BAYAN BARU: Barisan Nasional's Bayan Baru candidate Saw Yee Fung has "invited" her Pakatan Harapan rival, Sim Tze Tzin, to an open debate to enable voters to study the narrative and political planning of both parties before making a choice.
Saw said her political planning would follow suit in a few days while Sim had distributed his to voters.
She said, thereafter, both candidates could debate rationally, either in Malay or Mandarin, with regards to policies and issues close to the people's hearts.
"Both parties will be able to convey their respective visions and views clearly.
"The BN Bayan Baru operations room will send an invitation letter soon, and the time and location will be finalised only after the representatives of both parties hold negotiations.
"I urged interested media or independent non-governmental organisations to become moderators, should the invitation be accepted," she said today.
Saw also urged voters to attend and ask questions to the candidates, for the sake of a better future for Bayan Baru.
In an immediate response, Sim said as a democrat, he is opened to debate with all his opponents.
According to Sim, GE15 is an election to elect national leaders.
"If we want to debate, we should debate on national TV. Let the public see how we can resolve issues of economic malaise, food security, education policies and others.
"Since we have a six-cornered contest in Bayan Baru, it is only fair to let everyone debate together," he said, adding that he would only comment after receiving Saw's invitation.
As one of the youngest candidates in Penang this 15th general election (GE15), Saw, 33, is up against Sim Warisan's Ooi Chuan Aun; PRM's Ravinder Singh; independent Kan Chee Yuen; and Perikatan Nasional's Oh Tong Keong.
Sim is the incumbent for the seat.