Yogyakarta city dominates 'pesantren' debate contest

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.