PETALING JAYA, Oct 4 — After being eliminated in the octofinals for two consecutive years, 16-year-old Muhammad Amier Daniel Mohd Nazri not only reached the finals of the Raja Muda Selangor Debating Championship (RMSDC), but walked away with two awards.
The SM Sains Kuala Selangor student was crowned Best Overall Speaker and helped his team become overall champions.
“This is my first time achieving finals. I've only been stuck in the octofinals for like two years consecutively.
“I feel like it opened my eyes as I’m able to actually learn unique different styles of debating, like private school debating or even how SMT (Sekolah Menengah Teknik) students are able to debate excellently,” he said when met after the RMSDC at Sunway Resort Hotel here yesterday.
“I’m quite surprised as I’m not expecting to receive the award. I feel honoured as it values my hard work before this,” Amier added, crediting people who supported and shaped him throughout his debate journey.
Of his mother, he said: “She’s so proud of me because she has been dreaming to see me on stage.”
Amier described the team’s journey as a roller coaster, saying they faced conflict along the way but learned to manage them and grow stronger together.
Meanwhile, teammate Umaamah Mohamad Zaid, 16, said the team’s biggest challenge was confidence.
“We don’t have a lot of confidence.. We had to establish that confidence together as a team,” she said.
Umaamah, who has also been debating since Form 1, described the victory as her biggest milestone so far, saying the competition gives schools across Selangor an opportunity to debate at the state level.
“The best thing about winning is not winning alone; it’s about winning together,” she said.
For 14-year-old Hin Hua High School student Ong Chuan Le, who was named Finals Best Speaker and whose team finished as runners-up, the contest was particularly significant as it is only his second year in debate.
“I’m extremely surprised that I got best speaker in finals,” he said.
Ong said the support from his seniors helped him overcome his doubts as a relatively new debater, adding that his biggest takeaway from the championship is experience, which he described as essential to success in debate.
The three participants also expressed hope that the championship would continue giving students opportunities to develop their debate and communication skills.
RMSDC is a two-day debate competition involving 42 teams comprising 170 young debaters from Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, held to give young people a platform to challenge ideas, exchange different perspectives, build confidence, and develop their communication and leadership skills.
