I refer to the Malaysiakini report Anwar vs Shabery in historic debate.

I was one of those who keenly watched the debate between Anwar Ibrahim and Shabery Cheek. My entire family was glued to the television to see this ‘once in our life time debate’ between a federal minister and an opposition Leader.

Whilst I congratulate the government for allowing this debate, I am ashamed that they chose the wrong person for the debate. Shabery was in shambles and spoke of some vintage stuff that is no longer palatable to the rakyat.

Who cares what Anwar did when he was the deputy prime minister or when he opposed something three decades ago?

It is not only the ordinary men and women in the street who are seriously affected by the abrupt fuel price increase but also the business community. Malaysia is facing what I call the ‘3F crisis’ and that is a fuel, food and finance crisis.

It is not only the poor people who are affected by this crisis but also the middle-income group which is caught between the devil and deep blue sea.

Inflation is rising and wage increases are negligible. If this situation continues any longer, the poverty level in the country might go up by double digits as the poor might become poorer.

It would also lead to the decline of the middle-class and this is socially, economically and politically dangerous. The rakyat are facing the race to the bottom and the government is taking a lackadaisical attitude towards these problems.

They appear to be playing politics with the problems faced by the rakyat. Why wait for the national budget presentation in September or October to address these issues?

A caring government should have passed an emergency budget to help the rakyat rather than attempt to defend their action of raising the price of oil.

Anwar did an excellent job in highlighting the plight of the people. He stressed how such increases affected the people and how oil price could be reduced so as to reduce the burden faced by them.

Shabery’s performance was nothing more than blowing his master’s horn by repeating what we hear or read day in and day out. Besides wasting time on ridiculing Anwar, he did not offer any concrete solution to the problems at hand.

I would have admired if the prime minister, his deputy or the deputy finance minister could have taken up the debate.

What the PM and his deputy did was to sacrifice the information minister at the alter and protect themselves.