Rowie's Scribbles

UMP debaters (English & BM) participated in the Arau Open Public Speaking & Debating Championship (AROPSDEC) recently organized by UiTM Arau (Perlis) on 20-22 May. The CA was Dr Omar Salahuddin & in the seminar organized before the preliminary rounds, he mentioned that the standard of debating has dropped among Malaysian institutions, it was time to stop the jaguh kampung mentality & to expose our young debaters to the REAL level required in competitive debating. The tournament was different on several levels: 1. Only 1 motion was released per round, as opposed to 3 motions in usual tournaments...Probably to exert pressure on teams to focus on what were relatively, well, pressing issues ATM. 2. I'd the feeling that the teams & the judges are very new to the Australasian debating style; I saw new faces & many familiar faces were not around. It was heartening to see that these new faces were enthusiastic about the tournament. 3. I suspect that many judges fai...

Whew! I just arrived at UMP after traveling from UiTM Dungun & I feel great! :D We returned to UMP on the 20th of June to start our debate training. We had 3 rounds per day & our experience at previous PDSZA tourneys helped to select topics that might be covered at the tournament. I'm not affliated with UiTM Dungun so I'll try to provide info about the tournament as best as I could. PDSZA Pertandingan Debat Sultan Zainal Abidin (PDSZA) was held for the 9th time at UiTM Dungun (the host). It invites IPTA's from the east coast of Malaysia (Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang) & challenges students to participate in English & Malay debates. The main purpose of the tournament is to provide exposure (especially to new teams) to teams & help prepare them for bigger tournaments, plus build bonds within the debating community.  UMP & PDSZA UMP entered PDSZA for the 1st time in 2006 & won the competition. UMP won it again in 2007, 2008 & today we made histor...

This will be short since I'm still gaining my feet back :D Well 11 hr bus rides can be fun: 1. Random singing 2. Endless talking 3. *!*-gilo 4. Sleep 5. Food at places you'll probably never go to again The debate at Arau was different from last yr: 1. More teams participating 2. We had teams from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia & Taiwan 3. We had double-quarters rather than octo-finals 4. The food was marginally better 5. Many new faces 6. Trips to Gua Kelam (which I didn't get to join coz of my blasted ankle) 7. Both UMP teams made it to top 10 by round 5 Yet there were disappointments: 1. Judges who couldn't differentiate between new matter & a rebuttal 2. Judges who somehow didn't catch key words which were emphasized over & over again 3. Topics that were too general for Australasian debating format 4. Some topics were just plain silly 5. The food served for the Opening & Closing Dinners were not very good 6. Insects still colonized the beds 7. Pr...

What an experience. My team (UMP S2) comprised Chi Chi, myself & Sunil. Here's a short summary of the best debating competition I've been to so far :) Round 1 : UMP S2 vs UNIMAS J1 THW require parental consent for underage abortion Winner: UMP S2 Chair: Faye Sarah Round 2 : UMP S2 vs UNIMAS S1 THW maintain the ISA Winner: UNIMAS J1 Chair: Hafiedz Round 3 : UMP S2 vs UKM S2 THW limit the amount of money a sports club can spend in a season Winner: UMP S2 Chair: Faye Sarah Round 4 : UiTM J1 vs UMP S2 THBT we need state-owned vernacular universities Winner: UiTM J1 Chair: Riasat Round 5: UMP S2 vs UTHM S1 THBT Japan should apologize for its past atrocities for the sake of East Asian reconcilation Winner: UMP S2 Chair: Lufti Round 6: UMS S1 vs UMP S2 THW suspend the 30% Bumiputra quota on housing development Winner: UMP S2 Chair: Yem Quarterfinals : UIAM S1 vs UMP S2 THW stop subsidizing biofuel Winner: UMP S2 Chair: Dr. Chandran Semifinals: UKM S1 vs UMP S2 THW televise the cou...