In 1972, the state made it clear that it would close all cemeteries near and around the city area to "conserve land". State power over cemeteries was considerably strengthened by an alteration in the law allowing the public commissioner to "close cemeteries without assigning reasons for doing so". As an alternative means of managing the disposal of the dead, the state offered burial space at a state-owned public cemetery complex at Choa Chu Kang, although it made it clear that it considered cremation as the only viable long-term option. As various academics have pointed out, the clearance of ethnic burial grounds served more than a practical purpose as it signified the transferring of power from clan- and ethnic-based associations, which had previously run these burial grounds, to state organizations.