Home Affairs Deputy Minister Zainal Abidin Zin denied in Parliament today that the government practised selective development and that projects took off only in the event of ethnic clashes or by-elections.

Zainal was responding to PAS member of parliament for Pokok Sena Mahfuz Omar's accusation that the government dished out promises of low-cost houses and increased police patrol to the squatters in Petaling Jaya Selatan only after six deaths and 52 injuries had taken place.

Mahfuz, who is also PAS Youth Chief, said the delayed action on the government's part showed that it is slow in managing the people's problems and would only push for developments in areas that are the centrestage of ethnic conflicts or by-elections to pacify the local residents.

Zainal dismissed the accusation as unjust and cited the many development projects, including those in Putrajaya, which were carried out in the absence of any preceding violence, as being good for the nation and the people.

The recent development projects to flood Petaling Jaya Selatan were part of a long-standing government plan for the area and the clashes had simply accelerated the process, he said.

"It has always been our plan to set up more police booths in these areas along Old Klang Road to reduce the crime rate and improve conditions. We are not doing this just because bad things have happened," said Zainal.

The deputy minister explained that the projects are to help eradicate the socio-economic problems in these areas. Zainal said his ministry is also working closely with others, including the Housing and Local Government Ministry on this issue.

Police investigations

In a related matter, Zainal said the police could not reveal the names of those responsible for the clashes at the present stage as investigations are ongoing.

"If we name them now, it might jeopardise the people concerned if further investigation proved their innocence. Besides, if such inaccurate information is divulged, people might be deceived into believing that the government is controlling the police and telling lies again," he said.

Meanwhile, DAP member of Parliament for Bukit Mertajam, Chong Eng asked Zainal to present the case to the public in chronologically so that they could understand the clashes better as there are many questions which remain unanswered.

Zainal said the police did not document the clashes in a time line as the incident was thought to be a minor one at the initial stages.

"At first, we assumed the clashes would end soon after they had erupted. That is why we only stationed about 600 police personnel at the scene. When the problem grew, we deployed more personnel," he said.