Caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today rejected the challenge by opposition chief Anwar Ibrahim to have a debate between political parties' prime ministerial candidates.

Speaking at a press conference in Bukit Aman this afternoon, he said such debates were not a culture in Malaysia's politics and would bring no benefits.

"First of all, it is not our culture to have debates. We have never done this, and it doesn't do any good.

"And even if we do debate, he (Anwar) will only use the time to mention his manifesto and make ‘bulan dan bintang’ (the moon and the stars) promises (to voters).

"So, no need," he said.

According to Ismail Sabri, Umno and BN would win the upcoming 15th general election based on the rakyat's trust in them to lead the country.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim

Besides, he added, all candidates are now busy with campaigning in their respective constituencies.

"I think there is no need to have GE15 debates. We are busy in our respective constituencies.

"We are busy campaigning."

Anwar last week proposed that all prime ministerial candidates from the three main political coalitions engage in a debate session.

Harapan named Anwar as the prime ministerial candidate for GE15, while Perikatan Nasional and BN nominated Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri, respectively.

Speaking about GE15, Ismail Sabri also lambasted those who previously accused the governing coalition that it would hold the polling day on a weekday in order to scuttle voters’ turnout.

Ismail Sabri said this has been proven wrong when the Election Commission set the polling day on Nov 19, which is a Saturday.

"We have set the polling day on a Saturday to ensure that everyone can go out to cast their votes, as it is the voters' right as stipulated by the Federal Constitution."

In a related development, Ismail Sabri said he has been briefed by the police top brass on the force's preparations for GE15 and the upcoming monsoon season.

He said there are 6,010 temporary shelters that have been identified nationwide should floods occur.

Of the number, 2,010 of them are also gazetted as polling stations for GE15.

According to Ismail Sabri, this, however, would not disturb the polling process as schools usually have many blocks and they can double up as polling stations and also hold flood evacuees.

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