Rifan Ibnu Rahman is IndoDebate's Debater of the Year 2012

Rifan Ibnu Rahman - DOTY 2012

Rifan Ibnu Rahman, who graduated a few months ago from Institut Teknologi Bandung, is the winner of the IndoDebate Debater of the Year title for 2012. This may be no surprise as he led the table since February. In the end, he collected 40 points from achievements that include 5 tournament victories and 2 best speaker awards.

His last stamp was championing the most competitive open tournament in Indonesia, the Founders Trophy, last November. The gap with his nearest rival, Invi Atmanegara from Binus International, was 11 points, showing how the race was not close. Her success in breaking into the knockouts of the 2012 World Universities Peace Invitationational Debate in December gained her points but it was far from enough to oust the leader.

The one thing that may be a miss in his otherwise long list of accolades is the inability to win any of the four major tournaments in Indonesia - IVED, JOVED, ALSA UI and NUEDC - in his undergraduate phase. It will not be a surprise if he decides to return as a postgraduate debater to close that void. His DOTY 2012 prize is a one-year long subcription of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, which suits well for a business school graduate who is now working for consumer giant Unilever.

The final DOTY 2012 table shows the classic domination of institutions from the Jakarta-Depok-Bandung axis in Indonesian debating. There is only one debater from out of that group in the top 20 while in that same batch there are 6 people from Universitas Indonesia alone. The highest non-Java debater is at #67. This shows that debate proliferation, while it has made gains in quantity and outreach, needs to focus more on improving institutions out of the axis.

It should be noted that many of the top debaters did not originate from the western Java region. Rifan went to high school in Sidoarjo, East Java while the third on the table, Universitas Indonesia's Dennys Kapa, hails from Kupang on Timor island. Their backgrounds did not handicap them. Their hardwork and the supporting environment in their universities made them champions. Click here for the full table.

Top 20 on IndoDebate's Debater of the Year 2012 list are:

1. Rifan Ibnu Rahman (Institut Teknologi Bandung)
2. Invi Atmanegara (Binus International)
3. Dennys Kapa (Universitas Indonesia)
4. Cindy Fransisca (Universitas Atma Jaya)
5. Jaran Walia (Binus International)
6. Dwita Aryani (Universitas Parahyangan)
7. Aryo Febrian (Universitas Bakrie)
8. Sabarudin Adinugroho (Binus University)
9. Rosmiyana (Binus University)
10. Elghafiky Bimardhika (Universitas Indonesia)
11. Jane Revevalin (Institut Teknologi Bandung)
12. Roderick Sibarani (Universitas Indonesia)
13. Aulia Anggita (Universitas Indonesia)
14. Egalita Irfan (Universitas Indonesia)
15. Boby Andika Ruitang (Universitas Indonesia)
16. Fauzan Reza (Institut Teknologi Bandung)
17. Andrew Sadeli (Binus International)
18. Alifia Firliani (Universitas Bakrie)
19. Bramesada Prasastyoga (Universitas Indonesia)
20. Nabila Aghniarizqa (Universitas Gadjah Mada)