Durian farmers demand money back after payment passed off as endorsement

A group of durian farmers in Raub who are in dispute with the Royal Pahang Durian Resources (RPDR) and Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Negeri Pahang (PKPP) are demanding their money back after their earnest payments were passed off as an endorsement of a plan to "legalise" their farms.

The farmers are upset at RPDR-PKPP's claim that 300 farmers are committed to a legalisation scheme with 133 having paid earnest money of up to RM10,000.

Save Musang King Alliance (Samka), an organisation set up by the farmers to protest the legalisation scheme, has responded by asking those who have made payments to RPDR-PKPP to demand their money back.

Samka, in a statement, said RPDR has promised to process the refunds within five working days.

"More than 20 farmers have demanded a refund of the entry permit with each receiving RM2,000 to RM10,000," it said.

There appears to be a disconnect between the farmers and RPDR with the former perceiving the payment as an "entry permit" to access their farms while the latter referring the payment as "earnest money" for the legalisation scheme.

The dispute started when the Pahang government's PKPP and royalty-linked RPDR entered into a joint-venture and is now reclaiming thousands of acres of land from what it claimed are illegal durian farmers.

Some are indeed illegal farmers, but other unlicensed ones are part of a farming scheme launched by PKPP's predecessor Lembaga Kemajuan Perusahaan Pertanian (LKPP) in the 1970s but were later somehow forgotten.

The durian farmers' have claimed that they are now being forced into an exploitative "legalisation scheme" by RPDR-PKPP.

Samka accused RPDR of trying to confuse the public about the level of acceptance towards the legalisation scheme.

"Samka will continue this action and urge farmers who have yet to claim refunds to do so," it said.

It also claimed some of the farmers were intimidated into making the payment after purportedly receiving a notice from the land office claiming that they may only continue to work their farms if they have paid the money.

Samka urged RPDR-PKPP to retract its claim that at least 300 people are committed to the scheme. - Mkini