KUCHING – St Joseph’s Private School and SMK Lutong have been crowned champions in the 17th instalment of the Swinburne Sarawak Inter-School Debating Championship (SSIDC).
St Joseph’s Private School narrowly defeated SMK Chung Hua Miri on a 5-4 split decision on the motion This House would finance society to pursue its personal greed (i.e., wealth, dreams) while SMK Lutong took the junior championship title, defeating St Joseph’s International School on a 5-2 split decision on the motion This House would ban children from making money through social media platforms.
In the second online iteration of the SSIDC, the team from St Joseph’s Private School consisting of Daphne Ngu Dai Ning, Edmund Wong Li Hong, and Jordon Lai Qi Hao emerged as Champions after three and a half days of solid debate on motions ranging from topics on Education, Health, Sport and Economics. Daphne and Jordon tied for the Overall Best Debater in the Preliminaries and Daphne also took the award for Best Debater in the Final. The Runners-Up were Caroline Hii Song Ting, Matthew Then Yi Loke, and Shawna Sim Yuk Ning from SMK Chung Hua Miri.
All three of the Senior Champions received a Swinburne Scholarship Award worth RM3,000 each, a rebate of their tuition fees should they enrol in any Swinburne Foundation course. The Runners-Up received a Swinburne Scholarship Award worth RM2,000 each while the two teams that reached the Semi-Finals from SMK St George and St Joseph’s International School received a Swinburne Scholarship Award worth RM1,000 each.
In the junior category (Forms 1 – 3), SMK Lutong’s team of Andrea Ong Li Wei, Kalpana a/p Murugayah, and Ryan Foh Jing Yee overcame the team of Chloe Nicholas-Wong Pak Jia, Evonne Wong Yuan Yan, and Amelie Lao from St Joseph’s International School. Ryan won the Best Debater in the Final award.
In the Senior Category, the Best Debaters in the Preliminary Rounds were Daphne Ngu Dai Ning (St. Joseph’s Private School S1) tying with her teammate Jordan Lai Qi Hao as Overall Best Debater. In third place was Maathi Lekha A/P Panirselvan from SMK St. George, Penang followed by Edmund Wong Li Hong in fourth place also from the champion team, St Joseph’s Private School. Finally, in another tie at 5th place were debaters from SMK Lutong, Ethan Tan Yi Wen and Awangku Zuhairi bin Awangku Feazirroeddin.
In the Junior Category, Andrea Ong Li Wei of SMK Lutong won the coveted Overall Best Debater in the Preliminary Rounds. In second place was Rachael Chai Xin Ru from St. Joseph’s Private School followed by Ryan Foh Jing Yee in third place and Kalpana A/P Murugayah in fourth place, both from SMK Lutong. Michelle Ting Chiong Sung from St. Joseph’s Private School took the fifth spot.
Endorsed by the Ministry of Education, the Swinburne Sarawak tournament is the largest English debating championship in Borneo. In its 17th year, a total of 159 students comprising 34 teams in the senior category and 19 teams in the junior category participated online from all over the country, Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan as well. The online tournament took place from 21-24 February with a one-day warm-up tournament, the Pre-SSIDC taking place on Saturday, 19th February.
This year, not only did more students take part from different parts of the state and country due to the tournament taking place online, Swinburne’s alumni, former debaters, now living in different parts of the world, participated as adjudicators. Led by Chief Adjudicator and lecturer at Swinburne, Dr Stanley Nwobodo, the adjudicators logged on from different time zones from countries such as Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Uganda, the UAE and the USA.
Swinburne Sarawak’s Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Lau Hieng Ho acknowledged the unique quality that SSIDC evokes, saying in his speech that “In addition to the hard-working teachers and independent adjudicators in Kuching and around the country, we also have Swinburne Debaters’ Club and SSIDC alumni who have gone on to their studies and careers overseas, but keep coming back for SSIDC every year they can”.
“I’d like to thank Michael Villarin, one of Swinburne’s earliest debaters back in 2005 who adjudicated from Singapore; Kasun Illankoon, former Debaters’ Club President, and Chief Adjudicator of past SSIDCs who adjudicated again this year from the UAE; Wahaj Qaiser Syed, another former Debaters’ Club President adjudicated from Pakistan; Surojit Rakshit, former Debaters’ Club debater and SSIDC adjudicator all the way from Uganda, and SSIDC alumnus Emily Gumal who adjudicated, 14 hours behind from the USA” Lau said.
Also at the Grand Finals and the Award Presentation was Cikgu Agnes Saga, Assistant Director of the State Education Department, representing the Director, Dr Norsiah Binti Suhaili. In addition, Alcila Abby, the President of the Kuching Beach Cleaners, a grassroots conservation organisation that sponsored the SSIDC’s Environment Round. Together with the Sarawak Eco-Warriors represented by President Celine Tiang, Alcila had created a special video aimed to encourage people to take positive action for the environment. They hoped to encourage the young debaters, thinkers, and orators to take action as well as to speak up for the environment.
Established in 2005 with the aim to encourage secondary school students in Sarawak to use their critical thinking and English oratory skills, the SSIDC this year included motions such as This House believes that every nation’s eco-tourism should be governed by an international environmental authority, This House would de-prioritise medical care for those without COVID-19 vaccinations, and This House, as FIFA, would allow nations to boycott the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
For more information about Swinburne, visit its website www.swinburne.edu.my, Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).