Rules of debating require thought, reason and wit<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Students nationwide, each handpicked by their
\nuniversities, milled around the grounds of the University of
\nIndonesia's schools of law and letters.<\/p>\n
Though thankfully not a literal demonstration for a noble
\ncause, the event was one of a cause: The Indonesian Varsities
\nEnglish Debate 1998, the first national debate in Indonesia, was
\nheld to serve as a platform for future endeavors in debating.<\/p>\n
Each team has three speakers, with seven minutes allocated for
\neach substantive speech, and five, for the \"wrap-up\" speech.<\/p>\n
The proverb \"better late than never\" applies in this case, but
\nmany students still wondered as to why it took so long for the
\nculture of debating to develop among Indonesian students.<\/p>\n
One of the five founders of UI-EDS and supervisor of the 25-
\nmember IVED'98 committee Hisar Maruli Manurung, or Ruli as he is
\nusually called, said a primary reason was the difficulty in
\nconvincing university administrators to promote the culture of
\ndebate.<\/p>\n
He said they were not supportive due to the fear of the spread
\nof \"bad thoughts\".<\/p>\n
\"They felt that new ideas could oppose university policies...
\nthey did not support any attempt to found a debating club,\" Ruli
\nsaid. He said that when the element of English was introduced,
\nthey jumped at the idea.<\/p>\n
\"I think universities now feel pressured to produce graduates
\nto compete in the global market, or at least, in the regional
\nmarket. So students must have English proficiency.\"<\/p>\n
When asked why was it that the first national debate here was
\nnot utilizing the national language, he said it had to do more
\nwith Indonesian debating history.<\/p>\n
\"It stems from the debating history here... how this debating
\nsociety began. There were some enthusiasts, me included, in
\n1994\/1995.<\/p>\n
\"We participated in some English debates... an experimental
\nextracurricular activity at UI,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In 1996, Ruli was UI's student of the year and the university
\nsent him to the ASEAN Varsities Debate in Kuala Lumpur with
\nJudithia Wirawan, the EDS' current treasurer.<\/p>\n
Ruli and Judithia have lost all their debates, but they came
\nhome with enough tricks of the trade to spill around.<\/p>\n
\"There were several aspects which I wanted to be exposed to.
\nMainly, one was English. The other, debating,\" said Ruli, now a
\nfaculty member of the University's School of Computer Science.<\/p>\n
\"If it was up to me to socialize the culture of debating, I
\nwould like to have an Indonesian debating event.\"<\/p>\n
Patsy Widakuswara, EDS external director and best speaker of
\nthis year's Indonesian Varsities English Debate, said the reason
\nEnglish was selected was to promote it on a national level. \"Once
\nwe do so, Indonesian students can compete on an international
\nlevel.\"<\/p>\n
If an existing international format could be worked on and
\nimprovised upon, an Indonesian format was in the pipeline, she
\nsaid. \"It's like exporting technology... first you import the
\nwhole thing and then we add on the local contents.\"<\/p>\n
Ruli said it would take a lot more than a format to teach
\nIndonesians to adhere to the rules of debating.<\/p>\n
\"Here what people normally regard as debating is one who
\nspeaks loudest, who gets to steal the forum, and dominate.<\/p>\n
\"Some debaters commented that this was not a debate, but a
\ndiscussion of opinions. In a debate, one must be able to
\ninterrupt your opponents, they said.\"<\/p>\n
The culture of interruptions and loudmouths is still deep-
\nrooted in minds, and the utilization of the Australasian format
\nwill teach people to accept differing opinions, he said.<\/p>\n
\"This is possible because with the format, we have seven-
\nminute speeches.\"<\/p>\n
\"So if someone really thinks that his or her opinion is right,
\nthe person can win on the merit of argument and not domination
\nover an opponent.\"<\/p>\n
What about selling lies to win points off an impossible
\nadjudicator?<\/p>\n
\"Adjudicators are supposed to represent a crossection of
\nsociety and sportive debaters would not let indications of what
\nthe adjudicators' backgrounds into their case-building.\"<\/p>\n
He said the adjudicators were also requested repeatedly not to
\nbring their prejudices into the debate.<\/p>\n
\"Say, if I were to advocate atheism to a religious
\nadjudicator, the only approach would be through scientific, or
\neven Darwinian approach, so to talk about physics and nature.<\/p>\n
\"(The argument) that we are basically cells and atoms and that
\nthere was no deity behind our creation. That this was all a
\nprocess of natural selection.\"<\/p>\n
Adjudicators were given a specific set of rules and they were
\ntold to look for matter, manner and method.<\/p>\n
When asked on how big a role eloquence and the use of English
\nplayed in the tournament, he judged it significant.<\/p>\n
\"I am sure that these institutions sent their students to this
\nevent because they spoke (well) in English, not because they were
\nlogical,\" he said.<\/p>\n
After speaking to chaperones of debators, he believed that
\nthere were several who had spent a lot of time abroad and took on
\na \"cocky\" attitude due to fluency in English.<\/p>\n
\"They have the obvious American and British accents, but when
\nI heard them debate, they had such shallow arguments.<\/p>\n
\"They see their opponents speaking broken English... so they
\nthink this is going to be an easy win.\"<\/p>\n
He added that he always reminded adjudicators that what was
\nimportant was the conveying of ideas, thoughts and logic.<\/p>\n
\"As long as they get their arguments across well, they don't
\nneed to choose the biggest words.<\/p>\n
\"They may speak with the most medok (heavy) Javanese accent.
\nThey might get their singulars and plurals, is's and are's wrong,
\nbut to me they have got a good manner.\" (ylt)<\/p>",
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