UUM ONLINE: Never take the abilities of your enemy lightly, is the belief held on by fellow student from the Bachelor of Philosophy, Law and Business programme, Mr. Ahmad Safiuddin Ibrahim who represented Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) at the RTM-RTB Student Debate competition 2018 in which his team emerged as the champion of the debate.

Mr. Ahmad Safiuddin said debates require the power of putting forth ideas, the consistency amongst team members and good analysis when delivering the motion of an argument, in which will finally end the argument of the opponents.

According to him, winning or losing in competitions is inevitable however his team was keen on maintaining the momentum with regard to the stand of the team and responding to the demands of the debate.

"The team's strategy and cooperation finally came full circle when the stand we proposed was unanimously accepted and ultimately enabled us to emerge as the champion.

"I am also grateful for being chosen as one of the four students from public university to represent Malaysia in this debate competition where the selection was done by the Debate Council of Malaysian University and the assessment was based on the commitment and achievement of a series of competitions held previously," said Ahmad Safiuddin whose involvement in debates and public speaking engagements began since nine years ago.

At the RTM-RTB Student Debate, Ahmad Safiuddin and three other team members succeeded in beating the opposing forces with the proposal of the House is Making Development of Science and Technology the Main Agenda of ASEAN.

The debate which was aptly themed Asean Community in the Archipelago category also involved students from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) as well as students from Brunei.

He started to become active since joining the UUM Foundation Studies in Management programme in 2014, Ahmad Safiuddin began taking part in debate competitions at university level namely in the Vice-Chancellor ‘s Trophy Debate and debates which were organised outside of the University namely the Royal Cup Debate.

He said his quiet demeanour and introvert attitude coupled with the guidance he received from the late Harmi Mohamad Jamil, former UMS debater have prompted him to build his self-confidence.

"Besides learning from him, I also referred to the speeches delivered by Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad which are on videos to learn Aristotle's Art of Rhetorics that requires charisma, logic and attraction.

"I also hope to enhance the involvement of students at this university in debates and public speaking especially as their involvement is still low although many have the interest but are afraid to try.

Ahmad Safiuddin who is the Executive President of UUM's UCAP Club and Debate Unit Executive of the UUM Public Speaking Club actively organizes debate and moderator workshops in the Series of Knowledge Discourse, apart from collaborating with the Institute of Tun Dr Mahathir's Thoughts (IPDM) to conduct training and provide advice and mentorship.