GEORGE TOWN – Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) candidate for Bayan Baru, Sim Tze Tzin, has accepted the challenge to a debate by Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Saw Yee Fung, but wants his opponent to arrange for the event to be televised live on national networks.
Sim said that as a staunch believer in democracy, he welcomes the initiative by the MCA member, and added that as she is part of the ruling BN coalition, she could surely organise for the event to be held live on the best platform – mainstream national television.
The other candidates for the seat are Warisan’s Jeff Ooi Chuan Aun, 67, a former two-time DAP MP for Jelutong, and Oh Tong Keong, 54, the Gerakan deputy president.
Another candidate is independent Kan Chee Yuen, 49, a St Xavier’s Institution alumnus, and 80-year-old Ravinder Singh from Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM).
At the age of 33, Saw is among the youngest candidates in Penang, whereas Sim is 46 and a two-term incumbent for the parliamentary constituency, which largely covers an industrial township.
Earlier yesterday, Saw had challenged Sim to debate her as he is the incumbent.
Sim also told The Vibes that he wants the debate to be participated by all six candidates, and the issues must be of national substance instead of just being localised ones such as flooding and traffic congestion.
“We are fighting to be parliamentarians, so it is best to address national issues. I hope we can also raise issues of how 1MDB has caused our national debt to balloon and the rising living costs and find resolutions to arrest the slide of the ringgit.
“GE15 is an election to elect national leaders. If we want to debate, we should debate on national television. Let the public see how we can resolve issues of the economic malaise, food security, education policies, and so on,” he said. – The Vibes, November 8, 2022
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