Nothing new in ‘great debate’, says Ramasamy

 

P Ramasamy says there were no fresh ideas on any of the subjects touched upon by Anwar Ibrahim and Najib Razak during the debate.

PETALING JAYA: Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy slammed last night’s “great debate” between former prime minister Najib Razak and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, saying it had “no crucial information that the public was unaware of”.

He said what should have been a debate on Sapura Energy Bhd (SEB) between the two “political giants” turned out to be nothing more than a way for them to politically position themselves.

“The debate on SEB was merely an appetiser before both the candidates went on to state their respective political stand on the development trajectory of the country,” he said in a Facebook posting today.

Ramasamy said that, in a sense, the debate between the two was merely an endorsement of their respective positions on the political, economic and social positions in the country.

He took Najib to task for speaking about the benefits of mega projects.

“Najib unashamedly talked about big projects being beneficial to the people,” he said.

“He also talked confidently about Barisan Nasional’s term in office without realising that the BN government collapsed under its own weight in general and his role which led to the fall (in the last general election).”

He reminded Najib that, despite his recent popularity, people had not forgotten about the 1MDB scandal.

Ramasamy said that there were no fresh ideas on any of the subjects touched upon by Anwar and Najib, including on SEB.

He said, however, that “at least” Anwar’s stand was seen to be one of representing the people, compared with the approach by Najib.

“While Najib talked about government stability with the need for big projects, Anwar took a much more guarded approach.

“For him (Anwar), it was well and good to talk about big projects, but what about accountability and transparency? This is why he spoke of the need for a forensic audit.”

Ramasamy said it was also good that Anwar spoke about the cost-saving measures taken by the former Pakatan Harapan (PH) government before its collapse in February 2020.

“I have reluctantly taken Anwar’s side. Not because he came up with fresh and challenging ideas, but he has a clean record.

“There is no way I would have supported Najib simply because he is not part of the solution but part of the problem,” he said.

He also called certain members of the society “misguided” for thinking Najib had the makings of the next prime minister following last night’s debate.

“Such kind of thinking is a road to colossal disaster.” - FMT