Say Hello to Wira-Wira Malaysia!
Students from BAC and several other institutions come together to inspire interest in debate!
Speech and debate allow students to find their voice.
What could be more important today in our changing world?
The chance to significantly give back to the community with talents and skills that you have is rare. It's not often that this chance is made available, and it was a huge delight to see the work of Cyril Joachim Nathan, a year 3 University of London (UOL) student of BAC, who gives back to the community by inspiring the young generation to take up debate.
As the founder of Wira-Wira Malaysia, Cyril, together with friends from various universities across Malaysia aim to reach out to underprivileged students all around the country and provide them with debate training and resources that otherwise would not be available to them. The name Wira-Wira Malaysia comes from the idea that any student can be a hero, no matter their background and limited resources they have.
Some of their initiatives so far include activities to bring life to the debate scene in different states across Malaysia, and their flagship event, the Wira Debate Introduction Workshop! This workshop invites secondary school students to learn the fundamentals of debate and introduce core concepts that can allow them to start their debate careers. Some of the states they've visited so far are Kedah, Selangor, KL and Putrajaya and Kelantan. At the time of writing, the workshop was currently happening in Terengganu.
The workshop usually starts off with some games to get the students comfortable. One of the games played is werewolf, which encourages the students to speak up and debate who should be eliminated from the game. Using the game, the trainers are teaching the students some debate fundamentals, directing them to debate on why it is good, true and important that someone is eliminated.
From there, the trainers begin their workshop, teaching the students about characterisation and making their point convincing. One of the other activities held during the workshop is a debate showcase from the trainers. At the end, students will get a chance to apply all they have learned in a debate of their own.
Here's what some of the students had to say about the workshop:
"Wira-wira Malaysia, I hope one and each of you keep up and strive for your goals! No matter what brings you down, just know that you impacted the state of Selangor students by your debate teachings. Never give up and spread impact and positivity. Never back down even if something is blocking your way because I believe in y'all, Wira-wira Malaysia!" said Lucas Tan from SMK Taman Kosas.
"LOVE Y'ALL! The whole experience was amazing, and I hope you guys are able to succeed in the future and with the project itself. Stay safe and take care!" said Ardini Zafirah from SMK Saujana Impian.
Even the teachers were very impressed and had many positive things to say about the workshop:
"Thank you CJ and team for organising and sharing such amazing tips and strategies of debating!" said Ms. Sarah Athirah from SMK Jalan Bukit.
"The sessions were both insightful and encouraging, which were perfect for the target audience. Aside from that, your energy and ability to foster a collaborative environment was impressive. All in all, the whole programme exceeded my expectations and I know I can speak on behalf of all the participants and say that the programme is a resounding success. We leave the programme a better version of ourselves. Well done!" said Ms. Anita Mary from SMK Tropicana
Some teachers even gave donations to Wira-Wira Malaysia! Cyril initially did not accept the donations from the teachers, but after being persuaded, all the donations went into financing workshops for the other states.
The directors and facilitators from Project Wira also had a lot to say about the workshops:
"Working on Project Wira with Cyril was nothing short of fulfilling. For me, it was about democratising the art of debate and inspiring these students to be bold and confident. I hope we inspired them to chase their aspirations as much as we did teach them debate. I believe Project Wira has the potential to change lives and look forward to working on more future initiatives," said Shayleene, the director of Project Wira in Terengganu.
"Project Wira is an amazing project that is not your typical debate camp. This is a program that enables me to meet so many aspiring debaters, which is very versatile in any situation, but also gives exposure to upcoming generations about the benefits of debating. All in all, I am happy to consider myself a member of Wira-Wira Malaysia," said Adam Malik, the director of Project Wira in Kelantan.
"Being a Project Wira facilitator has been a rewarding experience for me. Facilitating on framing arguments also sharpened my own skills. I had to stay updated on various debate formats, current events, and effective teaching methods. I learned to adapt my approach depending on the needs of the group sometimes focusing more on confidence building, other times on advanced strategies like the dos and don'ts in framing arguments. By the end of my session, I felt a strong sense of accomplishment, knowing that I had helped others not only improve their debating skills but also foster a mindset of open, critical engagement with the world," said Raudhah, a facilitator at the Terengganu workshop.
Something Wira-Wira Malaysia has been attempting to do before even visiting the different states is to create some interest and awareness about debate among both secondary school students and college students. Members from different states will promote the upcoming workshops, gathering members of their debate clubs to help facilitate and impart some knowledge of their own to the students. This has been well received in most states, but the team has a bigger mountain to climb in Sabah, as debate is not popular there.
Thus, Wira-Wira Malaysia has been working hard to gather students interested in debate not just in schools across the state but in colleges as well! They plan to extend their workshop to three days, and open it to any interested university students as well. Their hope is that the debaters in their team will be able to face off against competitors from states like Sabah in the future, seeing them beat the odds and learn with free resources provided by Wira-Wira Malaysia.
Of course, with several members of this project being BAC students and founder Cyril being the former president of BAC Debate Club, BAC has graciously provided some sponsorship for this initiative, paying for some of the expenses of this workshop. BAC also provided a venue for the KL and Putrajaya leg of the workshop; where students from the Federal Territories were invited to BAC Campus to participate in the workshop.
To showcase his pride for his home institution, Cyril has also been sharing about SPMFlix with the secondary school students, as it is another beneficial resource for them. SPMFlix, launched by BAC Education Group is Malaysia's largest free online learning platform with over 9,000 lessons, supporting over 180,000 SPM and IGCSE students.
These workshops are just the start for Wira-Wira Malaysia. As Cyril (an avid superhero fan) put it, this is just Phase 1 of their plan. In the future, they aim to create an avenue for students to spar against teams from different states. As they develop further, phase 3 may also involve hosting their very own online debate tournament!
Cyril shared some final words of encouragement for students who may be interested in debate:
"There are loads of problems in this world which debating is a great tool to figure out solutions. More than that, it help us understand the communities around us better & identify what role we play in improving them. Not all heroes wear capes & debating can be the first step in becoming your own hero.
"Debate is an easy sport to enter, tough to master but once the foundations are understood, one may enjoy the magic behind the sport. Hence, I would recommend, take a leap of faith first & the trust part comes later."
If you're a BAC student (or future BAC student) who's interested in debate, you can learn more about the debate scene at BAC by joining BAC Debate Club! You can join via BAC Engage or visit their Instagram to learn more!
You can also check out Wira-Wira Malaysia's Instagram to learn more about their initiatives and future plans.
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