Malaysia: USIM Students To Participate In Arabic Debate In Qatar

NILAI (Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia), April 7 (Bernama) -- Four Arabic language debaters of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) will participate in the International Universities Arabic Debating Championships (IUADC) at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar for five days starting Saturday. The students from USIM Syariah and Law Faculty are Muhammad Muzakkir Ahmad Dali, 21; Anis Amirah Zakaria, 24; Nur Akma Mohd Dali, 24, and Muhammad Syafiq Suhaimi, 23. The debaters will be led by USIM Arabic lecturer cum team coach, Ahmad Norsyafwan Norawavi. Muhammad Syafiq said preparations for the major competition began last month with intensive individual and group debating sessions, research on current local and international issues and polishing up their command of Arabic language. "We also held several friendly debate matches with Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) and Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Malik Maulana Ibrahim, Indonesia. Apart from that we also obtained technical coaching from IUADC trainers as well as analysing video recordings of earlier debates," he said in a statement Friday. Muhammad Syafiq said the USIM debate team gained a morale boost when they emerged champions after beating UIN Syarif Hidayatullah of Jakarta, Indonesia in the ASEAN Higher Learning Institutions Tournament (Ihtifal) at USIM here on Monday. The team won a cash prize of RM4,000 (US$901) which was presented by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Senator Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki. -- BERNAMA