Jeyakumar, a former Sungai Siput MP, said they were arrested for obstructing public servants after setting up a blockade.
Apart from Jeyakumar, the other three were PSM central committee member M Karthiges, Perak PSM Youth member P Kesavan and a farmer, Ho Pon Tien.
“The government is so short-sighted. At a time when food security is a matter of concern, they came in to clear out a thriving farm,” Jeyakumar told FMT.
At the protest earlier today, Karthiges told reporters that the farmers had been handed an eviction notice on Oct 13, stating that their farms were situated on land owned by the Perak Development Corporation and instructing them to vacate the land within a week.
The protest also saw a PSM activist, Chong Yee Shan, allegedly shoved by a Perak lands and mines (PTG) officer while she was attempting to stop the officers from carrying out the eviction order.
The officers had arrived at the site with bulldozers and excavators.
Jeyakumar said PSM members and farmers only managed to arrive at the location after the enforcement team had cleared a considerable area of farmland.
“As a result, the farmers today suffered losses to the tune of thousands of ringgit. Ripe corn and oil palm trees were destroyed, and irrigation pipes were ripped out.
“We want a permanent food-producing area for the farmers so that they can cultivate it for food security, but all our pleas have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
Those cultivating the Kanthan farmland are third-generation farmers, whose lands were opened by their grandparents before World War 2.
Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Perak, the present landowners, converted the entire Kanthan area from agricultural to residential and industrial development. It later handed over the land to three developers.
PSM had said the site produced about 50 to 60 tonnes of produce a day, including corn, brinjals, ladies’ fingers, long beans, water lily, a variety of leafy vegetables, freshwater fish and oil palm.
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