KUCHING – Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) beat seven other institutions of higher learning at the final of the Yayasan Sarawak English Debating Championship to emerge winner today (30 August, 2012).
The team of Albert Kamahlendra, Fitriavioani bin Mohd Khalid and Teo Ting Ting from the public university knocked out the team from Curtin University Sarawak Malaysia over the motion “This House believes that proton should adopt a strategic change by developing cars that run on biofuel”, to take the championship title.
They took home the championship trophy and a prize money of RM3,000.
Malcam Prateel Prasad, Nur Hanani bt Ahmad Shukri and Vigneswaran Duraragh from Curtin Sarawak were runner-up and bagged RM2,400 in prize money.
In the public speaking category, Cynthia Sim Shien Duang from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus was crowned champion.
First and second runners-up were Keeshaanan Sundaresan of Curtin Sarawak and Sathisan a/l Moorthy of Swinburne Sarawak, respectively.
Keeshaanan also emerged as the Best Speaker of English and bagged RM300 for his efforts.
Albert Kamahlendra (Unimas) and Sathisan a/l Moorthy (Swinburne Sarawak) took first and second place respectively, in the category for the top five best debaters in the preliminary rounds.
Vigneswaran Duraragh (Curtin Sarawak), and the Unimas pair of Fitriavioani bin Mohd Khalid and Teo Ting Ting were tied for third place.
For breaking into the semi-finals, two teams from Swinburne Sarawak were awarded RM2,000 each.
Eight institutions of higher learning competed in the Championship themed “Searching for drivers of technology, development and the environment”.
In the fray were Curtin University Sarawak Malaysia, Masterskill Global College, Multimedia College Sarawak, Politeknik Kuching Sarawak, SEGI College Sarawak, UiTM Sarawak, Unimas and Swinburne Sarawak.
The tournament kicked off from 27 August culminating with the final on 30 August.
This year’s championship was hosted by Swinburne Sarawak.
Giving away the prizes was Dr Jerip Susil, Assistant Minister for Local Government and Community Development (Public Health), who was in attendance on behalf of Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr Haji Adenan bin Haji Satem, Minister with Special Functions in the Chief Minister’s Office, and Chairman of Yayasan Sarawak and Swinburne Sarawak Council.
