Recently, my school(SMK Seri Nibong) has just won the English Language Debate Competition of the District Seberang Perai Selatan. What’s more, I was awarded the Best Speaker!!
The entire thingy had been exciting, valuable, and most of all, heated! The entire debate team members of my school are newbies, except for our 1st speaker. I have been looking forward to this event, and with joy and pleasure I was appointed the 3rd speaker.
To say that we work hard is an understatement. We work like we’ve never worked before, day and night, switching places between my tuition center and the local KFC. We discussed, we joked, we laughed, and most important of all, we practiced. I was happily busy, and with great anticipation the 1st day of the competition came.
Our first opponent would be from SMK Simpang Empat. Now, they are our host for today, and sure enough there were already a horde of supporters waiting in the Parliamentary Room. We take our seats(Government), and they took theirs. In no time at all, the debate has begun! My palms were sweaty, and I couldn't hold my pen on steady. However, it seemed like debate was natural in me. I was excited, not scared. I remembered the various CD I watched when I was little, where the MPs were debating hotly about a certain motion. Of course, my favorite would be Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh, both in the DAP and well-seasoned debaters. I feel a little confident, my heart reciting Psalms 23. Soon, my instincts kicked in, and I was asking questions
and answering any POIs. We won the first round. Phew!
The 2nd round will be against SMK Valdor. For those who lived around here, we had an impression that the Valdorians are known to be loud Hokkien and Teochew speakers, and their English wouldn’t be good in any means. However, our teacher warned us that we are not to underestimate them and to do our very best. It turned out that they are much, much better than I would have ever imagined. The 3rd speaker, Francis Lim was quite an eloquent speaker and we fought hard with our tongues backed by our wits. They’re good, but we’re the better team and are well prepared. We won this round and venture into the finals.
I heard a victorious cry from the other room, and my heart sank. SMK Methodist had beat SMKTAR, and we are going up against them in the Finals. I’ve seen them in action before, against SMK Jawi, and they are simply spectacular. Besides having eloquence, I noted that they are also well-prepared, able to answer POIs at the speed of light. However, the 2nd speaker is the one who attracted me most. She’s a she, a mix between Chinese and Indian, from what I heard from my Indian pals. She has a strong, confident aura about her, and without the slightest effort she seemed to answer back her opponent’s POIs. ‘That’s it’, I though. That’s it, we are going down……
I am not a very eloquent speaker myself, and I had this hereditary stammering and stuttering. How am I able to go against their smooth command of the English Language? I felt defeated, but then the Lord gently reminded me that He is still in control. Yes, with the Lord my God at my side, who is to be feared? Who can stand before His holy name, by which all man can be saved?
The Finals. My team went in and took our seats, this time as the Opposition. After a minute, they too arrived, and sat across us. I caught her eye and she stared back, face tight with concentration and eyes set with determination. The game is on.
As each speaker from either side was called to speak, we never stopped exchanging arrows and darts. The arrows were in the main speech, while darts are the POIs. Ours don’t seem to get through, not when she was shouting back the answers to the spectators and earning loud applause from their side of supporters. She and her 3rd speaker ended their speech to thunderous applause, and now its my turn.
I got up slowly, and addressed each member of the House. My heart was thumping against its walls so hard that I could hear its rhythmic beating. My brain was cold and calm, and I launch right into my speech. I faced the adjudicators and the crowd, confident and cool, and spoke out each word with heavy emphasize. The Methodists’ weren’t so keen to let me get into my rhythm. Not for the 2nd speaker at least. She never stopped POI-ing me, trying to delay the time. I answered some and denied some, all the while trying to keep track of time. When it’s all over, I take my seat to find the judges smiling. Did I managed to impress them? Had I secured the win? I couldn’t be sure, and emptied my bottle in one go.
After the reply speech from both sides, the crowd went silent as the chairperson collected papers from the five adjudicators. I crossed my sweaty fingers, and prayed to God for peace. The MC shook out the papers and said in a slow, deliberate tone: ‘The Best Speaker for today is…’. He looked up and continued: ‘ Mister….Daniel Teoh!’ Upon hearing ‘Mister’, my heart leapt in joy, confirming the news. (There is no male debater in both team and I’m the only one, lol). I rose and walked to take my prize, hearing a cry of excitement from our school’s supporters as I shook hands and poised for the camera shot.
After I returned to my seat, the tense atmosphere resumed. The moment seemed to stretch on, longer and longer until silence is louder than sound. Then the MC spoke: ‘ The second place goes to………SMK…….Methodist!’. Then the silence was broken. We got to our feet and exchanged triumphant looks. We are the Champion! What a show!! Hurray!!!
The 2nd speaker from Methodist came over and congratulated me. I shook her hand, whacking my brains to say something. Before coming up with anything though, she left and vanished among the crowd. I was pulled back by my team and we took pictures, radiant smiles upon every face, shining like the sun.
The entire process had been a most tremendous experience for me. I’m glad that after all those hard work, we had a wonderful story book ending. I thank God for He is to be praised, His love and grace will follow me until the end of my days….Amen
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