Royal Professor Ungku Aziz has agreed to be the moderator for the debate on Malay rights to be held between Umno Youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein and PAS Youth chief Mahfuz Omar.

"I have received the requests to be the moderator from both parties and in principle, I have said 'yes' to the parties concerned," Ungku Aziz told malaysiakini today.

Ungku Aziz, a former vice-chancellor of University of Malaya,. said that he will only be able to give his agreement in black and white after "all the political and technical matters have been sorted out".

Last month, Mahfuz accepted the challenge by Hishamuddin (photo) for a one-to-one debate following the controversy surrounding the[#1] 17-point appeals[/#] by Suqiu, a coalition of Chinese organisations.

Suqiu is alleged to have questioned Malay rights and this led to a rowdy Umno Youth demonstration against the coalition.

The main issue to be debated will be the Malay rights as PAS is said to have constantly criticised Umno of having misused the Malay rights for their own benefits.

Earlier efforts to hold a debate fell through due to disagreement over conditions, venue and that the debate be carried live over television.

However, in a surprising about-turn early last month, Mahfuz said he was willing to debate Hishamuddin condition-free[#2] (Mahfuz ready to take on Hishamuddin[/#], Oct 9).

Umno Youth secretary-general Mohd Zulkifli Alwi had said that no specific date has been fixed but it is expected to be held before Nov 27, the start of the fasting month for Muslims.