Representatives from Speech and Law Debate Society (SPECIALITY) FH UGM, Ardian Dwi Saputra (class of 2020), Andriany Cindy Sitio (class of 2021), and Kenley Wijaya (class of 2021), won 1st Place in the 2022 APBN (State Budget) Debate Competition, organized by Indonesia's Ministry of Finance. The final round took place on Thursday, October 27, 2022, at the Djuanda I Building of the Ministry of Finance in Jakarta.
The competition opened with an essay selection round involving 192 teams from universities across Indonesia. In this round, all teams had to write a policy brief on the theme "State Budget Policy in Facing Rising Food and Energy Commodity Prices." From this stage, 32 teams with the strongest policy brief advanced to a paper defense. From the paper defense round, 16 teams were selected to move to the preliminary debate round, competing three times using the asian parliamentary format. The 8 teams with the highest victory points then advanced to a knockout-style debate stage, which narrowed the field down to the final 3 teams.
The three finalist teams were from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Politeknik Keuangan Negara STAN, and Universitas Hasanuddin. The final round was attended directly by Indonesia's Minister of Finance, Sri Mulyani, and consisted of four sessions: Proposal Presentation, Grand Debate, Judges' Questions, and Minister's Questions. In the final round, the UGM team took 1st Place with a score of 1,180.
Following this achievement, the SPECIALITY FH UGM delegation thanked everyone who helped throughout the competition, expressing hope that this would motivate other FH UGM students to sharpen their critical thinking and public speaking skills. The article notes that the SPECIALITY FH UGM community welcomes students interested in joining and developing these skills.
Writer: Ardian Dwi Saputra
Editor: Public Relations
