THE bells of election have yet to toll in earnest but prickly peals are already audible at Padang Rengas.
Tourism and Culture Minister and Padang Rengas MP from Umno Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz is ready for his promised debate on 1MDB with former Umno president and Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, scheduled on March 25 at Kuala Kangsar Mara Junior College (MRSM).
With the Dewan Rakyat Speaker’s ruling at the end of last year to disallow debate on the lawsuit against IMDB by US Department of Justice, this first open debate on the issue (outside parliament) has certainly caught the attention of all parties concerned.
Prior to this, Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua from DAP had also challenged the 1MDB president and group director Arul Kanda Kandasamy to an open debate.
But due to various reasons offered by both sides, the debate was never held. Will the blockbuster verbal wrangle between Nazri and Mahathir materialise?
Notably, at the time of writing, doubts still lingered on whether the debate will go ahead as police have not received any formal application to hold the event. To all intents and purposes, the debate may not happen. The hype and bluster surrounding it could turn out to be a mere “tale told by an idiot, just a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing,” to quote the Barb’s Macbeth.
Per contra, the 1MDB scandal has been climatic. From the resignation of the audit company, the dropping of former Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin from the Cabinet and his subsequent expulsion from Umno, coupled with the various occurrences that led to the expose of malfeasance as claimed, the 1MDB issue has generated a lot of public interest and scrutiny.
Before the Nazri-Mahathir debate even started, Finance Minister II Datuk Abdul Ghani Johari pointed out that it had nothing to do with the government, stating all the questions should have been answered when the 1MDB issue was presented in parliament.
Hence, it is clear Nazri’s acceptance of the debate has not been properly sanctioned by Umno – he has not received the party’s blessing and will be representing himself.
In this context, despite being a member of the Cabinet for many years, Nazri is still not in the core of power. Thus, the question arises – how much strength and persuasiveness can his words carry and represent? Or will the debate degenerate into the parroting of outdated arguments and be turned into a noisy political show – by both sides, one might add.
In any case, if it does take place as scheduled, the debate which might rumble on for a few hours, is not likely to shed any new light on the issue but could instead become a ‘pump primer’ to arouse public re-examination and reappraisal on corruption and power abuse hiding in the shadows. (From Oriental Daily)