My 2nd PPM Finals - ENGLISH Debate. 2014 v. 1987.

( 1st Speaker from the Opposition TKC )

1987 was the FIRST time I'd attended the PPM Finals in Pusat Islam KL. Today...or rather Yesterday, I attended the 2014 Finals held at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.

How things have changed.

The most significant change observed is that the format now is totally different.

Other details - Some comparison:
(1) TIME of DEBATE
2014 - Morning, 9AM start time.
1987 - Evening, 8.30PM.

(2) VIP ATTENDANCE
2014 - Domestic Trade Minister, a "Junior" Minister
1987 - Education Minister, "Senior" Minister in cabinet.

(3) MEDIA TELECAST
2014 - Live telecast on "EDUWEB".
1987 - Delayed telecast on RTM

(4) PRIZES
2014 - Prize Money for Finalists. Champion@RM7,500 / Runners-Up@RM5,000
1987 - None

(5) JUDGES
2014 - Mainly from English programmes i.e. 4 out of 5. 1 from Corporate Sector.
1987 - Mixed. English programmes, Journalists and Government.
Note:
Received the following comments from an ex-ASEAN Secretariat Senior personnel and currently the Deputy at one of the Schools or Institute in a Public University.

Salam Amirul,

Well, it all depends on whether the debate was just for academic purpose or for reality. And, I don't think even the judges really knew and understood about ASEAN. I have met with senior profs on international and strategic studies who think that ASEAN is modelled after EU, which is not correct. I know for certain that many people think that anything to do with Southeast Asian countries is to do with ASEAN, and anything to do with a country's or a national problem or issue is an ASEAN problem, which a wrong perception.

ASEAN is just an association where its cooperation activities are confined only to specific political-security, economic and socio-cultural sectors.

Best rgds. Wslm

(6) SPONSORS
2014 - Bank Rakyat as Corporate sponsors.
1987 - NO Corporate Sector involvement

(7) REHEARSALS 
2014 - 
1987 -

(TBC)

2014 PPM Finals Motion, Released.

The PPM Finalists received the Motion this morning for the Debate tomorrow.

" This House Would Establish an ASEAN Court to Solve Disputes Between Its Member States. "

TKC will Be opposing the Motion, MC will Be the government.

( Team TKC during Rehearsals at PICC. Debate will be aired live at the Eduweb )

PRIME MINISTER'S TROPHY (PPM) - English Debate Finals 2014

Event INFO
Historical PERSPECTIVE

UPDATE 27/06 (Noon):

The PPM Finalists received the Motion this morning during Rehearsals at PICC Hall for the Debate tomorrow.

" This House Would Establish an ASEAN Court to Solve Disputes Between Its Member States. "

TKC will Be opposing the Motion, MC will Be the government.

TKCian speakers will be Finalised in due course.

>>>>>>>
The Piala Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister's Trophy) English Debate Finals will be held as follows:-

DATE:    Saturday, 28th JUNE 2014 (9AM)
VENUE: PUTRAJAYA INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE (PICC)

SCOPE: " ASEAN for ASEANS "
Note: Actual Motion will be known Tomorrow during Rehearsals

CONTENDERS:  Tunku Kurshiah College(TKC) v. MCKK.

All the very best to Eldest and her TKC Team mates.



Trivia:
LIST of WINNERS

9x - TKC-Seremban
6x - SSP
4x - ROYAL MILITARY COLLEGE-KL (1987, 1990, 1991 & 2001), STAR
3x - STF-JB ('86, '97 & '99).
2x -SAS, SMSAH, SDAR, SEK.MEN.SAINS ALAM SHAH
1x - KIK, 

KDUDA - BP Style.

UPDATE 22/06:
Team made it to Octo Finals.

>>>>>>>
The KDU Debating Association is organising the Kids BP from Friday, 20th June - Sunday, 22nd June at the Damansara Jaya campus.

Eldest and 4 others from her College are taking part i.e. 2teams of 2 persons each and 1 as the adjudicator.

SK TTDI(1) Participating in 3rd SMK SBU Chess Open Tournament 2014

UPDATE 22/06:
CP finished 4th with 4 wins & 2 losses.
Have no idea who he won against or lost to as the results are not on chess-results.com or published in any website that I know of.

>>>>>>>
Event INFO

I might Be wrong but this is the FIRST time this year that S.K. TTDI(1) is sending a team to take part in a non-MSSKL Competition.

Just as important is the fact that the school Teachers will Be accompanying the Players. Hence, a welcome break for me...the timing of which is perfect as I have to attend 2 AGMs over the weekend in Saujana Resort and KL.

8th ASIAN DRAGONS INTERNATIONAL CHESS TOURNAMENT 2014 @TAIWAN, Anybody?

Event INFO

An interesting international tournament from 12th to 19th July, mainly for players from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) and surrounding countries like Macau, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Event is more of  "developmental" in nature with 2 categories i.e.:-
(1) Open
(2) U-16 ( Rating NOT above 2200),

Perhaps more suitable for non-muslims as it falls right smack in the middle of Ramadhan.

KLCA plans to send some Players to compete and gain valuable exposure.
Read KLCA ANNOUNCEMENT

Participation CERTIFICATES - 15th ASEAN+ Age Group C.C. 2014

Back HOME to NEWS that ELDEST Qualified for GLOBAL FINALS.

Eldest picked us up at the airport in her debate attire excluding blazer and informed that her team had qualified from the Regional Rounds which was just concluded a few hours earlier for the Global Finals of the WORLD SCHOLARS CUP which is to be held in Singapore end of June.

Unfortunately, she's unable to attend the Global Finals as the date is to close to her PPM Debate Finals at PICC.

Congratulations to Amira and her team of KD & Ildina for making the Global FInals.

Note: Scope for PPM Finals have been released i.e. " ASEANs for ASEANs."

Coming Back with 2 Bronze Medals and a Poor Record against Vietnam.

Vietnam should be banned from taking part in the ASEAN+ Age Group...but that's just wishful thinking. During closing ceremony, Ignatius announced that they had received 2 bids to host next year's 16th ASEAN+ Age Group C.C. 2015 i.e.one from Thailand (Phuket) and another one from Vietnam. Am hoping that it'll be in Phuket.

( U-12 Girls, Rapid Event - Bronze for Team Malaysia )

L-R: Garry Kasparov, Amira Farhana, Nur Faiqah & Raja Bazilah.

 ( U-8 Open, Blitz Event - Bronze for Team Malaysia )

L-R: Iskandar Haikal, Ooi Zhi Ping & Amir Faiz.

The kids are going back with 2 Bronze Medals for Malaysia. hAnA a Bronze medal in the Team Rapid event while Faiz gets a Bronze medal in the Team Blitz category. Overall, the Malaysian team finished 6th after Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and China with 3 Golds, 5 Silvers and 15 Bronze Medals. Forget about the Filipinos, the Vietnamese are clearly superior in this competition.

If not for the Vietnamese, the kids could have done even better.

A breakdown of their results against Vietnamese players in all categories:-

Classical
hAnA - 1 loss to a Vietnamese player (from 4 losses)
CP - 2 losses (from 4)

Rapid
hAnA - 2 losses (from 3)
CP - 2 losses (from 4)

Blitz
hAnA - 2 losses (from 5)
CP - 1 Draw & 4 Losses (ALL)

Hence, out of a possible 14 points against Vietnamese opponents they managed ONLY half a point (3.57%). Perhaps, it is time to consider ala-Military chess Training as adopted by the Vietnamese. I'll be OK with this but CP!!!??????

Not to Be Outdone, The CP gets a Team Bronze as Well.

Not to Be Outdone by sister hAnA, The cHEss pIRATE managed to get a Bronze medal for the Team Event in Blitz. The Malaysian team finished 1 point ahead of 4th placed Singapore and is 1.5 points behind Silver Medalist, the Philippines.

In the 9 Round Competition, he secured 4.5points. All 4 losses and a Draw was against the Vietnamese. 3 games was lost on time with the closest being his Second Round game where his opponent only had 5seconds remaining.

Congatulations to the CP and his team members i.e. Iskandar Haikal and Ooi Zhi Ping.

Team BRONZE for hAnA prior to UPSR Sabbatical!

By half a point i.e. 9.5points to 9 points, the Malaysian Girls U-12 Rapid team managed to pip the Singapore team for the bronze medal. Vietnam with 17 points bagged the gold while a distant second was the Philippines with 12 points.

hAnA finished with 3.5 points and in the process managed to atoned for her defeat in the classical event to the same opponent from Thailand.  A career high was also achieved when she played on Board 2 in the 6th Round of the 7 round competition. However, 2 Vietnamese put a stop to her momentum of 3 straight victories.

The Team Bronze medal is a  farewell gift of sorts prior to hAnA's "retirement" to concentrate on September's UPSR. Hopefully, she can exorcise her double demons of not being selected for the KL Team this year despite contrary instruction and not making the top 10 in NAG due to her falling sick just before NAG 2014.

Well done & Congratulations to hAnA and to the rest of the Malaysian Girls U-12 Rapid Team.

Note: Having said the above, bragging rights at home still belongs to eldest whose Debate Team won the ASEAN Educational Debate in Chiangmai-Thailand last 2 years. Will be interesting to hear eldest and hAnA debate as to whose achievement is better!


(TBC)

Chess in EDUCATION, Seminar Attended.

Event INFO

In between the kids Rapid rounds 1-4, managed to attend a Seminar co-organised by the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific and Kasparov Chess Foundation Africa. The Seminar was titled " Chess in Education" with opening remarks by Garry Kasparov.

Other Malaysians spotted in the Seminar were MCF Deputy President Tg. Badlishah and Kasparov Foundation Executive Director IA Peter Long.

It was my 3rd attendance at such chess Seminars/Courses after attending the Arbiters course during NAG 2013 in UTP Tronoh-Perak and the International Organiser Seminar during WYCC 2013 at Al Ain-UAE.

Some interesting facts/observations were shared.

(TBC)
The price of a chess set in Kenya is USD25.
The Rwandan Chess Federation only have a few chess sets & clocks.

Definitely a WASTE of TIME...IF not for the Encounter with Garry

Just came back around 9.30PM after being away since 2PM. Wasted around 2-3hours idling away.

After having to "fight" for a bus back the escalator from the 3rd to 4th Floor of the "luxurious" Holiday Inn stopped functioning.

The only highlight of the day was having a chat with Kasparov on the way up....he looked beat as well!

(TBC)

Final Round of Classical Game Tomorrow at 9AM

Going into the final round(Round 9) of classical game tomorrow, both kids are in for a shot to finish on 50% in their debut ASEAN Age Group event.

hAnA has 3.5pts from 2 Wins (Fiji & Laos) and 3 draws (Singapore, Philippines & Philippines).
CP also has 3.5pts from 3 Wins (Macau, HK & Mongolia) and 1 Draw (Singapore).

Vietnam and Philippines are serious contenders in many categories.

Malaysia's hopes lies predominantly with Yinn Long for Gold and to a lesser extent other Top 10 ranked Malaysians to finish strongly and be in the running for lesser but just as important Bronze or maybe even Silver medals.


(TBC)

Is it a Waste of Time!?

I still remember the following quote from a French Trainer staying on the same floor with the Malaysian team during last year's WYCC in Al Ain, UAE - "...we come here to play chess and not to do xxxxxxx stuff."

As it is, due to some SNAFU somewhere the 1st half-day rest day is a non-event.

Furthermore, I don't think Lee Chong Wei or Nicole David or Shalin or whoever were asked to perform anything off their playing field not that I'm putting my kids on the same level of the above-mentioned illustrious sportperson.......which reminds me of another quote from a friend who attended the same West Point selection programme (in reference to a yearly dinner function) - "...Previously, we pay to get good value entertainment. Then we pay to get cronies, relatives or family members to entertain. Now, we have to pay to hear ourselves get entertained!"

Personally, I've no issue with a cultural night being held as per the norm and would like to attend the programme as the kids would also be exposed to cross-cultural communications and matters. But, participation must be strictly on a voluntary basis. To interfere with a player's down time bearing in mind that the 1st half day rest have been cancelled, leaves much to be desired.

Hopefully, the kids will enjoy the distraction though.

(TBC)
The kids enjoyed themselves and I'm glad that they did.

Having said the above, I would have no issue if MCF had at least paid for the  flight tickets or players' accommodation or even players' registration at USD 200 per player.

"ZERO START RULE" at 15th ASEAN+ AGE GROUP C.C. 2014

The zero-start rule will be implemented at the 15th A+AG C.C. 2014.

Background INFO & MORE INFO

Heard that a player lost in Chiangmai last year due to this rule even though the player was at the table but NOT seated.

off to MACAU S.A.R shortly for the 15th A+AG 2014

Off to Macau shortly for the 15th ASEAN+ Age Group Chess Championship 2014.
3rd International competition for the CP (after 9th Asian Schools 2013@SRI LANKA & WYCC 2013@UAE) and 2nd for hAnA (after 9th Asian Schools 2013@SRI LANKA).

Please pray for their success as well as for the Malaysian contingent. TQVM.