Students of Universitas Gadjah Mada made another achievement. This time, it is achieved by students from Faculty of Law. The debate team that was led by Jovi Andrea Bachtiar, pioneer of Law and Government Debating Community UGM, succeeded to make achievement at the national level. Jovi and his colleagues who are Aris Munandar and Aqlatul Gondho Ubudiah became the runner up of Law and Constitution Debate Competition which was held by Faculty of Law, Hasanuddin University (UNHAS), in Makassar from August 25 until 27, 2017.
It was not an easy journey for Jovi and his team to be the winner. After being selected as the group runner up, they moved to the next stage where they had to compete with another team from Sriwijaya University. The debate topic was Revision of Terrorism Constitution. As the pro team, UGM team succeeded to win the battle and move to the next stage which was a semifinal. In the semifinal, Trunojoyo University became their opponent with the debate topic on Implementation of Government Regulation Number 2, 2017. The victory was once again achieved by UGM team with the point of 3:2.
In the final stage, UGM contingent had to compete with the team from University of Indonesia (UI). They debated the topic of Authority of Constitutional Court to Conduct a Test against Constitutional Complaint. The debate was full of dialectic regarding constitution and constitutionalism both from law positive perspective which is implemented in Indonesia and other legal systems which are performed by other countries, including the United States, Austria, Germany, and South Korea. Those were considered as a comparison in constitutional laws and were directly presented in front of the participants.
As many as seven juries who are academicians from Faculty of Law, Hasanuddin University, said in this final stage, both UGM and UI teams succeeded to present their good analytical skill, thus it was difficult to tell who was the final winner. Finally, the juries decided UGM team became the runner up and UI team as the first winner of this competition.
As the leader and person in charge of UGM team, Jovi Andrea Bachtiar, said this victory is presented as a motivation for all academic community at Faculty of Law to dare to achieve their dreams without fear to take a risk.
“Choosing to be an independent team is actually difficult, however, the current condition in the country does not support the development of students’ skills in debate competition sector,” said Jovi on Monday (11/9).
Establishing a forum in the form of a debate community which is separated from all law concentrations, including constitutional law, has become Jovi’s dream since two years ago when he started his study at Faculty of Law. For Jovi, the debate is not only doing dialectic without fundamental knowledge but also a process which is oriented on the team harmonization. Therefore, he always puts team harmonization in the first place when forming a team.