ALSA E-Comp, UMM English Fiesta Debates Kick Off

The debate season is in full swing this weekend with two national-scale tournaments kicking off yesterday with a bang. Drum rolls from an elementary school marching band opened the English Fiesta at Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang while cheerleaders and percussions ushered the 15th ALSA UI National English Competition at Universitas Indonesia's Law School into action.

Both events have separate categories for varsity and highschool, guaranteeing long days of debating from morning to late afternoon. All categories will end with three preliminary rounds today. ALSA UI, which managed to squeeze in one round each for high school and varsity yesterday, will have two morning rounds for the former category and two afternoon rounds for the college debaters. English Fiesta will have three rounds with simultaneous high school and varsity debates.

In ALSA's first round, 50 varsity teams faced off with impromptu motions on rights that include paying prostitutes for the handicapped and suing government for failure in providing welfare. Teams from debating powerhouses Institut Teknologi Bandung and Universitas Gadjah Mada had to log heads early with ITB coming out triumphant. Squads from Universitas Indonesia and Binus International had more favourable draws and started their campaigns in winning fashion. It is still anyone's game and darkhorses are lurking to spoil the top schools' script. The results of today will give a better picture of the competition.