Tribute to the debating legends

One of a kind debate tournament "IBA Legacies 2019"presented by Guardian Life Insurance Limited recently took place with team IBA DU 2 comprising of Taosif Amin Khan and Saad Ashraf winning the tournament. In addition, Saad Ashraf won the "Best Speaker of the Finals" award while Taosif Amin Khan bagged "Debater of the tournament" trophy.

What made this event so special was that the participants were the legends of Bangladesh debate circuit. They were the ones who debated years ago and then trained the current crop of debaters who are making history today. In a way, this event was to pay homage to them by bringing them back to where they made their names and became heroes.

It was a very premium event with majestic decorations and arrangements. There was a hall of fame where portraits of the legendary debaters were hung. In addition, there were magnificent flags representing the universities the debaters where from. Finally, there was a beautifully lit photo booth arranged for photo shoot opportunity. The primary purpose of the event was to honour the contributions of the legends who groomed up the current debaters and to relive their memorable debating careers.

The rounds

It was a two-day long event. It started on December 20. Three preliminary rounds took place on that day. The next day, there were another two preliminary rounds after which four teams broke and participated in the finals. All the rounds included motions from International Relations to feminism to the contemporary issues of the country. The motions for the five preliminary rounds in order were as follows: 'This house would raise their child to prefer to be single', 'This house would allow first-time offenders to, with the consent of the victims, pay compensation to them in place of prison', 'This house regrets the westernisation of the elites in post-colonial countries' (Example: Speaking predominantly in English, going to schools or universities in the west, consuming predominantly western media), 'This house believes that feminist movements in the developing world should integrate religious messages and institutions into their advocacy, rather than distancing themselves from them, assuming it could be done peacefully', 'This house would replace all existing democratic government.'

The finale

The motion for the final was "This house regrets the global decline of Marxism after the cold war." University of Dhaka 1 with Rishad Sharif and Sakib Bin Rashid were the Opening Government while Independent University 1 with Aaqib Hossain and Sajid Safwan were the Opening Opposition. In the Closing Government there was IBA DU 3 with Rawnak Zaheen Wasi and Mastura Tasnim and in Closing Oopposition there was IBA DU 2 with Taosif Amin Khan and Saad Ashraf.

Participants

The final team allocation for the tournament allocated 16 slots of which IBA, University of Dhaka got three, North South University four, and Dhaka University three. Independent University Bangladesh and Islamic University of Technology got two slots each while Chittagong University and BRAC University both obtained 1 slot each.

Adjudication core

Aandishah Tehzeeb Samara from Clark University, Jubayer Ibn Hamid from Stanford University, and Sohara Mehroze Shachi from Yale University joined the event from distant corner of the world as adjudicators. Then there was Sourodip Paul from IBA, University of Dhaka, who had by far one of the most inspiring origin stories. There also was Samia Aboni, one of the most prominent figures from BUETDC, who made a comeback to the debating arena after a long time. Fardeen Ameen from Independent University Bangladesh was also in the core. And finally, Adel Mostaque Ahmed from IBA, University of Dhaka was in the core as the chief adjudicator.

Equity officer and tab director

The equity officer was the very experienced Maliha Ahmed Chowdhury from LCLS and the Tab Director was Tawhid Chowdhury from NSUDC. Tawhid Chowdhury had been affiliated with the debating scene for a long time, and thus was a perfect fit to pay homage to legends of the past. IBA Legacies 2019 has been a breathtaking event that has served to strengthen the bond within the English Debating Community of Bangladesh, and to commemorate the generous contributions of the legends.

The writer is a second year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached [email protected]