The Day After the Debate

Anwar may have been the winner of the debate - but Shabery won the expectations game. The question now is how the two balance out... and whether it was in BN's best interest not to put a bigger pit bull like Nazri or even Najib.

Marina Mahathir made some interesting comments on her blog. On the observation that no ties were worn I might add that a while back CNN did a piece on the psychology of it - youthfulness, casual demeanor, that sort of thing. Sort of like the Peron-era taking-off-your-suit to be with the working class idea. CNN noted two interesting personalities hat did that: Barack Obama, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I also like her parting comment that further debates would be interesting... though I get a feeling her father, Tun Dr. Mahathir wouldn't mind being on prime time again.

Personally, I think that you can't have it both ways about Petronas. Either you think it's a part of the government or you don't - and thus if it's doing well, it's true that it is a credit to the Barisan. You can say that the earnings are not used to the people's benefit, but you have to acknowledge the success. On the other hand, what's the point of an entity well managed by the government that doesn't benefit the people the government is meant to serve? Petronas is really a double-edged kris.

Quote of the evening:

"Naik minyak mendadak, inflasi tidak akan naik: itu teori ekonomi siapa yang ajar begitu?"
Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Faux pas of the evening:

"Kita tidak perlu berarak di jalan raya... atau membuat konsert yang tidak senonoh seperti baru-baru ini." Datuk Shabery Cheek
Tuan Menteri... tak kan pengajur konsert sengaja buat tu. Tambah juga, ingat sikit siapa yang buat pergerakan tidak senonoh di Parlimen.

"Kita dalam pemerintahan ini nak jaga siapa - nak jaga tauke besar dan kroni atau nak jaga rakyat? Kita jaga semua." Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Maaf, Datuk Seri - cukuplah jaga rakyat, biar tauke besar dan kroni jaga sendiri...