WSDC 2014: Best Team Indonesia Ever with 6 Wins and 16 Judge Points

Team Indonesia in WSDC 2014 at Assumption University Bangkok (l to r) : Riza Aryani (coach), Kevin Bonaparte (SMA 17 Makassar), Alif Azadi (SMA Modal Bangsa Aceh), John Amadeo (Raffles International School Jakarta), Regina Cara Riantoputra (SMA 2 Tangerang Selatan), Marsa Harisa (SMA 9 Yogyakarta), Subarkah Syafruddin (coach)

Team Indonesia advanced into the octofinals of the 2014 World Schools Debating Championships in Bangkok with 6 wins and 2 losses, the best ever record by the country's high school debaters. Indonesia had only broken twice before, 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.

In the preliminaries, Team Indonesia defeated 6 European squads - Sweden, Greece, Romania, Turkey, Estonia and an English-as-first-language team Wales, which reached the final of WSDC in 2012. They only lost to WSDC 2010 champion Canada and United Arab Emirates. Team Indonesia broke as the 11th team on the list, equalling the rank of the WSDC 2003 squad. Indonesia's upset win over Wales made the latter fail to break in the end but it was not the only favourite that collapsed. Former champions Scotland and the United States also could not qualify into the Top 16.

Team Indonesia 2014 consist of 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). Their overall speaker score was quite high, indicating some of them may enter the top 50 speaker list. Only two Indonesians have entered that illustrious list - sisters Siti Astrid Kusumawardhani and Siti Soraya Cassandra in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

Their coaches are Australs ESL champion Subarkah Syafruddin, an Universitas Indonesia alumnus who guided Team Indonesia to respectable 4-4 finishes in WSDC 2012 and 2013, and his Australs teammate and fellow UI graduate Riza Aryani. The coaches fought for the provision of the fifth seat in the team for a debater who comes from outside the education ministry system of selection.

That fifth member, John Amadeo who comes from an English-speaking school, was an integral part of the success. The two girls in the squad, Regina Cara Riantoputra and Marsa Harisa, are well-known high school debating stars with numerous best speaker awards. Team Indonesia 2014 also had two non-Java debaters, Kevin Bonaparte from South Sulawesi and Alif Azadi from Aceh, who showed there should be no barriers for debaters in Indonesia to excel if they work hard to enhance their skills through rigorous training.

But this is not new. Non-Java debaters have been a vital part of the WSDC squads since Indonesia first joined the competition in 2001. The first Team Indonesia was even captained by a student from West Kalimantan. Time and again, non-Java high school debaters have proven they can compete with the rest. However, almost all of the non-Java WSDC debaters ended up debating for Java-based universities. This is the Indonesian debating world's brain drain issue that should start from making non-Java educational institutions attractive for these high school stars.

In the octofinal, Team Indonesia had to end their amazing journey in the hands of defending champions Australia, which later fell in the quarterfinal. Although WSDC 2014 has become the tournament of upsets with favourites exiting early, the semifinal debates had four English-as-first-language teams. The final will be between undefeated #1 South Africa, which is bent on becoming Africa's first WSDC champion, and #3 England, the three-time winner.

WSDC 2013: Unlucky Day for Indonesia; Swaziland on Fire

Team Indonesia lost all two of their matches on Day 3 of the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships in Turkey, a competition that has become swooned by the fairytale campaign of Swaziland, a small African nation whose debaters have won all bar one of their rounds. Tomorrow is the last day for the preliminaries with R7 and R8.

Swaziland - WSDC 2013's cinderella

Indonesia's two losses came from split decisions that went in favour of their opponents - Romania in R5 and United Arab Emirates in R6. At the moment, Indonesia's scorecard is 3-3 with 2 rounds to go. Indonesia will meet Malaysia tomorrow morning and host Turkey in the afternoon. Both teams have higher ranks but pulling off an upset is very possible. Our debaters did it in R1 against Greece and have the ability to repeat that feat. The members of this year's team are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak.

The major upsets of the tournament came from a team from Swaziland, a country that only joined WSDC last year when they ended with a respectable 4-4 tally. They are now almost certain to break. Debaters of this tiny state have won 5 out of their 6 matches, only losing to 2011 champion Singapore on a 2-1 split decision in the first round. There was no more slip from there on. In the next round, they crushed Lebanon. Yesterday, they knocked down  Slovakia and then embarrased reigning champion Scotland through convincing 3-0 wins. Today, they outclassed Israel and China. Tomorrow, they face Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania.

WSDC 2013: Indonesia at 3-1 After R4, 4 Rounds to Go

Antalya, Turkey - the host city of WSDC 2013

Team Indonesia made a flying start by taking wins in the first three debates in the 2013 World Schools Debating Championships, the best ever, but had to accept a loss to last year's finalist Wales in round 4 today. After 2 days of debate, the temporary tally is 3 victories and 1 defeat.

In the morning round, Team Indonesia edged out Bosnia & Herzegovina on a 2-1 split decision in a debate in which our debaters proposed greater US military presence in East Asia. In the impromptu afternoon match, Wales argued for the motion "THW allow prisoners choose death over life imprisonment" and all three judges went their way. With 4 mandatory rounds to go, the national squad must win at least half of them to keep their chance to break alive. They will face Romania and United Arab Emirates tomorrow.

Since the first participation in 2001, Indonesia has broken into the knockouts twice, in 2003 and 2004, both with 5 wins from 8 rounds. In 2010, Indonesia also bagged 5 wins but came short from breaking on judge votes. Only the top 16 teams can break into the knockouts.The members of this year's team are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak.The coaches are Universitas Indonesia students Subarkah Syafrudin and Roderick Sibarani.

WSDC 2013: Corrected Draw Gives Indonesia Euro Rivals

World of Wonders Topkapi Palace in Antalya, Turkey - Hotel for WSDC 2013

The revised draw for  2013 World Schools Debating Championships in Turkey presents Indonesia with a mostly European challenge. The first draw for the preliminary rounds of the January 27-February 5 competition had to be cancelled after the organizers failed to include Hungary, which eventually will go against Team Indonesia in the second debate. The other in-round opponents are Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wales, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and Turkey.

All WSDC teams must debate 8 different teams in the prelims, one from each of the 8 rank-based groupings. Indonesia is in the E grouping (#25-30) and ranks #27 out of 50 contestants. The WSDC groupings are calculated based on victories and judge votes in the past 3 championships. Greece is from group A. So, it is the highest ranked team Indonesia will face in the mandatory rounds. In 2004, Team Indonesia defeated Greece. Realistically, the toughest match will be against Wales, last year's finalist. Four preliminaries have prepared motions and the other four rounds are impromptu. Winning less than five prelims guarantees seats in the audience during the knockouts.

The members of Team Indonesia 2013 are Carrisa Tehputri and Ida Ayu Pradnya Paramita from SMA 4 Denpasar, Adeline Tiffanie from SMA Kristen 1 Jakarta and Sayyid Habibullah from SMA 3 Pontianak. There is no returning member in this team, one aspect that will be common in other contingents. Since its WSDC entry, Indonesia has broken twice into the octofinals in 2003 and 2004. The highest achievement is #11 in 2003 but the team which collected the most judge votes was the one who went to WSDC 2010 in Qatar. Unfortunately, the latter did not break. Only the top 16 teams can break into the knockouts. The 2003, 2004 and 2010 teams won 5 preliminary matches. Last year, Team Indonesia ended at #25 after having a 4-4 record.

The draw, speaking positions and motions for Team Indonesia 2013's debates are as follows:

R1 Opp vs Greece  (#6/A) - THBT decisions about children's health should be made by medical professionals, not by parents

R2 Prop vs Hungary (#50/H) - Impromptu

R3 Prop vs Bosnia & Herzegovina (#43/G) - TH supports greater US military presence in East Asia

R4 Opp vs Wales (#8/B) - Impromptu
R5 Opp vs Romania (#32/F) - THW cease the exploitation of resources in the Arctic region

R6 Prop vs United Arab Emirates (#17/C) - Impromptu
R7 Prop vs Malaysia (#20/D) - TH supports sovereign debt default as a legitimate economic strategy for countries 

R8 Opp vs Turkey (#26/E) - Impromptu

See the full draw here