I am no judge, so I won’t say who is the winner in last night’s debate between Anwar and Shabery.
But one thing I am sure. Whoever won and lost, the ultimate winner is the Malaysians.
This is the right way forward for the nation. Government leaders must be ready to face anyone willing to come forward to query and debate government policies. By having this sort of debate, the people of Malaysia get to listen to the other side of the story too… which is great for stimualting the minds. By listening to different views, the minds of leaders on both side of the divide can actually be stimulated and new ideas may come out. The Prime Minister must be commended for letting this sort of debate take place… the country will be more open with this.
The West is what it is today because of the divergence of ideas, and the freedom to express such ideas are guaranteed in most western countries. With divergence of ideas comes coalescence of such ideas into new thinking which has propelled the nations of the west forward, ever since the The Renaissance.
Our country , if it really aspires to be a first world nation by 2020, must be prepared to be more open and let dissenting views be not only heard, and be heard over the so-called official channels, in the government controlled press as well as radio and TV stations.
I hope this debate will open up a trend for future debates to be held, in normal times as well as during General Elections.
