To refine its members’ logical reasoning and public speaking skills to a higher level, the Debate Club of Mahidol University International College (MUIC) competed in the Jakarta Australasian Intervarsity Debate Championships 2024 (Australs) organized by Edudrift at Episode Gading Serpong, Jakarta, Indonesia on June 30 – July 7, 2024.

The Australs debate tournament, renowned for its rigorous format and diverse topics, is a significant challenge for any team. The MUIC teams faced formidable opponents in seven rounds of intense debates, showcasing their ability to navigate complex issues and present compelling arguments. The debaters made new friends from fellow participant teams coming from numerous countries, for example, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, while enjoying this engaging competition and exploring the city of Jakarta.

Apart from competing on par with other contestants in an international level tournament, the club said one of its teams faced and won in a preliminary round against the team from Chinese University of Hong Kong which later became champions in English second language category.

The club’s adjudicator, Mr. Patsha Ha, a senior member who acted as the team’s coach for this event, was promoted from Adjudicating trainee to Panelist, an award given to those who had a high judging score in the qualifying rounds, giving them a role in determining rounds results.

“Both our teams found success taking home wins against teams from New Zealand, Hong Kong, India and more. To engage with a variety of topics ranging from economics issues like housing, to hypothetical sports topics about Formula 1, Australs was the most challenging tournament I have ever been to and I liked it,” said a Debate Club member.

The teams commented on the competing experience: “It is a completely different experience. The format of the tournament removes the opportunity to interrupt or ask quick questions between speeches so we were forced to work around this with counter arguments. With longer speech time, we also improved our preparations, by working on designing sets of logical statements and perspectives more than we normally do, to give the best nuanced explanation possible.”

The teams were composed of Ibrahim O Dawoodjee and Krittiya Sagaekhao (from Biological Science major); Sumit Sachdev and Tate Lee (from Computer Science major); Shanjit Chitphentom and Patsha Ha (from International Relations major) and Rahul Yadav (from Physics major).