MCA president Chua Soi Lek and DAP secretary-general Lim
Guan Eng over-indulged in emphasising their past achievements in the
second round of their debate today, and fell short of stating a
comprehensive blueprint for the future.
Independent political analyst Khoo Kay Peng (right)
said this was his impression when asked to review the two-hour showdown
debate with the theme of "MCA and DAP: Whose policies benefit the
country more?"
He said both Chua and Lim were treating the debate like ceramah and trying to impress the audience with their resume.
"Although
they listed some policy changes, what we wanted to see was a debate on
topics that would have a long term impact on the economic development of
Malaysia," he said.
For him, the speakers
should have engaged in providing arguments of what policies can draw the
nation out of its current economic bottleneck, and how it could be
done.
"Although Lim touched a bit in his winding
up speech about equality and ending racial discrimination, he did not
say what he wanted to do in the future," he added.
He doubted if this kind of debate added value to the country politically.
"Both are considerably influential, but it's not going to change the
political landscape. I would rather watch a debate between (Prime
Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) and (opposition leader) Anwar (Ibrahim),"
he said.
Humiliation ploy
Meanwhile,
Kota Belud Umno MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan picked his BN colleague Chua
over Lim when asked who was the winner of the debate.
"Chua is clearer in policy matters. He gave coherent rebuttals, whereas Lim was shooting everywhere.".
He
said he was puzzled by the RM35 million figures raised by Lim as amount
needed to abolish highway toll concessions, as it was not supported by
data.
When asked to comment on the much-touted
Najib-Anwar debate, he dismissed it as unnecessary, saying that
Malaysians only hoped to see which of the two will get humiliated.
"Debate
is not the only way to understand (Najib's and Anwar's) policies. If
you talk about Najib, everyone knows what he stands for, same goes for
Anwar.
"If you put them together, they are going to say what they have always said."
For independent political analyst Ong Kian Ming (left), it iwa up to the individual to decide who the winner of the debate was.
"If you like the more dramatic style, I think Lim would be up. But it's not quite suitable for the topic.
"Chua, on the other hand, argued using more facts and figures," he said.
Despite
this, the economic and political science faculty lecturer at UCSI
University said he was quite disappointed that there were no fireworks
in the debate to make it memorable.
While the
general public was expecting them to speak about the sizzling topics
like the "RM1 billion questionable deal" with Talam Corp Bhd and the
Lim's alleged affairs with a woman, both sides spoke little on these.
He
opined that the topics were also relevant to the theme of the debate as
Talam's issue represents a case of mismanagement; while the other
concerned the morals of a chief minister, in the running to lead a party
or even the nation.
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