MYMA FH UNAIR Delegation Becomes Winner of the 2022 Diponegoro Law Fair National Law Debate

Arguing is the art of argument. This opinion can undoubtedly be seen in absolute terms and may become a daily activity in the lives of law students. This also shows that arguing is one of the skills that every law student must have. Undoubtedly, these argumentative skills are often used as a national legal debate competition between universities. Diponegoro Law Fair 2022 itself is one of the national legal debate events which is held regularly every year by the Faculty of Law, Diponegoro University. Without wasting the opportunity, the event was then put to good use by a delegation from the Airlangga Yuris Muda Community (MYMA) Faculty of Law, Universitas Airlangga, who won first place and took home the title of Best Speaker.

The delegation that won the prize consisted of a team of speakers, namely Anna Maria Herpuspaningtyas (2019), Kharisma Putri Wardani (2020), and Angeline Regita Nathalia (2020), as well as a research team, namely Riza Saphira Rahmandhani (2021), Wahyu Maylaffayza (2021), and Shady Syafa’at (2020). On one occasion, the delegation said that the competition, which was held in a hybrid manner on 23 October – 30 October 2022, was different from the others. This is because the debate motions at the event were quite large, amounting to eleven with various variations in various branches of law. Uniquely, all these motions have a legal progression pattern, according to Prof. Satjipto Rahardjo’s thinking. The theme of the competition this year was “Law Dynamics and Human Constellation Towards Civil Society”. In addition, the competition is also carried out using two systems where the preliminary and semi-finals are online, but the final round is held offline in Semarang. At least they need less than one month to practice their debating skills and another month to develop an argument because the time for the announcement of the motion is quite close to the preliminary round.

Apart from the unique competition, this delegation can also be considered unusual. The selection of members of the delegation itself was also not done arbitrarily because it had to go through an open selection for all students of the Faculty of Law, Universitas Airlangga. This shows that this delegation consists of elected people. Anna, who is in the class of 2019 and the head of the delegation, explained that she, a final-year student, also had to share her time with the busy schedule of lectures and thesis preparation. “Joining this competition (also) as a form of moral responsibility to guide younger siblings for regeneration,” he said when asked why he took part in this competition. Regita, who won the title of the best speaker, said that this achievement was also due to the cooperation and support of other delegation members.

Of course, this delegation also faced various challenges, ranging from difficulties managing the schedule for each member of the different delegations, the need to study legal progressivity, to the final round of motion that was just delivered by the committee fifteen minutes earlier. At least they have confirmed their position as the best in the event by setting aside 27 delegates from various other universities. In closing, Anna advised that the legal debate competition is not only intended for the internal organization of MYMA, but is also open to all students of the Faculty of Law, Universitas Airlangga. “Don’t be afraid to try because later you will learn together,” she said as a message. Furthermore, Kharisma invited all her friends to learn by participating in a legal debate competition like her. “Don’t forget to join in to gain experience because studying motions will also increase knowledge,” she concluded.