The Great Chinese Debate was good but guess what's next - ANWAR vs NAJIB!

I attended the much-awaited debate between Chua Soi Lek and Lim Guan Eng on Saturday organised by ASLI and INSAP, the first of its political collaboration.

The response was very encouraging as we saw a thousand-strong audience in the hall of mostly Chinese and also a few dozens of Malays, Indians and others. I believe there were another thousand others outside the hall as the place was packed to the maximum and movement was restricted. The debate had generated so much public interest not only from local residents but also from across the country as well as from some foreigners.

Debate had Najib's support

The theme of the debate 'MALAYSIAN CHINESE AT THE POLTICAL CROSSROADS' as the nation is geared towards the 13th general election. The debate was earlier mentioned by Prime Minister Najib Razak in his keynote address at an earlier function. PM Najib reminded the Chinese community that he appreciated their immense contribution to our nation building and asked the Chinese to give him a chance to seek a new mandate of his own at the 13^th general election widely expected to be held this year.

The PM also said that the debate is not about Najib but about the Chinese in this country. Najib said he hoped that the government's transformation programs would support his initiatives to improve the lives of all Malaysians irrespective of their race and religion. He was fair to both the debaters but hope that Chua Soi Lek will emerge the winner as the issue being debated is very important to the survival of the Chinese and how they will move forward in the future, within the context of Barisan Nasional that is.

Badly managed during the final session

The debate adopted the US style but it was not well managed as the crowd during the Q & A went almost out of control. There was a lot of audience frustration as some of them were rowdy and too emotional throughout the debate. The earlier series of the debate were not too bad and the speakers and the audience were quite happy, with only a few boos and jeers here and there. However, I was disappointed that after a few attempts I could not post my questions to eith Lim Guan Eng and Chua Soi Lek in the final debate of the theme:

For the record, I had wanted both Lim Guan Eng and Chua Soi Lek to answer the following questions from the floor:

1.  Given the current political scenario, should the two prominent Chinese based parties opt for a two (2) party system and eventually becoming a two (2) race system. To me, both the MCA and DAP (with their political allies) are comfortable with their present political alliance, although it may not be the best political combination for either. I thought that their answers, either positive or negative, will generate substantial interest from the Malays, Indians and others in our political system. Are we ready for a 2-party system which will graduate into 2-race system? I don't think so as comparing ourselves to US, UK, Korea or other countries, this will be a political suicide for this country. The gap will be even wider in addressing our racial issues. We are not ready as yet as our political maturity has not reached that cultured level in our society. This is what I believe but of course, there are many who think otherwise.

2.   There had been reports of syndicates out to "buy and sell votes" during the past few by-elections and also at the recent Sarawak state election, where a number of senior party politicians from BN lost their seats, including the powerful and influential SUPP boss George Chan. If there had not been buying and selling of votes, I believe George could not have been ousted, given all his wealth and status in Sarawak. However, the syndicate was not after Taib Mahmud's throat although he is one of the veteran politicians that have to be phased out.

Vote buying and Taib Mahmud? 

I suspect it was a political game to prolong the political career of Taib and to allow him to decide his own political exit. The police and intelligence knew about this "buying and selling” of votes but were reluctant to act and arrest the syndicate members who are the underground world. This is also a form of rampant corruption, which is a normal practice of those people who are not credible and without integrity in their service to the government and nation.

There was no denial from the authorities, and both the leaders should comment on the issue being raised by the public in the social media. It's not about money politics but "vote buying and selling", which is an indirect sabotage to our democratic election process, which the Election Commission is being tasked to implement and improve the SOP of our polling systems.

More debates to come

In conclusion, I opined that the debate was well accepted by the Chinese community and widely reported by the alternative media and social network in the cyberspace.

I believe we look forward to another round of such a debate that will set a new stage of our political arena. The question now being asked is: "WILL NAJIB TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE TO DEBATE WITH ANWAR IBRAHIM?"

There should be more such debates in our political front among all the leaders as part of the political transformation in our country, in line with the prime minister's initiative.

Datuk Mustapha Ong is an active commentator, a retired diplomat and an Umno member