BAC Debate Club Shines at External Tournaments

One significant goal of the BAC Debate Club is to be able to make a name for themselves in the varsity debate scene worldwide. To work towards that goal, they participate in various external tournaments, both locally and internationally. Some of the tournaments they have entered in the past are UT MARA, UTM API, Santa Mesa Open, Asian British Parliamentary and Pro AM Malaysia. Most recently, they entered LUMS Pre-ABP and Sunway Debate Open.

LUMS Pre-ABP

The Lahore University of Management Sciences Pre-ABP was an online debate competition with participants from all over the world such as top debaters from Harvard, Oxford and LSE. The debaters from BAC that decided to throw their hat in the ring are Christine Ong and Aiman Hafiz, entering the novice competition.

With all the top challengers from the world stage like Ted Chang, it was not an easy competition for Christine and Aiman. They fought bravely, debating motions about finance, feminism, education and politics. In the end, Christine and Aiman did so well that they managed to break in the open semi-finals! It was a momentous occasion as they were the only Malaysian team to advance that far, beating out even UM's best debaters!

Here's what Christine and Aiman had to say about the competition:

"LUMS Pre-Abp was not an easy competition. As preparation for a major competition, the motions within the tournament are quite challenging and the teams that participated were very skillful. This caused us to be challenged right from the start, but it was very rewarding as we learned a lot from more experienced opponents. We had a good run till the end, eventually ending our journey in open semis. We were both also awarded novice speaker awards for our stellar performance on the weekend," said Christine.

"Preparing for LUMS Pre-Abp was nerve wracking as there were many seasoned debaters, preparing us for the actual ABP competition, meanwhile Christine and I are novices still learning about debating. Thankfully, with our determination and hard work, we were able to make it to semifinals, gracefully losing to a world level debater. We were also able to receive a novice speaker award in the tournament. It was truly an experience that we are both very proud of especially for the achievements that we are able to share with the club," said Aiman

Although they did not advance past the semifinals, they showed the world their skill and made a name for BAC. Christine and Aiman, we're so proud of you!

Sunway Debate Open

A bit closer to home, the BAC Debate Club sent a team to compete in the Sunway Debate Open 2024. Representing BAC in this competition were Praveen and Yan Joo! Both debaters are new to the debate scene, competing in the novice section of the competition.

Participating in the novice rounds gave Praveen and Yan Joo the chance to learn from people more experienced than them. It was a challenging competition to say the least, and though they broke at 4th in the novice category, they managed to pick back up during the pre-finals and the finals, earning them the title of Novice Champion! The team also returned with more titles; Praveen won overall Best Speaker and Yan Joo won 4th best speaker of the tournament!

Here's what Praveen and Yan Joo had to say about the competition:

"SUNDO was a really eye opening experience for me, as a novice debater stepping into the scene only recently. It was both nerve-wracking and fun to go against some of the best teams in the country and eventually finishing as novice champions was really something to remember. It was really a milestone for the team and also a great experience being able to learn from the best Malaysia has to offer," said Praveen.

"The entire SUNDO experience felt like a roller coaster ride. Praveen and I managed to break 4th, securing a spot in the Novice Pre-Final. Thankfully, we advanced from the Pre-Final and made it to the Final. After a heated debate, we emerged as the champions! Praveen also earned the title of Final Best Speaker. SUNDO was a fantastic tournament (shoutout to the organising committee), and we thoroughly enjoyed it. A big thanks to BAC for sponsoring our participation!" said Yan Joo.

Congratulations on your achievement, Praveen and Yan Joo! You've made BAC and the BAC Debate Club very proud. We look forward to see you go further in your debate career!

If you're inspired by these stories of Christine, Aiman, Praveen and Yan Joo, all novice debaters who are making a name for themselves, you can be like them too! Join the debate club today by clicking the button below to register via BAC Engage, or you can visit their Instagram to learn more.

Register via BAC Engage!

The Debate Club meets every Friday from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. See you at their next training session!