Debate itself the winner

KUALA LUMPUR. July 15 — It doesn't matter who the winner was in the first-ever American-style live TV debate in the country tonight — with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek taking centrestage to argue about fuel price hikes. The real winner was the debate itself.

Concluded quickly within an hour with a format quite similar to the American presidential candidate debates, with a rostrum each for the debater on stage, the most glaring thing for all to see was the quality of debate.

Some may say Anwar, the de facto leader of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, won the debate as he focused on the issue at hand — the fuel price hike — while Ahmad Shabery, the Information Minister, seemed to take cheap shots at Anwar especially his younger days as a rabble rouser.

Anwar proposed to reduce the current petrol pump price by 50 sen the moment his opposition coalition of PKR, PAS and DAP take over the Federal Government.

"Petronas has announced a special dividend RM6 billion to the government for this year. Why can't I take RM1 billion of that to reduce the petrol price by 50 sen?" he said to applause from a section of the 300-strong audience in the Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka Hall in Kuala Lumpur.

Elaborating further, he promised to slash pump prices further once his Pakatan Rakyat coalition took over, saying it is an initial 50 sen because the Barisan Nasional government had just hiked prices by 70 sen from RM1.92 per litre previously.

The former deputy prime minister made it clear from the start of the debate that he was not questioning national oil company Petronas but his criticisms were directed at the BN government which he alleged was rife with mismanagement and economic abuse, citing Malaysia's high electricity reserves as a waste as it only benefited the independent power producers (IPPs).

A view of the audience watching the debate between the two politicians.
He argued the government could save RM2 billion from reducing electricity reserves, adding an additional RM3 billion to finance the 50-sen reduction can be sourced elsewhere. "Five billion is enough to help lighten the burden on the rakyat. The Perwaja bailout was RM13 billion of government money."

In his reply, Ahmad Shabery argued that "if we continue at RM1.92, it means the government is forced to bear the subsidy of RM50 billion and this means many development programmes, building of schools, roads and improving people's livelihood cannot be implemented.”

"We should know that the price increase is not our doing but due to the world oil price crisis. This is not the first time we have had a world oil crisis. The first time was in 1973-74 when after the Arab-Israeli Ramadan war. Oil price increased by 400 per cent, from US$10 a barrel to US$40 in six months.

"But it was also an important year because the late Tun Razak (the then Prime Minister) set up Petronas in a pressured situation because the world outside pressured us not to take away the rights given to Shell at that time. Shell was set up by the British before they left," he said, also to applause from his supporters.

The information minister also explained that subsidies could not be sustained for a long time because it would hamper real economic growth.

In a question-and-answer session, Ahmad Shabery was asked about the RM4.3 billion savings from an earlier fuel price increase in 2006 that was meant to be used to improve public transport but only RM834 million was used for that purpose, leading people to be cynical about the purported RM13 billion in savings in the latest subsidy cut.

The minister dismissed the question, saying that in 2006 the international fuel price was just US$70 a barrel whereas it has now reached US$140 a barrel, and went on to argue that countries such as Venezuela and Iran which heavily subsidised fuel had very high inflation rates.

Anwar however argued that Malaysia's real inflation rate of some eight per cent was caused by economic mismanagement, not by the global oil price increase. "If the Barisan Nasional says that the fuel price can be increased in a sudden and it will not be followed by increasing price of goods and services, I want to know who teaches them this kind of economic management.

"We're an oil-producing country and for every US$1 increase per barrel, we make RM360 million. Why can't we do something good with this?" Anwar thundered.

To this, Ahmad Shabery argued that Malaysia was not even in the top 20 oil-producing countries list, let alone a major player.

"We're just a small nett exporter of oil. Our profits are only 26 per cent of our oil revenue. The rest we received from the (Petronas) investments. By 2015, when we become a nett importer of oil, will we then adhere to the global price?"

In reply, Anwar said: "Who told us that our oil will deplete in 2015? Thirty years ago Petronas projected that our oil will run out by 2005. It's just a projection. I believe we have a lot more capacity."

When Ahmad Shabery pointed out that Anwar too was responsible for problems pertaining to the IPPs which are still reaping profits despite the current economic situation as he was a Cabinet minister then, the former finance minister demanded a check of record to prove that he had opposed the IPP plans approved by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Towards the end of the debate, Ahmad Shabery repeated his argument that Anwar was still a rabble rouser and that during Anwar's time in the government he would never allowed others, especially the opposition, to participate in an open debate such as the one held tonight.

Ahmad Shabery had earlier accused Anwar of inciting the people to rise up against the government over claims of poverty in Baling, Kedah in 1974.

Pointing out these were cheap shots, Anwar explained that he was here to debate an economic issue only but would be willing to debate on other matters, including personal allegations against him, at another forum.

Besides a minor fracas before the start of the debate outside the hall as well as a very heavy police presence around the building and the surrounding area, the event, organised by AgendaDaily.com was a largely peaceful event. It was telecast live on TV9 and Astro channels 119, 501 and 502 apart from being webcast by IP Global TV.