The English Debate Contest on the theme “US ELECTION†between Public and Private University that was conducted by American Corner UGM went very well. Eleven teams from six different universities (UGM, UNY, UII, UPN, UMY, UAJY) debated competitively to get into the final.
After two days selection, 31 October and 1 November 2008, the five juries (Amerian Corner Representative, Ardhy (UMY), Satrio (Undip), Desideria (Atmajaya), and Christy (US Embbassy)) finally came out with two teams at the final, which are Team UGM B and Team UII B.
With Obama and McCain’s picture set as their background, both teams showed what they got. Not only they had to be skillful in debating in English, they also had to have broad knowledge on the theme they were discussing about. In the process of selection from the beginning of the selection through the final, the topics are popular issues brought by the two American parties Republican and Democrat, such as abortion, firearm ownership responsibilities, tax policy reformation, etc.
In the final, each team will debate on how effective the U.S. security system can tackle terrorism. In this round, team UGM B represented the Republican, while team UII B the Democrat.
Team UGM B (Putranda Yeremia Tumewu (Chemistry), Ika Septi (International Relations), Eldhianto M. Jusuf (International Relations)) finally won the contest over team UII B. Ika Septi said that the triumph was no doubt the fruits of their hard work in doing routine training facilitated by English Debating Society of UGM (EDS-UGM).
The Coordinator of American Corner UGM, Nur Cahyati Wahyuni said that the winners would get several packages of books, certificate, and t-shirt from the executing committee. At the second place was Team UII B (Andika Firnanda, Meiske Iriyani, Rachman Wintarto), third place Team UPN (M.Indra Wahyudin, Muhammad Rasyid Ridlah, Angga Tri Agustianto), and Team UMY A (Made Fritri Maya Padmi, Muhammad Aqsa, Rebi Novrida Anto).
(Public Relations of UGM/Gusti Grehenson)