A group of 15 farmers evicted from their plots in Cameron Highlands submitted a memorandum on their plight to a minister and a deputy minister at Parliament today.
Minister for Water, Land and Natural Resources Xavier Jayakumar and Deputy Minister for Agriculture Sim Tze Tzin received the memorandum which urged Putrajaya to engage the Pahang government to find a solution to their problem.
The meeting was facilitated by Pakatan Harapan MPs Charles Santiago (Klang), RSN Rayer (Jelutong) and Thomas Su (Kampar).
Accompanying the farmers to Parliament were Malaysian Tamilar Kural president David Marshel and his secretary Satees Muniandy who is DAP Bagan Dalam assemblyperson.
Also present was Tanah Rata assemblyperson Cheong Yoke Kong.
“The Pahang state government cannot ignore the plight of the farmers by continuously blaming the farmers for polluting water sources as they’re not polluting the real water source, Sungai Terla," Satees told Malaysiakini.
"The federal government sympathises with the farmers and is willing to accommodate them but the state government should not be adamant and victimise the people," he added.
Marshel said the Tamilar Kural NGO stood with the farmers and will reach out to all parties to find a solution for them.
"If the Pahang government does not respond to any of these complaints, we will go to the Pahang state assembly which will sit next week to make this plight known to all," he said.
According to Satees, Jayakumar had spoken to Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail but the latter instead sent a protest note to the Attorney-General’s Chambers claiming “interference”.
"Nevertheless, Sim said his ministry sympathises with the farmers and hopes the Pahang government will look into the matter carefully before demolishing the farms,” he said.
"He also mentioned that his ministry is willing to step in and facilitate discussions with the farmers in the event the Pahang government comes to the table," Satees added.
On March 31, a peaceful rally was held in Cameron Highlands by the farmers and their supporters calling on Pahang menteri besar to stop victimising them on the form of a "political vendetta".
On March 29, Wan Rosdy described the 11 farmers and 50 others in the area as "trespassers" claiming they had gone against the conditions by building permanent structures on their Temporary Occupation License (TOL) land.
He also alleged the farmers had used poisonous materials which were not permitted by the Agriculture Department hen carrying out their farming activities in Sungai Ichat.
He said since the alleged poisonous materials polluted the river, the state government had no choice but to evict the 61 farmers.
Ramasamy, however, said the farmers were being victimised as they had supported Pakatan Harapan in the January Cameron Highlands by-election.
BN's Orang Asli candidate Ramli Mohd Noor won the seat defeating Pakatan Harapan's M Manogaran and two other independents. - Mkini
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