1. The “Hari ini membentuk Kerajaan, esok turun harga minyak” debate by itself is a major win for Malaysia and a good step towards an open society. Until today, I never thought any of the cabinet ministers or MPs have the guts to openly debate since most of their policies were probably thought out while sitting in the toilet.

But today, I must congratulate Datuk Shabery Cheek for daring to stand up and defend the government's position against a very well greased politician and debater DS Anwar. I must also congratulate DS Anwar for the great job in the debate.

I hope this type of debates continue on so that the Rakyet can decide for themselves whose side they are with based on the matters being debated.

2. Certainly a good debate and eye-opener on how the politics in Malaysia has progressed, like it or not. Apart from the occassional and childish under-the-belt commentary from Shabery, it was intelligent. The best question was, "Petronas has announced a special dividend RM6 billion to the government for this year. Why can't I take RM1 billion of that to reduce the petrol price by 50 sen?"

3. Shabery Cheek had one good point, that Malaysians should focus on moving towards a market-driven and priced economy. But he did not know how to capitalise on it. All he could come up with were personality attacks and constant chatter on Venezuela.

4. For this debate, it is for Anwar to lose, and he didn't. Shabery should be credited for having the ball to debate against Anwar, but nevertheless, and I beg to differ from Rocky's opinion, I think Shabery didn't do too well especially his personal attacks on Anwar. This is a debate on the issues, not the personality. There is no win or lose here of course, Anwar want the platform to propage his views and project the image he wants to project - I think he is successful. Shabery wanted to discredit from the moment the moderator says go...and he fail in his mission as the Anwar is too smart to fall for his personal attack tricks. So though we the people are the winner, Anwar has got what he wants and Shabery has got what he deserves.

5. Anwar was really focused on the prevailing issues with good answers. Shabery was very provocative.
Is it necessary to raise issues of 1974?
It shows under pressing moment BN turns defensive instead of arguing valid points. Also it was not necessary to speak about other countries which BN leaders do so often to defend themselves.

6. I am not a fan of Anwar, but I think the Malaysia Chief Information Officer did badly to explain why Anwar’s plan is baseless. There’s no concrete point from Shabery Cheek, I saw a very arrogant inexperience young minister try to make wrong points right. It a total flop to BN or UMNO if Shabery is a sample of UMNO leadership.

7. CONGRATULATIONS on the wonderful debate! Anwar still has not lost his oratory skills. I was impressed with the calmness that he showed when Shabery hit him personally and kept mentioning his name throughout the debate. What’s more important is that Anwar was fully prepared with proof, facts and figures, and was as witty as ever. True like what Shabery said twice, “Anwar masih sama macam dulu…”

8. Kecewa dengan sikap Menteri Penerangan yang kian membangkitkan peristiwa masa lampau dan menyerang DSAI dari sudut peribadi. Saya juga kecewa masa yang diberikan begitu terhad.

9. Kudos to Anwar..I admire his gesture at the end of the debate, when Anwar approached Shabery and shook his hand even though Shabery continuously attacked Anwar.

10. Saya menyaksikan debat di kaca TV disebuah restoran di Danga Bay bersama beberapa orang rakan serta pengunjung restoran yang lain termasuk pengunjung berbangsa Cina, Melayu dan India. Saya nampak dan dengar majoriti yang menyaksikan debat tersebut (kira-kira 30 orang) menyokong fakta dan hujah Anwar dan ramai juga yang mencelah kata Shabery “Bodoh”..!!.dan Shabery gagal mewakili kerajaan kerana gagal menjawab persoalan sebenar….

Read top blogger Rocky’s Bru take here.
Read The Star’s report here.