The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) debating team emerged as the Bahasa Melayu (BM) category victor in the 24th Royal Intervarsity Debating Championship.

They outdebated the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIA) team whose argument was "This Chamber Will Prioritise Manpower Development Over Artificial Intelligence Development".

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) was the champion in the English category, while the winner of the Arabic category was Universiti Malaya (UM).

Tengku Permaisuri of Selangor, Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin officated at the closing ceremony and presented the prizes at Dewan Agung Tuanku Canselor UiTM here today.

Also present were Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir and Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.

The Arabic language category which was last included in 2007 was reintroduced this year.

A total of 85 teams representing 19 public universities and four private universities participated in this year's debate.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency