Materia Medica Malaysiana

Soaring on the wings of words

FOR three days in a row late last year, the International Medical University (IMU) was abuzz with 108 fluent debaters from varsities nationwide.
The debaters had congregated there for the third National Health Sciences Debate (NHSD) organised by the IMU debating society.
First organised by IMU in 2002 in conjunction with its 10th anniversary celebrations, the NHSD aims to enhance awareness on health issues, develop presentation and public speaking skills, hone analytical thinking, and nurture social skills such as cooperation and teamwork among young people.
NHSD convener Thavenesh said: “Every year, we see an increase in the number of participating teams and colleges. We look forward to enhancing our knowledge and learning from each other.”
To help teams participating for the first time, a workshop was conducted by NHSD deputy chief adjudicator Dr Muthu prior to the commencement of the debates.
The teams that made it into the finals were UKM for opening government, UiTM Shah Alam for opening opposition, IIUM for closing government and MMU for closing opposition. They debated on the motion "Schizophrenics should not be allowed to have children."
All four teams delivered their arguments with ease and confidence, and put up a show which fully met the expectations of the audience.
MMU took home the championship. Mohd Syakri and Suthen Thomas won RM2,000 prize money sponsored by IMU and two psychology books sponsored by Eli Lilly Sdn Bhd.
First runner up UKM walked away with RM1,000.
Second runner up UiTM Shah Alam won RM500 while third runner up IIUM bagged RM250.
The best overall speaker award went to UiTM’s Danial Amir.