KUALA LUMPUR – SJIS has recently concluded the Tunku Abdullah Debate Challenge (TADC) 2018, a key school event that drew national and international school’s participation. More than 19 teams from 10 schools have participated and they have shown their enthusiasm as well as their professional debating skills and endless efforts to win the TADC trophy.

TADC is a delectable yet illustrious debate competition organised by the St. John’s International school in collaboration with Direct English Malaysia, where a sponsorship of RM 15, 000 has been given away to TADC Grand Winners from both categories; Under-15 and Under-18 seperately.

TADC 2018 is an inaugural debate competition which consists of two major categories, which are Under 15 and Under 18. The main objective of TADC is to instill communication skills in the form of debate among young debaters in all the participating National and International schools namely from Kuala Lumpur and Selangor regions.

The Honourable judges for the TADC Grand finals were Y.A.M. Tunku Zain Al-Abidin ibni Tuanku Muhriz, Associate Prof Cordelia Mason and Mr. Tony Collingridge, OBE for the Under18 category and Y.M Tunku Halim bin Tunku Abdullah, Dato’ Steve Day and Prof Dr Ganakumaran Subramaniam for the Under15 category.

Adding on, our honourable judges are well-versed in debating skills and their comments were very constructive to ensure that we meet the objectives of TADC 2018. The judges were also excited to be a part of TADC as it is the first debate competition which has been organized by St. John’s International School and Direct English in collaborating both the National and International schools under one roof to share their brilliant ideas, vibrant debating skills and inspiring techniques.

As to officiate TADC, the opening speech was delivered by the respectable Chairman of TADC, Tunku Dato Seri (Dr) Iskandar bin Tunku Abdullah, who has initially welcomed the participating schools and impressed upon them the benefits of debating while introducing the TADC Debate Challenge whilst providing an interesting background on Tunku Abdullah, who was also described as an avid orator and debater.

The champion for Under 18 category is SJIS Johannians from St. John’s International School followed by team VI (A) from Victoria Institution as the 1st Runner-Up. Both the teams were very competitive in delivering their arguments, raising Point of Information (POI), and rebutting each other’s points. Eventhough both the teams were extremely good in debating, however, the judges have chosen SJIS Johannians as the Champion based on the criterias mentioned above.

The Best Speaker (Male) for Under 18 Category is Nicholas Patrick from St. John’s International School followed by Arun Muthiah as the 1st Runner-up also from St. John’s International School. Besides that, the Best Speaker (Female) for Under 18 Category is Natalie Gan from St. John’s International School followed by Kushiiribeth from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Desa Perdana.

The champions for Under 15 category, the winning team is GIIS Team 2 from Greenview Islamic International School followed by the 1st Runner-up SJIS Cambridge from St John’s International School.

The Best Speaker (Male) for Under 15 Category is Visaghan from St. John’s International School followed by Muhd. Nor Ihsan Ashraf B. Shaiful Anuar as the 1st Runner-up from Greenview Islamic International School. The Best Speaker (Female) for Under 15 Category is Kam Kai Li from St. John’s International School followed by Sharon Valerie Culas also from St. John’s International School.

Motivated by the success of TADC 2018 and the favourable response from participating schools, TADC will aim to be on the school calendar from now on, with participating schools promising to meet once again next year. With the success of TADC 2018, we hope to engage with more schools for the upcoming years.