UTAR team consisted of Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) Psychology alumnus Sim Kah Soon (Leader), Bachelor of Information Systems (Honours) Information Systems Engineering alumnus Lew Qing Xiang, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) English Language alumnus Jeff Wong Chan Hong, Bachelor of Economics (Honours) Financial Economics alumna Wong Choi Yen, Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Environmental Engineering students Ooi Che Khai and Koh Kar Weng, Bachelor of Science (Honours) Logistics and International Shipping student Kelly Chin Jia Hui, Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) Psychology student See Tong Shin and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Chinese Studies student Tan Jiong Huan. They walked away with RM3,000 and a trophy each.
Organised by University of Malaya (UM) Chinese Language Society, the competition aimed to improve university students’ concern about current affairs and strengthen their critical thinking.
The competition saw the participation of 32 teams from various higher learning institutions, and teams qualified for the quarter-finals were from UTAR, UM, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Multimedia University (MMU), Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), Brickfields Asia College (BAC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). UTAR team competed with the UPM team in the quarter-final, the UUM team in the semi-final, and UM team in the grand final.
The UM team (proposition) and UTAR team (opposition) debated on the topic titled “Malaysian Chinese Politics are/ are not at the dead end” (马来西亚华人政治已经/ 还未穷途末路) in the grand final. The UM team won the final round.
UM team (left) as the proposition, while UTAR team as the opposition
From left: Chin, Tan, Lew and Chan Hong.
The team revealed, “The debate competition was put on hold for more than a year due to the pandemic. The preparations for the finals were very challenging for us because every one of us had our own schedule. As some of us are fresh graduates, we were busy with examinations, internships as well as taking care of another important debate competition. We only got the chance to meet each other physically in Kuala Lumpur for preparation a few days before the competition. Even when some of us got sick and tired, we still tried our best to prepare for every match to shine on the stage that we have dreamt of so that we leave no regrets. We appreciate the dedication and commitment of each other in working together for this achievement.”
Preparation for the last match.
“After winning the quarter-final and semi-final, we lost to the UM debate team with 17 – 4. Although this was not the best result, it was a very valuable experience and a milestone in the debate journey for us and also the UTAR CLS Debate Unit,” they added.
The team expressed their gratitude to their seniors and coaches for preparing them for the competition. They thanked the University and hoped that it will continue to give more support to the CLS Debate Unit. They also look forward to reaching greater success in the future.
For the full video of the grand final between UTAR and UM, please visit https://fb.watch/ai51bhmEp6/
UTAR team during the competition.
The team sharing their happiness with their coaches and seniors.
Established in 1989, the National Varsity Chinese Debate Competition (Quan Bian) is Malaysia’s first national biennial Chinese-language debate competition. Quan Bian usually discusses various current affairs and topics that take place in the community. This provided society with a deep understanding of the current affairs and topics and a platform for the university students to learn from each other and show their eloquence. Over the years, a large number of talents have been unearthed and have shown their brilliance in various fields such as media, business and politics.
Online Education Fair 线上教育展
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
拉曼大学
https://edufair.fsi.com.my/utar
