A multipurpose basketball court is the latest bone of contention between the state government and the opposition over who deserves credit for halting development of 13 houses there.

The DAP is all hot under the collar at the current upstart government crowing that they were the ones to come the aid of the residents who were against the project at Pusing, near Ipoh.

NONE All rubbish, according to DAP Tronoh state assemblyperson V Sivakumar ( left in green ), who said his party was at the forefront of the fight way back in August 2004 when the then-BN government gave permission to a developer for the project.

He then delved into the history of that particular plot which had been a basketball court, a morning market and a parking lot at other times.

"We (the DAP) were against this housing project way back in 2004 when BN gave this state land at a dirt cheap rate of RM2.26 per sq foot to Syarikat Panglima Bangsa Sdn Bhd of which one of the two directors is former Tronoh BN assemblyperson Lee Kon Yin, for a housing project," he said.

From one hand to another

Sivakumar claimed that it was sold off by Syarikat Panglima Bangsa within two months to Tujoh Jaya Sdn Bhd for quick profit and later that plot changed hands yet again to another developer.

When the residents and the DAP protested the transfer to a private developer, according to the ousted Pakatan assembly speaker, the state government gave two reasons, one being the existence of three other basketball courts nearby, and the other that nothing could be done as the plot was now private land.

On 7 April, 2005, the Pusing residents had collected 1573 signatures from the residents and sent a memorandum to then-Menteri Besar Tajol Rosli Mohd Ghazali protesting the transfer of the basketball court land but it was ignored, he said.

An angry Sivakumar told a media conference at DAP state headquarters here today that now the BN was claiming credit for stopping the proposed development of the basketball court.

He alleged that the developer, finding no demand for the proposed housing scheme, had returned the land to the state with a request for a replacement.

"Now BN is hoodwinking the residents by trying to claim credit for having saved the land that it had previously sold off at a dirt cheap price," he lashed out.

Quoting a Tamil saying, Sivakumar described BN's actions as "pinching a child to make it cry and then rocking the cradle to calm it".