Haze in Muar

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has agreed to declare emergency status on Sunday (23rd March) in Muar and Ledang with immediate effect after the API readings reached more than 750, said Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel.

As of 7.00am Sunday, the air pollutant index (API) in Muar has spiked to 746, which is more than twice the standard hazardous levels according to the Department of Environment website.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported two cities in Malacca also were in hazardous API territory as at 7am Sunday namely Bandaraya Melaka and Bukit Rambai with readings of 357 and 334 respectively.

Palanivel said the highest API ever recorded in Malaysia was in Sarawak in 1997 with a reading of 860.

He also said that the National Security Council (NSC) would issue instructions for residents to stay indoors and direct schools in several states to remain closed.

"NSC should look at cloud seeding operations immediately," he said.

Jonker Street Closures

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.
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.
"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.

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Read more here.