Eric a coward for refusing to debate, says Rafizi

Pandan MP says debate challenge proves that those who make the most noise on social media are actually cowards.

KUALA LUMPUR: Rafizi Ramli today branded Eric See-To a coward after the Barisan Nasional strategic communications deputy director rejected his offer to debate him over tax collected by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The PKR vice-president said this was exactly what he had set out to prove when he challenged See-To to the debate.

“Those who make the most noise on social media are actually cowards,” he said in a Facebook Live video taken at Invoke here today.

In turning down Rafizi’s request for a debate yesterday, See-To had said there was no urgency to hold one, and that he did not want to “disrupt” the Pandan MP while he was in the midst of “fights” with his own party members.

He also said Rafizi’s challenge was nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from PKR’s internal squabbles.

“Rafizi should only ask me for a debate again in a month’s time.

“Perhaps in a month’s time, Rafizi’s internal fights could be over or he could have left or been sacked from his party,” See-To had said, referring to Rafizi’s spat with fellow PKR members as well as activist Ambiga Sreenevasan.

Rafizi had challenged See-To to a debate on the country’s economic development, including the tax collected by the IRB, after See-To argued that there was nothing unusual about income tax collections outpacing the country’s economic growth.

See-To said this when responding to Rafizi’s claim that income tax collection had grown disproportionate to the country’s economic growth since Prime Minister Najib Razak took office in 2009.

Today, Rafizi went on to take a dig at Najib who had previously declined to entertain Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s challenge to debate him on issues surrounding 1MDB.

“It turns out that there are more cowards in Barisan Nasional,” he said. -FMT