Testimonials

Many times I had to reassure myself that I was being objective when I kept telling the boys they were way above other kids of their age, when it comes to maturity, thought process and the art of arguing; that it was not the sentimental attachment that compelled me to tell them that they were good.

To have a good handle on reality and objectivity, especially when you had gone through 3 consecutive years of final and the team had come to a level that was beyond your own imagination when you first set out to do this - is not an easy thing.

So it is refreshing when I occasionally come across third party testimonials about how good, funny, sarcastic and entertaining our boys are.

The recognition, and the grudging respect that people give after seeing them in action - is worth more than any trophies.

These are but a few of the entries in the Internet, of people still in wonder of the boys' ability to make debating so fun.

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debat & debate

Yang kurik itu kendi,
yang merah itu saga,
yang cerdik itu kami,
yang main redah itu mereka.

[Aleng's - the second speaker - opening speech in the final that got the hall laughing instantaneously]

You must be wondering what these verses of pantun are about. I was laughing when one of the speakers said this. Oh, debate -uh-uh. I went to UIA Gombak today (and yesterday) to watch the Grand Finale of UIA English & Malay Debate competition. My sister participated too; representing Mara Junior Science College of Langkawi and their team was ranked the sixth when they reached the octofinals. But they lost to Kolej Yayasan Saad on the first round of octofinals. Boo. Anyway, the teams that were competing in the grand finale are from SBPI Gombak vs. Malay College Kuala Kangsar for the Malay language debate, and Royal Military College vs. St. Xavier's Institution for the English language debate.

While the English debate was filled with intensity as both of the teams had frowns on their foreheads (they were too serious) as the speakers spoke (and no jokes whatsoever), the Malay language debate was filled with sarcasm (in a funny way) from both teams especially Malay College!

The first impression upon seeing the third speaker, from the big screen raising his point of information (POI, or izin laluan in Malay) was "Eiiiiii comelnyeee". He's a form three student, okay? But his ways of speech were amusing (e.g [1]imitating the second's speaker facial expressions when his poi's weren't accepted - it was caught on camera, the entire hall could see, haha. [2]"Subhanallah, subhanallah" *shakes head* -it was an act of sarcasm ; it's kind of hard to explain to someone who weren't there- when he started his rebuttal speech. [3]"Nampaknya hujah SBPI Gombak berombak-ombak", etc.). He's ranked the second best speaker among the 10 best speakers out of hundreds of speakers from 70+ schools, and plus, he won the best speaker in the final debate; and he's only form three!

MCKK almost won with a margin of 1.6 (see how close it was!) and out of the 7 judges, it was 4:3.

SEMI FINALIST!

SMIAA BOLEH!

Hajat kami tidak kesampaian kerana kami teramatlah berbesar hati jika kami dapat bertemu MCKK di Dewan Parlimen!

we're looking foward to see (sic) you guys(MCKK) in the future!

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And there are actually many more.

Perhaps winning the hearts and minds of the audience brings more meaning to winning the trophies (yeah yeah so we say each time we lose).