UI wins English debating contest

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)