Asian debaters show silence is not golden

By Achmad Nurhoeri

Two university teams represented Indonesia in the 4th Asian Inter Varsity Debating Championship in Singapore from May 19 to May 25. Achmad Nurhoeri, a member of the University of Indonesia's team, and his coach Ruli Manurung discuss both the contest and whether debating has a place in Indonesian society.

SINGAPORE (JP): The motion at hand is that debating is an Asian value. No easy statement to defend as we survey tight- lipped classrooms in Asian universities, discussions proceeding as though scripted in legislatures and public debates being banned here and there throughout the continent.

It sounds even more illusive as leaders in Asia send out blunt signals that freedom of speech is not on the target list of development. But to prove that this motion stands, a clear definition of the topic should be determined first.

Debating should be defined as the process of inquiry and advocacy, a way of arriving at a reasoned judgment on a proposition. This activity should be recognized if there is an event that encourages it. Asian values are the norms accepted within the society. Asian students are the group we picked, as they are the ones who will take the controls when the old school of Asian leaders fades away.

Moreover, this process is already upon us with the pronounced "graying" among the leadership roster today. What we are discussing here is the presence of an event encouraging the act of debating among Asian students. Does this exist? Yes, and it is alive and kicking.

This is not an empty assertion. Leave the stilted classroom setting and meet Asia's future leaders in the Asian Inter Varsity Debating Championship. They are not yes-men. They come from various countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Singapore. They are not only from social and political study backgrounds, but many are future doctors, computer scientists and veterinarians.

They are involved in clashes of ideas on current world issues ranging from economic sanctions to doomsday predictions, gender to migrant workers. Each of them tries to convince the audience through the eloquent art of debating, not the debat kusir, more intimidation than an exchange of ideas, that is rampant in Indonesia.

They convey their arguments in articulate English, solid facts, twinkles of humor and bundles of wit. There are no pursed lips and derisive rolling of the eyes when they face their opponents' rejoinders. On the contrary, they respond elegantly with arguments always based on logic and sense, making the activity an art and science all at once. A refreshing change from grandstanding and behaving as though one is the omniscient authority.

"The older generation wants to keep the tenets of trying not to question authority," said Wilbert Yuque, a varsity debater from De La Salle University in Manila. "But now it's time for us to learn to criticize and reform the way we think about extreme ideas. Debate is the first step because there are always questions we have to raise, and things that you can not turn a blind eye to."

History

Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) proposed a format of a debating circuit for Asian debaters in 1993. Other Asian universities responded enthusiastically, and the dream came true in November 1994 when NTU became the first host of the Asian Inter Varsity Debating Championship (The Asians). Forty-four teams from eight Asian countries took part in the inaugural event, which is now an annual fixture.

The most recent was again held at NTU in May, and showed there was no let up in interest as more teams participated.

The Asians uses Australasian Parliamentary as its form of debate. Two teams consisting of three speakers each are divided into proposition and opposition camps. Speakers in turn deliver substantive speeches lasting seven minutes by following a regulated order. At the end of a debate, one speaker from both teams provides a five-minute reply speech. The winner is decided by a odd-numbered panel of adjudicators.

In addition to Australasian Parliamentary, competitive debating also includes British Parliamentary, American Parliamentary, Cogers, Oregon-Oxford, Lincoln-Douglas and others. All of the forms are practiced in debating societies throughout the world today.

Asian teams are now respected in the world debating arena. Thanks to the existence of the Asian Inter Varsity Debate, they have reached a standard that even classic debating societies of the world are trying hard to maintain.

In the last World Championship in South Africa, the National University of Singapore took top honors as the Best Team for English as a second language.

At the World Debating Championship in Ireland last year, teams from the four classic debating societies of Harvard, Yale, Cambridge and Oxford were eliminated by Asian teams.

Many Indian and Chinese students represented American, British and Australian debating societies this year at the event.

"Usually every time they saw a brown skin in the room, they (Caucasian debaters) would just walk away. Now we have earned their respect," said Enrique De La Cruz, champion of this year's Asians from University of Santo Tomas in Manila. "We have shown them that we can do it. We beat them. Therefore, we just can't give it up now."

Support

While there is no doubt about the ability of Asian students in debating, the sad fact is that they are trailblazers in societies that do not cultivate the act itself. Universities all over Asia still stick to the pedagogic doctrine of lecturing, saying that lecturers know best and students do not need to speak unless called upon.

"The problem is in the education system today," said Yoque, a psychology major. "They educate people from textbooks only. And what you have are students who know what to do but cannot find creative solutions. We have to keep on asserting reasoning all the time. We have to challenge old tenets that do not serve the purpose on the road to the 21st century. We have to look at debate as a vehicle of education."

Other entrenched societal institutions also hinder the act of debating.

"Debating is not popular in the local community. There has been poor interest," said Karthik Subburam, president of the Nanyang Technological University Debating Society.

"That is why we are organizing public debates, luncheon debates in order to attract the local interest."

In the last Asians, a public debate was held by the Singaporean varsity debaters in the middle of the country's most famous bookstore, MPH.

De La Cruz also recommended the public should support the student's enthusiasm in debating.

"NGOs can earn a lot from supporting debating competition," the prospective lawyer said. "Debating is also a form of entertainment, a show. People actually love to see rivalry in debating and that's why in the Philippines there is a televised varsity debate show every three months."

Facts have been provided, comments presented and the present situation has been served in supporting the motion that debating is an Asian value.

Asian students are on their way to lifting debating as their value. They have built the mechanism, they are ready to face the rest of the world and they are willing to be pioneers in changing a society that has been clinging to a myth that silence is golden.

In the words of Korean opposition leader Kim Dae Jung: "The biggest obstacle in Asia is not the cultural heritage but the resistance of authoritarian rulers and their apologists."

The only thing that can stop the blossoming of the act of debating among students is authoritarian repressiveness, a recipe that does not sell these days. Therefore, the motion proposing that debating is an Asian value must stand.