For the Malaysian delegation the WUDC 2013 has been a great success. They won the bid to organize Worlds 2015 and broke directly into Open Octos. After the Octos we spoke with the members of the Malaysian Team, Syed Soddiq and Arinah Najwa.

Achte Minute: You’re ESL speakers but made the direct break to the Open Octos. Would you like to reveal your secrets?
Arinah: It’s our second WUDC together as a team. Last year in Manila, we got to the ESL Final and lost. Since then, we trained every day individually and at least one time a week as a team.
Syed: We read a lot. My main sources of information are BBC, The Economist and Al Jazeera.
Arinah: Actually, we try to offset our weaknesses with excellent thematic preparation.

Achte Minute: How was your debate?
Arinah: I was really nervous. So many people watched the live stream and supported us.

Achte Minute: You won the bid for Worlds 2015. Will you be engaged in organising the championship?
Arinah: I guess, we support the press department and help where we can.
Syed: We are really looking forward to the tournament and can guarantee all participants they will have a great competition.
Arinah: Malaysia is a maturing democracy. The government believes that debating is an important part of that process and support it ideally and financially.

Achte Minute: Have you already reached your personal goals?
Syed: When we heard the announcement, we jumped like crazy for about 15 minutes.
Arinah: (laughs) Now we want to win! But breaking in the main category has already exceeded our expectations.