WSDC 2012: Indonesia Takes #25, Speakers Enter EFL List

Team Indonesia 2012 from L to R: Alif Satria,
Cheryl Cosslett, Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana

Team Indonesia bested their pre-tournament rank in the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships, taking the 25th position out of 48 contestants. The team entered the January 17-27 contest as rank #29. All four debaters also got into the Top 20 English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) speakers list. 


Team Indonesia won 4 debates, all with unanimous decisions when they were opposition, and collected 13 judges in the tournament's 8-round preliminary stage. They defeated Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Germany and Botswana and lost to Singapore, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and Israel.


While the result was insufficient to qualify for the knockouts, the team fared better than last year's squad and matched the W-L record in the 2006 and 2007 editions. Indonesia broke twice in WSDC, in 2003 and 2004, with 5 wins in the prelims. The 2010 team also bagged the same amount of victories but came short from making the cut.


Team Indonesia 2012 consists of twins Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana (SMA 4 Denpasar), Cheryl Cosslett (SMA 1 Bogor) and Alif Satria (SMA 8 Yogyakarta). The youngest Cheryl, the only second grader, scored the highest among the four and was the 10th best EFL speaker, immediately followed by Revian at #11EFL. Revaldi came at #15EFL while Alif was right behind him at #16EFL. Their speaker scores ranged from 70.767 to 70.292, an improvement from last year. The best speaker of the 2011 team reached #20 of the EFL list with 69.9. 


Chan Keun Kim from Korea took the best EFL speaker title for the second time in a row with 73.6; he was also #12 overall. The tournament's ultimate best speaker was Singapore's Teoh Ren Jie with 75.262; he also topped the tab last year. Indonesia's speaker point record is in the hands of Soraya Cassandra who scored 72.47 and reached #44 on the main list in WSDC 2005. 


Subarkah Syafruddin, a law student and debater from Universitas Indonesia, coached the team. Former debaters Ruli Manurung from Universitas Indonesia and Vitri Sekarsari from Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, respectively supervised and managed this year's contingent. They received support from the entire Indonesian debating community, including former WSDC debaters and coaches. 


Details of their achievements are as follows:
#10EFL Cheryl Cosslett 70.767
#11EFL Revian Wirabuana 70.729
#15EFL Revaldi Wirabuana 70.357
#16EFL Alif Satria 70.292

1. Prop vs #6/A Singapore (0-3) THW ban alcohol
2. Opp vs #48/H Zimbabwe (3-0) THBT newly democratised Arab states should not allow religious parties to participate in elections
3. Opp vs #38/G Mongolia (3-0) THW allow single parents in prison to raise children behind bars
4. Prop vs #8/B South Korea (1-2) THBT developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration
5. Opp vs #33/F Germany (3-0) THBT police should racial profiling to fight crime
6. Prop vs #13/C United Arab Emirates (0-3) THBT the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography
7. Prop vs #19/D Israel (0-3) TH supports child labour in the developing world
8. Opp vs #25/E Botswana (3-0) THBT states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights

WSDC 2012: Key Results and Motions

The 2012 World Schools Debating Championships ended yesterday in Cape Town with Scotland winning the final debate and Teoh Ten Jie from Singapore collecting his second best speaker award. He did not only top the individual tab last year but also led his team triumph and become the first champion from Asia.



Here are the key results from the world's most prestigious high school debating tournament. The numbers in the brackets after a team follow this order: post-tournament position, place after 8 preliminary rounds, pre-tournament rank and group. WSDC uses a 3-on-3 format but each team can have up to 5 members and rotate their turns. Only speakers who debated at least 4 times in the prelims can enter the top individual list.


Champions: Scotland #1/#5/#15/C -- 4th trophy

(Alfie Hinchliffe, Charlie Thomas, Ruth Cameron, April Shepherd, Josh Richards)

WSDC 2012 Champions - Team Scotland (Caledonian Mercury)

Finalists: Wales #2/#7/#10/B) -- 1st appearance in GF

(Amy Jones, David Wigley, Piers Digby, Helen Price)

Best New Nation: Swaziland (#28/28/#47/H)

Best ESL Team: Greece (#13/#12/#5/A)

Best EFL Team: Lithuania (#12/#11/#41/G)

Top 10 Speakers

1. Teoh Ren Jie (Singapore) -- back-to-back title
2. Sam Collier (England)
3. Alfie Hinchliffe (Scotland)
4. Michael Maklin (South Africa)
5. Natasha Rachman (England)
6. Akhsay Karia (England)
7. Ned Lis-Clarke (Australia)
8. Ben Goldstein (England)
9. Darion Hotan (Singapore)
10. Bo Seo (Australia)

Motions
R1. THW ban alcohol
R2. THBT newly democratised Arab states should not allow religious parties to participate in elections
R3. THW allow single parents in prison to raise children behind bars
R4. THBT developing nations should place limits on internal rural-urban migration
R5. THBT police should use racial profiling to fight crime
R6. THBT the feminist movement should seek a ban on pornography
R7. TH supports child labour in the developing world
R8. THBT states should enshrine legally actionable socio-economic rights
OF. THBT the government should create special schools that teach in endangered indigenous languages
QF. THBT gay rights organizations should out gay public figures
SF. TH supports 100% tax on all inherited wealth
GF. TH regrets South Africa's decision to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes committed under Apartheid

Adjudication Test: THW make voting compulsory
Reserve: THBT government-run broacsting stations should give airtime to racist political parties (used in the delayed India v Mexico debate)

WSDC 2012: Scotland Wins Fourth Crown

Scotland (Alfie Hinchliffe, Charlie Thomas, Ruth Cameron) triumphed in the final debate of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships, giving their nation its fourth trophy from the most prestigious high school debating event on the planet. Although Scotland championed WSDC in 1990, 1999 and 2007, middling performance during preliminaries in recent years pushed the country into the C group with a rank of #15. That is likely to change after it only lost once in the 2012 prelims.

In today's final, Scotland from opposition bench crushed Wales (Amy Jones, David Wigley, Piers Digby) in a debate that had the motion "This House regrets South Africa's decision to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather the prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes committed under Apartheid". Eight judges went for the Scots while one dissented. It was Wales' first appearance in a WSDC final. WSDC uses a 3-on-3 format but each team can have up to 5 members for rotation purposes and all team members can help build the cases. Scotland's alternates were April Shepherd and Josh Richards while Wales had only one, Helen Price.

Indonesia collected 4 wins and 13 judges to place #25 on the final tab, besting last year's result and matching the achievements in 2006 and 2007. Since its first participation in 2001, Indonesia has broken twice into elimination stage of WSDC, in 2003 and 2004. The 2013 edition will take place in Turkey. Thailand won the bid to host the tournament in 2014.

WSDC 2012: All UK Final - Wales v Scotland

St. George's Cathedral Cape Town
Venue of WSDC 2012 Grand Final

The champion of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships will come from United Kingdom after #10/B Wales and #15/C Scotland won their semifinal debates, both from opposition bench on 6-1 decisions. They knocked down the motion "This House supports 100% tax on all inherited wealth". Wales eliminated #1/A England while 3-time champion Scotland ended #17/C Philippines' Cinderella run. The Filipinos slayed champions of the two last editions - Canada (2010) and Singapore (2011) in the octos and quarters.

In its first appearance in a WSDC grand final, Wales will propose "This House regrets South Africa's decision to use the Truth and Reconciliation Commission rather than prosecuting perpetrators of crimes committed under Apartheid". The last debate in WSDC 2012 will take place at Cape Town's historic St. George's Cathedral, where anti-Apartheid activist and head of South Africa TRC, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was once based.

Team Wales 2012 is led by David Wigley who debated in the last 3 editions. The other members are Helen Price, Amy Jones and Piers Digby. Team Scotland 2012 consists of Alfie Hinchcliffe, Ruth Cameron, Josh Richards, April Shepherd and Charlie Holmes.

WSDC 2012: Philippines v Scotland; Wales v England in SF

#17/C Philippines killed another giant on their road to the semifinals of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships. After beating 2010 champions #4/A Canada in the octos, the Filipinos dashed #6/A Singapore's dream of defending their title. Singapore only lost a judge after 9 debates but the Philippines convinced all 5 judges on the panel to go their way. Their next opponent will be #15/C Scotland that beat #2/A Australia also with unanimous decision. 

The other semifinal will be between #10/B Wales and #6/A England who both got through on 3-2 decisions. All semifinalists suffered losses in the preliminaries.  England bowed to Australia and South Africa. Wales fell in debates against New Zealand and South Africa. The Philippines lost to the Netherlands and England. Scotland's only defeat was to South Korea.  The motion for the quarterfinals was "This House Believes That Gay Rights Organisations Should Out Gay Public Figures.

WSDC 2012: Two Asian Teams Win OF, Face Off in QF

Two Asian teams - #6/A Singapore and #17/C Philippines - came out victorious in the octofinals of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships but must face each other in the quarterfinals tomorrow. The Filipinos pulled off an upset with a win against #4/A Canada, the 2010 champions. Last year's winner Singapore is hot favourite with no defeat in the preliminaries and 26 out of 27 possible judge points so far. The only other team with a no-loss record is #3/A New Zealand, which will face #1/A England. The motion in the first elimination debate was "This House Believes That Government Should Create Special Schools that Teach in Endangered Indigenous Languages". The QF match-ups are as follows:

1. Singapore (#6/A) v 8. Philippines (#17/C)
4. Australia (#2/A) v 5. Scotland (#15/C)
3. New Zealand (#3/A) v 6. England (#1/A)
7. Wales (#10/B) v 15. Ireland (#12/B)

WSDC 2012: Break List

Reigning champion #6/A Singapore broke first into the knockouts of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships after winning all 8 preliminaries and only dropping one judge. Host #9/B South Africa and two-time winner #3/A New Zealand also entered the elimination stage without a loss. The darkhorses are #26/E Malaysia and #41/G Lithuania who collected 6 VP after taking the scalps of higher ranking teams. In R1, Malaysia provided the tournament's first shock with a win against 8-time champion and last year's finalist #2/A Australia. The two teams will meet again in the octofinal. The complete list after 8 rounds is as follows (Country, VP, Judges, Pre-Tourney Rank): 

1. Singapore (8-23) #6/A
2. South Africa (8-21) #9/B
3. New Zealand (8-21) #3/A
4. Australia (7-20) #2/A
5. Scotland (7-19) #15/C
6. England (6-20) #1/A
7. Wales (6-18) #10/B
8. Philippines (6-18) #17/C
9. Canada (6-17) #4/A
10. India (6-17) #18/C
11. Lithuania (6-17) #41/G
12. Greece (6-16) #5/A
13. Malaysia (6-15) #26/E
14. Hong Kong (5-16) #14/C
15. Ireland (5-16) #12/B
16. Korea (5-15) #8/B

Note: All A teams broke. #7/B Netherlands, which won all their debates last year, ended at #24 after losing 4 times in preliminaries. #11/B Pakistan missed the break on speaker points.

WSDC 2012: Indonesia Ends Journey with 4 Wins

#29/E Indonesia bagged its fourth win after an unanimous victory against #35/E Botswana in the last preliminary round of the 2012 World Schools Debating Championships but came short from breaking into the knockouts. The prediction this year is only teams with at least 5 wins and 15 judge points can enter the Top 16 after 8 mandatory debates. Indonesia advanced into the knockouts twice in 2003 and 2004, both on 5 VP. This year's result matches Team Indonesia performances in 2006 and 2007.  

Previously, Team Indonesia 2012 beat #33/F Germany, #38/G Mongolia and #48H Zimbabwe but lost to reigning champion  #6/A Singapore, #8/B South Korea, #13/C United Arab Emirates and #19/D Israel. All wins were unanimous and came from debating as the opposition. The team consists of twins Revaldi and Revian Wirabuana from SMA 4 Denpasar, Alif Satria from SMA 8 Yogyakarta and Cheryl Cosslett from SMA 1 Bogor.