TIMES SINGAPORE, MALANG – Faiz Madyan Junaidy, a student from the English department of the State Polytechnic of Malang (Polinema), won first place in the English Debate Competition at the 2024 Indonesian Student Innovation and Creativity Show (PIKMI). The competition took place on February 21-26, 2024 and was attended by many participants from all over Indonesia.

"English is a practical language. I always tried to practice what I have learned, either by chatting with friends, singing songs in English, or participating in competitions that required the use of English," said Faiz about his key to success in speaking English fluently, Saturday (13/8/2026).

Faiz said he was motivated to join the competition not only for the achievement, but also to develop his English and rhetorical skills. 

Faiz's preparation was pretty neat. He spent a lot of time learning a lot of information about the debate material by listening, reading news and articles. 

"I also studied various debate strategies and prepared the answers to possible questions from debate opponents," he said.

The key to Faiz's victory was his thorough preparation. Beside all the preparations he had, the support from his team was also an important factor in helping him get through his nerves and anxiety during the competition.

Although there was some hesitation and anxiety to continue the competition due to nerves, Faiz was able to manage these feelings with the support of his team. 

"This debate competition experience was a first for me. I felt so nervous, anxious, insecure and confused during the competition that I even thought about leaving the competition," said Faiz.

"However, my teammates always encouraged me and gave me direction so that I could decide what to do at that time. Without my teammates, I couldn't have achieved anything from this competition," he added.

The happiest moment for him was when he was declared the winner, while the toughest moment was when he felt his arguments were not strong enough to counter the debate opponent.

Faiz hoped that he could continue to actively participate in other competitions to improve his English skills. "This victory was not only a personal best achievement, but also brought pride to the State Polytechnic of Malang," he said. 

For your information, PIKMI or commonly referred to as "Pagelaran Inovasi dan Kreativitas Mahasiswa Indonesia" followed by the student of State Polytechnic of Malang is a student competition event between universities in Indonesia designed to test students' abilities in various fields, one of which is the English Debate Competition. (*)