Proudly! IPB University Students Win 1st Place in IDN Times Debate League
IPB University’s student team won 1st place in the IDN Times Student Debate League (6/6). The event was held from May 18 to June 6, 2024 at the main building of IDN Times Media Jakarta, with the theme “The Role of Gen Z towards Environmental Issues”.
The IPB University students are Gilang Dwi Laksana (Agribusiness), Ida Ayu Komang Werdhi Utami (Economic Science), Revandra Athaya Rizkika (Computer Science), Muhammad Amrul Haq Maulana (Communication Science and Community Development), and Ni Kadek Vindati Utami (Food Science and Technology).
“The proposal we bring about the motion is how the contribution of gen Z to this energy transition will have an impact on economic and political demand. For example, by encouraging the government to immediately implement a carbon tax policy,” said Gilang as team leader.
According to him, environmentally friendly-based projects through green funding such as green sukuk also need to be increased more. The IPB University student team also encouraged the government to conduct research and development on environmentally friendly vehicles, including anticipating climate damage due to vehicle production.
“We propose that Gen Z is an important actor capable of encouraging the government’s political will to make an energy transition,” he explained.
Gilang admitted that this event was one of the biggest competitions he had ever participated in with his friends. He revealed that training and hard work were the keys to victory in the team. “(We) trained hard for this competition, practicing regularly twice a week,” he said.
According to him, the debate competition this time was very interesting because the judges were environmental activists. “This competition is different from the ones we usually participate in. We have to present data and facts because the judges are environmental activists. We have to present something relevant and updated,” he added.
The debate competition was held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of IDN Times. The purpose of this competition is to hone the critical reasoning and opinion skills of the students. The competition is a group competition consisting of 3-5 people per university team.
There were 12 major campuses that participated in the event, including Gadjah Mada University, Bandung Institute of Technology, Diponegoro University. The participants struggled through a number of stages ranging from preliminaries, quarter-finals (bye system), semifinals to finals. No wonder this competition took almost a month.
Finally, Gilang said that competitions like this are very important to be continued in the future. According to him, this activity is able to encourage students to continue to think critically and care about environmental issues, especially about climate change which is increasingly urgent.
With this competition, Gilang hopes that students’ awareness of environmental issues can increase. That way, they can play an active role in finding solutions and contributing positively to a better future. (*/Rz) (IAAS/Aly)
