Sixteen farmers in Perak are appealing for more time to harvest their farms before being forced to vacate their lands following their failure to obtain a court order against their eviction.

The farmers from Tanah Hitam, Chemor, had applied to the Ipoh High Court for a stay of execution against possible eviction from their farm pending their appeal against an earlier court decision which granted vacant possession to the developer, Memori Salju Sdn Bhd, on Jan 10 this year.

However, the court on Monday dismissed their application without giving any interim order for the case.

According to a Star report, the judge, Hamid Embong, said the defendants were squatters per se on the land and had no rights over it although they had been there since the 1940s.

He also said they should not expect to be able to hold on to the land.

The 16, who are vegetable farmers and livestock breeders, have thus requested the developer to give them a "reasonable period of time" to vacate the 60-acre Tanah Hitam farmland. The request was done through their legal counsel, SC Thai and Bala Associates, on Monday.

In their reply yesterday, Memori Salju's legal representative, Akramin San and Loong, asked if the farmers would voluntarily vacate the land before the developer considers the "reasonable time" requested by the farmers.

The farmers said in turn that they will be ready to vacate the land after a reasonable time.

According to their reply letter which was obtained by malaysiakini today, the "reasonable time" is required to await the harvest of the produce on the land, among other reasons.

They are still waiting for the developer's response.

Cold shouldered

Fearing the imminent eviction without any alternative land in sight, the farmers had appealed to Perak Mentri Besar Mohd Tajol Rosli Ghazali for help last month to no avail.

The farmers were also given the cold shoulder when they tried to meet Perak state executive councillor Ramly Zahari at his office to discuss their plight.

According to Utusan Malaysia on Jan 31, Ramly is one of the three state executive councillors tasked to look after land and squatter problems in the state.

The state government had offered the affected farmers 28 acres of land within Tanah Hitam, which come with a five-year title. However, there was no response from the government after the farmers replied to the offer.

The Tanah Hitam farmland has been cultivated by the farmers for three generations. The farmers have even attended courses conducted by government agencies such as the Federal Agriculture Marketing Authority (Fama). The cattle farmer in the area is also a six-time award-winning farmer.

Calling for the state government's intervention to allow them more time to harvest their land, the farmers explained that agricultural products worth up to RM400,000 could be wasted if they were evicted immediately.