After a few hiccups, the much-vaunted debate between two leaders of Umno and PAS o­n people's religious schools or Sekolah Agama Rakyat looks set to proceed as technical discussions are nearly completed, said representatives from the two parties.

At a discussion yesterday chaired by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka director-general Aziz Deraman - who will also moderate the debate - it was decided that the Feb 16 debate will be divided into three rounds.

Each speaker is given 30 minutes in the first round, another 20 minutes in the second, and a final 10 minutes for the concluding arguments.

PAS is represented by its Youth deputy chief Salahuddin Ayub (left) and Umno by its supreme council member Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (photo).

PAS Youth secretary-general Misbahul Munir Masduki who represented the party at yesterday's discussion said the debate will be titled ' SAR: Cabaran, masa hadapan dan harapan '(challenges, future and hopes).

"We proposed to name the debate ' SAR: Siapa pengkhianat? " (who's the traitor?) but had it changed after DBP advised us to soften the tone," he said when contacted.

Questions from the floor will not be entertained, a likely disappointment for die-hard supporters from both sides.

Eight hundred people are expected to attend the debate at the DBP auditorium in Kuala Lumpur at 8.30pm.

Misbahul said DBP has allocated 300 seats for each side's supporters. The remaining 200 will be reserved for academics, the media, representatives from non-governmental organisations and others.

No Umno supporters

If all things go well, the debate will be remembered as a rare event which saw leaders from the rivalling Umno and PAS engaging each other o­ne-on-one at a public function.

The previous such occasion was in May last year when then PAS president, the late Fadzil Mohd Noor, spoke alongside his counterpart from Umno, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, at a DBP forum o­n the Palestinian struggle.

Asked if any untoward incident could happen at the coming debate, Misbahul said he does not foresee any eventuality of that as he was confident that all supporters will show their maturity as they did at the forum which featured Fadzil against Mahathir.

On Umno's part, private secretary to Nazri, Shamsul Anuar Nasarah, said they will offer their share of 300 seats to PAS supporters.

"We don't want to bring our supporters because they know clearly that Umno has no intention to close down SAR as claimed by PAS. It's the PAS supporters who need to be educated o­n this issue," said the Umno Chenderoh Youth chief who has been attending the discussions.

Therefore should problems with order and security arise, "PAS will have to be responsible for that", he added.

The idea for the debate started when PAS' Salahuddin who had accused the government of trying to close down SAR by withdrawing the grant per capita to these schools last October, received a challenge from Nazri to swear o­n the Quran that he was telling the truth.

Responding to the challenge, Salahuddin said he would accept it if Nazri, who is also the entrepreneur development minister and Umno Chenderoh division head, had a o­ne-to-one debate with him o­n the issue.

Oath

While all requirements appear to have been ironed out, o­ne matter still needs to be resolved at the final discussion o­n Friday.

Misbahul said while Umno wanted Salahuddin to take the oath at the end of the debate, DBP has suggested something less confrontational that the debaters make a joint declaration to protect the institutions of Islamic education in the country, including SAR.

"We are okay with either o­ne. We leave the decision to the upcoming meeting," he said.

But Shamsul cautioned PAS that if Salahuddin failed to take the oath, "people will see for themselves that the party does not keep its word".

He added that Umno Chenderoh is still in the midst of appealing to the state-run RTM channels to broadcast the debate live.

Last week, Information Minister Khalil Yaakob ruled out this possibility, saying the debate did not meet the ministry's "specific criteria and conditions".

Meanwhile, Salahuddin said he was looking forward to the debate and expressed hope that Nazri will not withdraw at the last minute due to "interference from certain quarters".

Nazri was not available for comment today. Last week, he told the media that he would proceed with the debate even if it were held at the PAS headquarters in Gombak, Selangor.