Nazri: Closing Jonker Walk not to punish the Chinese

However, the senior minister also called on the Malacca chief minister Datuk Idris Haron to reconsider the move as the street was a popular tourist destination.

“To punish them? For what?” responded Nazri when approached by reporters in Parliament today.

“I'm not from MCA. I'm an Umno minister so I've got nothing personal with the Chinese there and I'm sure the CM also is from Umno as far as a I can remember and I don't think that we want to punish.”

“It's just an accusation which is not true,” he said.

Before the latest closure, roads at Jonker Walk are usually closed off on Friday, Saturday, Sunday evenings for visitors to walk at the night market.

“I spoke to Idris and he said the reasons he did it was numerous complaints of traffic,” said Nazri.

Nazri said that he was told by Idris that the Malacca government was doing this on a ‘trial run’.

“The trial run for one month and will see if it actually eases traffic flow,” he said.

Nazri said he appealed to Idris and said that Jonker’s street has been around for 13 years and it is well-known internationally.

“Without tourism, what is Malacca? So tourism must be given due consideration above everything else.” he added.

“Tourists can go somewhere else. Malacca will suffer. They have to think properly because if they do this it will effect tourism.

“I'm not from Malacca. If they don't go to Malacca it's not my problem. They can go somewhere else. Sabah, Sarawak and other places in Malaysia. Malacca is not the only place for tourism so I hope the CM will think properly.”

The Malacca government's decision to shut down the historic city's popular weekend night market, Jonker Walk, has been described by state Opposition leaders as "political retaliation against Chinese voters" for not voting for Barisan Nasional during May 5.

According to Chinese paper Kwong Wah Daily, Idris on Sunday argued that the decision passed by the Malacca executive council on June 12 to close the night market follows what the people wanted.

Idris recalled that it was DAP that protested against the state government's decision to cordon off Jonker Street from road users, to make way for the night market, when the idea was first mooted.

"Now, we see most of the Malacca residents fully supporting DAP over MCA candidates, who have been serving them. Hence, we decided to cancel the night market and we hope they will be happy," Idris was quoted as saying.