Floor participants will not be able to pose direct questions in the
second round of the debate between MCA president Chua Soi Lek and DAP
secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as the organiser is drawing up a new
format.
Announcing
it at a press conference this afternoon, organiser Asian Strategy and
Leadership Institute (Asli) chief Michael Yeoh said the participants
will need to either submit their questions beforehand or write it on a
card.
He said the decision was made as there were accusations of
biasness and unfairness on the Q&A session in the previous debate.
The
last face-off between Lim and Chua on Feb 18 had seen numerous
complaints from DAP members over their not being given the chance to
pose question despite having waited for a long time.
It was the same Q&A session where little known MCA politician Jessie Ooi (right) has become an unwitting ‘star’ overnight and earned herself the moniker of ‘Ms Tow Truck’ for a fiery question she posed to Lim on the Penang government’s policies.
The
debate, themed ‘Debate 2.0: DAP and MCA: Whose policies benefit the
country more?’, will be held at Sunway Convention Centre, Sunway Pyramid
on July 8.
Conducted in English, the debate will last two hours, which is double the time of the previous debate.
Yeoh
said he expect the debaters to cover areas such as education,
healthcare, economic prosperity, community service, national unity,
public welfare and poverty alleviation.
Explaining the choice of
topic today, Yeoh said there is a greater need to focus on public
policy discussion as the general election looms.
“To bring our
politics to a different level we have to debate on issues and public
policies, rather than being emotional and criticising certain
individuals,” he said.
When asked whether the title will spark
another round of the usual political rhetoric from Chua and Lim, Yeoh
said certain elements of political selling are inevitable.
“I think it is unavoidable for Chua to sell MCA and for Lim to talk about DAP. But it depends on the debater.
“I will also advise them to stick to the topic,” he said.
Asked
again why the debate topic singles out DAP and MCA instead of their
affiliated coalitions, he explained that it is just a continuation of
the previous topic.
Tickets priced at RM88 each
Unlike
the last debate, a three-member panel consisting of leading
academicians and editors from newspapers will be formed to observe the
debate and pose questions.
“This will be similar in nature to the
American presidential debates whereby professional panellists can pose
questions,” he said.
He, however, stressed that that panellists must be non-partisan and acceptable to both the debaters.
Meanwhile,
seats allocated for members of public, numbering 500 in total, have
been priced at RM88 each this time; whereas party delegates from MCA and
DAP will be allocated between 400 and 500 seats, with the detail being
finalised soon.
The tickets can be purchased via Asli at 03-2093 5396 starting on Friday June 1 on a first-come first-served basis.
The NGO is also negotiating with several television stations for a live telecast.
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