By Saiful Bahri Kamaruddin
Pix Ikhwan Hashim

PUTRAJAYA, 8 August 2015 – Maher G.M. Abdolrasol of Libya, a contestant of The National University of  Malaysia (UKM), finished third in the 2015 Prime Minister’s Cup International Malay Language Public Speaking Competition (PABM) finals for the category of foreign students in Malaysia, here today.

Egyptian Mahmoud Abdel Fattah Ibrahim Essa of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) was crowned champion, while a speaker of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) from Iraq Waleed Basil Mohammed Ali emerged runners-up in the same category.

In the International category, Joshua Parfitt of Britain emerged on top,  while Emma Cecilia Roberts of Australia had to be content with being the runners-up and Wyatt Evan Gordon of the United States in third place.

The blond Parfitt, a post-graduate student of the University of London’s School Of Oriental and Asian Studies (SOAS) looked stunning in a complete traditional Baju Melayu and songket with full orange  headdress and spoke of a topic titled ‘The Solutions Are All Around Us’.

The champion in each category received  cash prizes of US$ 7,000 (RM 27,500), a Prime Minister’s Cup, a trophy, prizes and certificates while the runners-up took home a cash prize of US$ 5,000 (RM19,600). The third place winner came away with US$ 3,000 (RM11,700).

Meanwhile, Mohd. Akmal Aizat Umar from Malaysia clinched the top spot  in the Malay World category. He overcame two other participants in a tight battle, his compatriot Then Siaw Lian (runner-up) and Awabeen Samsuding of Thailand (third place).

The prizes were presented by  Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.

Earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak officiated the finals, which was also aired live on TV1.

This is the 9^th year the PABM was held, with 71 students majoring in Malay language from institutions of higher education around the world taking part since 4^th August.