Host Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang last night suddenly opened the online registration of the 2012 Indonesian Varsities English Debate, a week earlier than they first announced, triggering concerns on the running of the upcoming tournament. UMM first proclaimed via Indodebaters the registration for the February 7-11 event would start on December 3. With only 60 slots, those who happened to be online received advantage. This has prompted calls for the committee to stop the process and stick to its earlier promise.
After a long wait for the information on IVED 2012, the launch of the website dumbfounded many. On a single page, organisers had two versions on the number of preliminary rounds -- 5 and 6. (Rules on Format 2 and 4). The host also wrote two different systems for the elimination phase -- "break-and-slide" and "tournament power matching" (Rules on Format 2 and 5). Another confusion relates to the number of required adjudicators as the committee keep on saying on the website that the number should be one less than the number of teams sent (N-1 rule) while labelling it as "N1 rule". These may be innocent typos but they show sloppiness. On a less technical note, UMM has imposed a no T-shirt policy. While wearing formal attire or a university jacket in the grand final is common practice, enforcing a mandatory dresscode during the early rounds may be the least the host should worry in running the most prestigious tournament in the country.
IVED is the first nationwide debating tournament and since its conception in 1998 has been considered as the de-facto national championships although the government has created the National Universities English Debating Championships (NUEDC), which has geographical reach but lacks competition depth.
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