Malaysia must improve debate style, says Saifuddin
One of the key messages of US president Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday was for politicians to have more constructive debate that look past the interests of their own political parties.
“The American people don’t expect government to solve every problem. They don’t expect those of us in this chamber to agree on every issue. But they do expect us to put the nation’s interests before party...” said Obama in his speech in Congress.
Obama, according to principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest, had clearly meant that Democrats and Republicans must work in the best interest of the country and economy and find “common ground” on policies, and not use debates as a political platform for mudslinging.
But in Malaysia, having more public debates and fair air time for politicians on both sides of the political divides still remains an aspiration yet to be fully realised.
Deputy higher education minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah was one of the few politicians who tweeted about Obama’s speech, praising the fact that there was an immediate Republican rebuttal.
However, the Umno supreme council member and Temerloh MP's tweet instantly received responds by sceptics. One @afifbahardin posted: “Malaysia -----> not even a minute of airtime is given to the opposition :) Malaysia negara contoh demokrasi :p”; to which Saifuddin replied: “Must improve!”
Others wished that a scenario closer to that to the US will be seen in this country, with one asking when this could happen. A positive Saifuddin replies to this poser by saying: “together v (we) do it".
Public debates in Malaysia seem to be slowly gaining traction in the country, with the most recent high profile debates between MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and DAP’s Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, last year being televised.
As for media air time, the Reporters Without Borders global Press Freedom Index 2013 showed Malaysia dropping 23 places to 145th place out of 179 countries. Malaysia was ranked 122th in 2012.
The country’s “worst” performance was attributed to the "access to information is becoming more and more limited"
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