NSDC 2013: Title Goes to Central Sulawesi for the First Time

NSDC 2013 Champions - Central Sulawesi

No team from Central Sulawesi had won a nationwide debating competition, let alone Indonesia's top high school title, until last night. #1 Central Sulawesi (Ananda Bagus, Widyawati Karim, Andi Magie) yesterday convincingly defeated #2 Yogyakarta (Rahma Reyhan, Tiara Dya, Marsa Harisa) in the final of the 2013 National Schools Debating Championship, making them national champions. They knocked down the final motion "This House Would Waive Patent Rights for Vaccines and Anti-retroviral Drugs in Underdeveloped Countries" and came out of the tournament without a single loss.

Their victory is no Cinderella fairytale. It is a story about perseverance. The entire winning team come from SMA Al Azhar Palu, which sent them flying to Java to attend tough competitions for the last two years, from high school-level contests to those that forced them to face experienced varsity teams.

At first, they could not break into the knockouts but they kept on coming. In NSDC 2012, two of them represented their province but they fell in the octofinals. Last April, the same exact trio debated in the ALSA UI E-Comp, the most prestigious institution-based high school competition, as a team and again they could not reach the quarters. But they continued practicising under the guidance of trainers, including Universitas Indonesia debater Terry Muthahhari, the first person from Central Sulawesi who championed a nationwide tournament. Their hard work paid off at NSDC 2013.

Yogyakarta, champions of NSDC 2009, got a consolation prize. SMA 9 Yogyakarta student Marsa Harisa claimed the best speaker title. She and 14 debaters below her are eligible to advance to the next step in the selection process for Indonesia's World Schools Debating Championship team.