Rifan Ibnu Rahman Almost Certain to Grab DOTY 2012

With a gap of 12 points from the closest rival, Rifan Ibnu Rahman from Institut Teknologi Bandung is inches away from topping IndoDebate's Debater of the Year list for 2012. After a break in August, there were three British Parlimentary debates that contributed to the provisional table -- Just for Fun, E-Fest and the newly launched Ganesha Open. Rifan's closest rivals Binus International's Invi Atmanegara and Cindy Fransisca from Universitas Atma Jaya respectively won the first and second while Rifan only reached the final of JFF. A good showing in GO could have closed the difference but Cindy skipped the competition while Invi fell in the quarterfinal.

Rifan has won 4 competitions this year while no other debater can win more than 2 so far. There are 4 tournaments left that can change the outcome of this year's table but half of them are major international events which Indonesians seldom go beyond the preliminaries. The best chances for Cindy and Invi lie in the 2 remaining domestic open competitions (Pelita Harapan Open and Founders Trophy). One of the two debaters should clean sweep them to oust the current leader.

The current DOTY table also has a refreshing milestone. For the first time a high school debater managed to slip into the list after Cheryl Nazik from SMA 1 Bogor reached the JFF final, enabling her to net a couple of points. She debated with Universitas Indonesia's Dennys Kapa, who later championed the Ganesha Open and currently is the highest ranked debater from his school on the DOTY table. Click here to go to the DOTY page. The top 10 as of September 2012 are as follows:

1. Rifan Ibnu Rahman (Institut Teknologi Bandung)
2. Cindy Fransisca (Universitas Atma Jaya)
3. Invi Atmanegara (Binus International)
4. Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia)
5. Jaran Walia (Binus International)
6. Aryo Febrian (Universitas Bakrie)
7. Jane Revevalin (Institut Teknologi Bandung)
8. Sabarudin Adinugroho (Binus University)
9. Dwita Aryani (Universitas Parahyangan)
10. Aulia Anggita (Universitas Indonesia)