WSDC 2012: Indonesia at Mid-Table Halfway in Prelims

#29/E Indonesia has 2 wins and 7 judge points at the half-way mark of the preliminaries of the  2012 World Schools Debating Championships. That result puts the team in the second top quarter of the table, where chances to break are still open.

In R3 today, all three judges thought our team convincingly demolished the case of  #38/G Mongolia which proposed "This House Would Allow Single Parents in Prison to Raise Children Behind Bars". In R4, Team Indonesia lost but became the first to steal a judge from #8/B South Korea, which previously beat #32/F Argentina, #15/C Scotland and #21/D Sri Lanka 3-0. After 4 rounds, only Singapore and #1/A England have maximum points of 4 wins, 12 judges.

Yesterday, Team Indonesia unanimously defeated #48/H Zimbabwe in R2 after losing to reigning champions #6/A Singapore in the opener. The preliminaries resume on Sunday at the University of Cape Town after a break tomorrow. This year Indonesia is represented by twins Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana from SMA 4 Denpasar, Alif Satria from SMA 8 Yogyakarta and Cheryl Cosslett from SMA 1 Bogor.

WSDC 2012: Indonesia Gets Unique Draw

Indonesia enters the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships, which will start today in the South African city of Cape Town, with an uniquely favourable draw. While Team Indonesia will face reigning champion Singapore in the first round, it will not meet any country where English is the main native language for the subsequent 7 rounds. 

Furthermore, since its first participation in 2001, Indonesia had always met at least one country with Anglo-Saxon roots. Not even one this year. The other opponents are Zimbabwe, Mongolia, South Korea, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Israel and Botswana.

Four preliminaries have prepared motions and the other half are impromptu. All teams debate 8 different teams in the prelims, one from each of the 8 rank-based groupings. Indonesia is in the E grouping (ranks 25-30) and ranks #29 out of 48 contestants. The WSDC groupings are calculated based on victories and judge votes in the past 3 championships.

Team Indonesia 2012 consists of twins Revian Wirabuana and Revaldi Wirabuana from SMA 4 Denpasar, second-grader Cheryl Nazik Cosslett from SMA 1 Bogor and Alif Satria from SMA 8 Yogyakarta. There is no returning member in this team, one aspect that will be common in other contingents because the 2011 edition was only five months ago. Some nations like favourites New Zealand are even sending the same exact team. Most members of Team Indonesia 2011 are already in college.

Since its WSDC entry, Indonesia has broken twice into the octofinals in 2003 and 2004. The highest rank 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 draw, speaking position and schedule of Team Indonesia 2012's debates are as follows:     

19 January 2012 @ The Settlers High School

R1 Prop vs #6/A Singapore - Impromptu

R2 Opp vs #48/H Zimbabwe

THBT newly democratised Arab states should not allow religious parties to participate in elections

20 January 2012 @ Rhenish Girls High School

R3 Opp vs #38/G Mongolia - Impromptu 

R4 Prop vs #8/B South Korea

THBT developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration

22 January 2012 @ University of Cape Town

R5 Opp vs #33/F Germany - Impromptu

R6 Prop vs #13/C United Arab Emirates

THBT the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography

23 January 2012 @ Heideveld Township

R7 Prop vs #19/D Israel - Impromptu

R8 Opp vs #25/E Botswana 

THBT states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights