Yogyakarta city dominates 'pesantren' debate contest

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bogor

Yogyakarta participants dominated a debate competition held on Friday at the Jaya Raya resort outside Bogor, placing six groups in the final eight.

Yogyakarta certainly lived up to its reputation as the city of education. Three of the six groups from Yogyakarta came from Muhammadiyah I high school, two from the Indonesian Islamic University and another from Achmad Dahlan University.

"The other two groups (in the final eight) came from the Al Amin Islamic boarding school in Madura, East Java, and Bandung Islamic University," said jury member Teguh Imam Subarkah of the English Debating Society of the University of Indonesia.

The debate and speech competition, which is being conducted in English, is titled Human Rights Public Speaking Competition.

On Friday morning, jury members from Ibnu Khaldun University announced the six finalists in the speech contest, which was participated in by 45 students. The six were from a number of different Islamic boarding schools, including Nurul Hakim in Kediri, East Java, Al Amien in Madura, East Java, and Cipasung in Tasikmalaya, West Java.

Teguh said he was surprised by some of the ideas expressed by the students during the speech contest, which took place in English.

"They are fluent in expressing their thoughts on the compatibility of Islam with democracy and human rights," said Teguh.

He said most of the students argued that the concept of democracy had been adopted by the Prophet Muhammad when he was alive, as seen in the Constitution of Medina.

The winners will be announced late on Friday night.

The debate and speech competition features Islamic boarding schools from around the country and is said to be the first event of its kind in the country.