University students have been urged to fully utilise the oratory platform as it can be used to produce intellectuals and critical thinkers, said Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
Mohamed Khaled said oratory is about high ideals and big ideas and it also reflects the maturity and intelligence of the orators through the use of language that can compel the audience to think and express the same values that they upheld.
"So, make the most of it by displaying a good command of the language. We want the Malay language to be seen as an effective vehicle for discussing big ideas. The Malay language must be the language of knowledge and the language of struggle," he said.
"Oratory is a skill or art that needs to be cultivated with the right thoughts, techniques and goals," he said when speaking at the closing ceremony of the Higher Education Ministry Cup’s National Malay Language Speech Competition at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) here today.
He also said that the Malay language must be recognised as a language that can reflect the wisdom of the Malay race.
He said that in line with the MADANI Malaysia goals, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim often insisted that the higher education sector plays a role in encouraging students to see the pursuit of knowledge as a process of finding the truth for the good of religion, the nation and the country.
"Armed with genuine knowledge, young people will strongly reject outdated, bigotry and backward thinking. Students must strive to be intellectually and rationally minded individuals, especially by taking part in orations," he said.
He said students should not allow themselves to be swayed by extreme thinking, distorted and baseless indoctrination because the country will be in trouble if the next generation chooses to follow whatever it is before them.
The winner and the first runner-up namely Muhammad Mukhlisul Mubin Julasapiyah of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Ivanatasha Abdul Majid (Universiti Teknologi Mara) will represent Malaysia in the Prime Minister’s Cup Malay Language International Speech Competition at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency