PETALING JAYA, June 25 — The DAP’s Tony Pua asked today if the iconic Petaling Street in the capital would also face closure like Malacca’s Jonker Walk as he warned against more moves by Barisan Nasional (BN) to punish Chinese voters.
He said the Malacca directive had likely come from the Umno leadership and would possibly set in motion a series of more actions by Umno-led governments nationwide to “discriminate against, sideline, punish” and “humiliate” the country’s second-largest ethnic group, many among whom had voted for Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in Election 2013.
“Perhaps, the new Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz will announce a similar move to close down the historic Petaling Street,” Pua suggested in a statement here.
“Or why stop at just closing these ‘Chinatowns’,” he asked. “Why not just cancel Christmas or, even more impactful, ban Deepavali or Chinese New Year celebrations?”
Newly-minted Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron last week announced the closure of the Jonker Walk weekend market, a popular 13-year-old tourist destination in an area often referred to as the Chinatown of the southern state.
According to Chinese newspaper Kwong Wah Daily yesterday, Idris, in explaining he closure, said that the decision was made by the state’s executive council on June 12 and it “follows the intention of the people”.
“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 in the paper, according to Malaysiakini’s report yesterday.
The chief minister had reportedly pointed out that it was the DAP that had protested against the previous state government’s decision to cordon off the popular street to road users when it was first mooted.
But Pua sniped at the first-term state chief executive, saying he had proven himself more reckless, arrogant and callous than his predecessor Datuk Seri Ali Rustam.
Ali had publicly labelled Chinese voters “ungrateful” for felling him in the divisive May 5 general election despite his contribution to the community.
“Just because Datuk Idris Haron wanted to demonstrate his political pettiness to inflict damage to the Chinese community, he is willing to sacrifice the interest of the people of Malacca and her economy,” Pua said.
“More importantly, it has proven beyond doubt that BN is not a ‘1 Malaysia’ government as touted by the Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, but in reality a 1 Umno party which only cares about the interest of their own leaders and cronies,” he added.
The DAP publicity secretary said the closure of Jonker Walk runs in direct contrast with decisions made by PR-led governments which, he said, were always aimed to benefit all constituents, regardless of their political affiliation.
He cited Selangor’s free water policy and insurance for the elderly, and Penang’s success in eradicating hardcore poverty as examples.
“While PR continues to serve all Malaysians regardless of whether they had voted for us, we are witnessing an increasingly vindictive BN where MCA threw its tantrums by shutting down all their service centres, while Umno demonstrated their racist mindset by not only poisoning the minds of the people and destroying the people’s livelihoods,” Pua said.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP added that Najib’s continued silence against the series of anti-Chinese remarks or actions taken by his leaders since Election 2013 only proves the prime minister’s approval.
It also confirms that his 1 Malaysia brainchild was merely a propaganda rhetoric to win votes during the polls, Pua said.
Election 2013 saw BN continue its unbroken rule in Malaysia when it scored 133 seats to the opposition’s 89 in what has been described as one of the most divisive general elections in the country’s history.
But the pact emerged from victory limping from the heavy beating it took during the polls where large numbers of Chinese and middle- to upper-class urban voters had opted for PR’s call for change instead of BN’s promise of continued stability.
Najib, in his victory speech to declare BN’s win, labelled the results a “Chinese tsunami”, a description that later snowballed into a post-polls discourse tainted by accusations of betrayal against the community.
