Bian is a Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Selangau, Sarawak and serves as Minister of Works, Malaysia. He is also a Member of the Sarawak State Assembly for Ba’kelalan. He has his own law firm in Kuching, Sarawak, and has been supporting indigenous peopless in defending the rights to their ancestral territories.

YB Senator Adrian Lasimbang

Adrian Banie Lasimbang is a new member of the Malaysian Senate. He has worked in community watershed management projects since 1999, and has extensive experience in participatory mapping, conducting community awareness workshops, enrichment planting, gravity water supply systems, and micro-hydro. He is the former Executive Director of TONIBUNG, the organisation spearheading and designing community-led micro-hydro systems in Sarawak and Sabah. In 2004, Banie was awarded the Seacology Prize for Indigenous Conservationist of the year for protecting watershed areas and improving livelihoods in rural indigenous communities in Borneo. In both 2007 and 2008 he received the Outstanding Young Person Sabah (TOYPS) award for his work integrating natural resource management and rural indigenous communities.

YB Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis

YB Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis was born on January 11, 1982 in Kota Belud, Sabah. She graduated from Universiti Malaysia Sabah with B. Eng. (Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and University Technologi MARA with Diploma in Electrical Engineering (Instrumentation). YB Isnaraissah then worked with Teknis Konsult as Assistant Engineer (2005-2006) and Electrical Engineer (2006-2008).

YB Isnaraissah is a Member of Parliament of Kota Belud, Sabah after she won the seat in the 14th General Election (GE-14) on May 9, 2018. YB Isnaraissah is also the Wirawati Chief of Parti Warisan Sabahand previously, she was appointed as Chief of Srikandi Keadilan Sabah (2012-2016).  

YB Isnaraissah sworn in as Deputy Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change on July 2, 2018.

James Nyurang

James Nyurang worked for 33 years as a primary school teacher and headmaster at various schools in the rural area of Baram, Sarawak. He is the former headman of Lepo Gah Tanjung Tepalit, a community leaders, and indigenous rights activist. He has been at the forefront of championing community-based renewable energy systems, and under his leadership his village built a combined micro-hydro and solar system to power the village. 

Gara Jalong

Gara Jalong is the headman (Ketua Kampung) of the indigenous Kenyah Badeng community of Long Lawen, Belaga, Sarawak, Malaysia. With the technical assistance and basic support from the Civil Society Organisations led by TONIBUNG & Green Empowerment, construction of Micro Hydro Power (MHP) in Long Lawen started in 2000. Working in a team, the community, led by Gara, did the installation work manually on their own with hardly any use of automation. In 2002 the system was completed and commissioned. With its 10 kW power the MHP supplies power for the population of 300 from 88 households in Long Lawen.  Since its installation, MHP has saved the community from spending on fuel to meet the power supply requirement; it provides power for lighting and other basic community power essentials. The system is still generating power for the Long Lawen villagers until today, nineteen years after its completion.

Professor Daniel Kammen

Dan Kammen is a Professor with appointments in the Energy and Resources Group where he is the Chair, the Goldman School of Public Policy where he directs the Center for Environmental Policy, and the department of Nuclear Engineering. Kammen is the founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served as a contributing or coordinating lead author on various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 1999. He has a B.A. in Physics (Cornell ‘1984) and a Masters (1986) and a PhD in Physics, the latter two from Harvard. Today, he researches low-carbon, sustainable energy systems at scales from individual households, to mini-grids, to the large-scale energy systems of nations and regions. He has published 12 books and over 400 research publications. Kammen is a licensed private pilot and provided concert wiring for the Grateful Dead.

Christine Milne AO

Christine is renowned as a campaigner and parliamentary advocate for strong action to address global warming. Christine is a former Australian Senator and was leader of the parliamentary caucus of the Australian Greens from 2012 to 2015. Her proudest parliamentary achievement was the negotiation and passage of the Clean Energy Package in 2012 which saw not only a carbon price set in Australia but the establishment of a Green Bank (CEFC), a Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and a (Climate Change Authority). She was a Vice President of IUCN serving on its Global Council 2000-2008. In 2018, Christine was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for domestic and global contributions to the protection and preservation of the natural environment.

Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool

Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool is Professor of Energy Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the School of Business, Management, and Economics, part of the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom.  There he serves as Director of the Sussex Energy Group and Director of the Center on Innovation and Energy Demand. Professor Sovacool works as a researcher and consultant on issues pertaining to energy policy, energy security, climate change mitigation, and climate change adaptation.  His research focuses on renewable energy and energy efficiency, the politics of large-scale energy infrastructure, designing public policy to improve energy security and access to electricity, and building adaptive capacity to the consequences of climate change.  He is a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), due to be published in 2022, and an Advisor on Energy to the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation in Brussels, Belgium. With much coverage of his work in the international news media, he is one of the most highly cited global researchers on issues bearing on controversies in energy and climate policy.