A group of cattle and goat farmers have lodged a police report on alleged abuse of power by several policemen whom they claim were not impartial in dealing with a matter involving the farmers' grazing grounds.

Selangor's Bukit Tinggi estate Cattle and Goat Committee member Thevindran Arumugam said today that the farmers have also been threatened with arrest for trespassing into the Bukit Tinggi II township project site.

(Bukit Tinggi II Township is the new name for the Bukit Tinggi estate. The new land owner is Gemilang Waras Sdn Bhd and the new developer is Labur Bina Sdn Bhd).

Thevindran told malaysiakini that the farmers have been living on the land for over 70 years and had bred cattle and goats there for three generations.

He said the farmers were served with eviction notices last year by Gemilang Waras but have refused to leave the estate as the dispute between them and the developer was still pending before the courts.

'Corruption'

Thevindran said the farmers lodged the police report following an incident on July 29 when the farmers, assisted by non-governmental organisation Suara Warga Pertiwi (SWP), put up banners and posters at the Bukit Tinggi II township project site to protest against their eviction notices.

In their report lodged at the Klang police station, the farmers alleged that Gemilang Waras had supplied Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) meals on several occasions to traffic policemen who were on duty at the project township site.

(Traffic policemen are sent to the site at intervals to help direct earth-moving lorries in and out of the project site.)

The police report said traffic policemen were 'offered' KFC meals whenever they were on the site.

"Every time policemen were asked to come to the site they were given KFC for lunch. We believe that the offering of KFC is a form of corruption," stated the police report.

SWP committee member Ramasamy Karapan said that at the July 29 protest, a farmer had attempted to snap a picture of policemen munching away on their KFC meals but was threatened with arrest for trespassing.

"We wonder what the definition of 'trespassing' is for the police?" asked Ramasamy who added that the behavior of the police 'clearly indicated that they favour the developer'.