Wellington UMNO Club

The collaboration to organize the first ever inter-UMNO club rugby tournament between the Auckland and Wellington UMNO Clubs was held on the 3rd of July 2008 on the Polo Grounds in Miramar. The participating teams were from the Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch UMNO Clubs.

The day started with clouds adorning the sky and chilly winds leaving everyone trembling in dismay. The tournament began at 9am with each team going against the other two. Heavier rain began to pour but was ignored by the players going all out determined to win the tournament and spectators supporting their respective teams alike. Fortunately, the weather increasingly improved throughout the day as the players pushed on.

Spectators kept coming to rally support despite the unpredictable weather conditions. HE Dato’ Sopian Ahmad and wife came and saw the final round of tournament between Auckland and Wellington He later presented the medals to the champions of the UMNO New Zealand Rugby 10’s Tournament and recipient of the Dato’ Seri Wira Ali Rustam challenge trophy won by the team from Christchurch. Wellington grabbed the first runner-up title while the Auckland team was awarded the second runner-up placing perusing the event to an end at about 2pm. Congratulations to the winners and special thanks to all that attended the memorable event.

The UMNO Club–Chair of Malay Studies New Zealand Parliamentary Style Malay Language Debate Competition 2008 was proudly hosted by the Wellington UMNO Club on the 30th of June and 1st of July 2008. The debate mainly aimed to uphold the status of the Malay Language as Malaysia’s national language and to instill awareness of proper Malay language usage among the younger generation. The participating clubs were all four UMNO Clubs in New Zealand: Otago, Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. The debate was held concurrently with the annually organized sports event, Bersatu Games which took place in Wellington this year.

The preliminary rounds took place on the evening of the 30th June 2008 at Lecture Theatre 101, Murphy Building, Kelburn Campus of Victoria University. Audience attendance was surprisingly a lot more than expected as supporters came to listen and cheer. Team UMNO Otago won against team UMNO Wellington and Auckland UMNO Club won against team UMNO Christchurch on the motion: ‘Bahasa Melayu Mampu Bergelar Bahasa Dunia’. Both winning teams made their way to the final round the next evening.

Accommodating a bigger crowd the evening after, the final round of the debate was held at Lecture Theatre 1 of Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus. This time, the governing team proposed the motion ‘Pelaburan Langsung Asing Menjamin Pembangunan Negara Mapan’. Members of the floor were enlightened by the arguments as the debate became more and more intense with strong points and humorous analogies. The governing team, consists of members from Otago won the debate, thus declared as the champ of the first ever UMNO Club–Chair of Malay Studies New Zealand Parliamentary Style Malay Language Debate Competition. They were awarded medals and the challenge trophy. Mohd Faizal Ahmad, also from Otago was named Best Debater.

The prize-giving ceremony was next, incepted by comments from the Head Adjudicator, En Wan Aminuddin Wan Ibrahim. All three judges were invited to present certificates, medals and trophies and the event ended as guests were served some refreshments.

The Wellington UMNO Club would like to forward its many thanks to the Chair of Malay Studies Victoria University of Wellington; Prof Dato’ Dr Othman Yatim, Miss Yvette Koo, adjudicators for both preliminary and final rounds of the debate; En Wan Aminuddin Wan Ibrahim, En Adi Affendi, Pn Siti Nor Jallila and Mr Selva Ramasami. Not forgetting all participants, crew members, supporters and everyone who has made this event a successful one.

On Friday the 23rd of May 2008, an ice breaking session for the new WUC committee was held at 240, The Terrace. The event was proposed by the president to conjoin two important agenda towards effective co-operation which include getting to know each other and initiating a clear and informative discussion. The program that evening began with dinner, followed by a committee meeting and ended with a few recreational activities.

Several committee members assisted our chef of the day, Hazel as early as 4pm in preparing ‘Nasi Arab’, our delicacy for the evening. Aside from cleaning and doing other tasks, the team also took the chance to bond. The preparation reflected the spirit of gotong-royong, which is a norm for Malaysians especially in organizing community-based events. Once dinner was served, the club president said a few words to welcome the committee and invited Muhamad Irizul Syah to lead the dua’.

Right after dinner, the first official Wellington UMNO Club meeting since the IGM commenced. The president thanked everyone for committing time and effort to attend the ice-breaking session. As a step to get to know each other better, everybody gave a short self introduction, including their expectations of the club. Later, the president briefly explained the structure of Kelab Umno Luar Negara. The committee further discussed their planned activities. There will be two major UMNO club activities taking place during the BERSATU Games in Wellington. One way or another, the meeting was intended to clarify crucial details of those activities to the whole committee as well as to explain the roles that each division should play. Apart from that, suggestions and ideas on future activities were raised and discussed. The meeting lasted from 9pm until 10.45pm.

After the serious discussions, several committee members stayed to play recreational mind games. On top of being played for fun, they managed to contribute towards the relation-strengthening of the newly-formed committee. The whole ice-breaking session ended at 12am.