People the ultimate winner in debate, says Chua
Posted on February 19, 2012, Sunday
KUALA LUMPUR: The people has emerged as the ultimate winner in the debate between the MCA and DAP here yesterday as it allowed the Malaysian public to evaluate for themselves the policies and stands of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the opposition.
“The winner is the rakyat and not Lim Guan Eng (DAP secretary-general) or Chua Soi Lek,” said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek in a joint news conference soon after concluding the debate, which drew a hugh public interest, especially from the Chinese community and was telecast live on Astro, that is on Astro AEC and Awani.
“An engagement like this will allow the rakyat to see the stands of BN and Pakatan,” he said after the hour-long debate titled “Is the two-party system becoming a two-race system?” organised by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) and MCA’s think-tank, Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (Insap).
Right from the beginning, Chua and his fellow debater, the Penang chief minister, agreed to keep the debate professional and not as a platform to decide who is the winner or loser.
The debate was conducted in Mandarin and was moderated by Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall chief executive officer Tan Ah Chai.
On a question whether both parties had answered the questions raised in the debate, Chua said he believed he could have provided better explanation if they were given more time and opportunity.
Meanwhile, Lim said the debate could be a good beginning to become a more matured democratic society, adding that such an event should be more frequently organised.
“I think this is something good and I hope this will not be the first and last.
“I feel it will open up the mind of our rakyat because issues must be debated rationally,” he said.
Lim said both he and Chua had agreed to meet again for another round of public debate, which would be in Bahasa Malaysia or English, and they would decide later on other details of the debate including topics, time and venue.
Lim added the ultimate debate that the people were awaiting to see would be between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Meanwhile during the debate, which was attended by more than 600 people including supporters from both parties, Dr Chua said the DAP merely knew how to attack the BN government and blame the component parties on everything to cover their own weaknesses.
He said also DAP also instilled hatred politics among the people on BN, and good at pitting the Chinese against the Chinese.
Since the DAP came into power in Penang, it had not been able to solve and uplift the socio-economy of the people in the state, and even failed to approve land to build Chinese schools.
Dr Chua also chided the DAP for pushing for a two-party system but in reality it was merely a slogan for the party to fish for votes, and also contradicted its recent election target to have ‘zero opposition’ in Penang in the upcoming general election.
On a segment where the debaters were given a chance to ask each other a question, Chua has asked Lim to explain on the Pakatan Rakyat’s economic model and how it could drive Malaysia to become a developed nation.
However, Lim appeared to be unable to do so and instead resorted to giving a general answer without supplying any figure on economic development and investment in Penang. — Bernama
