The Nighteyes Report- Interhouse Debates, Round Two

With the bloodthirsty topic of the First Round of debates well behind us, tonight witnessed the debate of an equally (if not more) interesting topic. 'This House Believes In The Distribution of Free Condoms and Needles to Prevent The Spread of HIV'. For some unknown reason, the word 'condom' itself seems to generate an air of 'excitement' amongst us teens. The only other word that would excite teens more other than the word condom would undoubtedly be the word 'sex'. But let's not go there now.

Tonight, the Garnetors took on Sapphire in LT2 while the Diamonders took on the Topazians at the Great Hall. In LT2, the Sapphirean team became the Government team while the Garnetors became the Opposition. In the Great Hall, the Topazians acted as the Government while the Diamonders were the Opposition. All teams displayed a change in their lineups, where both of the teams that lost in the First Round (Diamond and Garnet) had their Seniors, the fabulous Abby and the notorious Nicholas Pang come out of retirement to save their teams chances of securing a place in the finals. Where Pang admitted to joining in to make up for the First Round loss, Abby had this to say,

'It's strategy. It's all about strategy.'

Whether it was about saving the team, strategy, or reclaiming the spotlight, both seniors proved that they still had it in them, with both houses Diamond and Garnet claiming victory. An interesting thing to point out is that some debaters had been complaining on how the topic was lopsided towards the Government's advantage, and yet on both occasions, the Government lost, which proves that having a lot to say doesn't help unless you know how to use it.

In the Topaz-Diamond match, the Government could have saved itself had they pointed out that the free condom and needles program is a part of a larger effort to prevent AIDS, whereby there are other sub-programs which cover the 'morality' issue that the opposition were happily attacking. Overall though, the Topaz team at least went out with a bang, with third speaker Amir being as loud, funny and (might I say) informal as he usually is. He went one step further from last week and addressed the third speaker of the opposition by first name basis, which Nicholas only too happily responded in kind. Notable absent was Amirrrrul, who couldn't debate due to his involvment with the National Health Sciences debates going on. Last week's first speaker, Feera took over his spot, with more confidence and better style than the week before
while the first speaker position was taken by newcomer Aisyah, who spoke fairly well for a first-timer, with her only flaw being her reading from the script. Diamond's first speaker, Syat showed much enthusiasm for her role, displaying style and emotion as would be expected of a person in a drama (which the government happily pointed out). Shahrin was as calm and composed as ever, albeit being a bit more stiff, and Pang just stole the show back from Amir, determined not to allow the Topazians to have the only joker in the hall. Nicholas won the Best Speaker title, and with the rest of the Diamond team, won the match. Undoubtedly putting Pang in was a good move for the Diamond team, and we can expect to see him on the bench again next week. On a side note, the only member of the Diamond team wearing flashy attire was Syat, while Pang turned up in an unironed white shirt and Shahrin dressed casually. Since dressing extravagantly in the First Round (they were all in batik) didn't help them, less formal clothes probably brought them more luck, and if so, we can expect them to turn up in singlets and kain pelekat should they make it to the final.

In the Garnet-Sapphire match, Abby's return also marked Garnet's return to victory, with Pai again winning the Best Speaker Title. Also making their debuts for this year were Brendan on the Garnet Team and Aishah from Sapphire. Both displayed a commendable level of talent, with Aishah using her pleasant voice and manner of speaking to full use and Brendan using whatever experience he had from participating in Worlds Style debates before entering KYUEM. As Sapphire sent in an all juniors team consisting of Aishah, Jhuen Ri and Hannah, Garnet sported more two seniors, Abby and Pai with Brendan as the sole junior. Experience won out, in the end, as Abby and Pai put 5 (6? more?) years of debating experience to good use.

Thus leaving everyone on equal ground. Every team has suffered at least one loss so far. The next debates will probably be more fiery, with everyone fighting to defend their right to go to the finals. We've had a 'bloodthirsty' topic for Round One, an (ahem) 'lusty' (somewhat) topic for Round Two, one can only wonder what Hizami's brain is cooking up right now...