School debate ends with a bang

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.