Don: Election candidates should engage in public debates

KUCHING (June 30): It is high time for Malaysia to embrace the culture of compelling all candidates running for elections to go through debates, says academician Dr Muzaffar Syah Mallow.

The Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s Faculty of Syariah and Laws associate professor points out that election debates are informative and can help voters understand the capability of their candidates.

Describing the first US Presidential Debate 2024 on Friday (June 28) between incumbent Joe Biden and his opponent Donald Trump as ‘a very entertaining process’, he opined that Malaysia should emulate this.

“Anyone who says that a debate is or should not be part of our culture is definitely wrong and misleading. Even students in schools and universities have been exposed to debates as part of their curriculum,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Muzaffar Syah pointed out that a debate would pave the way for candidates to express their arguments in a healthy manner, while allowing the audience to listen and judge for themselves.

“Debates play a crucial role in politics especially during election times, and candidates who are running an election should come forward with debates among themselves instead of giving speeches or press statements to the media,” he said.

“Voters deserve to know more about each contesting candidate and this can be effectively done through debates whereby they would be able to hear out all the arguments given by all sides, allowing them to make their own evaluation and judgment,” he said.

He even proposed for debates to be made mandatory for candidates running for an election.

According to him, debates can strengthen a country’s democratic values given that many democratic countries including Indonesia have successfully implemented debate processes for their elections.

“However, the most noticeable and successful debate process is the US presidential debate where the topics discussed are often the most controversial issues of the time.

“Debates in the US are not constitutionally mandated, but they are now considered an intrinsic part of the election process in the country,” said the academician.

Muzaffar Syah said as a way to strengthen the democracy in Malaysia, the voters should be given the opportunity to listen to a debate among the running candidates.

He opined that it would be amusing for Malaysians to continue talking about democratic principles when their election candidates could not even bring themselves to go through open debates.

“There is no harm for candidates to give speeches during election campaigns, however, they should have the courage to go for a healthy debate with their opponent and take questions and criticism not just from their opponent but also from the audience,” he said.