NILAI, April 13, 2017 – The Arabic Debaters from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) have placed the University and Malaysia’s names high in the eyes of the world when they qualified to the finals and emerged as the first runner up of the International University Arabic Debate Championship (IUADC) in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday.

The Arabic debaters of USIM comprises of Muhammad Muzakkir Ahmad Dali, Anis Amirah Zakaria, Nur Akma Mohd Dali, and Muhammad Syafiq Suhaimi , all are undergraduates of Law and Syariah Courses, Faculty of Syariah and Law USIM.

Competing in the category of non-native speakers of Arabic along with 30 teams from various international varsity debaters, the USIM debaters played well, winning all matches in the preliminary rounds. They beat the debate teams from Deakin University, Australia; German Europe Institution, German; Meridian Atuluku, Turkey; Islamic University of Indonesia; Indonesia and the University or Real Madrid, Spain. In the grand finals, they went head to head with the debaters from University Sciences Po Marissa, France.

“Successfully reaching the final stage of the tournament’s most prestigious Arabic language debate is already drawing a huge success for the university and the country as the rivals were great. We managed to maintain the momentum of the show and the gave our best focus on every match from the beginning till the end “.

“The pressure is there but we could control it as a result of intensive individual and group exercises, readings, friendly debate tournaments and the previous experience of joining other debate tournament prior to this one.”

“This is a sweet success for us and our coach, Mr. Ahmad Norsyafwan Norwavi who is constantly here with us and who successfully carried out the trust given by the University. Our greatest appreciation to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni), Student Affairs Division and debate friends of USIM Debate Club for their prayers and support provided, “said Muhammad Syafiq.

Also, one of the USIM debaters Nur Akma is also listed in the ranking of second best debater of IUADC 2017. The success in Doha, Qatar, is a second success achieved by the USIM Arabic debate team at international level this year after being crowned as champion in Ihtifal Arabic Debate for Higher Education Institutions ASEAN held in USIM, earlier this month.

As a runner up, USIM debate team received a trophy and a certificate of appreciation from the organizer of Qatar Debate.

Arabic debaters for International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), represented by Abdul Rahim bin Ellias, Mohamad Ikmal Hakimi bin Mohamad Helni, Muhammad Nazri bin Rostam and Muhammad Nurfirman bin Mohamed also made our country proud when they emerged as the runner-up in the open category.

IUADC which is held bi-annually has entered its fourth edition since inception in 2011. The competition, which began on April 8 and ended yesterday with 86 teams from 46 countries participated in this IUADC edition held in Qatar National Convention Center, Doha.

Prepared by:
Mohd Zaini Othman
Strategic Communication Centre (StraComm)
Level 1, Canselori Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)
71800 Nilai, Negeri Sembilan
Tel : 06-798 8026/8027/6284 Faks : 06-798 8204