A non-governmental organisation has lodged a report against the Ipoh police chief today over his alleged "unprofessional and biased" remarks concerning a group of estate workers in Jelapang which appeared in an English daily yesterday.

In a press statement, Alaigal spokesperson M Sarasvathy claimed that Ahmad Tejuddin Abdul Majeed did not check the facts of the case properly before making the statement.

The report was lodged at the Ipoh district police headquarters.

Yesterday, The Sun reported that Ahmad issued a stern warning to a group of "squatters" in Jelapang to stop interfering with work by a developer.

It further reported that several men were said to be carrying out piping work when a group of "squatters" allegedly sat in the trench and prevented the task from being carried out.

According to the daily, one of the "squatters" armed with a piece of wood assaulted a project manager who required seven stitches for the injury on his hand.

Saravathy said the estate workers did not prevent those from PCB Development Sdn Bhd from doing their work. But when the contractor "trespassed" into their residential and reservoir area, and tried to detach the water pipe on June 20, the workers tried to stop him.

She also criticised the police for labelling the estate workers as "squatters". "There are not trespassers, they are workers and they are authorised to live on that land by their employer," she said.

"The police has authorised the developer's action by accusing the Strathisla estate workers of assault, while it is the developer who has trespassed on their residential area," she said.

"He (Ahmad) is not professional and indirectly has encouraged the developer to continue with their 'illegal' activities," she said.

"It is the courts which can authorise who has authority over the land and not the police," she added, further saying that Ahmad Tejuddin has made a pre-judgement while the case is still pending in court.

The developer and the workers have been locked in a legal battle since 1999. The 20 affected families are demanding for alternative housing, compensation and basic living facilities after being served eviction notices by their former employer Golden Hope estate management in 1997.

The land is currently being developed as a sub-township by PCB Development, a subsidiary of Prak Corp Bhd.

'Not fair'

Sarasvathy said the workers have lodged at least 80 police reports against the developer for trespassing and assault but are yet to see any action.

"Some of the reports were also about the workers being attacked and injured by the developer contractors, who also have been trying to incite racial tension," she said, adding that "police did not say a word about it. They (the police) do not seem fair at all".

Sarasvathy also refuted The Sun 's report which claimed that the affected families were offered RM5,000 for every 0.4ha by PCBD.

"The report has no basis as none of the workers had received such compensation," she said.

"We believe the workers have the right to demand for their rights as they have sacrificed working there for three generations and have lived as a community. Those that say the land belong to them must wait for the court to decide and not use the police as this is a civil case," she added.