Four villagers from the Rawang New Village were arrested when they tried to stop Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) employees from constructing a high-tension electric cable tower in their village.

Another four villagers, all women, were injured during this morning's incident. They later filed police reports claiming that enforcement personnel had used excessive force against them.

Following several disruptions from the villagers previously, TNB, backed by nearly 100 enforcement officers, moved into the village at about 6am.

The team consisted of enforcement officers from the Selayang Municipal Council, TNB auxiliary police and the Rawang police.

Some 150 villagers gathered in the area and attempted to stop the TNB employees from constructing the tower.

Tempers began to flare and at 8.30am, a scuffle broke out when the enforcement team formed a human shield to prevent villagers from entering the construction site.

According to the villagers, TNB auxiliary police personnel had allegedly manhandled the villagers and a plainclothes policemen had ordered the four to be detained.

Among those arrested was Goh Ah Kow, 50, chairperson of the Rawang Action Committee against High Tension Transmission Cable.

The four were taken to the Rawang police station. They were released at 4.30pm after their statements were recorded.

'Kicked and shoved'

Meanwhile, the four who were injured claimed that plainclothes policemen had kicked them. One of them, Fong Jan Yew (right), 37, alleged that TNB auxiliary police personnel had pushed and shoved them.

After seeking treatment at the Rawang Hospital, the four filed a police report on the incident at the Rawang police station.

Following the scuffle, TNB contractors, assisted by the enforcement team, managed to secure the construction site with barb wires.

Minutes later, MCA Rawang state assemblyperson Tang See Hang, PKR treasurer William Leong and DAP NGO bureau chief Ronnie Liu arrived at the scene.

Tang, who is also a Selangor state exco, then made a call to the TNB top management but failed to postpone the construction of the tower.

"They (TNB) said the land belongs to the government and it is not located inside the new village. The construction cannot be postponed due to national interest," he told the angry villagers, who responded with jeers.

"As a state exco, you can't even postpone the construction for another seven days?" lashed out one villager.

The villagers had applied for a judicial review and injunction with the Kuala Lumpur High Court. It will be heard next Tuesday.

Tang (left) then made another call and according to him, TNB promised to construct only the fencing, without laying the construction basement.

He also arranged a meeting between Leong, who is the lawyer representing the villagers, and TNB senior vice-president (operations and technical) Md Sidek Ahmad this afternoon at the TNB headquarters.

After a major power failure that hit the country in 2005, TNB proposed to construct a high tension power line which will cut through the Rawang New Village, forcing 51 families to relocate.

The villagers, who refused to be relocated and are worried about the dangers posed by the high-tension electric cable, formed an action committee.

They proposed an alternative site which they claim involves only agricultural land and forest areas but this was shot down by TNB on the grounds of technical problems.