7th Swinburne Sarawak Inter-School Debating Championship 2012

 Posted on April 4, 2012, Wednesday

WE DID IT!: (From left) Gerry, Cindy and Winny of SMA Katholik Santu Petrus posing with their trophies together with runners-up Ho Jaan Ee, Wong Hui Mei and Tsai Ching Ing of SMK Green Road.

KUCHING: SMA Katholik Santu Petrus was crowned the winner of the 7th Swinburne Sarawak Inter-School Debating Championship 2012 (Senior Category) in a thrilling finale held at Swinburne Sarawak here yesterday.

The victorious school from Pontianak, Indonesia, participating for the first time in this annual championship, was represented by Gerry Wino, Winny Sanjaya and Cindy Putri who proved their point that ‘Syria’s internal strife is its own business’ defeating Wong Hui Mei, Tsai Ching Ing and Ho Jaan Ee of SMK Green Road.

To top it up Gerry was named the ‘Best Debater in the Finals’ for the senior category.

The 17-year-old told The Borneo Post that he was elated over the school’s triumph and felt very excited to have also won in the ‘Best Debater’ category.

“Nevertheless, I believe that we could not have achieve this without constructive criticism and feedback from the educators, teachers and fellow debaters,” said Gerry, who started participating in debates a year ago.

Asked how his team prepared for the championship, he revealed that they put in a week of preparation and constantly kept abreast of current issues occurring around the world.

SMA KATHOLIK SANTU PETRUS WINNERS

Meanwhile, Jerry Tan Hai Kok, Ling Xue Jing and Ng Tze Yuan of SM Lodge emerged winners in the junior category beating SM Kuching High which was represented by Chelsea Tiong Ying Lin, Zoe Sim Ci En and Yap Ke Li.

Tan also won the ‘Best Debater in the Finals’ after delivering his powerful and persuasive points to argue that ‘the concept of bangsa Malaysia is a myth’.

The three-day event saw a total of 25 secondary schools from Kuching, Miri, Sibu and Pontianak represented by 86 teams taking part in the championship in hopes of clinching the Junior and Senior champion titles.

Trophies were also given to ‘Best Debater in the Finals’, ‘Best Overall Debaters’ (five in each category), ‘Best Speaker of English’ and ‘Most Promising Team’ which went to St Joseph’s Private School.

On hand to present the trophies to the winners were Sarawak Education Department academic management sector head Bedui Une and Swinburne Sarawak acting pro vice-chancellor Professor Ken Heskin.

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/04/04/pontianak-students-are-winners-in-7th-swinburne-sarawak-debating-championship/