IIUM wins Malaysia Debate Open 2016

By Maryam Spahic

GOMBAK, 27 March 2016: Banun Sabri, Shitab Daiyyan Akash and Ahmad Syarifuddin from the IIUM English Debate Team (EDT) have emerged as the champions of the 8th Malaysia Debate Open 2016.

The tournament, organised by Multimedia University Malaysia, was held recently (from 18 to 20 March) in Melaka. With the slogan “Communicate your thoughts. Speak out, be heard!”, the Malaysia Debate Open (MDO) wass inspired by the ideals of freedom of expression and constructive discourse.

The Malaysia Debate Open, established almost a decade ago in 2008, has been one of the celebrated tournaments in the Asian region. Over 50 teams from all over Asia participated in this year’s championship.

Better known as Bunny, third year law student, Banun Sabri, said, “MDO has always been known to be quite competitive, especially with the involvement of participants from other countries like India, Thailand and Singapore. Then there are obviously the competitive teams from our own turf here in Malaysia. So I knew the tournament was going to be a lot of fun but also competitive.”

At the grand final, IIUM Team A went against team Yale-NUS of Singapore with the motion “THW remove all physical manifestation of racist legacy from university campuses and public spaces.”

“Going into this tournament, I had the goal of improving but I honestly came into this tournament also wanting to win,” Bunny admits. “I’m happy the teammates and I came out of this being better friends and hopefully better debaters.”

She further explained that the MDO was preparation for the pinnacle of the Asian season which is the United Asian Debating Championship (UADC) set to be held in Thailand later this year. Best teams from all over Asia including the IIUM EDT Senior Team will be participating, making it extremely competitive. Bunny believed that the MDO was an excellent platform for development, hence hoping to go far in the tournament to come alongside her teammates.***

Featured image from 8th Malaysia Debate Open 2016 - MDO Facebook page.

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