Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has agreed to hold two debates with Bersih 2.0 co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenavasan and PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli on the issues of electoral reform and the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) respectively.

“I have agreed to debate Ambiga on April 25 regarding electoral reforms and Rafizi on May 3 regarding PTPTN. Details to come,” he announced on Twitter today.

The debate with Ambiga will be organised by English daily Malay Mail at 8.15pm on April 25 at the Sime Darby Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur.

As for the second debate with Rafizi, the date has tentatively been set for May 3, and the details will be ironed out later.

On her Twitter webpage, Ambiga welcomed Khairy’s decision. “I look forward to sparring with you on the 25th!” to which Khairy replied, “Don’t forget to wear yellow.”

azlan Earlier today, Rafizi issued a statement to invite the Rembau MP to replace the topic of their debate from the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal to the PTPTN issue.

“The direction of our nation’s higher education system and the abolition of PTPTN loan is an important issue that must be studied deeply,” he said.

Another reason to have the debate, Rafizi elaborated, is that both PKR and Umno Youth had held discussions with relevant parties to have a better understanding on the issue.

“Now is the time to present the different outcomes and views from both sides to be debated in front of the people,” he said.

Battle of words

The PTPTN issue has sparked a battle of words between both sides of the political divide after the opposition proposed to abolish the institution should it come to power.

BN leaders including Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin warned that scrapping the PTPTN will cause immense hardship to parents in educating their children.

However, PKR argued that if the government can keep aside RM2 billion annually for 15 years, either from oil and gas revenue or by cutting the defence expenditure and plugging the leakages, it will be sufficient to finance the RM24.7 billion loan owed by students to the PTPTN.

Rafizi further claimed that the leakages of the current government can easily go beyond RM2 billion a year.

Among others, he cited the government grant of close to RM1 billion given to Maju Holdings to build the Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Highway (MEX Highway), which later sold the highway for RM1.7 billion; the  out-of-court settlement with former Malaysia Airlines chairperson Tajudin Ramli that wrote off nearly RM600 million of his debts; and the RM250 million government soft loan to NFC which was said to have been abused by the family of former minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.