before I came on stage less than an hour
ago
I had the privilege of having decent
conversation with one of the committee
members who’s from Sudan and he
complained about something of Earth
Malaysians now when he participated in
one of the marathons here in Peru the
person asked for his nationality the
forum asked for his nationality and even
though all countries were stated
specifically in Sweden Singapore
Malaysia when it comes to Africa’s
magically combined as one country known
as a region it’s not that you have to
change the mindsets of Malaysians in
this regards and I looked at him in this
human-eating look that five years ago I
was that person I would be the person
who put in the forum I thing that Africa
is the country in our region I thought
Egypt was a continent in our country
everyone has a live journey in which the
analytic and my journey in debating
started proximately five years ago and
was then when I answered the person’s
question when he asked me must you be
born talented for you to be a good
debate and public speaker or can you
construct your own identity as time
passes by for me I had to construct it
on my own
five years ago my English was horrendous
I will not get is for English papers and
mind you my mum is the brilliant English
teacher guru to my lung and all the
students she thought God is in English
but not me I don’t believe my mama
always argue before going all he took in
the Picasa
but you know that kind of stuff right
take a long time going that route but
debating liberated me from my past and
brought me to where I’m at today and
whenever someone asked me whether it’s
possible to uplift themselves from echo
chamber of bigotry ignorance I always
say as long as you have the passion in
you as long as you believe in a mantra
when there’s a will there’s a way
these things will indeed very much
possible but one thing which even you
have a will not waste control technology
I do not have that thing yeah thank you
I wanna briefly share where I started
before besides English
besides the Africa example an easy
example I was a bigot back then I think
it means that I always believed that I
was in position of superiority as a man
as a man a majority in Malaysia as a
Muslim Muslim majority in Malaysia I
used to discriminate those who do not
share the same commonalities as me I
personally label those who disagree with
me and ignorant individuals who deserve
to be burned in Hellfire it’s not
something she loved it was a horrendous
path and the path which up until today I
am trying my best to correct I will not
be able to change my past by at least
I’ll be able to correct the future to
make up for the injustice which I’ve
committed in the past but I was where I
was before so not only was I ignorant of
the realities around me but I used the
reality in my favor to entrench what I
believe in the expense of others who do
not share the same belief in me it was
debating which allowed me to liberate
myself and to get me where I’m at today
and I started when I was in the Royal
Military College those who of you
amazing college should join site of
assessment but it taught me diversity
the ability to speak to think critically
and that’s when I decided to join
debating and obviously when I first
started I couldn’t speak for one minute
debating you know you need to meet with
seven minutes never for one minute
you know there was a bad bad experience
but the next five year time I progressed
a lot then I’ll spend less time when I
wanna explain how debating can liberate
all of us in three specific ways that
that was my background alhamdulillah I
think after approximately four years
that’s when the first I was crowned the
Asian champion Asian best beacon from
there onward went on to Europe Oxford
Cambridge in the world abit championship
but whenever someone asked me what is
the most important thing which made me
succeed as a debater I’ll always see is
the passion and a never-ending pursuit
for knowledge which gives me oxygen
every single day as I debate I do not
treat it as a pastime activity is an
extracurricular sport by treated as a
critical identity as a lifestyle it’s
not a quote which I will take out of the
debate tournament it’s something which I
carry wherever I go 24 hours a day seven
times a week for the rest of my life and
I’ll always see the debating has
assisted me in three particular ways and
I believe that this waste if shed around
if nationalized can become a critical
tool of liberation for Malaysians and
also those of the international global
community
the first one is debating is a tool to
combat bigotry not only the debating
liberate me from the echo chamber of
bigotry but I realized that evading
provided these structures which allowed
for me to liberate myself and this
should be carried on to society Norling
the debate community very diverse
inclusive open but the same time the
being a sport compels you to challenge
existing dogmas and belief for you to
not just take an idea and consume it
without critically assessing and
deconstructing the utility of that idea
so when I thought debating pub speaking
international relations in my University
International Islamic University of
Malaysia and count a lot of students
some from very strong religious
backgrounds from Saudi Arabia will
always ask me always in the first car
Sunday
how can you debate on topics like
Palestine and Israel and at times
compelling you to defend an Israeli
position and I told him that if I’m able
to argue from an Israeli standpoint
after the debate still holding firm to
my belief that we should liberate the
Palestinians you should care for them
and justice should be carried out that
means I understood both positions but
yet my principles are strong there’s a
Muslim in assimilation my system of
belief of my principles is not tied to
fear I’m not so weak till a point that
words or me understanding in knowledge
of the other side viewpoint can weaken
my stance whether something which I went
through in something which I believe
should be shared around that’s why I
love teaching debating puppies speaking
and to date I’ve traveled to more than
25 countries from different regions
teaching availing public speaking
Malaysian team my University and others
because I believe that this is something
she’s particularly important and even
besides that when I debated in Berlin
for one of the largest MIT tournaments
in the world my teammate
Serena and I joy hijab you lady I
remember when we went up begins teams
from Harvard Oxford and Cambridge
I remember whenever the viewless a with
as soon as the new dean Islamic
University that artists must be a very
easy team defeat it’s unfortunate
misconception that Muslims will only
argue by using weapons and bullets they
were incapable to use narratives words
to deconstruct ideas to argue why we are
right by not using violence
especially because my friend was with
his job’ there’s a misconception that
she’s very timid
she cannot argue intellectually but I
asked around when we won that’s when he
went up those are all really good I
didn’t expect for there to be speakers
like this in Malaysia especially in the
Muslim community I know they mean well I
don’t go like freaking bigoted at first
I’m going to say that I really mean well
but it made me realize it can be a tool
to liberate other people from their
implicit subconscious subliminal
bigotries because when we interact with
those rauner’s share the knowledge which
we have in the very diverse community it
becomes much more likely I think that’s
why I debating will create a brilliant
platform community in a very inclusive
one to liberate those from the clutches
of bigotry secondly is the intellectual
lifestyle in which it embeds at a very
young age the meaning is not the same
like public speaking
times even in politics we have years if
not months to prepare the topic often
the topic will only be given to you 15
minutes before you argue and the topics
are on a diverse range of issues can be
from international politics politics how
to deconstruct Isis in Yemen in Syria
from local politics or very sensitive
topics which I’m not in position to
disclose here and also to very
nonchalant topics like batman/superman
in the hypothetical world what should we
do
he’s on the range I’m not kidding on
range of topics and in 15 minutes
without any reference to the internet
you must be an expert in the topic you
must argue it well the waiting compels a
person to take up the intellectual
lifestyle for you to read every day and
to not treat that as something which is
very burdensome but it’s an essay which
you undertake every single day if you
fail to cover one element of the wall
you might suffer in that round you might
suffer in a humiliating way I mean I
thought I cover things like every every
BBC al Jazeera CNN one of the
tournament’s I went to Singapore the
finals of
freaking iron men and I do not watch
iron man it’s like what in the world is
happening like just once on Harry Potter
I know gonna boo me cuz I do not watch
what I say it’s like oh my god
yeah I mean I die I die god I got
screwed really bad in that round but it
tells me that they are always room for
improvement and it’s dose room which I
always loved and research on because no
one will start off the perfect debater
the walking Wikipedia walking
encyclopedia knowing everything but the
baiting compels you to read up and free
to take up the intellectual life so in
order for you to become a much better
person the final thing is also that it
makes you a global citizen and this is
why I keep on emphasizing to the
Malaysian debate committee and
internationally big community debating
in Malaysia is a very big thing even
though to some specific individuals it’s
not big now we have approximately 50,000
debaters in Malaysia it’s a very big
community but I always tell them that we
cannot just care about this topic when
we debate in the debate room and when we
exit the room shut our eyes and ears the
problems which are taking place in our
country and abroad that we should not
care simply because we will not be
rewarded by trophies and prize money and
status and positions because debating
provides empathy when you know you
research about the topic you debate
about if your colleagues critically and
you find your principal and what you
personally believe in you cannot simply
divorce yourself from that principle
when you exit the debate room and think
that the world is perfectly fine even
though you depicted it in a different
way in the debate round debating makes
you a global citizen you care it builds
empathy you open up your eyes and ears
to problems happening across world when
you argue about how the gypsies are
being persecuted in some of the most
wealthiest parts of Europe Renault
hernias are being systematically wiped
out in the sphere of Myanmar
you don’t just argue it without actually
empathizing with those problems
and that’s why we see I’ll be in
Malaysia slowly but across the world
debaters are some of the most vocal
people in pursuing for justice locally
and abroad and that’s my wish in my
vision is to transform all Malaysians to
take up this debate mindset and again
that’s a misconception that you must be
a competitive debater you must join
tournaments in Honor in order for you to
be debater I don’t believe in that I
think all of us know on respective ways
our debaters with their own quality the
fact that we will argue with our parents
occasionally we’ll argue with our
girlfriends or maybe friends family
lecturers the fact that there is an
intellectual discourse which takes this
is indicative that all of us are
debaters but it’s about translating
their ability to argue and think
critically through a positive platform a
platform which unites us all to the
culture of intellect and therefore
liberating those who did not share the
same privilege SS again I’m not gonna
mention names even though there are some
would say behold the baboo kin budaya
kita but I think it’s time for us to
change that mindset and that rhetoric to
make it a critical part of our identity
identities Malaysians not as ones which
are submissive once we shall simply
consume anything which is given to us
without critically analyzing it instead
we are an intellectual community a
diverse community a community with
challenges concepts and only accepting
it when it is in line with a principle
which abide by the rules and laws which
govern our society I think that should
be the future which Malaysia should look
at everyone through debating on your own
passion and hobby will find your own
identity and lifestyle some was my
gravity closer
religious belief yeah nationality –
whatever common identities which they
find and that’s the beauty of debating
one thing which debating made me found
and strengthened the identity which I
was in was my love for my beloved
country mind you before this I didn’t
care what happened around me I was
slipped in responding and speaking up
for those who suffered but debating gave
me the platform and equipped with the
tools to speak up and to ensure the very
same injustice which I was a part of
through implicit complicity in the
system which I owe a duty to deconstruct
debating made me closer to my country
and it always reminds me that no matter
where we are at who we are what system
of belief we subscribe upon as long as
we see ourselves as Malaysians we can
overcome the problems which confront us
and no matter how many countries have
travel I still have not found a country
which is better than Malaysia
whenever I’m abroad when I speak to
Malaysian students and they say that I
want to stay abroad work there I do no
longer want to come back to Malaysia I
keep on telling them that Malaysia is
not defined by one person or one group
Malaysia is the country which is
governed by 30 million people who are
diverse and beautiful Malaysia is not a
country which submits to defeat without
challenging it to the power as one
united front front called the Malaysian
front Malaysia is not a country in which
we have failed whenever a problem is
confronts this
we have taken on the British reporter
Gea’s Dutch the Japanese and we are here
today because of those troubled past and
yet we have overcome it as one
collective society as one United
Malaysian society no matter what people
say no matter how much pessimism exist
in our society let us not forget that
the future which we will live in is a
future which we have a duty to craft and
create as one United society and that
future believe me no matter how
pessimistic it might look but if we are
united in confronting those problems
similarly how our forefathers and
mothers deconstructed those problems and
got us to where we are today we will be
able to do the same I like to end it
something should always remind my fellow
geeks out there Jagan cater specifically
to play let us never forget there is not
only my home not only your home it is our home together forever thank you