ITB Students as Indonesian First Students to Win World Level Debate Competition

Oleh Hafshah Najma Ashrawi

Editor -

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - Two students of ITB : Vicario Reinaldo (Industrial Engineering 2010) and Fauzan Reza Maulana (Civil Engineering 2011) managed to record a new history in the world of international debate by becoming the first Indonesian to win the World's University Debating Championship (WUDC) . WUDC held at Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai city of India for one week on December 27, 2013 until January 3, 2014.
WUDC is a debate competition among students which is also the largest debate competition in the world, followed by 384 teams from various countries around the world. The competition consists of three categories: English as Primary Language, English as Secondary Language, and English as Foreign Language. Category followed by Vicario and Reza are English as Foreign Language (EFL). To be a champion in this game Vicario and Reza must beat students from Russia (New Economic School), Germany (Eberhard Karls University Tübingen), and Poland (University of Warsaw) as the toughest rival in the final round. The theme that carried the debate was "This House Believes That Multinational Companies Should be Liable for Human Rights Abuses That Occur Anywhere in Their Supply Chain".

This debate  using parliamentary debate British system. The topic was announced a few moments before the debate begins. Contestants are divided into four teams, two representing the two pro-government and opposition represents. The winning team is the team that can focus to  answer the central question posed and the having the largest contribution during the debate.

"There is a challenge for this competition because on the debate that i followed before the jury was familiar with Asian accents, but now because there are judges who are from America or Europe who are not familiar with Asian accent so I had to adjust my speaking style," said Vicario who won the United Asian debating Championship (UADC) 2013 in Manila, Philippines last year.

Before becoming the representative of Indonesia, Reza an Reza had incorporated in the Student English Forum (SEF) following the first ITB national selection through the National University Debating Championship (NUDC) to be a representation that will be funded by the Higher Education departure in September. Then elected four teams from the selection, from the University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, Bina Nusantara University, and Institut Teknologi Bandung. Once elected, the Indonesian representative is given training by the Higher Education held in Bandung and Jakarta.

"At first I followed this competition expecting to test the ability of the international scale debate in the race course, unexpectedly it turned out to be a champion. Currently Indonesia announced the champion feels great," said Vicario.

At the end of the interview Vicario hope that this achievement was the inspiration for his friends in the world of debate that continues to struggle and do not give up if you experience a failure because during 6.5 years of work in the world of English debate, the first 3 years he never earned anything. "The key is not only language skills but must diligently exercise and diligent search for information from various sources, not just from books or the news but also discussions with other people," said him.


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