KUCHING – The atmosphere at the multipurpose hall of Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus was nothing short of electrifying when Indonesian school SMA Katholik Santu Petrus was announced champion of the university’s inter-school debating championship on Tuesday, 3 April.
Debating as the Government, Gerry Wino, Cindy Putri and Winny Sanjaya of SMA Katholik Santu Petrus beat the Opposition of SMK Green Road in the final on the motion ‘This House believes that Syria’s internal strife is its own business’.
The Indonesian team added another feather to its cap when Gerry Wino also won the title of Best Debater in the Final.
SMK Green Road was runner-up.
Participating for the first time in the seventh-year history of the tournament, the school from Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, had signed up with the intention of gaining some exposure in debating. Being crowned champion was icing on the cake for the team.
“Winning the competition was a total surprise because this is the first time we are participating. At best, we intended to learn from this experience. But I have to say that the final result, of wining the senior category, is the result of hard work, dedication and team spirit of the whole team,” said Hendriek Hasan, the supervising teacher of the Indonesia team.
“We were actually rather pessimistic about our chances of winning because we are the only non-Malaysian participation. Also, we were going to compete against schools which we are not familiar with.”
“As this was our first time, we got a lot of advice and feedback from the juries and organizers on how we could improve. The past four days was a real learning experience for us,” he said.
He encourages students to participate in debates as it promotes and improve one’s critical thinking.
“I would also encourage more schools from Indonesia (Kalimantan) to participate, given the opportunity, as it can strengthen collaboration amongst all schools.”
“I’m happy and proud that we won (the championship) and I am especially honoured to have also won the Best Debater in the Final award. I think debating is fun. I look forward to participating in other debating competition,” said an elated Gerry Wino who was winner of the Smart Education-Swinburne English Competition held in Pontianak late last year.
In the junior category, the team of Jerry Tan Hai Kok, Ling Xue Jing and Ng Tze Yuan of SM Lodge was crowned champion.
Jerry Tan was named the Best Debater in the Final of the junior category.
SMK Kuching High’s team of Chelsea Tiong Ying Lin, Zoe Sim Ci En and Yap Ke Li was runner-up.
St Joseph Private School won the Most Promising Team award.