Back from IMU - and a little wiser

Much as I like to post some pictures of the National Health Sciences Debate (NHSD) organised by the International Medical University here, I have to tell you that those will have to wait, because I'm currently a little too lazy to upload my pictures from my memory card into my laptop.

As you all know, I have been away from Ipoh for quite a few days because of the debates. A group of us debaters left UTP on last Friday evening and arrived in Kepong (then Subang Jaya) at night to stay overnight in our friends' houses before we went for the debates the following day.

There were bitter sweet moments in the debate. As it was a National Health Sciences Debate, all debates were related to medical and health issues. And as the theme was "α - ω: Health at the Age of Extremes". This is an interesting theme as the debates were all about health issues related to the elderly and to young ones, especially infants and even of those before birth. The motions for the debate were:

-THBT the government should fund palliative treatment for memory loss.

-THBT all employees medical coverage plan must include a 'Successful Aging and Wellness Program'.

-THW make pre-school education compulsory.

-THW ban genetic predetermination of babies.

-THW continue prescribing Ritalin for ADHD children.

-THBT babies with genetic defects should be aborted.

-THBT sexual assignment for intersexed infants should be decided at adulthood.

-THW set an age cap for practicing clinicians.

-THW vaccinate our children against cervical cancer.

-THBT geriatric care facilities should be government funded.

-THW legalise euthanasia for the elderly.

-THW provide government funding for cosmetic surgery in the elderly.

Just for information: "THW" means "This House Would"; "THBT" is "This House Believes That". Motions that are underlined are those that were selected for the debate.

International Medical University, though fifteen years old already, is not a very big one. However, I cannot deny of its comfort with centralised air-conditioning system throughout the building. Upon our arrival at the university, I personally felt that it was more like a shopping complex, with elevators and escalators.

My university only sent in two teams for the debate. I was supposed to be the Observer (or the Reserve) and two more were to be adjudicators. However, as expected, I was not registered with IMU as an official Observer because my university forgot to pay the extra RM80 which was meant for my participation.

If I had been registered as an Observer to observe the debates, I wouldn't have minded that. I would have gladly sat down and watch. However, as I am not, I am reluctant to just sit around and keep watching. As such, I decided to fork out RM80 on my own, but not as an Observer. I thought that I was not ready to debate (because it was British Parliamentary Style) and yet I wasn't going to spend RM80 just to observe. Therefore, I decided to pay RM80 to be an adjudicator.

During the debate, it was fun to be able to meet a few old friends from Ipoh. Tan-Loh Joash was in the debate and Arvind, the Andersonian, was together as well. It was quite a memorable "reunion" considering the fact that we met during a debate! There, I also made a few new friends from various institutions of higher learning such as Penang Medical College, Multimedia University, etc.

Sweet as those moments could be, I cannot say that I enjoyed it generally. Those bitter moments I went through during the three days in IMU outweigh the sweet moments that I enjoyed.

It had come to my attention that my team mates did not really like the idea of my being an adjudicator, although one of them said that if I had wanted to, I could, by all means, go for it! They said nothing initially, but when one of the debaters came up to me and asked for my feedback and I told him what I thought of him in the debates, that particular team mate of mine started to tease me (as she heard what I said), making remarks that I spoke like an "experienced" adjudicator when I am not. I just took it as a joke.

Much as I had said before, I tried to get my message across quite a number of times that I had been an adjudicator before for a number of times, although I had not adjudicated British Parliamentary Style debates. Still, that does not justify to why I shouldn't register myself as an adjudicator in this NHSD. I know about how a British Parliamentary Style debate is like and I can learn a lot during adjudication. As a former high school debater myself (I DON'T care what you think about high school debates, whether they're useless, childish or otherwise), I believe that I know well enough about how a debate is like, BASICALLY. And as the money for the registration came from me, I have the absolute right to dictate how and what I was going to use the money for.

Yet, such remarks from my other fellow debaters (actually one of them) like, "My position is threatened," or "You have no experience in adjudicating," and so on, which were made quite clear to me by repeating those remarks to me (plus some backstabbing) made it quite obvious that though they seemed to be pulling my leg, there was a hidden agenda behind those words. A remark said once could be dismissed as a joke; a remark that came repeatedly cannot be overlooked just like that.

To make matters worse, they had been giving me the cold shoulders. In most group conversations and jokes, very little eye contact was given to me by the speaker. In fact, some of my team mates would never had spoken to me unless they had something important to tell me. Most of my questions during discussions would either fall into deaf ears or only be heard after I repeated them in a louder voice; sometimes they are never answered at all. Conversations that I started with them would only last for a few minutes, and while I tried to keep a cheerful face, I was constantly lambasted with frowns and angry looks. When I asked for results to how they did in their debates, if they did well, they would tell me softly about their position; otherwise, it would be like, "Go and ask him" with a frown and brushed past me just like that.

I acknowledge the fact that I have been out of debates for almost two years, and my debating skills have fallen dramatically to the point that I could no longer debate properly. Of course, I cannot assume that my team mates looked down on me just because of that, but why is it that my questions are unanswered, unheard and not given a thought (still, I must appreciate when one of my team mates occasionally heard some of my statements and credit me for them)? Just because I have lacked the skills in debating does not justify to why I cannot and should not adjudicate. That is utterly irrelevant.

Frankly, I felt more at home and at ease with those from UiTM INTEC (Joash, Arvinn and the others), which explains why towards the end of the debates I had been hanging around with them more often. I no longer felt the acceptance from my own team, which somehow explains why I would feel regretful to have joined the UTP Debate Team.

Have I sinned by becoming an adjudicator? How have I offended my team mates by volunteering as an adjudicator? I did not adjudicate them at all; I give them my due respect as good debaters but I seemed to be cast out like waste water. Where does the justification of this all lie?

I understand that those who debated in the NHSD felt the pressure and stress. Still, I cannot find the reason to why they should vent their anger or disappointment to me. If you lose in a round of debate, and the adjudicator has justified your loss, and you accept it, then let it be! There is no use grumbling about it.

Then comes the issue that, "If we don't get into the quarterfinals, our university will not send us out for competitions anymore." Fine, that is quite a strong pressure exerted by the university. So what if the university does not send them out for competitions? Will you die? Can't you register for debates yourselves? It does not mean the end for the debaters yet. Money problem? Well, if you're that keen to join debates, even if it costs more than RM100 I'm sure you'd still take part (unless you have financial problems).

Therefore, though it has been a fine experience for me in IMU, the welcome I got from my team mates was not an encouraging one. I feel that I have yet to be accepted into their family sphere.

And if I don't get accepted into their family sphere by next semester (of course I'll work for the acceptance), I'm going to call it quits.