The debate between Entrepreneur Development Minister Mohd Nazri Aziz and PAS member of Parliament for Kuala Terengganu Dr Syed Azman Syed Ahamd Nawawi on the closure of two Mara Junior Science Colleges (MRSM) in Terengganu has been scheduled for Thursday.

The debate titled 'The closure of two MRSM in Terengganu: Who is the traitor?' will be held at the Islam Administrative Centre hall in Sri Imam Complex, Kuala Terengganu.

It is scheduled to start from 9pm and end at 11.30pm. About 2,000 people are expected to be present.

The moderator for the debate is Kelantan state legislative assembly speaker Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah.

The debate will be carried 'live' on the PAS official websites www.parti-pas.org and www.harakahdaily.net

2,000 posters

Contacted by malaysiakini this afternoon, Syed Azman's personal assistant Mohd Rashidi Hassan said the date for the debate was confirmed following three meetings between him and Nazri's private secretary Shamsul Anuar Nasarah over the past month.

He said that 2,000 posters publicising the event have been printed and distributed to the people of Terengganu.

Asked on Nazri's earlier statement that the debate is likely to be broadcast live on television, Mohd Rashidi said he was uncertain about that.

Written challenge

Nazri, who is Umno Chenderoh division chief and MP for Chenderoh in Perak had issued a written challenge to Syed Azman on June 17. The latter accepted it after obtaining permission from PAS acting president Abdul Hadi Awang.

The challenge was made following the PAS MP's motion in the Dewan Rakyat last month to "condemn the government for acting in haste" in closing the two colleges in Besut and Dungun.

In the written motion, Syed Azman described the act as motivated by the "narrow politics of revenge because Umno cannot accept that voters in Terengganu had rejected its candidates" in the 1999 general election when PAS won the state.

Subsequently, Nazri said it was unfair of Syed Azman to have attacked him and his ministry through the motion, and that the open debate would enable him to reply to the allegations.

The minister also said the debate should be held in Kuala Terengganu so that people in the state "will know the truth".

MRSM colleges are administered by Majlis Rakyat Amanah (Mara), which comes under Nazri's ministry.

He had earlier been reported as saying that the closure of the two colleges in Besut and Dungun (photo) was not to due to political pressure, but a "matter of principle". The move had led to the transfer of over 600 students to other MRSM branch campuses.

Politically motivated

Opposition members, especially those from PAS, had claimed that the closure was politically motivated and meant to punish the people in Terengganu for voting in PAS.

One bone of contention between the state and federal governments was the state's alleged refusal to allow Terengganu students to be relocated in MRSM colleges situated elsewhere in the country.

The ministry also insisted that the state reduce the intake quota for Terengganu-born students, from 80 percent to 40 percent. PAS countered that the quota had been set in a 1993 agreement between Yayasan Terengganu and Mara.

The first debate between Nazri with the opposition party was on Feb 16 when he took on PAS deputy Youth chief Salehuddin Ayub at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur on the government's move to stop the financial assistance to sekolah agama rakyat or people's religious schools.