UI wins English debating contest

JAKARTA (JP): A three-person team from the University of Indonesia (UI) defended the United Nations' role just as effectively as it argued for the Armed Forces to leave the political stage on its way to winning the first Indonesian Varsities English Debate competition yesterday.

Patsy Widakuswara, Handayani Putri and Agung Nugroho combined wit, sarcasm, eloquence and a little dose of humor as they argued their way to victory over the team from the Jenderal Soedirman University of Purwokerto in the final.

They opposed the motion "The United Nations is the Biggest Joke of All" to win the Minister of Education and Culture Trophy.

The Jenderal Soedirman team had underlined the ambivalence of the world body, pointing to double standards in its approach to the Gulf War and the Bosnian war, and attributed this to the dominance of the United States.

But the University of Indonesia team came armed with plenty of facts about the good things that the United Nations has done in promoting peace and the welfare of the people all over the world.

It was a unanimous decision, with all 11 members of the jury -- including a British diplomat, educators and journalists -- giving their vote to the University of Indonesia team.

Patsy also won the trophy for the best speaker of the tournament, although in the final round her colleague Agung, dubbed the entertainer in the team, won the accolade.

Earlier, she and her colleagues proposed the motion "The Armed Forces Should Leave the Political Stage" against the team from the University of Atmajaya of Jakarta to win its semifinal.

The team from the University of Jenderal Soedirman -- Basiswanto Wiratama, Moh. Bahrul Wijaksana and Mara Umar -- reached the final after winning a closely contested debate against the team from Parahyangan University of Bandung on the motion "That the Police Should Leave the Armed Forces".

Thirty-three teams from 22 colleges across Indonesia took part in the contest, which got underway Friday at the University of Indonesia campus in Depok. The competition was organized by the University of Indonesia's English Debating Society and was sponsored by, among others, the RCTI private TV station.

Participants from Jakarta included Bina Nusantara University, Pancasila University, Jakarta University of Muhammadiyah, Tarakanita Secretarial Academy, Jakarta Teachers Training Institute and the Indonesian Institute of Technology.

From outside Jakarta, the participants were Satya Wacana Christian University of Salatiga, Yogyakarta University of Muhammadiyah, Bandung Institute of Technology, Semarang's Diponegoro University, Surabaya's Naval Academy, Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Surabaya's Petra University, Padang Teachers Training Institute, Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang, Bengkulu University and Denpasar's Udayana University.

The UI team quickly became the favorite after winning virtually all its rounds by unanimous decisions.

The debate used the Australasian parliamentary format, which has three speakers to a team and allocates seven minutes to each speaker, throughout the competition.

The organizers have agreed to turn this into an annual contest, and the University of Atmajaya has agreed to host the event next year. (ylt/emb)