Some 50 farmers from Mambang Di Awan in Kampar, Perak, resorted to forming a human shield yesterday in a desperate bid to prevent developers from clearing their fruit trees.

The developer was eventually forced to abort the plan after the farmers blocked the excavators, according to PSM activist KS Bawani.

“We asked, ‘where is the court order? You're supposed to serve us the court order’ (to clear the land)… but they couldn't provide it,” Bawani told Malaysiakini when contacted.

The state land, which the farmers had legally worked on for more than 40 years after being granted farming permits, is now a subject of dispute after the state government abruptly sold it to a developer.

Bawani said the farmers began facing difficulty renewing their permits, starting in 2007, and, by 2010, they could no longer get their permits renewed.

She said the state government did not inform the farmers of the reason, and upon further investigation, the farmers were shocked to discover that the state government had sold the land to a private developer in 2007.

Bawani said the farmers were only informed of this in 2012, and their worst fears were confirmed when the developer turned up to clear the land in March 2015.

The farmers were able to stop the developer's action last year by lodging a police report, she said.

Bawani criticised the Perak government for abruptly selling the land, pointing out that the farmers had worked on it for a long time.

"Before a land is sold, the land search has to be done and the government would have known that there were already some 50 people farming there. They should not have given approval to a big company (to acquire the land)," she said.