MCA, DAP to face off in hudud debate

The Mandarin debate will be held in Wisma Teng Chin,Klang, at 8pm tonight. 

Leven Woon, FMT

In a rare move, leaders from both sides of the political divide will square off in a public debate tonight on the controversial hudud law.

MCA Youth Publicity Bureau chief Kow Cheong Wei is taking on DAP’s popular speaker Hew Kuan Yew in the debate titled “Hudud laws: Divert attention or potential threat?”.

The debate, which will be conducted in Mandarin, will begin at 8pm in Wisma Teng Chin, Jalan Langat, Klang.

Organiser Radio Bangsar Utama presenter Teh Yee Keong said Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Utar) lecturer Chin Chong Fah and PAS-linked scholar Kamal Koh will also be speaking at the forum.

“Each of them will be given 15 minutes to elaborate on their their points, then a straight debate between Kow and Hew, followed by questions from the moderators and the audience,” he said.

The debate came in light of a survey done by Universiti Malaya’s Center for Democracy and Elections last month which shows 42% of Malaysian Chinese agreed that hudud law can help eradicate crimes.

Teh said it is good for leaders from DAP and MCA to engage in healthy discussion on the topic often seen as affecting only the Muslims.

“MCA keeps saying that hudud law is a potential threat to the Chinese community, to which Pakatan has consistently denied and labelled it as a trick by Barisan Nasional government to divert public attention.

“But the people want to know more about the real subject, and this kind of debate will encourage them to have healthy discussions,” he said.

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