Did Information Minister Shabery Cheek said he would resign if he failed to defend the Government’s fuel policy? I missed that quote but if that’s indeed the case, he might as well pack up and call the cab.

In all my years of writing essays and oratory tests in school, god knows how many times I’ve strayed from a topic having misinterpreted the questions I have faced. But I’ve never done half as bad as Shabery Cheek in last night’s debate against Anwar. Some questions were so straightforward, clear and precise. And yet Shabery had the cheek to veer totally off-topic in his attempt to avoid answering them at all. Why? UMNO has absolutely no valid facts and figures to back their claims. A debate against Anwar Ibrahim is the last thing on their mind right now, that is why we they sent Shabery Cheek to be slaughtered alive last night. So instead he did what UMNO does best and did it quite well considering he used nearly half the allocated debate time to:

• resort to personal attacks against Anwar Ibrahim leadership and character. Past, present and future.
• self-glorifying and crediting UMNO and past PMs for today’s Petronas achievements
• presenting twisted, irrelevant and illogical economic arguments and facts
• justifying that rakyat should suffer expensive oil for the nation

Despite the low blows by Shabery Cheek, Anwar Ibrahim did not budge. He stood firm and remained true to the topic of debate which is oil. For someone who might end up being in jail today or tomorrow, I commend him for that.

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