Parti Sosialis Malaysia has today called on the government to immediately halt all forced eviction exercises in the country and resolve the issue of housing for the poor.

"A caring government does not threaten and display their might towards the poor but rather seek remedies through negotiations," PSM chairman Dr Nasir Hashim said today.

He was responding to a statement made by deputy prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Tuesday that state governments and Kuala Lumpur City Hall should ensure that foreigners do not squat on government land.

Abdullah, who is also Home Minister, added that the authorities would take several measures to relocate squatters which included opening new housing areas to ensure they lived in hygienic surroundings.

Nasir said in a statement faxed to malaysiakini noted that while it was encouraging to note that the government was considering the option of relocating squatter households to ensure a more decent living, previous ministers had reiterated the same promise before but it remained unfulfilled.

"Even when the housing developers failed to fulfill their promise to build low cost houses, the government of the day will come to their rescue rather than take these developers to task," he said.

Nasir maintained that evictions remain the order of the day in this country.

"Eviction and detention continue without fail and the conspiracy against the poor has been an ongoing legend. Sympathetic statements are mere eye-wash and often pronounced after eviction of squatters and demolition of their houses," said Nasir.

Nasir, who has been working with squatters for the past 20 years, said his experience revealed that these squatters were not anti-development.

"What they want is a decent place that they can call home. Promises of low cost housing often fell through and if it existed, they found it was not meant for them. The outsiders, political quota system and the rich seemed to have direst access to ownership of such houses," he said.

He added that the government had consistently failed to meet low cost housing targets in every five-year Malaysia Plan to date.

"As such housing for the poor must be the responsibility of the government and it must have the political will to ensure that developers do not flaunt the law and violate housing projects," he said.