{"id":5917,"date":"2019-02-24T00:15:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-23T16:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/?p=5917"},"modified":"2019-02-24T00:15:34","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T16:15:34","slug":"debate-cancellation-unfair-lost-opportunity-for-smaller-parties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/debate-cancellation-unfair-lost-opportunity-for-smaller-parties\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate cancellation unfair, lost opportunity for smaller parties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Malaysiakini<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

SEMENYIH POLLS\u00a0| PSM is upset by the decision to\u00a0cancel\u00a0<\/a>the proposed debate between Semenyih by-election candidates.<\/p>\n

In a statement today, its election director S Arutchelvan said it was unfair for electoral watchdog Bersih to call off the event just because BN and Pakatan Harapan had turned down the debate invitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you need to cancel it just because BN and Harapan candidates declined to join? The PSM and independent candidate are ready to debate.”<\/p>\n

In allowing the big parties to dictate whether or not a debate occurs, Bersih was denying democratic space to other voices, he contended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shows that only big and powerful parties can influence whether a debate happens or not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe debate would have given smaller parties and the independent candidate a fairer chance to communicate their views to a wider audience,\u201d Arutchelvan added.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Bersih had thanked PSM candidate Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul and independent candidate Kuan Chee Heng for agreeing but explained that it \u201cwould not be meaningful\u201d to hold the debate and air it on national television if candidates from the country\u2019s two main coalitions did not participate.<\/p>\n

BN\u2019s Zakaria Hanafi had\u00a0turned down<\/a>\u00a0the offer citing he wanted to focus on solving the people\u2019s problems, saying that a debate was merely a popularity contest among individuals.<\/p>\n

Harapan\u2019s Muhammad Aiman Zainal\u00a0said no<\/a>\u00a0apparently because Zakaria, his main contender, would not be debating.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not just BN and Harapan contesting<\/b><\/p>\n

Arutchelvan said he was disappointed in BN and Harapan\u2019s stance, but contended that Bersih should have allowed the debate to continue among \u201cthe brave\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy cancelling it, this means those who turned down the debate have won.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis by-election is not just between Harapan and BN, alternative parties should also be given the chance to debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps this can teach Harapan and BN a lesson,\u201d he said, adding that a debate would have shown the ability of candidates to represent their constituents in a state assembly.<\/p>\n

With this, Harapan could not longer claim the higher ground when it came to debates, Arutchelvan also said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Harapan\u2019s decision to not debate, they do not have any legitimacy to criticise or berate any Opposition parties who refuse to debate them on any issues in the future,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

During the Cameron Highlands by-election last month, Harapan candidate M Manogaran had\u00a0criticised<\/a>\u00a0BN\u2019s Ramli Mohd Nor for excusing himself from their debate, questioning his ability to raise issues in Parliament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Malaysiakini SEMENYIH POLLS\u00a0| PSM is upset by the decision to\u00a0cancel\u00a0the proposed debate between Semenyih by-election candidates. In a statement today, its election director S Arutchelvan said it was unfair for electoral watchdog Bersih to call off the event just because BN and Pakatan Harapan had turned down the debate invitation. \u201cWhy do you need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":5920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized-ms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=5917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5917\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5920\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=5917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=5917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/partisosialis.org\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=5917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}