the debate

Usually I don't blog much about politics but today has to be an exception, for the 1st time in the history of this Country a pressing National Issue is debated under life public telecast........Althought this is the norm in some countries throughout the world, it is something that we sorely lack...
The topic of the day was on the fuel price hike, something which affects the livelyhood of many of us in this country and well I shall include the rest of the world as well.....
The debate was between the De-facto Opposition leader (not to be confused with the post of Opposition leader) and our new information minister.
This is now my personal view on the debate, both sides seem to have points which were not addressed by the other party, the point raised by the Opposition leader that went unanswered is the fact that if corrupt practices are reduced then the government would have more money to tackle the fuel price increase, this point went unanswered by the government rep.
The minister did ask quite a good question though, what happens when Malaysia becomes a net oil importer, what shall we do then?? Althought Mr. Anwar should be congratulated for trying to address the issue it still remains unanswered, but overall I feel that the opposition leader seemed to have won this round as many of his point went unanswered, kudos to him.
As for the minister? I find it rather disgraceful that a member of the cabinet has to stoop to personal attacks when he can't answer a point, this does not bode well for the nation when our minister uses such tactics in the debate instead of addressing the issue at hand which was the fuel price and the economy...
He also compares Malaysia with both ends of the fuel price spectra, Venezuala and Europe, (for the uninitiated Venezuala has the lowest fuel prices in the world while Europe has the highest)
This is where I thought Mr. Anwar really controlled the debate.

Mr minister: Venezuala has low fuel prices but high Inflation.

Opp leader: BUT MALAYSIA HAS HIGH FUEL PRICES AND HIGH INFLATION.

Mr Minister: Countries like Finland, Norway has much higher fuel prices than Malaysia but yet they have a low inflation rate.

Opp Leader: They have a percapita Income 10 times higher than Malaysia.

Based on the answers given by we can see who the real gentleman is and who's the better debater and who is the better choice for our nation.

But the sad thing about Malaysian politics is the fact that a lot of it revolves around race, it is sad that 50 years on we are still having communal sentiments calling ourselves, Malays, Chinese, Indians, Bidayuhs, Ibans and lots more instead of the fact that we are all Malaysians 1st and foremost.

2008 the year that America might be electing it's 1st black president, Malaysia is still stuck in it's racial quagmire which seems to have no sign of abetting.

and there is also the possiblity that the de-facto opp leader might be arrested 2mrw, it is not rumours I saw it on the 8pm news, well we just have to wait and see,
Here's hoping for a better Malaysia