IIUM Team emerged as the champion in the 2^nd OIC Intervarsity Debate Championship 2012 held at Cultural Activity Centre, IIUM on 5^th July 2012. IIUM team were represented by Nurul Syahirah Azman, Ainah Najwa Ahmad Said, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman and Jaber Abedin. 25 teams from 13 OIC member countries participated in the championship. 

IIUM Emerge Champions in the 2^nd OIC Debate Championship

The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) debating team emerged as the Champion in the recently organised 2^nd OIC Intervarsity Debating Championship held at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak recently. The team comprised of 2^nd year law student Syed Sadiq Syed Abdul Rahman, 3^rd year economics student Arinah Najwa Ahmad Said, 1^st year engineering student Jaber Abedin and 3^rd year law student Nurul Syahirah Azman.

Syed Sadiq and Arinah Najwa also received the Best Speakers Awards of the tournament.  H.E. Mr. Rashid Mairza Al-Mulla, Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of the State of Qatar, presented the prizes to the winners. Proposing the motion that the OIC should have its own military force to deal with instability in member states, the IIUM team defeated their opponents, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam. The Winners went home with RM 5,000 cash and trophies. On their way to the Grand Finals, the IIUM team defeated University Malaysia Sarawak in the quarterfinals and Institute of Business Administration, Dhaka University in the semis.

The tournament saw participation of 24 teams from Bangladesh, Qatar, Brunei, Indonesia, Sudan, Uganda and host country Malaysia  Many exciting and challenging motions were debated, among which were issues of payment for imams, women’s rights, Arab spring, education, conflicts and the issue ofrefugees. The tournament challenged the youths of institutions of higher learning to argue on policy issues with only 30 minutes to prepare after the motion is announced. The judges for the tournament were academicians, debate alumni and trainers from various countries.

An elated Syed Sadiq said he is very happy as this is his first major international win and also a first time as the best speaker of the Grand Final for such a prestigious international tournament. He said, he is looking forward to bigger wins in many international debate events to come and making Malaysia proud. Overjoyed Arinah Najwa, the captain of the IIUM team, expressed her thanks to the trainers who had guided her in debates during the last three years. 

 Proud winners with IIUM Rector, Prof. Dato’ Sri Dr. Zaleha Kamaruddin (2nd from right).   From left: Jaber Abidin, Arinah Najwa, and Syed Sadiq with the IIUM Rector. 

The winners with H.E. Mr. Rashid Mairza al-Mulla, Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of the State of Qatar.  From left: Arinah Najwa, H.E. Mr. Rashid, Syed Sadiq Syed Abdul Rahman,  and Nurul Syahirah Azman (far right). 

PROUD WINNERS (FROM LEFT NURUL SYAHIRAH, JABER ABEDIN, SYED SADIQ AND ARINAH NAJWA)