Student-led initiative Wira-Wira Malaysia is one such resource. The group, founded by Cyril Joachim Nathan, has been holding free debating workshops for secondary students across the country, with the goal of equipping them and exposing them to the quality of top competitions.
Nathan said he was motivated by his own experience. Hailing from mainland Penang, he found it difficult to take part in debates held in the Klang Valley or Penang island.
“A lot of debaters struggle to gain proper access to quality debating,” he told FMT.
“If you were to go to tournaments outside your normal government-held competitions, which are usually held in city areas, you spend RM150 to RM200 on average for a weekend. I think these students just cannot afford such fees.”
He said Wira-Wira Malaysia’s workshops have drawn praise from teachers and students alike. “I wanted the programme to do well. However, I didn’t expect it to be so successful that we would be wanted back the following year,” he said.
Another initiative, the DebateLAH project, has sought to bridge the disparity of access to quality training materials for debates.
“Some schools have long histories of dominance in a particular English-language competition, whether it be debate, public speaking or choral speaking, and it’s usually through external help, having seniors or parents to step in and help out with training,” said DebateLAH founder Sara Surayan.
To help other schools close this gap, her organisation has published a step-by-step guide on how to debate, as well as to help students manage and establish their own debating clubs.
“The two main questions we wanted to address were: how can we sprout new debating communities around the country, and how can we support existing under-resourced teams. We want to make sure that our resources reach schools that are interested in starting their clubs,” Sara said.
The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) said the dual language programme was key to helping students in national secondary schools to overcome barriers when participating in English-language competitions.
PAGE chairman Noor Azimah Rahim said the programme gave students a strong foundation in English, helping them feel less intimidated when participating in external competitions.
“It helps bridge the gap with students from elite institutions who often dominate competitions,” she said. “This can lead to a broader English-speaking culture within government schools – crucial for creating confident student competitors.”
Condescension and bullying
Sara and Nathan said students also had to deal with condescension and unrealistic expectations regarding their debating skills, which they said discouraged students from taking part in external competitions.
Sara said it was unreasonable to expect these students to be immediately proficient when participating in private international competitions, especially when they were not top level tournaments.
“District level competitions cannot be at the level of international level competitions. That’s a given, and I think it should stay that way, because we don’t want to drive away local schools who are only beginning to participate in such an activity,” she said.
Nathan agreed, saying it was difficult for students from national schools to feel welcome at private debating competitions due to a sense of elitism in the debate community.
“A lot of privileged debaters don’t necessarily know how much of a privilege debating is. There are some people who have the mindset of ‘I’m better than you’, or ‘I’m smarter than you’,” he said.
Both encouraged national school students to remain unwavering in the face of adversity, and to continue trying their hand in private competitions to hone their talents.
“In the end, the best debaters are not defined by the number of competitions that you go for or win,” Nathan said. “You’re defined by the way you use your debating skills to further impact society.”