Malaysians aren’t ready to indulge in public debates because they’re not mature enough, so says former premier Mahathir rather patronisingly. He made the comment in relation to the proposed debate between the Prime Minister and the PM-in-waiting.
If we reflect upon our country’s past especially the era under Mahathir’s reign, we would find that Malaysians had been made out to be so “immature” by the paternalistic federal government that their freedom of expression, assembly and association had to be curtailed to a large degree for their supposedly collective good!
Incidentally, could this be the reason why, for instance, many of the so-called TV forums have cardboard characters indulging in televised debates?
In the meantime, as if taking no heed of the Perkasa patron’s advice, the right-wing boss Ibrahim Ali appears to be quite “mature” enough to challenge Lim Guan Eng to a debate.
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