Tourism Minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has denied that the Jonker Walk night market has been closed down in order to punish Chinese hawkers who did not support MCA and the government in the May 5 general election.

"It's just an accusation that is not true. I don't think we want to punish (the Chinese). I am an Umno minister and I have nothing personal against the Chinese," he said.

NONE Yesterday, the opposition had accused that the closing down of Jonker Street was a form of political retaliation .

Nazri ( left ) also said that he had appealed to Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron not to close down the Jonker Walk night market.

Nazri told reporters outside of the Dewan Rakyat today that the night market is an essential part of Malacca's tourism sector and should not be closed.

"I spoke to the CM today, and he told me that it will be closed for four weeks as a trial to see if closing down the market alleviates traffic problems there."

Nazri added that he hoped the CM "would think" about the closure of the night market again at the conclusion of four weeks.

"Malacca is not the only place for tourism (in Malaysia), so I hope the CM would think about this properly," he said.

NONE "I appealed to him, saying that Jonker Street has been around for 13 years; and I said Malaccans should have known better after 13 years to adapt to this (the road's closure for the night market)."

"After 13 years, I'm sure you can adapt to this by having a system," Nazri added.

"Don't do things that can hurt tourism. If there's no tourism, then there's nothing in Malacca," he stressed.

Nazri noted that while tourists can go to other states in Malaysia, Malacca will suffer if tourists choose to frequent other states in the country instead.

'No evidence' on race-voting

mca youth agm 201012 wee ka siong 03 Nazri's BN colleague Wee Ka Siong ( left ), who is the Ayer Hitam MP, said that it was "not necessary" to close down Jonker Walk.

"I don't think it is necessary, whether it is Chinese or Indians, it is for tourists and it is for them (traders) to make money," he said.

Meanwhile, PKR's Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli said that there is no "empirical evidence" that one particular community or race had voted for a certain party in the last election.

"They are doing this as revenge, and at the same time talking about moving forward," he said.

"If they do this to the Chinese, it is not going to benefit anyone," he added.

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