Pahang rep slams ‘ulterior motives’ against durian farmers

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: A DAP assemblyman has accused the Pahang state government of holding ulterior motives against durian farmers in Raub, after destroying over 15,000 durian trees in the Batu Talam forest reserve in just nine days.

Tras assemblyman Chow Yu Hui said the state government had said “a blatant lie” with the excuse that it wanted to protect the forest reserve. Chow said the state government had already de-gazetted 1,213ha of forest reserve land previously and had leased it to the Royal Pahang Durian consortium.

In a statement, he said the land leased to the company was classified as a water catchment area and the habitat of endangered Malayan tigers, which proved that “environmental protection” was just an excuse.

He accused the state government of wanting to “exterminate” small durian farmers in Raub to make way for the consortium while using the excuse of “environment preservation” to clear the land.

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