A farming family that had spent around RM4 million over 11 years to develop duck-rearing into an major industry is girding for a court battle against vested interests - should the state government ignore their plea to intervene in a land dispute with Gopeng Bhd.

The venture, Viatak Enterprise Sdn Bhd, which is jointly owned by Leong Yeow Tuck, 65, and his son Yew Siang, 30, in Kota Baru, Gopeng, Perak, has seen them invest much sweat and tears to nurture the farm into the second biggest supplier of ducks in the state, with a monthly revenue of about RM1 million.

NONE Yew Siang (right ) said the previous Perak Menteri Besar, Tajol Rosli, was a people-oriented state leader who had solved many land problems affecting Perakians.

He sees no reason for the present administration, under Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir, not to follow Tajol's example in solving such problems.

Yew Siang pointed out that as the federal government was giving top priority to encouraging Malaysians to grow more food, he hopes that Perak state government will see this as a good reason to step into the dispute the family has with property developer Gopeng Bhd.

"If the matter is not settled by the Perak government, then we have to seek the help of the prime minister to keep our venture going," he said.

Viatak Rnterprise is occupying about 60 acres of former mining land belonging to Gopeng Bhd, which the company has developed into a duck, fish and oil palm enterprise, paying an annual rent of RM8,000 since 2000 to a third party that had claimed ownership of the land, which is now in dispute.

Landlord wakes up, duo in trouble

They also employ about 80 workers at their RM2.8 million duck processing plant at Tasek Industrial Park in Ipoh.

Their woes came in April 2010 when they received a notice from Gopeng Bhd, which claimed ownership of the land and ordered them to vacate.

But what angers Yew Siang is why Gopeng Bhd, if it is the real owner of the land, had kept silent all these years and now, all of a sudden, lay claim just when the oil palm fruits are ready for harvesting.

According to him, Gopeng Bhd said it only agreed to lease three mining pools for duck and fish rearing, but not the land where the oil palm is planted.

This offer is unacceptable to Leong, since the land is also necessary for duck husbandry. He claimed that the owner offered to sell all the land to him, only to back off later.

Leong also claimed that last month Gopeng Bhd sought the help of the police to evict them from the land.

However, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), which has been championing their cause since June last year, intervened and had written to Perak acting police chief Zakaria Yusof, IGP Ismail Omar and Human Rights Commission chairperson Hasmy Agam against police intervention in the dispute.

NONE PSM national deputy chief M Saraswathy ( left) pointed out that police cannot interfere in a civil land matter, that they could only do so if Gopeng Bhd obtained a court order to evict the duck farmers.

In a recent reconciliation meeting between the Leong family and Gopeng Bhd in the presence of PSM, Kampar district police chief Abdul Aziz Salleh informed them that the police would not interfere and advised the parties to take their dispute to the court.

The issue was also highlighted by PKR Teja assemblyperson Chang Lin Kang at last week's Perak Assembly sitting.