I criticize the police for the arrest of 39 activists, mostly from Gabungan Selamatkan Petani dan Penternak Perak, who assembled peacefully yesterday, 5/8/15, outside the Perak State Government Secretariat Building (SUK).
These farmers were promised in 2008 by the Prime Minister at that time, Tun Abdullah Badawi, at Coldstream, Perak at a large gathering with Perak farmers, that the Perak State Government would undertake a legalization process of their farm land, following what Abdullah coined as the”Ulu Yam” model.
Farm land in Ulu Yam had earlier been legalized by way of a long lease, usually 30 years, granted by the State government or statutory organizations to which lands were alienated, the lessee farmers paying a reasonable sum of rentals.
After numerous petitions at the Perak State Assembly by DAP ADUNs, the Perak Exco at their meeting at 4/11/2014 approved a plan of 30-year lease of 5 acres of land each by State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADC) to 75 farmers at Malim Nawar.
However, “equality” in this case may not be “equity” as some farmers have been working on land with much larger acreage for the last few decades in the area of Malim Nawar. As such, due consideration and flexibility have to be exercised in such cases, where investment of huge sums had been made on their land.
With the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision last year on the unconstitutionality of S9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, there is now no longer any legal requirement for a 10-day notice to the police for a peaceful assembly.
Therefore, the police’s action of arrest invoking S143 of the Penal Code is a circumvention of the Court of Appeal’s ruling and an infringement of the farmers’ constitutional rights of assembly. S143 should only apply should the farmers have used criminal force, as stated in S141 of the Penal Code.
The Perak State Government must have the political will to solve the farmers’ woes.