34 teams battle in debating contest<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Thirty-four teams battled it out in the first
\nthree preliminary rounds of the Indonesian Varsities English
\nDebate 1998 yesterday, the first such national debate here.<\/p>\n
The three-day debate opened yesterday with 34 teams from 22
\nuniversities at the University of Indonesia (UI), Depok, West
\nJava. The winning team may be nominated for the world English
\ndebating tournament, scheduled in December.<\/p>\n
The debate was organized by the University of Indonesia's
\nEnglish Debating Society and is sponsored by RCTI private TV
\nstation.<\/p>\n
Its opening saw debate teams verbally battling over issues
\ncovering student movements, science and technology, humor, the
\nenvironment, psychology, entertainment and sports, economics,
\ninternational and Indonesian reform agendas.<\/p>\n
The teams utilize the Australasian parliamentary format, which
\nrequires three speakers to a team and seven minutes to each
\nspeaker, throughout the competition. The format is one of several
\nused in international debating competitions.<\/p>\n
The format allows either first or second speaker to present
\nend arguments and the final conclusion, or the "rap-up".<\/p>\n
About 30 adjudicators of the 51 invited showed up for the
\nopening debates. Adjudicators present included entrepreneur
\nNatalia Soebagjo, TV anchors Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya and Desi Anwar,
\ndirector of The British Council Neil Kemp, the British Embassy's
\nDeputy Head of Mission Quinton Quayle and University of Indonesia
\nSchool of Letters lecturer Nadia Madjid.<\/p>\n
Natalia said she was "quite impressed" with the UI English
\nDebating Society's taking the initiative, stressing however that
\nthe tradition of debating should also be started in the
\nIndonesian language. She added that the fact that all 34 teams
\nwere comprised of students not proficient in English but who were
\nstill at the debate was laudable.<\/p>\n
"It is quite difficult to convey logic, emotions and basically
\nexpress in a foreign language. This in itself is laudable," she
\nsaid. Students needed to bring more focus to their debates, she
\nsaid, and not deviate from the primary concept of the selected
\ntopic with irrelevant arguments.<\/p>\n
"For instance, when talking of banning cigarette ads, you do
\nnot support it with 'cigarettes are harmful to health' ... no
\nrelevance whatsoever to the main topic," she said.<\/p>\n
All 34 teams will resume their debate in today's preliminary
\nrounds. Only eight will make it to the quarter finals, four to
\nthe semifinals and two to the final round on Monday.<\/p>\n
Participating colleges from Greater Jakarta are University of
\nIndonesia, Bina Nusantara University, Pancasila University,
\nJakarta University of Muhammadiyah, Tarakanita Secretarial
\nAcademy, Jakarta Teachers Training Institute, Atmajaya University
\nand the Indonesian Institute of Technology.<\/p>\n
Colleges from Java are Satya Wacana Christian University from
\nSalatiga, Yogyakarta University of Muhammadiyah, Jenderal
\nSoedirman University in Purwokerto, Bandung Institute of
\nTechnology, Bandung's Parahyangan University, Semarang's
\nDiponegoro University, Surabaya's Naval Academy, Yogyakarta's
\nGadjah Mada University and Surabaya's Petra University. Those
\nfrom outside Java are Padang Teachers Training Institute,
\nHasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, Sulawesi, Bengkulu
\nUniversity and Bali's Udayana University. (ylt)<\/p>",
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