[SERDANG, 30 NOV - 13 DEC] - In this Covid-19 pandemic, students from the Thirteenth College, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) are still active in efforts to uphold the National Language. The Academic and Character Secretariat, College Representative Council, Thirteenth College has taken the initiative to organize the Budaya Bahasa Program which has been joined by the foundation and bachelor students of the Thirteenth College. Kelab Debat Bahasa Melayu UPM, Kelab Pantun dan Puisi Cenderawasih UPM, dan Kelab Bimbingan Mahasiswa UPM also have cooperated in the success of this program. 

A total of five competitions were held throughout the program. Among them are Debate Competition, Group Poetry Competition, Speech Competition, Pitching Competition, and Forum Competition. Previously, such competitions were conducted physically, but this time the competitions were conducted online. 

Director of the Program Budaya Bahasa, Auni Syakirah Anuar said, this program is held to create students' appreciation of the subtlety of culture and practice good values ​​and positive attitudes. Also, this program has been organized to create awareness and encourage students to uphold the national language, Malay language. 

The debate competition was held for three days, namely 5-6 December 2020 for the first, second, third, quarter-final, and semi-final rounds while 13 December 2020 for the final round. The motion of the debate given is related to language issues. For other competitions, participants are given a period of one week to record their performance according to the theme that has been set which is Language before uploading to the YouTube website for judging. 

On the night of 13 December 2020, the Final Stage for Program Budaya Bahasa Debate Competition was also held. The result of the Final Stage of the Debate Competition announced group Tuah as the Runner-up, and the title of the winner was crowned to group Nakama. Both Nakama Team and Tuah Team have shown intense and energetic debate sessions which mesmerized the audience. The Closing Ceremony of the Thirteen College Budaya Bahasa Program was also held on the same night, where the names of the winners for each competition were announced. The total number of viewers of live broadcasts for the two events exceeded 2,000 viewers. 

In an interview with a debater of group Tuah, Noor Daniel Ikmal Bin Mohd Lazim. He said that this is an appropriate medium for students to showcase their hidden talents. He is also happy to have set foot in the final stage of the Program Budaya Bahasa

Debate Competition this year and he hopes that such a competition can be held again in the future. 

Next, Zairi Muhammad Razi Bin Rasidin who was placed first in the Budaya Bahasa Speech Competition also said that such competitions can produce students who

uphold the Malay language. Finally, he congratulated the Thirteen College for holding such a quality program.

The program has also successfully organized live debate competitions through the Google Meet application which was first held at Universiti Putra Malaysia successfully. Some changes that need to be changed in the terms and conditions for each competition as all of these competitions are conducted online. However, this does not hinder the secretariat's efforts to make this Budaya Bahasa Program a success in the new norm.

Date of Input: 21/12/2020 | Updated: 28/12/2020 | norazlina_m