KUALA LUMPUR – The debate between Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli and PAS’s Bachok MP Mohd Syahir Sulaiman last night appears to have left netizens reeling with how the two political figures seem to be coming from vastly differing leagues.
Taking to social media to comment on the debate, one Twitter user, @YusryHy, summarised online sentiment by likening the event to a match between Spanish football giants Real Madrid and the Kelantan state Federal Works Department (JKR).
Drawing another comparison between the two figures, user @thedanielteoh said that while PKR deputy president Rafizi’s speech was “fluent, in-depth and prose-like”, Syahir’s “sounded like a bad essay.”
Taking issue with Syahir’s ostensible strategy of inserting political attacks in his debate responses, Azrul Mohd Khalib, chief executive of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, said that the PAS assistant secretary-general had failed to properly propose an alternative economic model.
“Syahir, when he is making sense, is busy politicising and attacking the government’s position. But, he forgets that he is supposed to offer an alternative or counter proposal on behalf of Perikatan Nasional (PN).
“No data, all rhetoric, no real substantiated statements, except for (quoting the) Quranic script,” Azrul said in a tweet.
Expressing similar sentiments, user @ZacZakirin13 said that he was “embarrassed” to witness not only Syahir’s debate, but the reaction of the audience who cheered whenever he brought up points unrelated to the debate that was supposed to centre around the nation’s economy.
“I’m embarrassed watching Syahir and PAS supporters. Cheering at points that have no relation to the economy. Do you all not realise that this is stupid?” he questioned.
Responding to how Syahir had lamented about being on an uneven playing field since he was an MP going up against a minister, user @__earth said that the entire event was a “waste of time” and was a display of Perikatan Nasional’s “bad” economic policies.
“Sounds like Syahir should stay on TikTok and out of economic policy. Also, it’s not about Rafizi being a minister and having the Statistics Department under his ministry, or unlevel playing field.
“Syahir lacks knowledge and didn’t do his homework,” he said in a series of tweets.
Another user, @chairman_GLC, poked fun at how Syahir repeatedly brought up the nation’s founding fathers, including former prime ministers Tun Abdul Razak and Tunku Abdul Rahman, throughout the debate.
However, user @farhanyahaya2 was quick to point out that Twitter users might be in their own bubble, or echo chamber, as he shared a screenshot of comments posted by Facebook users on a livestream of the debate.
In the screenshot, users were seen congratulating Syahir on a “job well done” while expressing their support for PN.
The debate last night saw Syahir taking political jabs at the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, claiming that the Pakatan Harapan chairman is “unstable” and handing out “meaningless” economic promises.
He also harped on how Kelantan has seemingly been sidelined by Putrajaya, to which Rafizi responded that the PAS-led state only has its state administration to blame for failing to develop itself with the monetary allocations provided by the federal government. – August 10, 2023