ALSA E-comp 2012 [MOTIONS]

Motions for the 2012 ALSA English Debate Competition held in Indonesia. The competition has both a high-school and varsity category.

High School

Environment and Animal Welfare
TH supports Bank Indonesia’s Green Banking policy
THBT the exclusive property right of indigenous people in forests should be contingent on their capability to preserve it
THW allow cloning of endangered and extinct species of animals

Media and Expression
THW criminalize entities that actively spread doomsday or end of the world predictions
THW acknowledge hacktivism as a legitimate form of protest
THBT the state should never regulate any form of expression that positively portrays eating disorders

Socio-Economy
TH prefers China than the West in assisting the development of African economies
THW impose Bachelor Tax
THBT all government owned companies in Indonesia should offer their stocks to the public through Initial Public Offering (IPO)

Project Week 2012 – Camino de Santiago Day 5

Our longest day of walking yet, but surprisingly, I felt more ready than usual. We left for some quality hot chocolate and croissant in the historical centre of Pontevedra. Beautiful place, lovely architecture and good food. We’d had no rain and I’d finally been neat enough to fit everything into one bag which didn’t have lots of extra lots dangling around. Much easier on the shoulder in my opinion. We also got a lot more track which meant our heaving boots actually came in use. The walk was beautiful, a quite flat stroll along woodland, meeting the trainline a few times as we climbed up under the shade of the trees.

We had a beautiful lunch at the top at a small cafe. One of the best meals ever. Sausage and eggs sound normal, but when done nicely and eaten at the top of a hell in Spain, they were just perfect. Also cooked really well, although I don’t usually like eggs sunny side up. The long lunch break did mean we didn’t start till quite late and although the downhill walk was fine, we didn’t get into town until quite late. This included our elusive search for the Hot Springs that turned out to be just a stone throw away from our hostel.

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3rd Thailand World Schools Debating Championships

The 3rd Thailand World Schools Debating Championship will be held from August 22nd – August 28th at the Anglo Singapore International School in Bangkok, Thailand. Very little information has yet to be released about the competition, although the facebook group is currently advertising for a logo competition. Registration is expected to be somewhere between 8,500 bahts and 9,500 bhats.

From the list of the organizing committee made available on the facebook group, it appears that the competition will at least be partly organized by Thai students, some of who are former or current members of the Thailand National Debate Team. It should be remembered that Thailand will be hosting WSDC 2014 and TWSDC may serve as important precursors both for the organizing committee to gain experience and for WSDC teams to gain high-level competition experience.

Visit their facebook group https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/359291920771999/ or email twsdc2012@gmail.com for more information.

Hopefully more information will be released shortly. I will update this post as and when that information comes in.

Project Week 2012 – Camino de Santiago Day 4

Blisters had developed and my legs were starting to tire on just our 3rd day of walking. The bag sags on you as you wonder how much longer there is left. In fairness, this was a much easier walk than most days, although we had two little hills. The lack of rain probably helped and we were getting progressively more track than concrete which I prefer.

We had a ton of food though. Breakfast twice (Flan, drink and toast), Lunch just once (Sandwich) on the beach, and Dinner three times? (Sandwich, Supper and I even got some mouth watering chocolate at Valor in Pontevedra). At least I have a good excuse, I walked a lot!

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Yes, or just No? Public opinion during HK Chief Executive Election 2012

This year’s Hong Kong Chief Executive Election has been anything but normal. As I noted last time, it was instrumental in creating new norms that I feel will be beneficial in the future. One of the more interesting aspects was of this years campaign was the swings in public opinion, which I believe had a distinct impact on the race as a whole. More interestingly, was support for any of the candidates a ‘Yes’ in support of them, or merely a ‘No’ in opposition?

From the off, Leung chun-ying seemed to have the upper hand in public opinion, with regular reports of how he was besting Henry Tang by sometimes double digits. On the surface of it, it seemed that the Hong Kong people prefered Leung, who was seen as having an outsiders chance of dethroning Tang, who at the time was perceived as ‘China’s pick’. In many respects, this may be true. Certainly, Tang was the first to be hit by a series of scandals with his marriage laid out in full view, followed by massive cranes being put outside his Kowloon Tong residence. So in the midst of the campaign, you had Leung, who was seen as popular and the people’s choice, in comparison to Tang who was scandal hit and China’s choice.

With Tang’s rather unwarranted outbursts revealing Exco meeting details, it became increasingly clear that he would be an unviable candidate, lacking both public opinion and having a long series of unforced errors. Attention then swung quite strongly towards Leung. However, Leung turned out to have a closet of his own with allegations of corruption and very-late-coming allegations from Tang of being an advocate for greater power and more limited freedoms. Also, in the closing stages of the campaign, there were further questions as to whether Leung was an underground member of the Chinese Communist Party. All this helped turn the perception of Leung as the under-dog to the presumed Chinese pick, something that the Chinese liaison office seemed to support by almost openly canvasing for electors to vote for Leung.

Project Week 2012 – Camino de Santiago Day 3

2nd day of walking and we were already hitting rain. Time to get out the rain coat, black bin bag and the lot. The on and off rain caused a few problems, especially cause it was quite hot but you didn’t want to take your stuff off in case it rained anytime soon. The walking itself was quite good, we had our 1st hill of the trip, but thankfully didn’t hit too many problems.

The problem, rather than rain, was probably the dog which we met mid-way and which decided to follow us and got hit by a car while trying to cross the road. Not exactly the best event of the day, but at least it escaped with just a limp.

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A defense of the 2012 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election

Today, 1,200 people will cast ballots in the Hong Kong Chief Executive elections 2012. It has been an eventful campaign, with even a full Wikipedia page being developed with details outlining all the various bits of mud that were slung around. Let’s first be clear, as Anson Chan so eloquently stated, this election is not a free and fair election. Albert Ho was clearly not going to win, and only 1,200 people were able to express any opinion in any instance.

However, in contrast to the 2007 elections, this was measurably more competitive with 3 candidates (Leung Chun-Ying, Henry Tang and Albert Ho) rather than the 2 (Donald Tsang and Alan Leong). Notably was the fact that there were a whole host of other politicians who were considered possible candidates, including Rita Fan and Regina Ip. There was even a ‘primary’ between the various pan-democrat groups. The campaign itself was also more competitive with genuine uncertainty as to who would be ultimately elected until about a week ago. In addition to the formal poll, there was also the HKU’s public opinion poll that was conducted yesterday and the day before.

Although the 2012 elections are not free and fair elections in their own rights, I think it is hard to argue that they have not been an improvement in comparison to the 2007 elections. Whilst we should continue to push for universal suffrage in 2017, we should stop and think how far we have gone this year.

HK Chief Executive – Public Opinion Poll Results

Couldn’t let this go un-posted
Results of the mock-poll organized by the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong.

Blank votes：121,580 (54.6%)
Leung Chun-ying：39,614 (17.8%)
Henry Tang：36,226 (16.3%)
Albert Ho：25,452 (11.4%)
Total number of votes: 222,872

Without a doubt, this is a powerful statement by the Hong Kong public in support of universal suffrage and against the existing system of selecting the Chief Executive. Electors should be wary of ignoring such public opinion.

Project Week 2012 – Camino de Santiago Day 2

Woke up the next day in Vigo, on a train. Surprisingly not as bad as expected although it was quite cold. I got a bit confused about the mixture of Galician and Spanish, not that I could really tell them apart either way. For some reason, the roads in Vigo were named after other countries. Weird right? But in Vigo, you could see Rua de Venezuela, Rua de Costa Rica, Rua de Bolivia… not sure why, but weird all the same.

We got off in Tui and wound our way up to the Anna Santa Maria Cathedral. Massive building with lots of other bits fitted. We ourselves got our pilgrims passport with which we get stamps for all the places we go to etc and proves we’re a pilgrim. Cool stuff, although we didn’t actually hold on to them for the duration of the Camino.

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[VIDEO] UWC Atlantic College Arts Festival 2012 Animation

So yesterday was the first day of the UWC Atlantic College Arts Festival 2012. One more day to go today. Both my workshops for the first day happened to be related to digital art, manga and animation in the morning followed by stop-motion animation in the afternoon. A harp back to the Media Study days at SIS. Obviously time was short, but in both sessions, we were able to produce some work with relatively quick turn-around, although rather bad in quality. Here’s some of the products: