Student group challenges Tawau politicians to debate

KOTA KINABALU - Solidariti Anak Muda Sabah (SAMS) is challenging members from various political parties in Tawau such as PBS, LDP, DAP, SAPP to a debate, entitled “What is the best way to develop Tawau?”

The debate is scheduled to be held on 25th August 2012, Saturday, 7-10pm.


SAMS is a group consisting of students from various institutions of higher learning in Sabah, who have been actively involved in various programmes aimed at raising awareness on political issues in Sabah. In spite of their youth, they are very concerned with the state of affairs in their home state, involving themselves in the recent multi-corner debate with several political parties in Kota Kinabalu organised by Demokrasi Sabah (DESAH), as well as organising a forum on 20 points.

DESAH, headed by retired State Secretary and ex-Suhakam Vice-Chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, is an organisation that promotes 1-to-1 contests for the upcoming 13th General Elections. The fairly new NGO was formed in view of the numerous multi-cornered fights in the last 2 general elections, which ends up with a distorted result that is not reflective of what the voters truly want.

GBBM is a NGO recognized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports as a youth organization. A healthy platform for youths and received overwhelming support from all social and political parties.

According to Jan Chow, organiser of the Tawau debate on behalf of DESAH and GBBM, personal invitations have been extended to all the above-mentioned parties but to no avail, in spite of meeting various requirements and responding to their numerous questions in order to address their concerns.

All of the politicians have rejected their invitation, except for the MP of Tawau, Y.B. Datuk Chua Soon Bui of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).

Among reasons cited by the other politicians included health reasons, wanting to only debate with elected representatives, and even declaring the debate as an illegal gathering as DESAH is an unregistered organisation.

“It is a very frustrating ordeal, having to deal with all these difficult people”, according to Jan. She then responded to the politician, questioning how can a public event organised by an individual be considered illegal in Malaysia.

The reply received was that it was inappropriate for political parties to participate, advising others to not attend the debate as well.

Jan firmly believes that debate culture should be encouraged in Malaysia especially in Sabah, naming several instances where the people of Sabah are forever complaining about their loss of rights, but not taking the necessary steps in real, affirmative action.

“We should train ourselves to speak up and dare to ask for what we want.  In the United States of America, a democratic country, the president has to face questions from the public weekly.”

Jan further stressed “Why can I not speak to a YB or MP and question their duty to Malaysian citizens, being in also a so-called democratic country?”

Jan wishes to remind all politicians that mere members of the public, like herself and many others, are willing to spend a lot of time and effort to organize debates, which in the end, can only benefit the politicians themselves through  improving their image in the public eye. However it seems that such actions and efforts are unappreciated and most politicians are unfortunately bound by fear.

“If you dare not face the public nor the other politician. How can Sabah count on you to claim our rights in the parliament or even DUN?”