KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — A group of durian farmers from Raub in Pahang have demanded answers from the Pahang police as to why enforcement operations were carried out on their farms in Sungai Chalit on Tuesday, more so by heavily armed police and military personnel.
The group known as Save the Musang King Alliance (Samka) then posed a question to Pahang state police chief Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hassan, asking him to explain the apparently covert nature of Tuesday’s operations and the reasoning behind it.
A statement by Samka today alleged that armed police and military personnel had arrived at the farms in Sungai Chalit after being transported by at least five Toyota Hilux SUVs, which the group asserted had concealed road tax and number plates.
They even claimed several personnel present were not in full uniform, with some even missing name tags.
Samka said that since Abdul Jalil himself had confirmed the identity of these officers as police and military men, he needs to clarify the inconsistencies raised to address public doubt triggered by the incident.
“If the police chief’s (Abdul Jalil) statement is correct, where the people sitting inside were police officers and military personnel, why were the plate numbers and road tax of those cars covered?
“Why were the so-called military and police officers not wearing name tags or IDs on their uniforms during (a) law enforcement (operation)?
“Hence, the public raised reasonable doubts against these suspicious actions by the police on Tuesday. We hope the police will give farmers a sincere and complete answer,” Samka wrote in a statement today.
Additionally, Samka even questioned if the Royal Pahang Durian Group (RPDG), a state-backed farming corporation, were in any way involved in prompting the checks.
RPDG and farmers in Samka have been involved in a legal dispute with both challenging the ownership of land in Raub used to cultivate the highly marketable and profitable Musang King durian strain.
The dispute made headlines last year after the Pahang government sought to reclaim the land occupied by the farmers for large scale cultivation of Musang King durians.
The first suit challenging the reclamation effort was filed on August 21, 2020, by 110 durian farmers from the six Raub villages where Musang King durians are planted — namely in Sungai Ruan, Sungai Chalit, Sungai Klau, Tras, Sungai Chetang and Sang Lee.
The suit was filed against five respondents, including the state government, Raub district land administrator, Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Negeri Pahang (PKPP), and Royal Pahang Durian Resources-PKPP Sdn Bhd.
Last August 28, the High Court granted a stay till October 28 against any enforcement action and eviction of the 110 durian farmers pending hearing of the judicial review leave application.
A second group of 94 durian farmers later filed for judicial review against the state government and the private company, raising the number of applications in the suit to 204 — all represented under Samka.
However, the High Court rejected the judicial review application last December 23, ruling that all 204 farmers were trespassers on state land.
Last week, Samka decried treatment by the Raub district land office who they claimed attempted to evict them ahead of the outcome of their appeal of the High Court’s decision in the Appellate Court.
