FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 PETALING JAYA, 28 February 2009 - The grounds of KDU College made history today when more than 70 students and faculty members from different higher education institutions came to witness and participate in KDU College’s 1^st Inter-Varsity Debate Challenge 2009.

The organizing committee of KDU’s Debate Association (KDUDA) proved to be a dedicated one as they ensured everything went smoothly. Early favourites, the team from Multimedia University (MMU) carried on superb form to force Taylor’s University College’s team to crash out in the quarter-finals. The laid-back style of MMU’s team leader, Andrew Gnanananthan proved to be a successful method in ensuring their early win.

The motion for the quarter-finals was “This House Will Allow Same-Sex Couples to Adopt Children”. The KDU team consisting of Chulan a/l Satchithanandhan (A-Levels), Matthew Ong (Mass Communications) and Tan Su Vern (A-Levels) were formidable but crashed out against the team from Advance Tertiary College (ATC) who were one of the eventual semi-finalist teams.

INTI University College, which consisted of Maruwa Olivia Mukuna, Duncan Keya & Justin Nicholas Gregory, were definitely the team that had the best style, which was a factor in the marking system, in the debate competition. Olivia managed the feat of winning the coveted title of Best Speaker three times in a row that immediately garnered the attention of many at today’s competition.

The motion for the semi-finals was “This House Moves to Abolish the Death Penalty”. INTI-UC’s impeccable performance forced out teams like Kolej Yayasan UEM (KYUEM) and Taylor’s University College.

After a long day that challenged the participants physically and mentally, the two teams to emerge in the finals were INTI-UC and MMU. The committee members of KDUDA, with the help of Miss Hannah Ramsamy, KDU College’s Student Affairs Executive and the association advisor, wanted to choose a challenging motion for the debaters and, from a list of 500 motions, finally filtered “This House Believes That War is Right If It Is in the Interest of the Nation”.

The finals between these two teams were dramatic, filled with facts and full of questions. After the debaters were done with their inspirational speeches and strong rebuttals, the floor was open to questions from judges.

Miss Donicia D’Cruz from KDU College served as the Head Judge for the finals and she spared no time in firing questions regarding the effects and affects of the war.

The debate was not over as the floor was then open to questions from the audience members and they showed no mercy as they fired up questions after questions to the debaters.

Chairperson for the debate, Miss Margaret Kumba, had to control the level of emotion that was present in that room. Both teams held their ground and continued to show impressive form for both question sessions.

In the end, The House was in favour of the team from MMU and the award for Best Speaker went to Andrew Gnanananthan from MMU.

The organizing committee had much to be proud of after the debate championship was over. Prizes and trophies were presented and most important of all, experience and new friends were gained. Miss Amirah Khair, the secretary of KYUEM Debate Club, said that their long-standing friendly relationship with KDUDA will continue to grow with many more debate championships to come.