NUEDC 2012: National Title Stays in the Binus Family



NUEDC 2012 Champions
(Rosmiyana &
Sabarudin Adinugroho)

Last year it was Binus International who won the National Universities English Debating Championship. This year Binus University matched that feat and made sure the title stays in the family. #5 Binus (Rosmiyana & Sabarudin Adinugroho) also won the championship from the same Closing Opposition role. They defeated #2 Universitas Parahyangan (Dwita Aryani & Josefhine Chitra), #6 Institut Teknologi Bandung (Kirana Kania & Jane Revevalin) and #8 Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta (Cindy Fransisca & Davin Susanto) in a grand final debate that had a motion on giving student loans to Indonesians.

Rosmi and Sabar were also champions of their Jakarta regionals where they had eliminated the same Atma Jaya team in the semifinal level. Both of them have around three years of debating under their belt, including participations in competitions abroad. As a pair, they won the 2010 HOT Magazine Debate competition, a small competition that paved their way for future success, including breaking first in this year's ALSA Unpad E-Challenge. Rosmi was the best speaker in that competition. Sabar will be the Chief Adjudicator of the 2012 Java Overland Varsities English Debate next month. 

Binus International did not participate in NUEDC this year. The state-run competition only allows one representative from the Binus family. As the result, societies in Binus International (BIPEDS) and the regular Binus University (BNEC) take turns to compete in Indonesia's largest debate competition. The three best performers in the main category are eligible for state funding to go to the World Universities Debating Championship. Besides Binus, runner-ups ITB and Atma Jaya will go to Berlin for free. For BNEC, this is the first major victory since they won the Java Overland Varsities English Debate back in 2003.

The best speaker of the championship was Riza Aryani from #3 Universitas Indonesia who unfortunately got eliminated in the semifinals. Champions Rosmi and Sabar placed 4th and 6th respectively on the speaker tab. ITB's Jane Revevalin, a first-year debater, got into the overall top 10 speaker list, showing the competition is open for anyone with hard work and skills, regardless of age or years going in and out of tournaments. Jane was not considered as novice because she had won a nationwide tournament last April.