The Nighteyes Report- Interhouse Debates, Round One

It’s that time of the year again for us KYUEM-ians. Being a junior, I’m not really one to say that, but as I am loosely involved with the inter-house debates (playing a VERY prominent role on the Garnet debate team) I could say that this much could be expected from the start. The vicious cycle of researching, yapping, making/buying coffee, breaking into classrooms for discussions, and finally unleashing all the forcefully fed information in a crowded room, vying for claim of the the ‘truth’ has begun. Even before the holidays, seniors have begun ‘testing’ the new juniors for the next potential debating star, so that they can a) lie back and let the juniors handle the burden whilst attending to their studies and b) give the juniors much-needed exposure for the long run. Seniors have been spotted imparting vital words of wisdom for the ‘fresh ones’, in hopes that victory can be achieved (or retained) for their houses. With the newly implemented system where every house needs a minimum of three juniors per debate team, senior stars won’t be able to hog all the limelight anymore (if they had any intention to do so), as there will always be at least one junior debater on the bench.

And with the first round over tonight, it would be safe to say that the junior batch has its share of stars, ready to shine. The seniors who have decided to stay on, however, have also managed to prove that one year is hardly enough time for them to lose their ‘gift of gab’. The first round motion, ‘This House Opposes The Death Penalty’ is definitely a bloodthirsty one, and promised for an interesting debate. The Garnet vs. Topaz match at the LT2 and the Sapphire vs. Diamond match at the Great Hall were attended by a fair amount of people who, were eager to watch these talented speakers battle it out on the debate floor, and at the same time, possibly take note of a few potential SC-runners.

Although some might say that some of the junior debaters were chosen based on their past experience, some houses had juniors who had, before setting foot in KYUEM, never ever even watched a debate match before. Yet even these people managed to deliver, managed to put up a fight for what they (forced to) believe in.

The Garnet team surprised some tonight, sporting a lineup with two juniors and one senior, with the fabulous VP noticeably absent from the bench, leaving compatriot Pai with the ever famous Punitha (who, I might add already has a huge fanbase since before ever participating in debate) and Farah Farhana, a junior who appears quiet and shy but is obviously more than that, considering the fact that she was on that bench to begin with. Topaz, on the other hand, sported and all-juniors team, with Feera, Amirul and our CP director leading the charge. Sapphire was represented by Azrieal, Hannah and Jhuen Ri all junior with Dann taking a coaching position while the house of Diamond was represented by Farhana (Queen) Roslan, Syat, and IAW Diamond Hero, Shahrin.

After one hour of quarantine, all teams took their positions at their delegated ‘battlegrounds’, with Garnet being the Government, Topaz the Opposition in LT2, while in the Great Hall, the Diamonders played the ‘bloodthirsty’ role of Opposition, supporting the death penalty while the house of Sapphire were the Government.

On the whole, the both matches were said to be ‘tight’, and regardless of having experience or not, mistakes were made on all sides, as expected. Yet at the end of the night, all teams brought home something, in a sense that the best speakers from both matches were not from the winning teams. In the Great Hall, the Government became victorious, giving Sapphire a headstart over last-years rivals, Garnet. The Diamonders didn’t go home completely disappointed however, as Shahrin proved to be more than just the IAW Elocution Contest Hero by bagging the Best Speaker title.

Meanwhile, in LT2, Topaz earned their victory as the Opposition team, while Pai, as the senior rightfully showed the rest of the audience ‘how it’s done’, winning the Best Speaker title.

All in all, everyone showed their talents, everyone with their individual styles, weaknesses, accents (even fake ones), proving that they weren’t just normal students, or normal directors, for that matter. Amir reminded us of why we chose him as CP director, Punitha showed us that singing isn’t her only talent, Hannah proved that she can talk as well as she can act and ask questions in class, Feera proved that her skills aren’t just limited to technical skills, Amirul proved himself as a potential lawyer, Azrieal proved that he can (apparently) debate in English regardless of the fact that he used to be a BM debater in his school, Farhana ‘Queen’ proved that (puts on girly, squeaky voice) “SHOPPING!” isn’t the only thing on her mind, while Syat proved that she can be just as firm and threatening as she can be warm and friendly. Even Jhuen Ri and Farah Farhana deserve a mention, since, hey, debating in front of a crowd is not easy feat, people!

When asked about what his secret to his success was, Shahrin commented that it was due to his ‘batik shirt’. Apparently, all members of the Diamond debate team were spotted wearing batik shirts or purple baju kurungs tonight. When asked about what the reason for this was, Nicholas Pang had this to say.

‘At least if we lose, we lose with style.’

As for the Sapphireans, however Dann says that their victory owed to a fair mixture of ‘luck’ and ‘skill’, showing that he has as much faith in his young protégé’s as he does respect his opponents.

So will these lineups be maintained for the next round? Or will the seniors want their limelight back? With all this new talent on the front lines for all houses, let’s just say that the next few weeks are going to be interesting, with there being no such thing as a ‘clear winner’ yet.

But seriously, is winning all that important? (I can hear some people shouting ‘YESSS!!!’ in the background) As cheesy as this may sound, in the end it’s all about the fun and experience in my opinion. Based on the comments from the debaters I have interviewed, the rivalry between houses has so far (and hopefully always be) remained on a civilized, professional level. Of course, civilized doesn’t mean ‘not fiery’. The houses of Diamond and Garnet can be expected to make comebacks. When asked to comment about the first round loss, Abby had this to say:

‘We’re not out of the race yet!’

No statements could be gotten from Pai, however, none that can be revealed here at least, if I value my life. (I’m still a part of the Garnet debate team, where my loyalties lie…at least when I’m not either working for Veritas or receiving death threats)

Now we can only lie in wait while Hizami concocts a motion for the next round. Will it be equally bloodthirsty? We’ll just have to wait and see.

For the record, Hizami does not support the death penalty.