WSDC 2014: Team Indonesia Return with Awesome Accolades, New Records

WSDC 2014 Best EFL Speaker Regina Cara with Thai host

 

#11 Indonesia came out of the 2014 World Schools Debating Championship  in Thailand with a trail of new national records and Regina Cara Riantoputra snatching the top EFL speaker title. The SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan debater, who has been winning awards for her school for years, was the team's star as she debated in all matches in WSDC Bangkok, making her presence widely known in the world's top high school debating event.

The 2014 team now hold almost all pf the Indonesian WSDC records, some without match. They are the Indonesian team with the most wins ever. The 2014 team won 6 out of 8 mandatory WSDC rounds, enabling Indonesia to break into the octofinal for the first time since 2004. They matched a 10-year record of breaking into the WSDC knockouts set by the 2003 and 2004 teams, which were made up by almost the same debaters.  Moreover, they bested the score of the 2003 and 2004 teams that also reached the octofinal but both 'only' had 5 preliminary wins. The 2014 team equaled the 2003's record #11 position. Only 16 teams can advance into the WSDC knockouts.

Reaching the quarterfinal stage is still an elusive feat for Team Indonesia. In the recent tournament's octofinal, WSDC 2013 champion Australia stopped Team Indonesia's amazing journey that included wins over Greece, Sweden, Romania Turkey, Estonia and 2012 finalist Wales. 

Cara, however, reached a place where no Indonesian has gone before. She entered the elite Top 20 club after she ranked 17th on the overall speaker list. That club is usually populated by debaters from countries that have won WSDC before. This year, only Cara and a Malaysian debater who broke into the party. She is now the Indonesian WSDC debater with the highest rank so far. Her team mate John Amadeo Daniswara from Raffles International School Jakarta also slipped into the Top 50 main speaker list and ended at #39. This is the first time two Indonesian speakers could enter that honourable group in the same year.

Individually, only two Indonesians had made it into the Top 50 list before WSDC 2014. Siti Astrid Kusumawardhani was the first one when she was ranked 49th in 2003. Two years later in WSDC Calgary, her sister Siti Soraya Cassandra ranked five notches higher at #44. Cara and John broke that record in Bangkok. Cara also became the first Indonesian to top the EFL speaker list with team mate Alif Azadi from SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh coming at 6th on that list. John could not enter the EFL list due to his international school background but ranked 6th on the English-as-Second-Language speaker list. The only record that still stands is Cassandra's speaker score of 72.47, which is only 0.1 higher than Cara's.           

The other members of Team Indonesia in WSDC 2014 were Marsa Harisa from SMA 9 Yogyakarta and Kevin Bonaparte from SMA 17 Makassar. Although they debated less than the previous trio, the duo played a vital role in the construction of the cases. All members of the team, which range from 3 to 5 debaters, can be involved in casebuilding although only three are allowed to debate in one match. Coaches have the chance to rotate the debating lineup throughout the tournament. This year's coaches were Australs 2011 ESL champions Subarkah Syafruddin and Riza Aryani, who have graduated from Universitas Indonesia. 

WSDC 2014: Draw's Out, Indonesia Meets 5 Familiar Rivals

The draw for the 2014 World Schools Debating Championships in Bangkok for Team Indonesia looks quiet similar to last year's. They will face Wales, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Greece again. Indonesia lost to the first three and defeated the last two in WSDC 2013. The other opponents will be Canada, Sweden and Estonia. Indonesia has never lost to Sweden and Estonia before in WSDC.

All WSDC teams must debate 8 different teams in the preliminary stage, supposedly one from each of the 8 rank-based groupings. However, this year Indonesia received an unlucky draw that has led the team to meet 2 B class countries and none from the H class. Indonesia is in the E grouping (#25-30) and ranks #28 out of 46 contestants. The WSDC groupings are calculated based on victories and judge votes in the past 3 championships. Canada is from group A. So, it is the highest ranked team Indonesia will face in the mandatory rounds. Four preliminaries have prepared motions and the other four rounds are impromptu. Winning less than 5 prelims guarantees seats in the audience during the knockouts.

Since its WSDC entry in 2001, Indonesia has broken twice into the octofinals in 2003 and 2004, both with 5 wins. The highest achievement is #11 in 2003 but the team which collected the most judge votes was the one that went to WSDC 2010 in Qatar. Unfortunately, the latter did not break although they also collected 5 wins. Only the top 16 teams can break into the knockouts. Last year, Team Indonesia won the best English-as-Foreign-Language team award ended at #22 after having a 4-4 record.

The members of Team Indonesia 2014 are Alif Azadi (SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh), Kevin Bonaparte (SMA 17 Makassar), Marsa Harisa (SMA 9 Yogyakarta), Regina Cara Riantoputra (SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan) and John Amadeo (Raffles International Christian School Jakarta). There is no returning member in this team, one aspect that will be common in other contingents. The coaches are Subarkah Syafrudin and Riza Aryani, former Universitas Indonesia debaters who won the English-as-Second-Language category of the 2011 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.

The draw, speaking positions and motions for Team Indonesia 2014's debates are as follows:
R0 Prop vs United Arab Emirates  (#9/B) - Impromptu

R1 Opp vs Canada (#6/A) - THBT post-revolution states should delegate trials of former rulers and high-ranking officials to the International Criminal Court
R3 Prop vs Sweden (#40/G) - THW allow prisoners to volunteer for drug trials in exchange for lighter sentences

R4 Opp vs Greece (#10/B) - Impromptu
R5 Opp vs Romania (#34/F) - THBT slum tourism does more harm than good

R6 Prop vs Wales (#16/C) - Impromptu
R7 Prop vs Estonia (#20/D) - THW lift tax exemptions from religious institutions that refuse to recognize marriage equality

R8 Opp vs Turkey (#27/E) - Impromptu

Victoria Wellington Wins Australs 2014, Third Title in 5 Years

#1 Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Jodie O'Neill, Nicholas Cross) championed the 2014 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships after defeating #3 University of Sydney 2 (Evie Woodforde, Joanna Connolly, Emma Johnstone) in the grand final in Otago, New Zealand. The trio reached the final last year but lost to another Sydney 2 team with different members. It was Victoria's sixth Australs title, the third triumph in the last five years. Victoria's Asher Emanuel also became the best speaker of the tournament. International Islamic University 1 (Ameera Moore, Mubarrat Wassey, Ahmad Hazim Norahmadi)  won the English-as-Second Language category. Ameera Moore and Mubarrat Wassey repeated last year's achievement.

WSDC 2014: Five Selected for Team Indonesia, None from Bali

Five students made it into Team Indonesia for the 2014 World Schools Debating Championship that is scheduled to take place in Bangkok next August. Four of them came through the normal state-sponsored selections while the fifth member won the self-financed seat that is exclusive for underclassmen.  None of them come from Bali, the province that had two representatives in each of the 2012 and 2013 teams. The selected five are as follows:

Alif Azadi (SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh)
Kevin Bonaparte (SMA 17 Makassar)
Marsa Harisa (SMA 9 Yogyakarta)
Regina Cara Riantoputra (SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan)
John Amadeo (Raffles International Christian School Jakarta)

Australs ESL champion Subarkah Syafruddin, an Universitas Indonesia alumnus, returns as the coach after guiding Team Indonesia to respectable 4-4 finishes in WSDC 2012 and 2013. His Australs teammate and fellow UI graduate Riza Aryani accompanies him as co-coach. The 2013 team won the best EFL team award. Indonesia has only broken twice into the WSDC out rounds, in 2003 and 2004, both times with a 5-3 record in the 8-round mandatory stage. The 2010 team also won 5 times in the preliminaries but came short from breaking.

WSDC 2014: Six Students Advance to the Final Team Indonesia Selection

Four girls from Java along with 2 boys from outside the main island outshone 9 other students in the Team Indonesia selection for the 2014 World Schools Debating Championships in Thailand. They will go through intensive training before coaches appoint in July the four debaters who deserve to represent the country next August. The filtered six are as follows in alphabetical order:

Alif Azadi (SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh)
Arinta Pratiwi (SMA 3 Semarang)
Aurora Maria (SMAK 1 Penabur Bandung)
Kevin Bonaparte (SMA 17 Makassar)
Marsa Harisa (SMA 9 Yogyakarta)
Regina Cara Riantoputra (SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan)

Former Universitas Indonesia debater Subarkah Syafruddin is coaching Team Indonesia for the third time in a row. Fellow UI graduate Riza Aryani is his co-coach this year. Both were part of the UI team that won the ESL category of the 2012 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships.

Indonesia broke into the WSDC octofinals twice, in 2003 and 2004. That achievement has not been matched since. Last year, Indonesia won the best EFL team trophy but came short from advancing into the knockouts.

Singaporeans Beat 3 Sydney Teams to Win AWDC 2013

No Asian team have won Australs so far. That is not the case when the men are dropped. #3 National University of Singapore 1 (Natalie Wang & Tan Lee Jing) defeated 3 teams from University of Sydney in the final of the 2013 Australasian Women's Debating Championship today. Two other Asian teams, including Universitas Indonesia (Iki Sari Dewi & Lisia Astari), competed in the tournament held by University of New South Wales but they could not break into the knockouts. Evangeline Woodforde (Sydney 2), whose team broke first and debated in the final, topped the speaker the tab.

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.                  

Australs 2013: Key Results & Motions

Champions: University of Sydney 2 (Daniel Swain, Paul Karp, Nina Ubaldi)
Finalists: Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Jodie O'Neill, Nick Cross)
Best Speaker: Daniel Swain (University of Sydney 2)
ESL Champions: International Islamic University 1 (Syed Saddiq, Mubarrat Wassey, Ameera Moore)
ESL Finalists: University of Hong Kong 2 (Griffith Chen, Rayna Wang, Helena Hu)
ESL Best Speaker: Syed Saddiq (International Islamic University 1)

Best Indonesian Speaker: Elghafiky Bimardhika (Universitas Indonesia 2)
Best Indonesian Team: Universitas Indonesia 1 (Aulia Anggita, Dennys Kapa, Egalita Irfan) - #1ESL and ESL Quarterfinalists   

MOTIONS

R1 - Education
1. THBT universities should not have patents.
2. THW abolish tenure for university professors.
3. THBT states that don't provide free tertiary education should subsidize career paths for students that are useful for the state.

R2 - Sports
1. THBT the English Premier League should significantly limit the number of foreign players per team
2. THBT professional sporting clubs should only be owned by the local authority of the area they represent.
3. THBT we should ban players' unions in major sporting leagues

R3 - Crime
1. THBT we should require criminal judges to be employed in a prison for 6 months prior to appointment to the bench.
2. THBT illegally gathered evidence and information should be admissible in criminal trials
3. THBT individuals who commit minor crimes should be allowed to convert their sentences into corporal punishment

R4 - Media
1. THBT we should require all free-to-air TV stations to have and adequately fund 60min of ad-free news in prime time.
2. THBT journalists should be required to lodge their sources with a press council for verification.
3. THBT CEOs of major news companies should be democratically elected in open public elections.

R5 - Economics
1. THBT countries should not seek to regulate digital currencies like the Bitcoin
2. THBT prohibit credit rating agencies from disclaiming legal liability for the inaccuracy of their ratings
3. THW make lenders liable for the losses of low-income customers who are not given independent legal advice

R6 - Social Politics
1. THBT we should make legislative deliberations & decisions on retirement age and superannuation private, anonymous, confidential and by the secret ballot.
2. THBT we should support granting private administrative control of cities on the basis of charters
3. THBT gay rights group should disavow the "Gay is the New Black" campaign.

R7 - United States
1. THBT the US should pay Chinese activists to combat the efforts of China's '50 Cent Party'
2. THBT Detroit should sell the Detroit Institute of Art's 1 billion USD collection to service its debts
3. THBT Obama should grant Edward Snowden amnesty from all charges

R8 - Women
1. THW refuse classification to films and TV shows that fail the Bechdel Test.
2. THW pay parental leave as equal and non-transferable portions of leave for each parent
3. THBT progressive women's groups should refrain from attacking female politicians regardless of their policies

OPEN Pre-OF - Social Policy
1. THBT the infanticide of newborns should not be punished beyond the penalty for unlawful late-term abortions
2. THBT it was wrong for parents to accept confidential settlements from the Catholic Church on behalf of their children for abuse committed by clergymen
3. THBT Islamic states should set the curriculum of madrassas

OPEN OF - Environment
1. THBT we should abolish Green Belt regulations.
2. THW rewrite animal welfare standards to be uniform for each species of animal, regardless the animal's use/context.
3. THBT Obama should use the Environmental Protection Agency and other executive powers to aggressively combat climate change

OPEN QF - Middle East
1. THW support aggressive Palestinian protests, like property destruction, in illegal Israeli settlements
2. THBT the Muslim Brotherhood should cooperate with the Adly administration and accept cabinet positions for ending protests against the interim government
3. THBT we regret the rise of the nation state in the Arab World

OPEN SF - Law
1. THBT we should abolish the criminal law, expand tort law and provide extra funding for the litigants
2. THBT the standard or 'responsibleness' in criminal cases should never be influenced by prejudicial assumptions, even if held by the average person in that society.
3. THBT the tax offices should be allowed to retrospectively declare acts of aggressive accounting, which expliot tax loopholes, illegal.

GRAND FINAL
THBT women should be criminally liable for harm to foetuses in utero as a result of their lifestyle choices

ESL QF - Politics
1. THBT minimum standards of living should be legally enforceable in developing countries
2. THBT political parties should abolish their military wings
3. THBT we should select only women as diplomats to countries with poor rights standards for women

ESL SF - International Relations
1. THBT China should establish military bases overseas.
2. THBT Palestinians should not accept citizenship from Arab Nations.
3. THBT we should require UN approval for the giving of military aid

ESL FINAL
THBT the media should not have broadcast the footage of British soldier, Lee Rigby, being murdered in London.

Australs 2013: Sydney Wins 16th Trophy, IIU Tops ESL

#1 University of Sydney 2 (Daniel Swain, Nina Ubaldi, Paul Karp) won the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship yesterday without dropping a match, giving their school its 16th victory in the world's second most prestigious debating competition. In the final they defeated the motion "That women should be criminally liable for harm to foetuses in utero as a result of their lifestyle choices" proposed by #2 Victoria University of Wellington 1 (Asher Emanuel, Nick Cross, Jodie O'Neill). Daniel Swain also topped the speaker tab.

In the ESL category, #2ESL International Islamic University 1 (Ameera Moore, Syed Saddiq, Mubarat Wassey) took the crown after outclassing #5ESL Hong Kong University 2 (Griffith Chen, Rayna Wang, Helen Hu). Syed Saddiq bagged the best ESL speaker award. Two Universitas Indonesia teams broke into the ESL elimination stage but both fell in the quarterfinals. UI 1 (Aulia Anggita, Dennys Kapa, Egalita Irfan) had a 5-3 win-loss preliminary record, one of the best ever by an Indonesian team.

Australs 2013: Sydney v Victoria in Open Final; IIU v Hong Kong in ESL

Venue of the 2013 Australs ESL Grand Final

The main final of the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships will showcase the best of Australia and New Zealand, the only two countries from where winners come from since the event began in 1975.

#1 University of Sydney 2 (Daniel Swain, Nina Ubaldi, Paul Karp) will seek to give their school, the most successful in the competition's history, its 16th trophy. Their opponents, #2 Victoria University of Wellington (Asher Emanuel, Jodie O'Neill, Nick Cross), come from the only non-Australian institution that has won Australs and the Kiwis want to bring the title back to NZ for the 6th time.   

In the ESL final, #2ESL International Islamic University Malaysia 1, a team from the Asian powerhouse that usually skips this lower category, will face #5ESL Hong Kong University 2. Universitas Indonesia defeated an HKU squad in the 2011 Australs ESL final. This year two UI teams advanced into the ESL elimination stage but fell in the quarterfinals. Teams from Universitas Gadjah Mada and Universitas Atma Jaya also competed but failed to get enough points in the prelims to pass the cut. 

Australs 2013: Corrected Tab Awards UI Second Spot in ESL QF

The organizers of the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships corrected the ESL tabulation, enabling a second Universitas Indonesia team to advance into the elimination stage. While UI 1 (Aulia Anggita, Dennys Kapa, Egalita Irfan) still topped the ESL tab after the corrections, UI 2 (Elghafiky Bimardhika, Ibrahim Panji, Nisrina Praharso) earned #6 on that list. #1 UI 1 will face #8 Institute of Business Admnistration - Dhaka 2 in the quarterfinals today while #6 UI B will meet #3 International Islamic University of Malaysia 2. The corrected break list is as follows:

1. Universitas Indonesia 1
2. International Islamic University 1
3. International Islamic University 2
4. Asia Pacific University 1
5. Hong Kong University 2
6. Universitas Indonesia 2
7. Institute of Business Administration - Dhaka 1
8. Institute of Business Administration - Dhaka 2

Australs 2013: UI Breaks 1st in ESL Category Above IIU

Universitas Indonesia 1 (Aulia Anggita, Dennys Kapa, Egalita Irfan) topped the ESL tab in the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships, placing themselves above Asian powerhouse International Islamic University of Malaysia, which they defeated in the last prelim. It was a display of tenacity from the UI trio who lost their first three debates but bounced back with a vengeance knocking down opponents in the last five rounds. UI1 will face reigning ESL champions International Christian University 1 from Japan in the quarterfinals. UI won this category before, in 2011 and 2009. The ESL break list is as follows:

1. Universitas Indonesia 1
2. International Islamic University 1
3. International Islamic University 2
4. Asia Pacific University 1
5. Hong Kong University 2
6. Institute of Business Administration - Dhaka 1
7. Institute of Business Administration - Dhaka 2
8. International Christian University 1

UT MARA Wins 2015 Bid, Brings Back WUDC to Malaysia

Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia's largest university by size and population, will hold the 2015 World Universities Debating Championships after grabbing 57 votes, 16 more than its rival from University of Auckland. This will be the second time for Malaysia, which hosted WUDC, the most prestigious debating competition in the world, once before in 2005. WUDC 2015 can also be the biggest ever as the organisers advertise that they may open registration for 440 teams with an institutional cap of 3 teams and 2 adjudicators.


The chief adjudicators will be Jonathan Leader-Maynard, who debated for University of Oxford in the final of WUDC 2010, and Shafiq Bazari from the host institution, finalist of the 1st Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship, also in 2010. They will have 5 deputies, 4 of them representing specific regions.

The preliminary debates will be held on the university's Shah Alam campus, a 20-minute drive from Kuala Lumpur. UT MARA will also become the venue of the 2013 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships. The school has pledged to bear all transport costs within the country and provide air-conditioned rooms for debate purposes free of charge.

FT 2012: UI-ITB Hybrid Dai-Rahman Wins in Second Attempt

Rifan Ibnu Rahman & Ahmad Naufal Dai

Ahmad Naufal Dai, a former Universitas Indonesia debater, and Institut Teknologi Bandung's Rifan Ibnu Rahman teamed up for  Founders Trophy in 2011 and reached the final. This year, Dai-Rahman tried again and took home the top prize -- the Papuan sculpture. For Dai, it was his second FT victory after winning Indonesia's toughest debate tournament in 2009. From that year on, he has always appeared in the final FT debate, sitting on the opposition bench. He is the only male debater who has won FT twice.

In the final, they spoke as Opening Opposition and knocked down the motion "This House condemns the push for an international protocol against blasphemy", which was proposed by #1 Muhammad Pandu/Luthfi Abdurrahman,  ITB graduates who championed NUEDC in 2009. The closing teams were #2 Ahdiat Permana/Roderick Sibarani, students of UI's economics faculty, and Dimas Hokka/Riza Aryani who grabbed the Australs ESL title for UI last year. It was the third time in a row that the FT champions were debaters from OO in the final.

The best speaker award went to Luthfi Abdurrahman who became the only male debater who has topped the FT individual tab twice. He also took home three books after getting the highest score in three separate rounds.  FT motions derive from books donated by UI alumni, which  will later go to the best performance in that round. The other books also went to speakers associated with Bandung universites. His partner Muhammad Pandu bagged two and so did Dwita Aryani from Universitas Parahyangan. The best speaker in the final was Rifan Ibnu Rahman who has topped the IndoDebate Debater of the Year list for almost the entire year.

FT also gives out prizes to novices without prior varsity BP debating experience. This year, the best novice speaker title went to Ibrahim Hanif from Universitas Gadjah Mada who reached all the way to the semifinal with his veteran partner. ITB freshmen pair Aulia Widyaputra & Muhammad Lutfi won the best novice team award.

FT is an annual tournament held by English Debating Society UI, the pioneer of competitive debating in Indonesia. FT organisers are always new EDSUI recruits with supervision from seniors and support from the alumni corps.             

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  

Bali Takes 2 Spots in Indonesia's WSDC Team... Again

Bali's SMA 4 Denpasar continues its run as the top producer of debaters for Indonesia's team for the World Schools Debating Championships with two students getting into the current squad. Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita made the cut after a recent series of selection for WSDC 2013 in Turkey. The 2 girls previously championed the 2012 National Schools Debating Championships with Carissa taking the best speaker award. Earlier this year, 2 of their seniors represented Indonesia in WSDC 2012 in South Africa.

The 2 other members of the new Team Indonesia are Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak, the first debater from Kalimantan island selected for WSDC since Rusdi Ghazali in 2001. Rusdi, who also hailed from Pontianak, captained the squad that commenced Indonesia's participation in WSDC.

Australs ESL champion Subarkah Syafruddin, a final year law student at Universitas Indonesia, returns as the coach after guiding Team Indonesia to respectable 4-4 finish in WSDC 2012. Debater of the Year 2011 and fellow UI debater Roderick Sibarani accompanies him as co-coach.  Indonesia has only broken twice into the WSDC out rounds, in 2003 and 2004, both times with a 5-3 record in the 8-round mandatory stage. The 2010 team also won 5 times in the preliminaries but came short from breaking.

The newly selected Team Indonesia will feature at the 2013 Indonesian Varsities English Debate in Bandung as a non-breaking team.
 

DOTY 2012: Points from Breaking in International Debate Added

From July, the 2012 IndoDebate Debater of the Year list recognises the achievements of varsity debaters who can break into the main elimination stage of an international competition which has more non-Indonesian teams than the number that can progress into the knockouts. This includes all top-level international championships (WUDC, Australs, UADC, Asian BP) regardless of where they take place and almost all intervarsities held outside Indonesia.

The new feature will not take into account results from Indonesia-based tournaments branding themselves as international but without a number of overseas teams that exceeds the elimination threshold, for example, IPSDC (1 overseas participating team, 8 breaking spots). Such events are considered equal to national debates. ESL/EFL categories of international championships will continue to be valued like national tournaments because the general quality level of these handicapped divisions is not superior to IVED, JOVED or FT.

Debaters who qualify for the new "international break" feature will get 3 points for each time they advance. This is equal to points received for a national championship victory (1 Win, 1 Final, 1 SF). These achievers will continue to collect points if their teams reach the semifinal, final and top honor of the international tournament.



UI team in the 2012 OIC Intervarsity Debating Championship in Malaysia
(l to r) Hana Hanifah, Egalita Irfan with her speaker award and Aulia Anggita

No Indonesian debater had achieved this feat in 2012 until a team from Universitas Indonesia  (Aulia Anggita. Egalita Irfan, Hana Hanifah) broke into the elimination stage of the 2nd Organization for Islamic Cooperation Intervarsity Debate that took place in the first week of July in Malaysia. Several teams had participated in overseas tournaments this year (Canton IV, IHL, UADC, SIDEO, Australs) but none entered the main out rounds other than UI's OIC team. The UI trio fell in the quarterfinals, giving them 3 points for breaking but no more extra team-based credits. Egalita Irfan slipped into the top 10 speakers of the tournament, enabling her to get another point for individual accomplishment. This addition on top of Egalita and Aulia's success in the recent Bawor Cup changed the make up of the leading debaters of the DOTY list.

Top 10 as of July 2012

1. Rifan Ibnu Rahman (Institut Teknologi Bandung)

2. Aryo Febrian (Universitas Bakrie)    

3. Aulia Anggita (Universitas Indonesia)

4. Invi Atmanegara (Binus International)

5. Cindy Fransisca (Universitas Atma Jaya)

6. Egalita Irfan (Universitas Indonesia)

7. Jane Revevalin (Institut Teknologi Bandung)

8. Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia)

9. Elghafiky Bimardhika (Universitas Indonesia)

10. Fauzan Reza Maulana (Institut Teknologi Bandung)

Australs 2012: Monash Bags Top 2 Team and Speaker Awards

#1 Monash University (Chris Bisset, Kiran Iyer, Madeline Schultz) won the 2012 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championships after beating #7 Monash 2 (Gemma Buckley, James Beavis, Collette Mintz) in the first final ever in the history of the tournament that had teams from the same institution. Bisset and Iyer also concluded the competition with the 1st and 2nd best speaker awards. Iyer achieved the rare feat of combining the title from Australs, the second most prestigious debating event in the world, with the very top one, champion of the World Universities Debating Championship, which he grabbed in Manila at the start of this year.

Japan's International Christian University took home this year's best ESL team title, which belonged to Universitas Indonesia in 2009 and 2011. UI sent a freshmen team to Australs 2012 but they did not progress to any out rounds.

Australs 2012: Monash Gets Trophy, Final to Go Live

Current world champion Monash University will add the 2012 Australasian Intervarsity Debating Championship trophy into its cabinet after 2 of its teams reached the final. Since its conception in 1975, the grand finals of Australs had different universities fighting for the crown. Monash has shattered that record. Unbeaten #1 Monash 1 (Chris Bisset, Madeline Schultz, Kiran Iyer) will face #7 Monash 2 (Colette Mintz, Gemma Buckley, James Beavis) later in Wellington, New Zealand and the match will be aired live on their association's website and streaming channel. In the semifinal, they eliminated host Victoria University and archrival University of Sydney respectively.    

Two Asian teams, International Islamic University and Ateneo de Manila University, broke into the knockouts but fell in the octofinals. Last year, National University of Singapore went all the way to the grand final. In that same occassion, Universitas Indonesia won the ESL category. UI sent the only Indonesian team to the 2012 edition but they failed to make the cut. Japan's International Christian University and University of Macao are the finalists this year. The Indonesian twist this year is that former UI debater Melanie Tedja once partnered with one of the finalists, Monash 2's Gemma Buckley, in the 2009 Australs.