Two students of International Relations and a student of Governmental Studies of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) became the winner of a national debate competition conducted by UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau on Wednesday-Saturday (12-15/4).
The three students were Yopi Irianto Panut (an International Relations student), Flory Rahmah Abiwawanti (an International Relations student), and Afriza Sanya (a Governmental Study student). In an interview on Wednesday (19/4), Yopi informed that the competition was an Indonesian debate competition with ‘Ragam Karya, Tetap Satu Indonesia’ as the theme.
“The theme broke down into various aspects such as politics, economics, socio-culture, religion, and others. Before joining the competition, we had the first selection which was writing an essays on the area. Afterward, top 16 teams from various universities in Indonesia were selected,” told Yopi.
The teams were from Universitas Negeri Makasar, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Universitas Riau, Universitas Sultan Syarif Kasim, Universitas Bengkulu, Universitas Airlangga, Universitas Andalas, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Universitas Negeri Sebelas Maret, Universitas Doponegoro, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, Universitas Negeri Semarang, Universitas Negeri Padang, dan Universitas Sriwijaya, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII), and UMY. Indeed, the winner of the debate competition was UMY, the first runner up was UII, and the second runner up was University of Airlangga (UNAIR).
Besides, all of UMY’s participants became the best speaker. “Of 48 participants, 10 participants were selected as the best speakers. Alhamdulillah that all of us were included in top 10 best speakers.
Yopi also said the team will compete in other debate competitions. “On April 24-26, we are going to join a debate competition in University of Widyatama Bandung, and on April 30 – May 3, we compete in Universitas Negeri Makassar. We expect that other students become interested in debate. We have commenced to create a small debate club comprises of students of various faculties since UMY’s teams are one of the tough opponents in national Indonesian debate competitions.
