KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Tras state assemblyman Chow Yu Hui was detained by the police while escorting durian farmers during a visit to a parcel of land at the centre of a legal dispute with the Pahang statement government yesterday, but has since been released on bail, Malaysiakini reported today.

Chow was arrested in Raub, Pahang, yesterday evening under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstruction of a public servant in the discharge of his functions, the news portal said.

Police also detained the durian farmers, 18 of them, for questioning. They were taken to the Raub District police headquarters, purportedly for trespassing. 

Chow had escorted the farmers, who wanted to harvest their produce, to the disputed land but was halted by the authorities on grounds that the land is privately owned and that they were trespassing. 

The flare-up is the latest in a series of tense events that started after durian farmers filed a legal claim to a plot of land a company, supposedly a joint venture owned by the Pahang government and royal family, alleged to be theirs.

The farmers, which have organised themselves into a group called the Save Musang King Alliance (Samka), said they have harvested the popular Musang King durian on the land for decades.

In a statement issued last year, the group alleged they are now being driven into a situation akin to “modern slavery” because the firm has told them to pay “rent” of RM6,000 per acre for this year, and an additional levy of up to RM20,000 per acre based on the durians produced.

They had been previously accused of “illegally” occupying the durian orchards’ without licence. 

The farmers in response said they had repeatedly applied for land titles and licences from the authorities through the proper channels but were rejected.

The case is now pending appeal against the decision of the High Court in Kuantan dismissing their bid for a judicial review against their eviction notice.

The farmers tried to visit the land yesterday on the grounds that they had a right to enter the land after obtaining a stay against their eviction from the Court of Appeal.

Despite the stay, the durian farmers were not allowed onto the land.