The police detained five cattle-breeders and a social activist for trespassing when they prevented two bulldozers from entering their livestock breeding ground in Ladang Bukit Tinggi in Klang.

However, the cattle breeders claimed that the developer Labur Bina Sdn Bhd had tried to encroach on their land illegally.

Social activist V Selvam said the six, including a woman, were detained at about 3pm on Thursday, following a four-hour standoff with the developer.

"They were blocking two bulldozers that were trying to come in. However, the police came in, broke down the fence and instructed the developer to start work

"They were then arrested to allow the bulldozers to work," said the activists from the Community Development Centre (CDC) when contacted.

Those detained were A Saravanan, R Arumugam and three others only known as Nadarajah, Muthukarupan and Sugunawati. Activist K Ramasamy was also picked up.

The six were taken to the Klang district police headquarters for further questioning.

Detained overnight

Selvam, however, revealed that Sugunawati was later released at about 10pm on Thursday. However, the others were detained overnight at the police station.

According to him, there are 11 cattle-breeding families in Ladang Bukit Tinggi who have occupied the area for three generations, going back 70 years. Currently, they have about 700 cows and 150 goats.

The dispute started when the previous landowner, Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad sold part of the estate to Gemilang Waras, a sister company of Labur Bina to develop a township known as Bandar Bukit Tinggi in 1993.

"Labur Bina, which bought the land from Guthrie has been trying to evict the cattle-breeders since early 2000," said the activist who is fighting for estate workers' rights.

Still pending in court

Selvam claimed the developers had allegedly employed shady characters and engaged police assistance to forcefully evict the cattle-breeders.

There were about 30 policemen and 30 others deployed by the developer to confront 10 blockading cattle-farmers yesterday, he said.

The activist argued that it was actually the developer that 'illegally encroached' in the cattle breeders' land since the dispute between both parties is still pending in court.

Gemilang Waras is seeking an interim injunction and a permanent injunction to stop the cattle-breeders from bringing their herds to the disputed areas.

However, Shah Alam High Court judge Hishamuddin Yunus threw out the application for interim injunction March last year. The case is now pending in the Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, the decision on the application for the permanent injunction is pending at the Shah Alam high court.

Three police reports

In that connection, Selvam questioned the ground for the police action yesterday, adding that the cattle-breeders had lodged three police reports on the incident.

In a related development, Parti Sosialis Malaysia protem-chairperson Dr Nasir Hashim sent a letter to Klang district police chief A Paramasivam, calling for the immediate release of those arrested yesterday.

According to Nasir, the arrest were uncalled-for as the cattle-breeders were only defending their land.

"The police should have prevented the disputed area to be encroached by the developer until the court decides. By allowing the encroachment, we fear that the police have taken sides," he said in the letter.