RM300 fine for speeding; RM1,000 for grazing cows

The constant harassment by Ipoh City Council enforcement officers has forced cattle breeders in Buntong to lodge a police report against them.

IPOH: Hundreds of cattle-breeders in the Kinta Valley are annoyed with the Barisan Nasional (BN) government for not fulfilling its 2008 pre-election promise to set aside 780 acres of land for cattle breeding.

Taking the state government to task, about 30 cattle-breeders in Buntong said they are struggling with a lack of space for their cattle to graze and this had resulted in lower milk-output from their cattle.

In addition, the breeders said they also faced the threat of having their cattles seized by the Ipoh City Council enforcement officers if found grazing in open areas as well as being slapped with a RM1,000 fine for each seized animal.

Spokesman for the Buntong breeders, N Balu, 43, told FMT that there is a ban on cattle movement in the city limits and that the enforcement officers were breathing down their necks and catching their cattle which graze in the Buntong area.

The cattle breeders have to pay a fine of RM1,000 for each cattle seized and are forced to pay extra RM30 daily for the animal maintenance if they cannot pay the fines to the council on time.

According to Balu, many cattle breeders are small timers and cannot afford to pay this huge fine which results in their cattle being confiscated and auctioned off to be slaughtered later.

He claimed that the market value of each cow is between RM4,000 and RM4,500.

“It is absurd that while a vehicle driver has to pay a fine of only RM300 for speeding, we have to pay a fine of RM1,000 for each cattle seized irrespective of whether they are cows or calves,” said Balu.

Balu, who has 30 cows, said that the animals need walking exercises everyday otherwise their leg muscles will be wasted and the cows will eventually die.

Decreased output

The angry cattle breeder said that when his cattle used to graze in the fields around Buntong, the milk output was about 80 litres daily but now without the daily exercise, the milk output has decreased to 60 litres.

This year, Balu had taken a bank loan of RM30,000 to purchase about 10 cows from Thailand after five of his cows had died and he is facing a tough time making ends meet with the harassment of the city officers.

He claimed that he had to thrice shift his livestock to new areas away from the arms of these officers.

He said that it is more economical to buy cows from Thailand. Thai cows are priced at about RM4,500 each and the milk output is higher whereas buying a local cow is expensive at RM7,500 per head and also the milk output is lower.

Meanwhile, DAP Buntong assemblyman A Sivasubramaniam, together with nine cattle breeders, today lodged a report at the Buntong police station against former BN executive councillor member G Rajoo, former menteri besar Tajol Rosli and Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir.

He made the report against the three for misleading these poor people with the offer of 780 acres of gracing land in the Batu Gajah area for all the cattle breeders in the Kinta Valley.

According to Sivasubramaniam, Rajoo had promised each cattle breeder three acres of land and this was reported in the Tamil daily, Makkal Osai, on Feb 3 this year.

During the recent Perak State Legislative Assembly sitting, Sivasubramaniam had double-checked on this land matter with Zambry who had denied that there was such an allocation for the cattle breeders.

Said Sivasubramaniam: “I want to know where this earmarked 780 acres of land had gone to and who has benefited from this land offer.”

“I am sure that Rajoo was not just shooting from his mouth about this land deal.” .

According to him, 21 cattles were seized by the enforcement officers and a total fine of RM14,760 was collected between January and February this year.