The Gandhi Memorial ASEAN Debate Competition 2018, organised by Kuala Lumpur based Gandhi Memorial Trust (GMT) is slated to kick off on 1 October in conjunction with the 148th birthday of international historical icon, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – more commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi.
The two-day competition will begin on 1 October at the Asian International Arbitration Centre in Kuala Lumpur with the Grand Finals taking place on 2 October 2018.
Following GMT’s successful run of debate competitions organised for Malaysian institutes of higher education for the past two years, the competition this year is going regional for the first time. It will feature teams from prominent universities in member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) consisting of debaters who are majoring in law, economics and finance.
The competition is the brainchild of longstanding GMT Trustee Dato’ Mahadev Shankar, who was also a former Judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia and Organizing Chairman of the previous Gandhi Memorial Debate Competitions.
Gandhian principles
What sets the Gandhi Memorial ASEAN Debate Competition apart from other debates within the regional debating circuit is the incorporation of Gandhian principles into the core of the debate topics.
In previous editions of the competition, participants debated on issues pertaining to the Gandhian principles of Ahimsa (Non-Violence) and Satyagraha (Truth) in line with modern day socio-economic, socio-political as well as geopolitics issues. Examples of issues debated included the political and economic impact of British colonisation in the region and the suitability of a nuclear solution to sustaining world peace.
Organizing Chairman, Kishore Ramdas said the objective of this year’s competition is to not only shine a spotlight on issues that would not otherwise be discussed at tertiary level, but to continue to inspire critical and constructive thinking among the younger generation and to champion the relevance and applicability of Gandhian principles in today’s globally contentious issues.
“In this edition of the competition, participating teams will call upon their debating skills to argue on legal and socio-economic issues relevant to the ASEAN Socio Economic Community. As an added challenge, the debaters will also be judged on how effectively they weave elements of Gandhian principles into their respective arguments as part of the GMT’s goal of encouraging ethics in the capitalist market” he added.
The competition consists of four preliminary rounds, after which the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals. Subsequently, the winners of both semi-finals will meet in the grand finals to do battle for the prestigious Gandhi Memorial Debate trophy.
The Malaysian Institute for Debate and Public Speaking (MIDP), Lead Coordinator of the Debate Competition in October has structured the debates to follow the Asian format where there will be two teams in a parliamentary style debate. Each side will feature three debaters and in the interest of gender equality, every team must consist of at least one member of the opposite gender. Each debater is afforded seven minutes to take the floor and reply speeches may last up to four minutes.
CEO of MIDP, Ahmed Faris said in ensuring a diversity of opinions, judges have been selected from a range of diverse backgrounds. He added, “They will include those with trained debating and adjudicating experience, professionals, academicians, civil service officials and alternative dispute resolution practitioners”.
Those interested to attend the debate competition as a guest or want to find out more about the Gandhi Memorial ASEAN Debate Competition can contact the Competition Administrator, Ms. Noor Hannah Mohd Nasir at [email protected]. Those unable to attend the programme in person may catch the live event via the livestream link at facebook.com/theaseanpost
The Gandhi Memorial ASEAN Debate Competition 2018 is organized by the Gandhi Memorial Trust, with the support of the ZICO Group, the Malaysian Institute for Debate and Public Speaking (MIDP), The ASEAN Post, Little Caterers, Nuffnang and the good people of ASEAN.