Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh who was present together with the farmers’ legal team at the Raub police station today said the farmers have cooperated with the authorities.

“It is obvious that the original remand period of four days that was applied for was unnecessary as statements were taken from all the said durian farmers in a short time,” he said in a statement.

Ramkarpal, who is the chairman of the DAP national legal bureau, said they would continue to assist the farmers and also Tras assemblyman Chow Yu Hui, who was briefly detained under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstruction of a public servant in the discharge of his functions.

Chow was detained along with the farmers when he accompanied them to the land.

The farmers were held for allegedly trespassing on land that they had been cultivating for decades. They were stopped by police and forestry department officials when they tried to harvest their produce.

The Pahang government has accused the farmers of illegal farming and wants to evict them as the state has leased the land to a durian cultivation firm.

However, the farmers say they have a right to enter the land as the Court of Appeal granted them a stay against their eviction in January. The court ruled that the authorities are not allowed to evict or prevent the farmers from entering their orchards.