In the first online iteration of the Swinburne Sarawak Inter-School Debating Championship, SM Lodge emerged champion of the senior category while SM Sains Kuching Utara took the junior championship.

The SM Lodge team of Ashton Gregory, Darren Kiu and David Luk Ku Chian defeated Edmund Wong Li Hong, Jordan Lai Qi Hao and Kieran Paul Bhasker of St Joseph’s Private School on the motion “This House, as the government of China, will allow the secession of Hong Kong”.

In this senior category (Forms 4-5), the Best Debater in the final award went to David Luk Ku Chian.

In the junior category (Forms 1 – 3), the SM Sains Kuching Utara team of Georginna Unice Telen Ak Gilbert, Hana Humaira Binti Saiful and Marissa Nur Aimy Binti Mohd Marzuki Amri defeated the team of Bong Xin Yu, Jordan Tan Zi Xian and Nur’Ain Jamilah binti Md Nasrudin from SMK Batu Lintang on the motion “This House would legally prosecute politicians (e.g. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Marjorie Taylor Greene) who had directly incited the US Capitol riots”.

Marissa Nur Aimy Binti Mohd Marzuki won the Best Debater in the final award.

Endorsed by the Ministry of Education, the tournament is the largest English debating championship in Borneo. In its 16th year, a total of 204 students comprising 41 teams in the senior category and 27 teams in the junior category participated online from all over the country and Brunei as well.

Lecturer Hugh John Leong from the School of Design and Arts was the Chief Adjudicator.

Forty-two schools were represented, including five schools from Johor, four schools from Kelantan, two each from Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Sabah and one each from Perak, Selangor and Terengganu. One school from Brunei also took part.

In Sarawak, the majority of the teams came from Kuching with others participating from Bau, Limbang, Miri and Sibu.