ALSA UI E-Comp 2014: UI, SMA 4 Denpasar Recapture Titles

ALSA UI E-Comp 2014 Champions:  UI A

Universitas Indonesia and SMA 4 Denpasar won the ALSA UI English Competition, the country's longest running debate tournament, in 2011 and 2012 in their respective categories. They both lost their titles last year but reclaimed them today. #1 UI A (Magreta Kailla Adenta, Roderick Sibarani, Terry Muthahhari) defeated #3 Universitas Atma Jaya A (Cindy Fransisca, Kario Teguh, Silvya Suwandy) in the varsity category while #2 SMA 4 Denpasar A (Yunindita Prasidya, Putu Ayu Saraswati, Denny Adiputra) outclassed cross-city rival #4 SMA 1 Denpasar A (Elizabeth Hanakata, Biani Himawan, Keila Ayu).

UI's Roderick Sibarani, who was part of the UI team that won in 2011, topped the speaker tab. The best high school debater was Yunindita Prasidya from SMA 4 Denpasar, which also produced the three previous winners of this award. ALSA UI E-Comp continues to be the most complicated event to run as there are parallel debate competitions as well as a Model United Nations conference for high school students along with individual-based English contests on the sides. However, debate remains the crown jewel of this annual occasion.

ALSA UI E-Comp 2014: UI v Atma in a Classic Final After 5 Years

Teams from Universitas Indonesia and Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta met a couple of times in the final of major English debate competitions when the activity began to spread in this country in late 1990s. But such encounters dwindled after the turn of the millenium. There was only one final match in Indonesia's three classical tournaments between the two, in 2009. That record will change this afternoon.

#1 UI A (Magreta Kailla Adenta, Terry Muthahhari, Roderick Sibarani) will face #3 Atma Jaya A (Cindy Fransisca, Kario Teguh, Silvya Suwandy) in the final of this year's ALSA UI English Competition, one of the classics. In the last encounter, Atma Jaya defeated UI in the 2009 ALSA UI E-Comp final to grab its first title from the tournament. The other classics are the Indonesian Varsities English Debate and Java Overland Varsities English Debate. UI beat Atma Jaya in IVED 1999 championship debate but the tables turned in the JOVED final a few months after.      

ALSA UI E-Comp 2014: High School Title Goes Back to Bali

#2 SMA 4 Denpasar A (Yunindita Prasidya, Putu Ayu Saraswati, Denny Adiputra)  and #4 SMA 1 Denpasar A (Elizabeth Hanakata, Biani Himawan, Keila Ayu) defeated their semifinal opponents to create an all-Bali final in the high school category of the 2014 ALSA UI English Competition and secure the title stays in the hands of a Balinese school for the fourth time in a row. The former won the trophy in 2011 and 2012 while the latter was last year's champ. No other institution-based debate tournament is more prestigious for Indonesian high schools than ALSA UI E-Comp. The cross-city rivalry shows the seriousness in both schools in developing their debate programs is above the rest. The final will run this afternoon.

ALSA UI E-Comp 2014: Varsity Semis Involve 4 Title Holders

UI's faculty of law - home of ALSA UI E-Comp

There are only 4 universities that have won the ALSA UI English Competition debate, Indonesia's longest-running debate tournament, and their representatives will face off in the 2014 edition's semifinals tomorrow. Since mid-1990s, teams from Universitas Indonesia, where the championship is held annually, have only lost the title 4 times to 3 other schools, including last year when Institut Teknologi Bandung debaters snatched it for the second time.

In the first semifinal match, #1 UI A (Magreta Kailla Adenta, Roderick Sibarani, Terry Muthahhari), which is bent on reclaiming the throne, will meet #5 ITB A (Kirana Kania, Aulia Widyaputra, Midia Arifandi), which wants to keep it. In the second one, #2 Universitas Gadjah Mada A (Indriani Pratiwi, Romario Tambunan, Wida Wahyuni) will debate against #3 Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta A (Cindy Fransisca, Kario Teguh, Silvya Suwandy). UGM won the title in 2007 while their opposing school grabbed it two years after.    

ALSA UI E-Comp 2014: An All Bali or a Non-Bali High School Final?

For the last three years, Bali high school teams have won the ALSA UI English Competition, the most prestigious school-based debate tournament in Indonesia, and the streak can continue in 2014. SMA 4 Denpasar, the 2011-2012 champions, and SMA 1 Denpasar, last year's winner, are among the 4 last standing teams. In the semifinals tomorrow, the former will go against SMA Kristen 1 Penabur Bandung while the latter will meet dark horse SMA 17 Makassar, which eliminated the best performing team in the preliminaries, SMA Modal Bangsa from Aceh. If the rival Denpasar teams could defeat their opponents, they would recreate an all-Bali final.

Another scenario is having no team from Bali in the final. The semifinalists from Makassar and Bandung  are no pushovers. Furthermore, the Penabur debaters are coached by Revian Wirabuana, a member of the SMA 4 Denpasar team that won in 2011 who is now studying in Bandung. The other possibilities, of course,  involve one Bali team in the last debate and the likelihood of that is also big. Regardless of the outcome, the semifinals tomorrow offer the tight competition that any debate tournament strives for.