IPOH: Police arrested two Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) members for allegedly obstructing public servants from carrying out their duties.
Perak police chief Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said the arrest was made when police responded to a call from the public that several men were disrupting workers from clearing a privately owned land in Chepor, Chemor, near here.
When a team of officers from the district police headquarters and Kuala Kuang station arrived at the location, they found a group of men trying to stop the land clearance work by developers.
According to Mior, the men failed to show police proof of land ownership, and so they were asked to leave the area immediately because they were trespassing. Most of the men then left the area.
“However, two men who introduced themselves as members of PSM refused to leave and acted in a provoking manner towards the police officers,” he said in a statement.
He added that his officers then arrested both individuals under Sections 186 and 447 of the Penal Code.
PSM chairman Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj confirmed to FMT earlier that two party members – Sungai Siput chairman Agastim Mariasosai, 63, and Kesavan Parvathy, 29 – had been arrested.
He said both men were trying to stop the clearance of farmland and forced eviction of eight farmers.
“We (PSM) have been told that they will be charged for obstruction of duty of a public servant. They (Agastim and Kesavan) have not been charged yet,” he said.
The current land issue has been part of an ongoing legal battle since last year between 132 farmers in Chemor and the Perak State Development Corporation (PKNP) which saw some farmers being evicted in December to give way to a major development there.
Previously, Jeyakumar told FMT that those affected were third-generation farmers, whose grandparents started the farms before the Second World War.
He said PKNP, however, decided to convert the area from agricultural to residential and industrial development, before alienating the land to three developers.
Source: FMT.com