LETTER | I refer to the Malaysiakini report Wan Saiful moots live TV battle with Bung.

The time has come for everybody to change their years of sceptical and negative perception towards having an open political debate and make this a part of our political culture.

As the country's general election nears, every politician and political party is busy preparing to face the coming election. Whenever there is an election there will be political talks to be given by a politician.

There is no harm in giving any political talk or speech, however, what is sad is that some politicians seem to be more comfortable giving political talks or speeches alone on stage without having the courage to face their political opponents.

The refuse to accept criticisms over their political stand by others or being subjected to questions not only from their opponents but also from their audience.

What most of these politicians enjoy is being surrounded by people who only listen to their talks or speeches from the beginning until the end and then receiving a round of applause from the crowd.

In other words, they seem to prefer being in a world of their own instead of being in the real world which requires checks and balances. Such an attitude will not only expose the weakness of the said politician and the political party which he or she represents.

This will cause hardship to the general public especially to voters who have to run from one political talk to another and do their own research through news and media to understand the deeper meanings of any political issue which is being raised.

It also will send a wrong signal to the younger generation who want to see an open and more transparent political and election process in the country.

As such, it would be much better if politicians can set aside their prejudices and be willing to accept any challenge to face an open, professional political debate on stage so that voters will have a clear understanding on any political issue for their final decision on whom they should give their vote to when the time comes.

Having an open political debate culture is not something new as many developed countries have had such a practice for many years now and this has become part and parcel of the democratic process.

Nothing bad will come from an open political debate if it is done professionally and receives the full cooperation of all sides.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.