AEO 2013: Key Results & Motions

Champions: Institut Teknologi Bandung C (Fauzan Reza Maulana & Vicario Reinaldo)
Finalists: Binus International A (Jaran Walia & Melisa Irene), Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta A (Davin Sutanto & Kario Teguh), Universitas Indonesia B (Dennys Kapa & Terry Muthahhari)
Best Speaker: Jaran Walia (Binus International A)
Best Novice Team: Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta B (Arif Burhanuddin & Egie Danarko)
Best Novice Speaker: Alyssa Encarnacion (Miriam College High School A)

Top 10 Speakers:
1. Jaran Walia (Binus International A)
2. Aulia Anggita (Universitas Indonesia A)
2. Magreta Kailla Adenta (Universitas Indonesia C)
2. Melisa Irene (Binus International A)
2. Fauzan Reza Maulana (Institut Teknologi Bandung C)
6. Egalita Irfan (Universitas Indonesia A)
7. Vicario Reinaldo (Institut Teknologi Bandung C)
8. Davin Sutanto (Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta A)
9. Anastasia Sijabat (Universitas Indonesia C)
9. Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia B)
9. Muayyad Khairulmaini (Universiti Teknologi Mara A)

Motions:
R1. THW make literacy a precondition for voting
R2. THW prohibit corporations from funding university research
R3. THW prohibit the sale of insurance that covers payments for kidnapping
R4. THW make it compulsory for schools to teach diverse religious education
R5. Assuming the technology existed, THW allow individuals to erase their memories
Novice SF: THW grant the right to assisted suicide to individuals who pledge to donate their organs after death
Novice GF: THW allow countries to buy and sell sovereign territories
QF. THW automatically annul heterosexual marriages where one partner was found to be gay, regardless of the consent of the individuals
SF. THBT it is legitimate for states to conceal important economic information in times of crisis
GF. THW financially incentivize Hollywood movie makers to make films that portray Islam positively

UGM Wins Team, Individual Awards in ALSA Unpad 2013

UGM A (Alif Satra, Amir Abdul Aziz, Nabila Aghniarizqa

Universitas Gadjah Mada debaters created a final between themselves in the 2013 ALSA Unpad E-Challenge and swamped the top end of the individual tab. #2 UGM A (Alif Satria, Amir Abdul Aziz, Nabila Aghniarizqa) defeated schoolmates #5 UGM B (Alvine Stefan, Muhammad Fidhzariyan, Wida Wahyuni) in the final that debated on whether to relocate the capital city. Nabila Aghniarizqa also took home the best speaker award.

This is the second time in 2 months for UGM debaters to claim best team and individual prizes from a tournament. They achieved that feat in the Solo Open Debating Championship last month. Besides UGM, no other college has won more than one competition in Indonesia this year. Alif Satria, a freshman who debated for Indonesia in the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships, and Amir Abdul Aziz were also part of the SODC winning team.   

Binus Break First in ALSA Unpad for Second Consecutive Time

Binus University A (Sabarudin Adinugroho, Cassandra Etania Liem, Kelvin Wongso) broke first in the 2013 ALSA Unpad E-Challenge without losing a match, repeating last year's achievement. Sabarudin Adinugroho was also part of the 2012 team that eventually lost in the semifinal to Universitas Padjadjaran, which they will face in this year's octofinals. In the last prelim, they defeated a team from Universitas Gadjah Mada, which has 3 teams in the knockouts like Institut Teknologi Bandung. The octofinals will take place today while the grand final is slated for tomorrow. The break list is as follows:

1. Binus University A

Universitas Padjadjaran - venue of ALSA Unpad 2013

2. Universitas Gadjah Mada A
3. Universitas Bakrie B
4. Binus International A
5. Universitas Gadjah Mada B
6. Universitas Parahyangan A
7. Institut Teknologi Bandung B
8. Institut Teknologi Bandung C
9. Universitas Indonesia A
10. Universitas Gadjah Mada C
11. Universitas Jenderal Soedirman A
12. Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia A
13. Institut Teknologi Bandung A
14. Universitas Indonesia B
15. Universitas Islam Indonesia A
16. Universitas Padjadjaran A

AEO 2013: Title Returns to ITB After a Year Abroad

Binus University - Venue of Asian English Olympics

Institut Teknologi Bandung C (Fauzan Reza Maulana & Vicario Reinaldo) won the final debate in the 2013 Asian English Olympics, bringing back the trophy to their school after a year in the hands of National University of Singapore debaters. ITB championed AEO 2011 but failed to win last year's final. NUS did not participate in this year's edition, which only had 3 overseas teams.

#7 ITB C from Opening Government yesterday successfully defended the motion "This House Would Financially Incentivise Hollywood Movie Makers to Make Films That Portray Islam Positively" and defeated #1 Binus International (Jaran Walia & Melisa Irene), #3 Universitas Indonesia B (Dennys Kapa & Terry Muthohhari) and #4 Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta (Davin Sutanto & Kario Teguh).

ITB took home the best speaker award in AEO 2011 and 2012 but this time Jaran Walia from Binus International topped the individual tab, edging out ITB's Fauzan Reza Maulana who was among the four speakers on second spot. In the novice class, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta B (Arif Burhanuddin & Egie Danarko) took the title, making the school a specialist in this category. UNY won novice team awards in the 2012 Indonesian Varsities English Debate and National Universities English Debating Championship. Alyssa Encarnacion, a Miriam College High School debater from the Philippines whose team went all the way to the main semifinal, was the best novice speaker.

AEO 2013: All-Indonesian Final with a Bipeds-UI Twist

All of the finalists in the 2013 Asian English Olympics debate competition will come from Indonesia after the last standing overseas team from Filipino high school Miriam College fell in the semifinal today. This year's AEO only has 3 non-Indonesian teams out of more than 80 participating squads. Two Malaysian universities failed to progress from the quarterfinals. Last year's champions National University of Singapore cancelled a previous plan to retain the title.

The final four teams are #1 Binus International A (Jaran Walia & Melisa Irene), #3 Universitas Indonesia B (Dennys Kapa & Terry Muthahhari), #4 Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta A (Davin Sutanto & Kario Teguh) and #7 Institut Teknologi Bandung C (Vicario Reinaldo & Fauzan Reza Maulana). This will be the second time Jaran Walia from Binus International Pool of English Debaters (Bipeds) and UI's Dennys Kapa meet in the final in 5 weeks. The former won the previous clash at the Indonesian Varsities English Debate in January and helped give his school its first trophy from the country's most prestigious debate contest. Both of them have changed partners for AEO. Since last year, a former award-winning UI debater has been coaching Bipeds.

AEO 2013: Binus International Top Rank, 3 UI Teams Break

Binus International A (Jaran Walia/Melisa Irene) broke first into the quarterfinals of the 2013 Asian English Olympics, which will also have 3 teams from Universitas Indonesia. No other institution has as many squads in the out rounds as UI. Despite its Asian billing, this year's AEO debate competition only has 3 teams from outside Indonesia - 2 Malaysian universities and a high school pair from the Philippines. Miriam College High School, based in Metro Manila, ranked highest among the internationals. Here are the main and novice break lists.

Main

1. Binus International A
2. Universitas Indonesia C
3. Universitas Indonesia B
4. Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta A
5. Miriam College High School A
6. Universitas Indonesia A
7. Institut Teknologi Bandung C
8. Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia A
9. Binus International B
10. Universiti Teknologi Mara A
11. EFEC Universitas Jenderal Soedirman B
12. Institut Teknologi Bandung A
13. STID Al-Hadid B
14. Universiti Teknologi Petronas A
15. Binus University A
16. SEF Universitas Jenderal Soedirman B

Novice

1. Sekolah Bogor Raya A
2. Kalbis Institute A
3. Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta B
4. Institut Teknologi Bandung B
5. EFEC Universitas Jenderal Soedirman A
6. Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta A
7. Universitas Methodist A
8. Universitas Wiralodra A

Binus Intl Debaters Lead DOTY 2013 Table After IVED Win

Binus International debaters Invi Atmanegara and Jaran Walia made an early start that enabled them to be co-leaders of the IndoDebate Debater of the Year table for January 2013. The pair were among the best Indonesian speakers in the 2013 World Universities Debating Championships and a few weeks later they won the 16th Indonesian Varsities English Debate, the national 3-on-3 championship. Speakers from Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Brawijaya also are prominent in the list due to their strong showing in IVED and the Solo Open Debating Championship.

DOTY calculations do not use the WUDC ESL and EFL speaker lists but resorted to the ranks of Indonesian speakers in main list because some Indonesians fall under different classes. The table also took into account the achievements in the EFL knockouts. Secondary categories in internationals like ESL and EFL in WUDC are seen equal to national tournaments due to their comparable levels. More points will be awarded if teams break into the main knockouts of a major international competition.

Top 10 on DOTY 2013 table for January. Click here for full list.

1. Invi Atmanegara (Binus International)
2. Jaran Walia (Binus International)
3. Amir Abdul Aziz (Universitas Gadjah Mada)
4. Dianty Widyowati (Universitas Gadjah Mada)
5. Andrew Sadeli (Binus International)
6. Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia)
7. Nur Rizki Oceano (Universitas Brawijaya)
8. Alvine Stefan Wijaya (Universitas Gadjah Mada)
9. Zelly Sidi Zamzami (Universitas Brawijaya)
10. Romario Tambunan (Universitas Gadjah Mada)

WSDC 2013: Key Results & Motions

Here are the key results from the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships, the most prestigious high school debating tournament this year. The numbers in the brackets after a team name follow this order: post-tournament position, place after 8 preliminary rounds, pre-tournament rank and group. WSDC uses a 3-on-3 format but each team can have up to 5 members and rotate their turns. Only speakers who debated at least 4 times in the prelims can enter the top individual list.

Champions: Australia (#1/#5/#1/A) -- 9th trophy

(Bo Seo, Tyrone Connell, Zoe Brown, Nicholas Salmon, James Stratton)

Finalists: Swaziland (#2/#2/#25/E) -- 1st appearance in GF

(Famele Mashwama, Oliver Mills, Wabantu Hlophe, Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza)

Best ESL Team: Peru (#9/#8/#36/F)

Best EFL Team: Indonesia (#22/#22/#27/E)

Top 10 Speakers

1. Bo Seo (Australia)
2. Fanele Mashwama (Swaziland)
3. Pavan Hedge (Hong Kong)
4. Darion Hotan (Singapore)
5. Thomas Simpson (New Zealand)
6. Zoe Brown (Australia)
7. James Lo (Hong Kong)
8. James Penn (New Zealand)
9. Aodhan Peelo (Ireland)
10. Tyrone Connell (Australia)

Best English-as-Second Language Speaker: Siddarth Srikanth (India)

Best English-as-Foreign Language Speaker: Carrisa Tehputri (Indonesia)

Motions:
R0. THW ban publication of opinion polls during election campaign
R1. THBT important decisions about children's health should be made by medical professionals
R2. THBT the media should be prevented from intruding the lives of public figures
R3. TH suppots greaters US military presence in East Asia
R4. THW allow prisoners choose death over life sentence
R5. THW cease the exploitation of resources in the Arctic region
R6. THW require government schools to teach religious studies
R7. TH supports sovereign debt default as a legitimate economic strategy for countries
R8. THW require university students to work in their country of origin for a number of years after graduation
OF. THW cut welfare payment for gamblers
QF. THBT social movements in democratic countries should drive social change through the courts rather than the legislature
SF. THBT the government should pay housewives and house husbands for their work
GF. THBT Turkey is better off outside the European Union

WSDC 2013: Indonesia Bags Best EFL Team Award

Team Indonesia for WSDC 2013 with their trophies (from l to r):
Coaches Roderick Sibarani and Subarkah Syafruddin, Debaters Carrisa
Tehputri, Adeline Tiffanie, Sayyid Habibullah and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita  

Despite preliminary elimination, Team Indonesia won't come home empty from the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships after grabbing the best English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) team award. This is the first time for Indonesia to win a EFL WSDC prize since the awards started to be offered in 2007.

Carrisa Tehputri from SMA 4 Denpasar will be flying home with the trophy after she was announced as the best on the EFL individual list in which schoolmate Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita came fourth. Two other members of the 2013 team are Adeline Tiffanie from SMA 1 Kristen Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak. Universitas Indonesia students Subarkah Syafruddin and Roderick Sibarani coached the team.

The only silverware Indonesia had won before was the Best New Team award from its 2001 inaugural WSDC participation. The 2013 performance, however, is not the best so far. The team collected 4 wins and 4 losses in the preliminary rounds, making them unable to break into the knockouts. Indonesia's best WSDC showings occured when the 2003 and 2004 teams broke into the WSDC octofinals, both with a 5-3 scorecard. Suceeding teams have failed to repeat the feat. There were no EFL awards in 2003 and 2004.

WSDC 2013: Australia Wins 9th Trophy, Ruins Swaziland Dream

Australia's Bo Seo makes his point amid Swaziland pressure
during the final of WSDC 2013 in Antalya, Turkey
(photo from WSDC Ltd by Cris Sanchez)

Australia, the most frequent winner of the World Schools Debating Championships, showed who is boss by crushing the dream run of Swaziland in the final of the tournament's 2013 edition. Team Australia (Bo Seo, Tyrone Connell, Zoe Brown, Nick Salmon, James Stratton), gave their country its ninth trophy after a 9-0 unanimous victory against Team Swaziland (Fanele Mashwama, Oliver Mills, Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza, Wabantu Hlope) which only joined WSDC last year. No other country has won more than 4 championships.

Australia's captain Bo Seo, who is of Korean descent, also took home the overall best speaker in his third WSDC. Swaziland's Fanele Mashwama, who was also part of the first-entry 2012 team, came second. Both teams lost one match in the preliminaries. Australia bowed to Canada in the last prelim while Swaziland lost to Singapore in the first round. Swaziland, which has picked up fans worldwide after their R3 unanimous win over reigning champion Scotland, took revenge against Singapore in the more crucial semifinal.

This year's WSDC was held in the tourist city Antalya in Turkey. The next will take place in Bangkok, Thailand. Fellow Southeast Asian country Singapore has won the bid to host WSDC 2015, keeping the tournament in the East as the West is going through economic recession.

WSDC 2013: Swaziland Fairy Tale Continues with Final vs Oz

Antalya - the host city of WSDC 2013

 African state Swaziland proved fairy tales can come true in the world of debating. It only got its first taste of the World Schools Debating Championships last year, losing 4 of  8 mandatory debates, but it is now in the grand final of the 2013 edition.

Team Swaziland (Oliver Mills, Fanele Mashwama, Wabantu Hlophe, Sandile Mndzebele, Lindelani Mabuza) reached #2 on the preliminary tab this year after beating 7 opponents, including titleholder Scotland, and losing only to 2011 champion Singapore. In the semifinal, they met again and it was the cinderella team that emerged victorious.

In the final, they will square off with #5 Australia (Bo Seo, Tyrone Connell, Zoe Brown, Nick Salmon, James Stratton) over the motion "THBT Turkey will be better off outside the European Union". Australia, which will propose in the last debate, has won WSDC 8 times. The most any other country can get is 4. However, the Land Down Under's last title was in 2006.

SOVED 2013 Title Goes to Universitas Sumatera Utara

Universitas Sumatera Utara (Elsyam Maulana/Afif Handri) championed the 2013 Sumatra Overland Varsities English Debate after beating cross-city rivals STIE IT&B, Politeknik Medan and Aceh-based Universitas Syiah Kuala in the grandfinal yesterday. Widopo Hanly from Politeknik Medan and Muhammad Ikhlas from Syiah Kuala became the co-best speakers of the tournament that is exclusively for universities on Sumatra island.  On That Point, the Jakarta-based speaking consultancy founded by former varsity debaters, was the engine behind this event. This is part of a campaign to close the gap between Java-based institutions and those from outside the country's main island.

WSDC 2013: Unbeaten NZ Top on Tab, Swaziland Second

New Zealand broke first from the preliminaries of the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships after winning all of their 8 debates, the only team that could wrap up the mandatory stage without a loss. Usually, there are multiple teams that can reach this feat. That is the least from this year's peculiarities that include the failure of reigining champion Scotland and last year's finalist Wales to break as both only could bag 4 wins, like Indonesia.

But the biggest surprise is the team that came second on the preliminary tab. It was Swaziland, a tiny African state that only joined WSDC last year. They had a 7-1 scoreline and better overall speaker scores than others with that tally, including Singapore, the only team that could beat them so far. Another quirk from this year's break is no team with 5 wins that could slip into the top 16. Half of the octofinalists broke with 7 wins while 7 in the mix had 6 points. Here is the break list:

1. New Zealand -- 8 points, 21 judges
2. Swaziland -- 7 points, 21 judges
3. Singapore -- 7 points, 21 judges
4. South Africa -- 7 points, 21 judges
5. Australia -- 7 points, 20 judges
6. England -- 7 points, 20 judges
7. Mexico -- 7 points, 20 judges
8. Peru -- 7 points, 19 judges
9. Ireland -- 7 points, 19 judges
10. India -- 6 points, 19 judges
11. Hong Kong -- 6 points, 18 judges
12. Netherlands -- 6 points, 16 judges
13. United Arab Emirates -- 6 points, 16 judges
14. Slovenia -- 6 points, 16 judges
15. Greece -- 6 points, 16 judges
16. Canada -- 6 points, 14 judges

WSDC 2013: No Break for Indonesia and Titleholder Scotland

Team Indonesia's journey in the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships ended with a 4-4 tally like last year and a position below the break line. On the last day of preliminaries, Indonesia lost to neighbour Malaysia but defeated host Turkey. The national team had a strong start, beating #6/A Greece in R1 and winning the first 3 rounds but since slipped with 4 straight losses, the last 3 on 1-2 split decisions, before closing the campaign with a win.

All WSDC teams must debate 8 different teams in the prelims, one from each of the 8 rank-based groupings. Indonesia ranked #27 out of 50 contestants, part of the E grouping (#25-30). The WSDC classifications are calculated based on victories and judge votes in the past 3 championships. Four preliminaries have prepared motions and the other four rounds are impromptu. Only the top 16 teams can break into the knockouts.

Since the first participation in 2001, Indonesia has broken into the knockouts twice, in 2003 and 2004, both with 5 wins from 8 rounds. In 2010, Indonesia also bagged 5 wins but came short from breaking on judges votes. The members of this year's team are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak.The coaches are Universitas Indonesia students Subarkah Syafrudin and Roderick Sibarani.

Reigning champion Scotland also failed to break after suffering 4 losses, including to Swaziland and India, darkhorses that will go to the elimination stage. This will be the first time for Scotland to miss the advanced rounds of WSDC since the tournament began in 1988. Their scoreline is identical to Indonesia's - 4 wins and 13 judge ballots - with better speaker scores.