School debate ends with a bang

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta

Common sense and concrete arguments, rather than a mastery of English alone, were the main factors behind the progress of Jakarta 2 and East Kalimantan teams to the final of the second Indonesian Schools Debating Championship (ISDC), said debate judges on Monday.

"It's was interesting debate in which the teams presented their arguments strongly and countered their opponents'. However, what we're looking for is an argument that is much more realistic and logical," a member of the five-strong panel of judges, Floribertus Pramidanarto, said.

During the semifinals, the organizers took the theme: The House (of Representatives) plans to bar tobacco companies from sponsoring youth events.

In the first semifinal, Jakarta 2 team beat Yogyakarta, which acted as the House, while in the second semifinal East Kalimantan, which represented the House, edged out Jakarta 3.

The five judges looked into the content of argument, style and strategy the teams demonstrated during the debate.

Floribertus said the Yogyakarta team lost because it provided an argument, but failed to provide solid evidence and did not elaborate on its arguments. Citing an example, he said the team argued that tobacco companies deserved to be banned from sponsoring youth events on the grounds that their big banners and kiosks that were found everywhere would encourage young people to smoke.

In their response, the Jakarta team insisted that sponsorship from the tobacco companies would be beneficial to youth events as the money would be spent to purchase facilities and advertising to attract people to come.

"Take the Winfield Cup held in Adelaide, Australia, in 1998 for example. Winfield is a tobacco company, yet, the sponsorship for the rugby competition did not have any negative impact, rather, the event attracted many spectators," said Natalia, the first speaker of the Jakarta 2 team.

Although not all the speakers were fluent in English, they demonstrated their knowledge of the topic, and sometimes managed to crack jokes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll close our arguments with Crash! Boom! Bang! Crash means the House team's arguments are illogical; Boom, we point out to you that our arguments make sense; and Bang, we will hopefully win the debate," said Natalia.

Organizers only provided a small room that can accommodate around 30 spectators.

The way the teams defended their arguments was more interesting than the televised debates featuring presidential and vice presidential candidates, a spectator said.

At the end of the competition on June 30, the panel of adjudicators will select four Indonesian representatives to join the World Schools Debating Championship in Canada next year.