Unprogressive Progressiveness
Being a high school debater, one common goal we had was to be accepted into the World Schools Debating Championship (WSDC) Team Malaysia. In order to be part of WSDC Malaysia, a selections is carried out annually to handpick the top 15 debaters throughout the country.
Back in 2014 I was chosen to be part of Malaysia'a first ever developmental squad, and I couldn't wait to see if I can achieve a greater success in 2016. We trained hard - practices, factsheets, video-session etc just to prepare for selections in hope of success. The selections weekend finally came and we were all pumped up. First day was a written test and 3 rounds of debates, followed by another 3 rounds on the second day. On the third day, I was on the top 10 list on debaters who were there, and was placed in room 2 for another 2 rounds of debates as a deciding factor.
The organizing committee old us results will be announced at the end of that day, and those who were selected will be contacted by phone. I felt confident of my performance, feedback from judges were positive and I felt that I had a strong chance of making the team. I went out for dinner with my friends that night while we awaited for the results to be released.
Long story short, I wasn't selected to be part of the team. However, the results weren't based on merit and effort. We found out that the results were based on a policy that prioritizes Bumiputera and diversity of institutions. Which meant that Bumiputeras from a variety of institutions will be prioritized over their non-Bumiputera counterparts.
It was a sad situation, and a very disappointing one too. A circuit that argues so much for progressiveness and equality, now abide by policies that undermines the narratives we argue for; it's just such a sad scene.
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