HELP MediaCentre, 20 September 2007
HELP University College’s famous Law Olympiad was extended for the first time to secondary schools in the Southern Corridor and East Malaysia.
The Law Olympiad was held in Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu in which 14 schools from Kota Kinabalu, and 10 schools from Johor Bahru participated in the competition. SM La Salle won the Law Olympiad in Kota Kinabalu, and SMK Infant Jesus Convent won the Olympiad in Johor Bahru.
In Kuala Lumpur itself, 41 schools participated in the Law Olympiad, with SMK Kwang Hua, Klang winning the competition.
The competition comprises of five games, namely “Whodunnit?”, “Trivia Quiz”, “What’s Your Verdict?”, “Reason-able” and “Best Plea & Best Alibi”.
Mr Mark Goh, senior lecturer and chairperson of the Law Olympiad said: “The prime objective of the competition is to encourage analytical and critical thinking skills in students, and hopefully, they might develop an interest in the study of law or related disciplines. The criteria in adjudicating in this competition, is based purely on logic, common sense and reasonableness, and not knowledge of the law.
Each Law Olympiad ends with a presentation of an exhibition of a mock trial, which is organized by members of the Law Faculty and undergraduates. The trial generally focuses on a socio-legal issue which is of great concern to the public at large such as child abuse, maid abuse, murder, and domestic violence.
The Law Olympiad was first organized by HELP University College’s Department of Law in August 2000. The overwhelming response and support from the schools that participated in the event encouraged the Law Department to turn the Law Olympiad into an annual event, and the event has now been extended to other regions throughout Malaysia. The competition is open to Secondary School students, Form 3 onwards, whereby each school may send not more than 2 teams comprised of 5 participants.
The theme of the competition is ‘esprit de corps’ which when translated means team spirit. Team spirit is an essential trait to possess, as participants have to collaborate effectively if they want to win the competition.
SMK Kwang Hua, Klang, emerged as champions winning the Law Olympiad Challenge Trophy, a cash prize of RM1500, and individual medals. The first runner-up, SMK Assunta, won a cash prize of RM750 and medals, and the second runner-up, SMK Catholic High, won a cash prize of RM500 and medals.
The Form 5 students from SMK Kwang Hwa which comprised of Ms Tiffany Foo, Ms Yeoh Tze Hui, Ms Fung Mei Qi, Mr Kam Zhi Yuan, and Mr Tan Lee Kiong, said that they didn’t expect to win the Law Olympiad.
“If it was not for team work and the support of friends and teachers we would not have emerged champs. Even our other team which entered the competition helped us out. Some of the quizzes were difficult especially the “Whodunnit” but we somehow managed to get it right,” said Tiffany Foo.
When they were asked how they got interested in HELP’s Law Olympiad, Ms Fung Mei Qi said: “We heard from our seniors about it and what a good time they had last year, so we decided to participate in it the following year.”
The Form 4 students from SMK Assunta said that they were extremely happy to have won the first runner-up position, and are determined to be the champs next year. Ms Kiran Pillay said: “We did our best, and it was a good exposure for us, so next year we will be better prepared.”
Ms Talitha Shim Mey Ann, who is her team member said that the girls used to be just friends and schoolmates, but since participating in the Law Olympiad and having to work together as a team, the whole experience has anchored their friendship, and the girls have become closer as a result.
Their teachers Puan Koh, and Cik Azlina said that the girls researched into many topics such as general knowledge, quotes, current affairs, read up on Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) stories, and followed through with the guidelines to help them in the Law Olympiad.
Ms Arisha Azlin, 17, from the SMK Assunta winning team said: “We spent a lot of time preparing for the competition, and it was organized in between exams, so we had to juggle our time well. It was not easy, but we’re very happy to have got this far, so it was all worth it in the end.”