Makes my blood boil Pahang Sultan sees red as tensions rise over prized Malaysian durians

RAUB – Long-simmering tensions over Malaysia’s prized durians and illegal orchards have come to a head, drawing royal fury. As some 1,000 trees were felled as part of a nearly month-long enforcement operation against illegal durian farms in Raub, Pahang ruler Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah declared that the encroachment on state land “makes my blood boil”.

The remarks, made during a Hari Raya Aidilfitri event in April, came as enforcement officers from multiple state agencies, armed with chainsaws, razed once-lush orchards in sleepy Raub district, flattening decades-old trees – many of them the Musang King variety – planted by mostly Chinese Malaysian farmers.

The tree-felling operation that began on April 8 has left the durian community reeling – igniting a high-stakes dispute involving hundreds of millions of ringgit and unfolding allegations of land trespass and broken trust.

The stand-off between durian farmers and the authorities wanting to raze illegal plantings of the fruit on state land escalated with the arrest of Raub MP Chow Yu Hui in mid-April for obstructing enforcement officers.

The lawmaker, along with Mr Wilson Chang of the Save Musang King Alliance (Samka) – a group representing around 1,000 unlicensed durian farmers in Raub – were on site opposing the felling of the trees.

For months now, tensions have grown in the state over control of the lucrative durian trade, with land trespass claims prompting the state to take stern action.

“It is time for us to stand firm with encroachers who enter the Pahang land without permission. We will act in such a way, and it will be solved amicably,” the Sultan of Pahang said at the event in Kampung Bantal, Ulu Tembeling.

The ongoing dispute is part of a broader conflict involving durian orchards that have existed for generations on government-owned land, but without formal