Aina Syazwani Salleh
Chief Adjudicator
National Novice 2011
Universiti Teknologi MARA
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My first few months of debating was definitely one of the most memorable time of my career; it was that time when a full 7-minutes speech was my greatest achievement and all my factual errors were considered cute. (The one that my UTMARA family refuses to let me forget is my speech on a country called Africa… Yep, debating saved my life). So when I was asked to be the Chief Adjudicator for the recent National Novice Debating Championship, I was thrilled to be a part of the participants’ life-changing entry into this exciting world of endless reading, sleepless nights, bootcamp-style trainings and busy weekends (what holiday?) which we have grown to love (too much, that some just refuse to leave).
National Novice is renowned for many reasons, be it the record-breaking number of participants, and the equally record-breaking number of rounds squeezed in within three days, a different drama each year and this (link to Statement of Nat Novice). This year is no exception. The tournament featured 98-100 teams, as some teams went in and out of the tabs, I suspect the pattern correlates with the difficulty of the motions. The biggest drama was the mix-up by the admin which left 15 of the debating venues locked! But leave it to the resourceful debaters to find their own makeshift venues, some even convinced me that debating under a tree would be fun (I can certify now that it isn’t). With nine rounds over the weekend, the tournament was truly a test of endurance and by the fourth round everyone was a zombified version of themselves and I could sense death stares as I walked by.
However, what made the tournament this year different from its predecessors is the rise of the school teams. I was truly amazed (and somewhat scared) to discover how brilliant these kids are, effortlessly sailing through the competition in their school uniforms and teachers in tow, kicking some varsity students’ butts while they’re at it. Yes we are talking about 14, 15 year old kids. My heart goes out to the indignant varsity debaters who were ‘victimised by the biased adjudicators’ and all I can say is I sure was glad to not be debating this time around!
As the Chief Adjudicator, my team and I decided that it’s time to steer the Malaysian debating community away from stale motions (if I have to talk about legalising prostitution one more time…) and introduced motions that are fresh but still principle-based. One of the most significant women in history once said, “it’s better to be absolutely outrageous than to be absolutely boring” and we had this in mind when discussing the motions. So we took a risk and experimented with motions and boy, were we surprised by the great (admittedly unexpected) feedbacks from the participants. It was wonderful to know that our venture into the road less taken was appreciated.
Having said that, I understand that the some of the motions are rather extreme, and I truly apologise from the bottom of our hearts if anyone was personally offended. The adjudication core felt that issues in the motions such as apostasy in Malaysia and sex education are pressing concerns in our society and it’s time to talk about them in an intellectual discourse, regardless of how sensitive they are.
Thank you everyone for making this is a great Novice for me, thank you for being great sports and most importantly, thank you for giving me a valuable and memorable learning experience.
See you next year. =)
West C June
March 9, 2011
Aina,
Just wanna say, it was an awesome novice (my first novice) which I literally skipped my classes and lab and not to mention 2 of my tests to be there. And the fact that I was a trainee the first round is really awesome too yay!
If we continue to have motions that discuss about the issues which are sensitives in our society then i say discuss. Because we can’t afford to have motions such as “THBT sex eduction is good” all the time can we?
I say we break the barrier of being so-narrowly-conservative and think with our brain somehow, be open minded but not let our brains fall out (someone in MDO finals mentioned it, i quote), is gonna do us some good. If being more and more mature in a tournament that is gonna be in for at least the next 10 years, is good for the debaters, I would say “GREAT JOB TO UTMARA”
Cheers,
West June
A novice anyway.
Emellia Shariff
March 9, 2011
After 4 months of tears, sweat and blood, I can proudly say that Novice 2011 is a success. It was a great experience for me and I hope everyone else feels the same way too! =)
Cheers!
Dila
March 9, 2011
Wow! Sounds like it was an amazing tournament! I think Malaysian should be more open minded. Good job Aina!
Adju
March 9, 2011
Let me assure you, SDAR isn’t a novice team. What high school team has debated in the Hong Kong Debate Open?
Mai Mokhsein
March 9, 2011
Great job Adj Core (Aina, Ashok, Groobie & Zamir) & Co-Conveners (Emellia & Obama)!
P.S. Some motions had me aching to debate, although my repeated attempts to be allowed to swing were rejected. :O (And that was the only flaw, Aina. The ONLY flaw.
)
Mai.
Joanna G
March 9, 2011
Woah! You make an already awesome tournament sound positively sizzling! I can tell youre really passionate about it. Cant wait for the next one. Cheers!
Anjana M
March 9, 2011
Aina,
I knew you would take the debating from secondary school to a whole new level! Very proud of you! On that note, your writing style is as conversational, readable and approachable as always. Keep on writing and expanding your repertoire.
All the best.