Speaker to Jury Reported to Have Malfunction During MPR Quiz Competition

The Education and Culture Department (Disdikbud) has received reports of a speaker malfunction directed at the jury during the delivery of answers by participants in the final of the Four Pillars of the MPR RI Quiz Competition at the provincial level in West Kalimantan (Kalbar), which drew protests from participants. Disdikbud stated that the disruption caused the participants’ answers to be less clearly audible. “The information I received indicates that the speaker pointing towards the jury experienced a malfunction, making the participants’ answers less clear. Meanwhile, on the YouTube live stream and for the audience, the sound was clear,” said the acting Head of the West Kalimantan Education and Culture Department, Syarif Faisal Indahmawan Alkadrie, as quoted by Detik on Tuesday (12/5). “We have already summoned the principal of SMAN 1 Pontianak and the accompanying team regarding this issue,” Faisal added. Faisal urged all parties to follow the applicable official procedures in the competition. He suggested that the school submit a request for a review to the organising committee. Faisal emphasised that the SMAN 1 Pontianak side has accepted the competition results. However, he assessed that an evaluation is still important to prevent similar incidents from recurring in future competitions. In a circulating video viewed on Monday (11/5), the jury gave different scores for the same answer from participants. In the competition, Group C from SMAN 1 Pontianak received a minus five score for an answer related to the process of selecting BPK members. However, a similar answer given by Group B from SMAN 1 Sambas was awarded 10 points by the same jury member, namely the Head of the Assessment Bureau of the MPR RI Secretariat, Dyastasita. Participants from Group C protested, feeling their answer was the same. However, the jury stated that Group C’s answer did not clearly mention the Regional Representative Council (DPD). Evaluation The MPR RI Secretary General, Siti Fauziah, had previously spoken out. Siti said her side respects the attention and input from the public regarding the dynamics in the competition. Siti mentioned that the organising committee is currently conducting an internal investigation into the scoring of participants’ answers. Her side assured a comprehensive evaluation of the technical aspects of the competition. “The MPR RI will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the technical aspects of the competition, including the scoring mechanism, clarity of answer articulation, participant answer verification system, and handling of objections in the competition, so that future similar activities can run even better, transparently, and accountably,” she added.