The Housing and Local Government Ministry will provide more housing at the Petaling Selatan squatter settlement which was wracked by communal clashes which left six dead and more than 40 injured over the past six days.

Its minister Ong Ka Ting said today he will work closely with the Selangor state government on the matter. He, however, did not give any time frame as to when the new housing programme would be implemented.

Ong said this after visiting long houses in the area at Taman Medan together with Works Minister S Samy Vellu and National Unity and Social Development Minister Siti Zaharah Sulaiman.

During their visit, the three cabinet members visited residents at their houses and reassured them that the situation in the area was well under control.

Samy Vellu had the crowd in laughter when he lifted a baby and announced, "This is going to be member of parliament in 20 years,".

Half-completed

The residents have been living in the area for the past 17 years and were supposed to have moved into a new block of flats that was being constructed nearby. However, construction stopped and the residents have been waiting for the past four years for news regarding their new homes.

"Every morning, when we get up, we see our half-completed flats with iron pillars standing there. It has been there for four years now," one resident told the ministers, pointing to the abandoned flats nearby.

To this, Ong said that he would have to obtain further information from the authorities first.

"I first have to get information from the relevant departments regarding the housing projects for the people here. I also need to know why the construction work on the new flats was stopped," he said, adding the housing problems of the residents would be solved soon.

Earlier, another resident, P Parameswary told the ministers that she wanted to move out of the area as soon as possible.

"We are living in fear here. Police protection cannot go on for ever. We do not want anything else. We have been promised houses and we want that from the government now," she said.

Monetary assistance

The ministers said that they were instructed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to visit the area today to ensure that the people were given whatever assistance they needed.

"Samy Vellu said he had forwarded a letter to the Finance Ministry requesting for monetary assistance for those affected by the clashes.

He also challenged the opposition to prove that there were more deaths than that officially reported. The police had said that six people died but opposition leaders, at a press conference on Monday, said that they were informed by sources of a possibly higher death toll ([#1] Dr M rapped over Kg Medan clashes[/#] , March 12)

Samy Vellu said MIC had spent about RM30,000 for the funeral expenses of all the six victims.

"The opposition just wants to get political mileage out of this issue. They only visited the affected areas after everything became calm. I have been here for three days," he said.

Siti Zaharah said the government was examining evidence of external groups being involved in the violence in an attempt to undermine and overthrow the government.

"We have proof that the perpetrators are not from here and we will observe the situation from time to time," she said.