Umno Youth will allow its head Khairy Jamaluddin to decide whether or not to accept the PAS Youth offer to debate the circumstances surrounding national independence.
PAS Youth secretary Khairul Faizi Ahmad Kamil. presented the invitation today to his Umno Youth counterpart Megat Firdouz Megat Junid in Kuala Lumpur.
“I will extend it to Khairy to decide whether to accept the invitation or not. We will give an official answer as soon as possible,” Megat Firdouz told the joint press conference that followed.
“If this debate can allow us to find common ground to the truth of the country's history, if no more irresponsible parties will question it, if it is positive, we will accept.”
The proposed debate entitled 'Seeking the truth behind the historical facts on the country's independence' will be between Khairy and PAS Youth head Nasrudin Hassan.
PAS deputy head Mohamad Sabu had earlier sparked a verbal exchange with Umno and its supporters after claiming that communist insurgent Mohammed Indera should be deemed a freedom fighter for having led the bloody 1950 assault on the Bukit Kepong police station in Muar, Johor.
Khairy accepted an invitation from the PAS-led Kelantan government to debate the issue but insisted that his opponent should be Mohamad, also known as Mat Sabu.
Mat Sabu's refusal led Khairy to launch a scathing attack on Twitter, describing him as a "coward".
PAS had announced earlier today that it will extend an invitation to Umno next week for a proposed debate between Mat Sabu and BN deputy head Muhyiddin Yassin.
Asked about the relevance of the debate between the Youth wings in view of the announcement, Khairul Faizi insisted that it was necessary as youths had different perspective.
"It is needed, this is the perception of the young. That (PAS) debate is for the top leadership but most of us (in the Youth wings) were born after Merdeka and we have different views," he said.
'Mat Sabu and only Mat Sabu'
In an immediate reaction via Twitter, Khairy refused to debate with anyone but Mat Sabu.
"For me, what is important is Mat Sabu because he is the cause of today's controversy. If they want to offer someone else, then never mind. But as long as it is KJ (Khairy Jamaluddin) vs Mat Sabu, (I will accept)," he tweeted.
In the struggle for Independence, the Communist Party of Malaya had waged a bloody war against the British and those it perceived to be proxies of the colonialists, resulting in the death of over 2,000 civilians.
Independence was eventually achieved through negotiations between the Alliance and the British government.
