34 teams battle in debating contest
JAKARTA (JP): Thirty-four teams battled it out in the first three preliminary rounds of the Indonesian Varsities English Debate 1998 yesterday, the first such national debate here.
The three-day debate opened yesterday with 34 teams from 22 universities at the University of Indonesia (UI), Depok, West Java. The winning team may be nominated for the world English debating tournament, scheduled in December.
The debate was organized by the University of Indonesia's English Debating Society and is sponsored by RCTI private TV station.
Its opening saw debate teams verbally battling over issues covering student movements, science and technology, humor, the environment, psychology, entertainment and sports, economics, international and Indonesian reform agendas.
The teams utilize the Australasian parliamentary format, which requires three speakers to a team and seven minutes to each speaker, throughout the competition. The format is one of several used in international debating competitions.
The format allows either first or second speaker to present end arguments and the final conclusion, or the "rap-up".
About 30 adjudicators of the 51 invited showed up for the opening debates. Adjudicators present included entrepreneur Natalia Soebagjo, TV anchors Zsa Zsa Yusharyahya and Desi Anwar, director of The British Council Neil Kemp, the British Embassy's Deputy Head of Mission Quinton Quayle and University of Indonesia School of Letters lecturer Nadia Madjid.
Natalia said she was "quite impressed" with the UI English Debating Society's taking the initiative, stressing however that the tradition of debating should also be started in the Indonesian language. She added that the fact that all 34 teams were comprised of students not proficient in English but who were still at the debate was laudable.
"It is quite difficult to convey logic, emotions and basically express in a foreign language. This in itself is laudable," she said. Students needed to bring more focus to their debates, she said, and not deviate from the primary concept of the selected topic with irrelevant arguments.
"For instance, when talking of banning cigarette ads, you do not support it with 'cigarettes are harmful to health' ... no relevance whatsoever to the main topic," she said.
All 34 teams will resume their debate in today's preliminary rounds. Only eight will make it to the quarter finals, four to the semifinals and two to the final round on Monday.
Participating colleges from Greater Jakarta are University of Indonesia, Bina Nusantara University, Pancasila University, Jakarta University of Muhammadiyah, Tarakanita Secretarial Academy, Jakarta Teachers Training Institute, Atmajaya University and the Indonesian Institute of Technology.
Colleges from Java are Satya Wacana Christian University from Salatiga, Yogyakarta University of Muhammadiyah, Jenderal Soedirman University in Purwokerto, Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung's Parahyangan University, Semarang's Diponegoro University, Surabaya's Naval Academy, Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University and Surabaya's Petra University. Those from outside Java are Padang Teachers Training Institute, Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, Sulawesi, Bengkulu University and Bali's Udayana University. (ylt)