COMMENT | There is something seriously wrong with the Malaysian police force. It is totally unimaginable that 28 villagers, including 13 women, all of them in their 50s and 60s, of Kampung Gatco, Serting Ilir, Negri Sembilan would be detained by the police for trying to protect their rights as bona fide settlers.

These villagers, who are former members of the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW), were arrested on the afternoon of July 18, 2017 for trying to block lorries sent by Thamarai Holdings Sdn Bhd from transporting rubber logs out of the village.

However, upon appeal by the villagers' lawyer, the High Court in Seremban overturned the decision of the lower court by refusing to grant the police a three-day remand, citing the health conditions of the villagers.

The origins of the problem

In the mid-1970s, hundreds of former rubber plantation workers from all over the country participated in a settlers' land scheme initiated by the NUPW. In the first phase, more than 400 settlers and families were settled in the scheme, which was to be managed by the Great Alonioners Trading Corporation Berhad (Gatco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NUPW.

The land was originally owned by the Negri Sembilan State Economic Development Corporation (SEDC), who leased it to Gatco for 99 years.

Before the second phase could be started, the resettlement collapsed under the weight of corruption and mismanagement...