UADC 2014: Host Nanyang Reclaims Asian Crown

Host #2 Nanyang Technological University 1 (Aditya Mitra, Lu Huiyi, Vihasini Gopakumar) won the 5th United Asian Debating Championships, recapturing a title that the school won in 2012. NTU became the first institution to win UADC twice after defeating #4 International Islamic University Malaysia 1 (Ameera Moore, Syed Saddiq, Mubarrat Wassey) in the final. Maizura Mokhsein from Universiti Teknologi Mara topped the overall speaker tab.

UADC is the most prestigious 3-on-3 debate competition in Asia that came into being after the merger of the Asian Intervarsity Debating Championship and the Asian Universities Debating Championship in 2010. UADC will take place in Indonesia for the first time next year after the partnership between Binus University Jakarta and Denpasar-based Universitas Udayana won approval to hold it on the tourist island of Bali.

UADC 2014: Indonesia Comes With Big Delegation, Bali Bid

The 2014 United Asian Debating Championships will see dozens of debaters from 12 Indonesian institutions and a campaign to bring the tournament to Bali. The intention to boost the nation's presence on the regional debating map is stronger than ever. Indonesian teams have dominated UADC's English-as-Foreign-Language category with four consecutive all-Indonesia EFL finals. But none from Indonesia has been able to break into the main knockouts. Asia's number one competition, which started in 2010, also has never been hosted in Indonesia.

Several Indonesian teams had broken into the main elimination stages of Asian tournaments that preceded UADC - the Asian Intervarsities Debating Championships (All-Asians) and the Asian Universities Debating Championships (AUDC). In 2007, Institut Teknologi Bandung hosted AUDC. But since the two events merged into UADC in 2010, those two accomplishments, breaking in the open category or hosting, have been elusive.

This year's UADC starts today at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, a place where Indonesian varsity debating took off. When NTU hosted the 1997 All-Asians, teams from Universitas Indonesia and Universitas Parahyangan became the first from Indonesia to compete in a major international debating championship. As soon as the debaters came home, UI established the pioneer debating society in Indonesia and Unpar launched the country's first tournament using an internationally accepted format. The two trailblazing universities are now back at NTU along with an army of Indonesian debaters, seeking to create new history.

Nanyang Technological University - Venue of UADC 2014 

One historical feat can be made if the combined package of Binus University and Universitas Udayana wins the right to host UADC 2015 in Bali. They have prepared a campaign that promises debaters an unforgettable experience of debating on paradise island where the world's best natural beaches meet the highly artistic Balinese culture. A winning bid along with success in the debating chambers will excite the Indonesian debating scene. On the 17th anniversary of Indonesia's participation on the Asian debating stage, it is time for Indonesian debaters to shine at the embarkation point where the journey began. Here are the institutions that sent delegates to UADC 2014.

1. Binus International
2. Binus University
3. Institut Pertanian Bogor
4. Institut Teknologi Bandung 
5. Universitas Atma Jaya Jakarta
6. Universitas Gadjah Mada
7. Universitas Indonesia
8. Universitas Jenderal Soedirman
9. Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar 
10. Universitas Padjadjaran
11. Universitas Parahyangan
12. Universitas Pelita Harapan

Australs 2014 Won't Be in Bali, Otago Wins Bid 16-14

It was close. A bid to hold the 2014 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship in Bali received 14 votes, two less than what rival bidder University of Otago got. The plan promised a debate tournament in Indonesia's paradise but the New Zealand school offered a more formidable adjudication core line up that included 2 Australs winners, an Australs finalist, a two-time Australs ESL best speaker and 2 Worlds finalists. Kudos to Binus University, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan Bali and On That Point speaking institute for fighting hard to bring the second most prestigious debating event in the world to Indonesia. Only 2 major debating tournament hosting rights went to Indonesia's way so far -- the 2007 Asian Universities Debating Championship by Institut Tekonologi Bandung and the 2012 Asian BP by Jakarta-based Binus International.  

Binus, Stikes Bali, OTP Seek to Bring Australs 2014 to Indonesia

A bid to bring the Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship to Indonesia next year is in full swing. The parties responsible are Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan (Stikes) Bali, the nursing school that has never competed in Australs before, their mentors from On That Point, the Jakarta-based public speaking institute run by former and current debaters with international debating experience, and the Jakarta-based Binus University from where many of the OTP personnel hail. The other bidder is University of Otago, the New Zealand college that reached the final of the last WUDC.

The Indonesia bid's mantra to beat the Kiwis is the location - the paradise island of Bali. The proposed hotel, the sprawling Grand Inna, is literally on the famous Kuta Beach, where surfers around the world seek the perfect waves, sunbathers seek the perfect tan and sightseers seek the perfect red sunset. It also a hop away from all sorts of nightlife. Several snazzy establishments in southern Bali have been lined up for the parties. As a place drenched in culture and blessed with natural beauty, the tourist haven also has myriad choices of artistic entertainment and excursions.

The four-star hotel would be the venue for everything related to the tournament before the break announcement. The knockouts until the semis would take place at Stikes Bali, which hosted Indonesia's national BP competition in 2012. The Hard Rock Ballroom, across the street from Grand Inna, is the choice for the finals.

While OTP-trained Stikes Bali is the home institution, its students will not hold key posts. The convener and her deputies as well as leaders of the socials, transport, accommodation, food, registration and publication units would be Binus University students with experience in running the annual  Jakarta-based Asian English Olympics debate. The tournament director would be OTP's Aryo Febrian, a Bakrie University student who championed the 2011 United Asian Debating Championship's EFL category. The Balinese would act as liaison officers, runners and unit members.
 
Bryan Gunawan, a Binus University alumnus who founded OTP, is the proposed chief adjudicator. He championed the EFL category of the 2008 Asian Universities Debating Championship and served as DCA at the 2011 Asian BP. His deputies would be Kristen Price (University of Queensland - Australs 2007 Champion), David Maher (University of New South Wales - USU 2011 Finalist), Arinah Najwa (International Islamic University Malaysia - Australs 2011 Best ESL Speaker) and Sandeep Chulani (University of Hong Kong - 2009 East Asian IV Best Grand Final Speaker). The project is expected to spend $20,000 on travel subsidies to strengthen the judging pool.

The main tabmasters would be IBM's Rendy Darmawidjaja, a Binus University alumnus who worked on the WUDC 2013 tabs, and University of Melbourne's Michael Ciesielski, who tabbed Australs 2009.   

The proposed dates would be July 22 to 30, which may pose an issue for Muslims because Eid al Fitr, one of the holiest days of the religion when families gather, falls on July 29 next year. This is no problem from an organizing aspect. While more than 80 per cent of Indonesians follow Islam, Bali is predominantly Hindu and July is always a busy holiday season.                  

FT 2012: Battle of Champions Begins Tomorrow

There will only be less than 40 teams that are going to compete in the 2012 Founders Trophy tomorrow but  more than 50 percent of those have at least one member with a championship title or best speaker award, living up to the tournament's reputation as Indonesia's toughest nationwide British Parliamentary debate competition. In most competitions, the share of champions is usually far below that. As a comparison, in the last NUEDC, the largest BP competition in Indonesia, only 6 out of 95 teams, or less than 7 per cent, could boast nationwide accolades when they entered the arena.

This does not mean FT is unfriendly to young, unforeseen debaters. It is still the only nationwide open competition in Indonesia that could be won by a full high school team - SMA Kanisius Jakarta championed FT 2004. It is also a graveyard for many past national champions. Last year, an IVED champion and an ALSA UI winner failed to break. With the intense level of competition, FT is far from predictable. It is still anyone's game with each preliminary round to be crucial because only 16 teams will advance to the knockouts, which means at least 4 past champions won't debate after round 5.

The 20 teams with national tournament champs/best speakers in FT 2012 in alphabetical order of the first member who has a title.

Ahdiat Permana/Roderick Sibarani - (1) JOVED 2009, Bawor 2010, 2011 champ/ (2) ALSA UI 2011, JOVED 2012, JM 2012 champ 
Ahmad Naufal Dai/Rifan Ibnu Rahman - (1) JOVED 2009, FT 2010, BIND 2011 champ/ (2) JFF 2011, ITS 2012, JM 2012 champ 
Alifia Firliani/Alfan Rezani - (1) NDC 2012 champ 
Alris Alfharisi/Fiski Aditya - (1) IPSDC 2012 champ
Astri Agustina/Ibrahim Hanif - (1) IVED 2009, SODE 2011 champ & best speaker/ (2) ALSA UI 2009 (HS) champ & best speaker  
Aulia Anggita/Elghafiky Bimardhika - (1) ALSA UI 2012, Bawor 2012 champ/ (2) BIND 2011, JOVED 2012 champ 
Boby Andika/Bramesada Prasastyoga - (1) ALSA UI 2008 (HS) champ, JM 2012 best speaker 
Bryan Gunawan/Rajkumar Narendra - (1) AUDC 2008 EFL champ/ (2) IPSDC 2010, ALSA Unpad 2011 champ 
Caessar Pronocitro/Novelisa Wirid - (1) ALSA UI 2007 champ/ (2) NUEDC 2008, AUDC 2007 EFL champ/ (1&2) SODE 2011 champs 
Cindy Fransisca/Davin Susanto - (1) E-Fest 2012 champ, IPSDC 2012, JFF 2012 best speaker 
Dimas Hokka/Riza Aryani - (1) Bawor 2010, 2011 champ/ (2) IVED 2010, NUEDC 2012 best speaker/(1&2) Australs 2011 ESL champs 
Dito Krista/Dwita Aryani - (1) IVED 2010, GO 2012 champ, NUEDC 2011 best speaker/ (2) Bawor 2012, GO 2012 best speaker 
Dungga Nur Prayogo/Nur Luthfi Hidayatullah - (1) IDC Ma Chung 2012 champ/ (2) IHL 2012 best speaker 
Erwina Salsabila/Thoriq Murtadho - (1) IHL 2012 champ/ (2) FT 2011 best novice speaker 
Invi Atmanegara/Jaran Walia - (1)JFF 2012 champ, EFest 2012 best speaker/(2)ALSA EC 2011 champ/(1&2)UADC 2012 EFL champs 
Leo Wibisono/Arbi Wienandar - (1) Asian BP 2011 EFL best speaker 
Muhammad Pandu/Luthfi Abdurahman - (1)ALSA UI2012 best speaker/(2)ALSA UI 2010, SEO2011 Champ/(1&2) NUEDC 2009 champs 
Nurbaniyara Muthmainnah/Rendi Prahara - (1) Newbies 2010 best speaker/ (2) EU-IDC 2011, ALSA EC 2012 champ  
Reggy Hasibuan/Erico Himawan - (1) JOVED 1999 champ
Wilson Salim/Melisa Irene - (1) JFF 2012 champ  

Asian BP Jakarta Dates Confirmed

Come rain or shine, Jakarta in 7 months will host its first ever major international debating tournament. The 2012 Asian British Parliamentary Intervarsity Debating Championship will take place from October 22 to 28, organizers confirmed. Debates will fill the Binus International campus that is surrounded by malls in the southern leafy area of Senayan and debaters will stay at the Sunlake Hotel in the northern section of the city.

Binus International Campus, Jakarta
Venue of the 2012 Asian BP 

Jakarta has seen a few competitions with international participation in recent years but all of them only could attract a small number of teams from overseas. ABP promises scores of debaters flying into the metropolis from all over the continent. It has been 5 years since the last major international tournament in Indonesia and it was Bandung that hosted the 2007 Asian Universities Debating Championships, not the country's capital. So, it will be interesting how organizers address the biggest headache in the capital, traffic, and not let the congestions dent the event.

ABP 2012 will have 6 preliminary rounds to decide who can qualify for the open pre-quarterfinals (top 24) and EFL semifinals on October 27. A day after, finals of both categories will conclude the competition. Reigning national BP champion Astrio Feligent Tjong from host Binus International is the convenor while University of the Philippines' Alistair Zosa, finalist of the 2011 United Asian Debating Championships, and Douglas Cochran, Chief Adjudicator of the 2013 World Universities Debating Championships, will lead the judges.

Registration fee is set at $250 per debater/adjudicator, quite a price for Indonesian teams who should take this rare chance to compete with the best in the region. Teams should begin to seek slots on April 15.

ITB Wins Trust to Host IVED for the Third Time

Institut Teknologi Bandung will host the Indonesian Varsities English Debate for the third time after getting the nod to organize the 2013 edition. ITB held the 4th IVED in 2001 and 13th in 2010.

The decision came out amid a wave of criticism against the organisers of IVED 2012, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang. Complaints include frequent delays, sloppy registration and  the sub-standard quality of the accommodation and food. In comparison, the management quality of the 2 ITB-held IVEDs  won praise from participants at that time.  ITB also was the venue for the first major international debate competition that took place in Indonesia -- the 2007 Asian Univerisities Debating Championships.

SEF ITB President Rifan Ibnu Rahman will lead the adjudication core. His debating credentials  include best speaker of IVED 2011 and breaking adjudicator in IVED 2012.

LSPR, Ma Chung to Hold Ambitious International Comps

Jakarta-based London School of Public Relations and Malang's Universitas Ma Chung are bent on attracting international teams to compete in their tournaments this year.  However, timing issues have challenged the ambitions of these two private universities that have not yet built strong profiles in the domestic circuit.

LSPR intended to hold the 2nd International Public Speaking and Debate Competition from April 12 to 14 but had to push back the date to June after knowing the plan would clash with the ALSA UI E-Comp, the country's longest-running English debate contest. The organizers want half of the participants foreign. It is unclear whether this means there would be a cap on Indonesian teams.Sixteen institutions, only 4 of them from outside Indonesia, joined the 1st IPSDC in 2010. The debating event with the highest number of international teams, 42 out of 60, held in Indonesia was the 2007 Asian Universities Debating Championships at Institut Teknologi Bandung.

Ma Chung's plan may also hit a snag. The university has scheduled its International Debating Competition for February 15 to 17, which are also the dates of the Asian English Olympics, a regional debating tournament held by Binus University that has been promoted to universities across the continent for months. International teams are likely to prefer the more prepared AEO. The timing is also odd because Malang will be host to the Indonesian Varsities English Debate from February 7 to 11. Non-Malang IVED contestants might find it costly to send teams again to the hillside city less than a week later or force them to extend their stay. IDC organizers also plan to have individual speakers from 8 invited countries to have a go at each other in a so-called master round. IPSDC, IDC and AEO all have chosen British Parliamentary as their format.

ABP 2011: Binus International is Next Year's Host

Binus International Campus

Binus International won the bid to host the 2012 Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championships after its sole rival from India backed out. It will be the first time for Jakarta to host an Asian-scale major debating tournament. The only time an Indonesian institution held such an event was in 2007 when Institut Teknologi Bandung organized that year's Asian Universities Debating Championships.

Bakrie Wins UADC EFL, Ammar Anwar Takes Speaker Prize

#1EFL Bakrie University (Ammar Syah Anwar, Aryo Febrian, Yudha Mustafa) grabbed the top prize in the 2011 United Asian Debating Championships' English-as-Foreign-Language category today after defeating fellow Indonesians from #7EFL London School of Public Relations (Airin Tirtayadi, Christin Berlina, Nadia Meuthia) in the final in Macao. Ammar Syah Anwar became the best EFL speaker in the tournament while Yudha Mustafa got the highest score in the final, completing Bakrie's success.

The Bakrie team successfully defended the motion that "This House Believes That Regional Proximity Should Be Prioritized When Handing Out Aid" and gave their school its first ever debating trophy. Bakrie squads reached the semifinal round of 3 national-scale tournaments this year and topped the tab with a perfect record in the recent ALSA UI E-Comp. Their rising form peaked at UADC, the most prestigious competition in Asia. They reached the 28th spot on the main tab with a respectable 5-3 scorecard and broke into the EFL knockouts as the highest-ranked team. Their losses in the preliminary round came from matches with Asian powerhouses National University of Singapore and Ateneo de Manila University.

Bakrie and LSPR never participated in UADC before this year's edition. They also have never won a major debating tournament in Indonesia. However, their hardwork and tenacity found reward on the international stage and proved they are now forces to be reckon with. They performed better than teams from more well-known Indonesian debating institutions that competed in the UADC and squads from other ESL countries like Japan, China and Thailand.

A team from Institut Teknologi Bandung won the EFL trophy in the previous UADC in Bangkok, which also saw an all-Indonesian final. The Macao event was the second UADC after the unification of two Asian-level competitions - the Asian Intervarsity Debating Championships (All-Asians) and the Asian Universities Debating Championships (AUDC). The latter tournament came about after several top schools broke away from the former outfit in 2005.

Indonesian teams first competed in an Asian-level debating championship in 1997, a milestone that led to the proliferation of competitive debating into the country. A squad from Universitas Indonesia in 2000 broke into the top 16 of the All-Asians, the first time any Indonesian team proceeded into the knockout rounds of an overseas debating competition.

BIND 2011 Completes Adjudication Core With WUDC Finalist

The Binus International Debates (BIND) this year will continue its tradition to include world class judges in its adjudication core, including a finalist in the last Worlds, the chief adjudicator of the next one and the lead judge in the first ever Asian BP 2009.  Here are the details of the adjudication core of the BP competiton that will take place from September 13 to 16, 2011:

Chief Adjudicator:

• Rajkumar Narendra (Binus International/Indonesia)
• ALSA Unpad 2011 Champion, FT 2009 Finalist, AUDC 2009 EFL Best Speaker

DCA :

• Lucinda David (De La Salle/Philippines) - WUDC 2012 Co-CA, Australs 2010 Final Judge
• Tim Mooney (Sydney/Australia) - WUDC 2011 Finalist, WUDC 2012 DCA
• Thepparith Senamngern (Assumption/Thailand) - Asian BP 2009 CA, UADC 2010 CA

The tournament, which will mix high school and college students, will open its registration next week on May 24 with a team cap of 80. Earlier this year, Universitas Bina Nusantara also held a BP competition with international judges on its adjudication core that include the other co-chief adjudicator of WUDC 2012 Sam Block from Cambridge. By September, the two CAs of the coming Worlds would have engaged with the Indonesian debating scene, which should make the most out of these visits for WUDC 2012.