Hong Kong Debate Open 2011

The 2nd Hong Kong Debate Open 2011 was held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, from 28th to 30th October 2011.  A total of 64 teams from 12 Asian countries competed in this BP debate tournament.  In the Grand Final, HKU Team C, comprising Kevin Lau and Amanda Slocum, defeated HKU A, HKU B and Hogwarts A to emerge Champions.  The Best Speaker of the Grand Final was Amanda Slocum of HKU C, and the Best Speaker of the Tournament was Benjamin So of HKU A.  

The motion for the Grand Final was: "This house regrets the policy of assassinating terrorist leaders instead of bringing them to trials"

The Adj Core of Loke Wing Fatt, Sharmila Pramanand, Zheng Bo, TJ, Nicole Ng and Doriane Lau worked seamlessly with the very cooperative, efficient and patient Org Com members, comprising Helen Ng, George Chen, Kenneth Cheung, Samuel Chan, Angie, and Vinca Yau, to once again celebrate the growth of Hong Kong as an international debating hub in Asia.

The full results and motions of the events are below:

FULL RESULTS
Champions:
HKU C: Kevin Lau and Amanda Slocum

Grand-Finalists:
HKU A: Benjamin So and Sue Chen
HKU B: Fiona Chong and Jocelyn Heng
Hogwarts A: Liu I Wei and Nuanpan Ketumarn

Semi-Finalists:
Eureka: Chanel Chan and Gao Tian
P&S: Yang Fanhao and Feng Siyu
SouthPark Elementary: Tidarat Yingcharoen and Yuttana Saisangkagomon
Tiff & Pavan: Tiffany Chung and Pavan Hegde

MOTIONS:

Prelim Rounds

1. This house would ban the participation of children in clinical drugs trials
2. This house would abolish the minimum wage
3. This house would ban religious organizations from establishing schools
4. This house support the Occupy Wall Street Movement
5. This houses would ban all approaches that seek to cure homosexuality
6. This house believes that U.S.A should not veto the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations

Pre-Quarters

This house supports the use of drones (remotely operated unmanned armed attack vehicles)

Quarters

This house believes that companies should be held liable in their home countries for environmental damage in other countries

Semi Finals

This house would ban agencies that broker international marriages

Grand Final

This house regrets the policy of assassinating terrorist leaders instead of bringing them to trials

cheers,

Loke Wing Fatt

Co-CA, 2nd Hong Kong Debate Open 2011

2nd Hong Kong Debate Open 2011‏

The 1st HKDO 2010 at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong last October 2011 was a roaring success and we have received many queries on when we would be holding the second edition of this well-received event.

We are now happy to announce that the 2nd Hong Kong Debate Open 2011 (HKDO) will be held from 28th to 30th Oct 2011 at the Campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

We hope that this 2nd edition of the HKDO at a new university location in Hong Kong will bring more debating and social fun for all who will be coming to join us.

Below are pertinent details for your information:

1.  Tournament Website:  http://debateclub.cn/hkdo2011

2.  Organising Committee

Convenors: Kenneth Tse & Samuel Chan
Advisor:  Helen Ng
Tournament Director: Vinca Yau
Facilities Director: Samuel Chan
Finance Director: Helen Ng
Director of Volunteers: Kenneth Tse
Sponsorship Directors: Jasmine Tam, TJ
Registration Directors: George Chen & Elliot Shi:

3.  Adjudication Core

Chief Adjudicator: Sharmila Pramanand
Co-CA: Loke Wing Fatt
Deputy Chief Adjudicators: "TJ"  Thepparith Senamngern, Zheng Bo, Nicole Ng
Tabulation Directors: Zheng Bo, George, Elliot Shi

4.  Schedule

Day 1,  27th Oct

Check-in at Hotel

Day 2,  28th Oct

2:3pam to 3.30pm  --   Welcome, Briefing for Debaters/Adjudicators at Lecture Hall 

4pm- 6pm               --   Round 1
6pm to 7pm            --   Dinner
7pm-  9pm              --   Round  2
 9pm to ....              --   Informal Party

Day 3,  29th Oct 

8.30am to 7pm       --  Round 3, 4
                                   Lunch
                                   5 & 6

8pm to 11pm         --   Break Night Dinner & Party

Day 4,  30th Oct 

8.30am to 7pm      -- Pre-Quarters, Quarters,
                                 Lunch
                                 Semi-Finals and Grand Final
7pm to 10pm         -- Championship Dinner & Party

Day 5, 31st Oct  

Departure


5.  Registration Fees

a)  For Debaters/Judges: USD$80 (excluding hotel, some meals and local transportation)
b)  For Observer: USD$180 (excluding hotel, some meals and local transportation)

6.  Registration Process

Registration is open now.

Please complete the Registration Form on the following web link:

http://debateclub.cn/hkdo2011-reg-form#overlay-context=hkdo2011-tournament
Registration is confirmed ONLY ON PAYMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION FEE FOR EACH PARTICIPANT.

A Designated Bank Account will be sent to all who fill in the Registration Form  so that the necessary electronic bank transfer process could be smoothly completed.

Please note that you will have to pay for all bank charges. Teams which have not made full payment of their Registration Fees will be asked to pay in cash, upon their arrival, before they are eligible to debate at the 2nd HKDO 2011.

We will accept Registration of Teams till 19th Oct, 10 Days before the start of the event on 28th Oct,

7.  Tournament Rules & Essential Information

1.  This is an Open Tournament.  Any two persons who wish to debate could for a team to register and compete, upon full payment of their Registration Fees.

2.  There is No Institutional Cap on anyone from any high schools or universities wishing to send teams to this event.

3.  Institutions which send more than 1 team will have to comply with the N-1 Rule, where 1 Accompanying Judge must be sent for 2 Institutional Teams being sent. If 3 Institutional teams are sent, 2 Accompanying Judges need to attend the event to contribute to the judging pool.

4.  This event has a total team capacity of 60 Teams.

5.  There will be 6 Preliminary Rounds of debate, followed by Pre-Quarter Finals, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.

6.  The Tournament will recognise the HKDO Champion Team, the Runners-Up Teams, the Best Speaker of the Grand Final, and the Ten Best Speakers of the Tournament.  We will also recognise give out Awards for the Most Enthusiastic Debater, the Most Stylish Debater, the Most Valuable Teammate, the Most Popular Debater and the Exemplar of the Debating Spirit.

7.  We are seeking sponsorships so that we may subsidy experienced judges to deepen the quality of the adjudication pool.  More news will be announced at a later date.

8.  Recommended Hotel

The recommended Hotel is the Regal Riverside. It is located in Shatin in the New Territory, Hong Kong.  The website of the hotel is below: 

http://www.regalhotel.com/regal-riverside-hotel/main/hotel-home.aspx

We are now negotiating to reduce the room rate for you.  We will also make further recommendations on decent hotel accommodation in the following weeks.

Please visit our website: http://debateclub.cn/hkdo2011 for more information, our you could write to me at lokewingfatt@gmail.com if you have any questions for us.

cheers,

Loke Wing Fatt
Co-Chief Adjudicator
2nd HKDO 2011
President

Society for Associated Inter-Tertiary Debaters (SAID)

Singapore

Website: saidsg.wordpress.com

The Inaugural Hong Kong Debate Open 2010 (HKDO)

The Inaugural Hong Kong Debate Open 2010 (HKDO 2010) was held at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU), Hong Kong, from 23rd to 25th Oct 2010. Organised by the English Debate Team of HKPU, this is the first-ever international English BP debating event in Hong Kong. It attracted 60 teams from Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Macau, Singapore, Qatar and Hong Kong.


All the 6 BP Preliminary Rounds and the Quarter Finals were held at the Main Campus of the HKPU. The Semi-Finals and Grand Final were held at the Hong Kong Community College where 250 Hong Kong high school students were invited to witness the Final Rounds as part of the Hong Kong Government's efforts to expose students to the academic sport of debating.

In the Grand Final, ICU Team A unanimously defeated HKU Team D, Kagama Team A and HKPU Team A to hoist the Champions' Trophy. The Best Speaker of the Grand Final was Mr Toshiaki Ikehara from ICU Team A. The Best Speaker of the Tournament was Mr Alfred Yu from HKU Team B.

The CA was Sharmila Pramanand, who was assisted by Tab Director, George Chen, and 5 DCAs, Zhengbo, TJ, Josh Martin, Kevin Li and Loke Wing Fatt, who also acted as the Advisor to the HKDO 2010 Organising Committee.

From all accounts, the debaters, judges and coaches had their money's worth. The tournament was on time, the social events were full of verve and vim, and the Championship Dinner served some of the best Cantonese food people had ever had, while being entertained by a spontaneous, random "variety show" by the some of the convivial participants.

Many thanks to the Convenor, Jasmine Tam, and her gang of merry persons, including Crystal, Phoebe, Giovanni, Esther, Joyce, Alice, George, Anson, Carrie and Willa for a great job in hosting a memorable inaugural international debate event in Hong Kong for the Asian debating community.

We look forward to another international debate in Hong Kong in the year 2011. The debate motions for the event are below:

HKDO 2010 Motions
Round 1: This house would force corporations to produce advertisement that feature only people who represent the region they are advertising in.
Round 2: This house believes that awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo will harm the human rights situation in China rather than improve it.
Round 3: This house would not allow law enforcement officers to impersonate minors online to entrap pedophiles.
Round 4: This house would ban artificial reproductive technologies (such as IVF, Sperm banks, surrogacy, etc.) to force people to adopt.
Round 5: This house would recruit rebel soldiers into state armies once conflicts are concluded.
Round 6: This house believers that in the event of natural disasters in areas prone to those disasters, the state should only provide reconstruction aid to people that agree to relocate to safer areas.

Semi Final: This house would subject religions to anti-gender-discrimination laws.

Grand Final: This house support the violent removal of corrupt officials by citizens in the weak democracies.

loke wing fatt
Advisor, HKDO 2010 Organising Committee
President
Society for Associated Inter-Tertiary Debaters (SAID)
Singapore

Hong Kong Debate Open 2010

Greetings!

On behalf of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) English Debate Team, I am very happy to announce the first-ever international BP tournament to be held in Hong Kong this October 2010.

Below are the 5 Good Reasons for you to come join us:

1. Good Dates: 23rd to 25th Oct 2010
Late October in Hong Kong is pleasantly cool at 20 Celsius. You arrive on 22nd Oct, debate 3 rounds on 23rd, party with old and new-found friends, debate 3 rounds on 24th Oct, more parties or shopping parties, and you end up in Round 7, gunning for the Quarters, Semi and Grand Final on 25th Oct. Then you leave, or party or go on to Macau for the North East Asian Open (NEAO) , which starts from 29th Oct.

2. Good Adjudication Core
Our Chief Adjudicator is Ms Sharmila Pramanand of Ateneo De Manila University, The Philippines (Grand Final Judge for Cork Worlds 2009 and Koc Worlds 2010, DCA for 1st UADC 2010, DCA for Auckland Australs 2010 and Seoul Australs 2011)

The DCAs are: Mr Thepparith Senamngern or "TJ" of Assumption University, Thailand (Convenor of Bangkok Worlds 2008, CA for 1st Asian BP 2009, CA for 1st UADC 2010), Mr Zhengbo of Peking University ( Director of Debate at Peking University, China, Grand Finalist Judge at the 1st Asian BP 2009, Breaking Judge at Koc Worlds 2010) and Mr Loke Wing Fatt (President of SAID)

3. Good Externalities
a) Low Registration Fee for Debaters/Adjudicators/Observers at: USD 25 per person
b) Cheap Hotel Accommodation 5 mins from HKPU and the famed Victoria Harbour:

The official HK-DO 2010 Hotel is the Bridal Tea House Hotel. Please check it out at this website: : http://www.hkchhotel.com/hotel-roomtypes.php

Each person, on a twin-sharing basis, will only have to pay HKD$180 or USD$22 per night.

You are free to arrange your own accommodation too.

c) Hong Kong is served by a number of safe, cheap budget airlines, is a shopping haven, does not need most people to get a visa to be there, is a hop to other getaway destinations, and, finally, is a safe, fun, cosmopolitan World City.

4. Good Start for the Hong Kong Debating Community
This is Hong Kong's first attempt at hosting an international debating event although it has, for the last decade, very strong debaters from its six active debating universities making their mark at the Australs and Worlds. Hong Kong high schools are also highly competitive at the Worlds Schools Debating Championships. Your participation will support the beginning of a new Asian debate hub which is waiting to be born.

For that modest reason, the Tournament Capacity is set at 60 teams.

Institution cap for each university is set at 3 teams.

The N minus 1 Rule will be enforced and the usual WUDC rules will apply at the HK-DO 2010.

5. Good Hands at the Deck
The HK-DO 2010 Organising Committee is led by the President of the English Debate Team of HKPU, Ms Jasmine Tam who will be the Convener. Below is the full list of the 11 key organisers:

Convener: Jasmine Tam
Deputy Convener: Phoebe So
Tournament Director: Crystal Kwong
Social Director: Giovani Cho
Finance Director: Chelsea Hopkins
Communications Directors: Alice Chen, Joyce Xiang
Accommodations Director: Anson Lam
IT Director: Josh Liang
Catering Director: Willa Wong
Promotion and Publication Director: Esther Chan
Advisor: Loke Wing Fatt

A website will be set up next month to provide more information and to receive your registration. Meanwhile, please write to the following email addresses if you have questions for the key organisers:

1. The email account of HKDO 2010 : hkdo2010@gmail.com
2. Convener: Jasmine Tam's email account: jasmine.tam.edt@gmail.com
3, Deputy Convener: Phoebe So's email account: phoebe.so.edt@gmail.com
4. Tournament Director: Crystal Kwong's email account: crystal.kwong.edt@gmail.com

Cheers

Loke Wing Fatt
Advisor, HK-DO 2010
President, SAID
Singapore

Hong Kong Open 2008

Invitation to the Hong Kong British Parliamentary Open 2008

Date: 13 – 16 July 2008

Location: University of Hong Kong

Cost: HKD 800 (approx. USD 100)

Format: 8 Preliminary Rounds, Break to Quarter Finals

Adjudication Core (subject to confirmation):

* Logandran Balavijandran (Chief Ajudicator, MMU Worlds)

*Jacob Cliffton (Semi-Finalist, MMU Worlds)

* Loke Wing Fatt (Worlds Break Judge)

* Fiona Prowse (Grand Finalist, Assumption Worlds)

Hong Kong is just a short flight away from Manila, where this year’s AustralAsian Championship concludes on the 11th of July. Offering world-class adjudication, the Hong Kong BP Open is an excellent opportunity for debaters in the Asia-Pacific region to kick off the 2008 BP season in the lead-up to Worlds. For more information, please contact hkbpopen@gmail.com or feel free to ask me questions directly.

Hope to see you there!

Sing

Hong Kong BP Open 2008

Dear all,

Hong Kong Parliamentary Debating Society (HKPDS) is hosting a BP tournament in July 13 to 16 2008 and is inviting debaters from across the asia-pacific region (and elsewhere around the world if they wish) to come to Hong Kong and participate.

The championship have an excellent core adjudication team, including Logandran Balavijandran (Chief Adjudicator, MMU Worlds), Loke Wing Fatt (Worlds Break Judge and founder of SAID), Fiona Prowse (Grand Finalist, Assumption Worlds), Jacob Cliffton (Semi-Finalist, MMU Worlds) and many others.

More information will be updated onto our website (www.hkpds.org) in the next week or so, including the official invitation letter. Meanwhile the latest information can be seen on our facebook group "Hong Kong BP Open 2008".

Aside from the first ever BP tournament in Hong Kong, HKPDS will also be holding our annual Summer Workshop for high school kids with trainers and guest speakers like British MPs during July 18 to 22 2008.

Hong Kong BP Workshop 2007 Starts

Hong Kong Debating Society's Summer Workshop is starting from july 30. this BP style workshop includes 6-day camp, students will be coached by the World’s top debaters, adjudicators and trainers in British Parliamentary style debating – the international debating format. This year’s trainers include the former World Debating Champion (2006), and the former Chief Adjudicator of the World Universities Debating Championships (2005).The Workshop is aimed at students continuing University, although younger students may also be considered. Debating experience is not a must, but is preferred.

Date and Location
Monday 30th July – Saturday 4th August
New Asia College, Chinese University of Hong Kong

The first two days of the Summer Workshop programme consist of small-group workshops, followed by three -days of competition debating. The last day (Saturday) will consist of a finals series, culminating in a public Grand Final debate in which the top four teams will compete for the HKPDS Cup. The Summer Workshop also features evening talks from top Hong Kong and international figures; past guests include the Hon. Ms. Rita Fan, President of the Legislative Council, and English Members of Parliament the Hon. Mr. Paul Keetch and the Hon. Mr. Nigel Evans.
Source: http://www.hkpds.org/index.html