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: 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 2014: Indonesia With 2 Wins So Far in Unpredictable Tourney

At the mid-way point of the 2014 World Schools Debating Championship, Team Indonesia has collected 2 wins from 4 rounds. There are 4 preliminaries to go with an open chance to break into the top 16. Our national squad defeated lowly ranked Sweden and  highly seeded Greece. They lost to the 2010 champion Canada and United Arab Emirates, which are among the top ten favorites. In the next 4 rounds, they will face opponents with more or less of the same quality. They need at least 5 wins out of 8 debates to be able to advance into the elimination stage.

The tournament itself has been full of surprises, showing the tight level of competition. Former WSDC champions Scotland and Singapore bowed to underdogs China and Germany, respectively in round 1. Barbados, a team with erratic participation and without a good track record in WSDC, is becoming a dark horse with 3 wins out of 4. All teams have lost at least one judge point.  

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 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.

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 2013 team won the best EFL team award.

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

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.

ALSA UI E-Comp 2014: Key Results (High School)

Champion: #2 SMA 4 Denpasar A (Denny Adiputra, Yunindita Prasidya, Putu Ayu Saraswati)
Finalist: #4 SMA 1 Denpasar A (Elizabeth Hanakata, Biani Himawan, Keila Ayu Anandasita)
Best Speaker: Yunindita Prasidya (SMA 4 Denpasar A)

Top 10 Speakers
1. Yunindita Prasidya (SMA 4 Denpasar A)
2. Putu Ayu Saraswati (SMA 4 Denpasar A)
3. Alif Azadi (SMA Modal Bangsa A)
4. Denny Adiputra (SMA 4 Denpasar A)
5. Gracia Nicole Tan (SMA 4 Denpasar B)
6. Vincentius Michael (SMAK 1 Penabur Bandung A)
6. Kevin Bonaparte (SMA 17 Makassar B)
8. Yandiaz Siregar (SMA 4 Denpasar B)
9. Muhammad Armiya (SMA Modal Bangsa A)
9. Keila Ayu Anandasita (SMA 1 Denpasar A)
9. Bagus Santosa (SMA 1 Sidoarjo B)

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.

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.

Search for WSDC 2012 Coach Ends Today

World Schools Debating Championships 2011 might have only been a month ago but the Ministry of Education is poised to kick off preparations for next year's edition due to the competition's January schedule. Today is the last registration day for those who want to coach Team Indonesia. The selected coach/es must be able to hit the ground running as a pool of pre-selected 24 high school speakers need to be whittled down to 4 members of the national squad by mid-October.

The upcoming preparations should learn lessons from WSDC 2011, especially because many countries may field the same debaters in January due to the short interval. Indonesia this year ended at #37 with a 2-6 record. For comparison to previous performances in WSDC, click here. Consolation from the last WSDC campaign came from Aceh debater Nudzran Yusya who slipped into the top 20 EFL speaker list with an average point of 69.9. As a comparison, the best speaker of the tournament Teoh Ren Jie from champion Singapore averaged at 74.7.

The next WSDC will be held in South Africa, the same country where Team Indonesia first competed in a WSDC in 2001. Then, Donny Eryastha (SMA 2 Bengkulu), Marlisa Soepeno (SMA 17 Makassar), Ina Damayanti (SMA Taruna Nusantara), Aulia Astagina (SMA 6 Yogyakarta) and captain Rusdi Ghazali Malueka (SMA 3 Pontianak) introduced Indonesia on the WSDC stage by grabbing the the Best New Team award after winning 3 out of 8 mandatory debates.