UI shines at Australs 2008

Miranda Anwar ,  The Jakarta Post -- Discover ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 09/15/2008 4:11 PM  |  Education

At the recently concluded Australasia Intervarsity Debating Championship 2008, University of Indonesia (UI) students once again ranked among the best debaters in the Asia-Pacific region.

Representing the English Debating Society (EDS), the UI team of Freida Siregar, Astari Damia and Miranda Anwar took second place in the English as A Second Language (ESL) category.

Australs, as the championship is known, is the second largest debate tournament in the world and equal in prestige to the World Universities Debating Championship.

This year’s Australs was held on July 3-11 at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.

Over the course of eight preliminary rounds, 222 students from 31 universities across Asia, Australia and New Zealand engaged in heated battles of words and wits on topics ranging from terrorism in Southern Mindanao, the oil and food crises, homosexual rights, the political turmoil in Zimbabwe and many more contemporary issues.

Prior to every round of debating, each team was assigned the role of either Proposition or Opposition.

The topics were announced 30 minutes before debating began, giving teams just enough time to prepare their arguments.

In order to win a debate, a team must convince the judges’ panel of the validity of their argument through critical analysis and a logical, clear and persuasive presentation of their argument in a series of 8-minute speeches.

The championship consisted of two categories: the main category and the ESL category. The ESL category is designed for teams from non-English speaking countries that are inherently  disadvantaged against teams with no language barrier.

At the conclusion of the preliminary rounds, the teams were ranked according to their victory points, total score and win-loss margin. The top 16 teams in the main category and the top four teams in the ESL category then advanced to the semifinals and final to contest the  championship title in each category.

The UI team finished the preliminary rounds in the ESL category ranked No. 1. The team proceeded to win the ESL semifinal against a team from Thailand’s Assumption University on the topic: “That industrialized nations should be forced to accept climate change refugees”.

In the ESL Grand Final, however, the UI team lost to the International Islamic University team from Malaysia. The debate topic was: “That the price of petrol should be determined entirely by the market”.

Despite the loss, the UI team clearly dominated the ESL category, as two of its members, Miranda Anwar and Freida Siregar, were named respectively the 1st and 3rd Best Speakers in the ESL category.

Their success marked the third year running that UI debaters ranked among the top ESL speakers at Australs.

EDS UI president Mahardhika Sadjad said these achievements reinforced the university’s consistently strong performance at international debate tournaments.

“EDS UI currently ranks as the 33rd best debate club in the world, according to the World Debate Website,” she said.

“We wish to maintain this success and continue getting better through consistent participation at international tournaments. We are currently raising funds to send another strong contingent to the World Universities Debating Championship in Ireland at the end of the year.”

In the main Australs 2008 category, the Grand Final pitted two Australian teams against each other: the University of Sydney team, comprising Naomi Oreb, Julia Bowes and Steve Hind, and the Monash University team of Sashi Balaraman, Victor Finkel and Kiran Iyer.

Debating the topic “That gun ownership should be restricted to law enforcement agencies”, the University of Sydney won the final and was crowned the Australs 2008 Champion.

Naomi further solidified the University of Sydney’s dominance by winning the Martin Sorenson Trophy for Best Overall Speaker, as well as the Jock Fanselow Cup for Best Speaker in the Grand Final.

The championship also featured social events such as Opening Cocktail, Comedy Night, Women’s Debate and the Championship Dinner, which provided participants with plenty of opportunities to unwind, mingle with fellow debaters from other countries and forge lasting friendships.

The most memorable of these was the Women’s Debate, in which the top female debaters at the championship confronted issues of transsexual rights, followed by a thought-provoking speech from a prominent transsexual activist in the Philippines.

Australs 2009 will be hosted by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

Here’s hoping that Indonesian debaters will continue to shine at future Australs!

The writer is a sixth-year law student at the University of Indonesia and former English Debating Society president. 

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.