Writer: Shahzain

Editor: Ingrid

As a student at ISM, I always look forward to any Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) tournament. I can remember the thrill of hosting IASAS as a middle school student, whether it was Basketball, Theatre, Tennis, or Speech and Debate. 

Speech and Debate, in particular, used to captivate me since it was a platform where I could watch students just a few grades above me scrutinize and analyze issues with a level of seriousness that most adults would reserve for policymaking spaces, not classrooms. 

For context, IASAS Speech and Debate is an annual event where more than a hundred like-minded delegates from six schools in Southeast Asia engage in debate and deliberate upon complex topics. This event is crucial for what it represents: a place where free speech is encouraged and where the search for the truth is enabled.

Unlike other interscholastic tournaments, IASAS not only features sporting events but also cultural conventions that showcase a wider range of talents. This is great for students like me whose interests lie in other fields, and also shows that IASAS believes in students’ more creative and intellectual capacities.

At IASAS, a large part of the topics discussed concern violations of basic human rights accords, yet they are selected to prepare us, the youth, for a future in which we are primary stakeholders. Despite this, one of the most relevant conflicts in the world, the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has resulted in the deaths of over 70,000 people (UNRWA), has been banned at IASAS. This move is intellectually inconsistent, given that so many other high-profile events are actively being discussed, such as the Sudanese Civil War and the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Why not the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Four-year IASAS Extemp Speech Delegate, Sofia comments, “Discussing complex political issues through a medium like Extemp helps fight against the brain rot we see on social media since it forces you to stop relying on 15-second TikTok clips and actually read real, varied sources.” I can’t count the number of times when my opinion has changed on an issue like Israel-Palestine after hearing some ‘expert’ on TikTok talk about it. 

Now, why does the ban itself exist? Ms. Thompson, ISM’s Original Oratory Coach, says, “It was too complex and perhaps too raw a situation to deal with at a high school level when we’re trying to come together to argue and debate, but also ensure some calm and peace.” 

Ms. Thompson’s words do identify a valid point. The issue at hand is immensely complex and controversial due to the high-stakes role that religious identity plays in this conflict, since some IASAS Muslim-majority countries have a deep-rooted solidarity with Palestine. Because of this, speaking against Palestine’s role in this conflict can pose potential risks to delegates from these schools. But does this theoretical concern justify censorship? The sole purpose of IASAS Extemp is to deliberate upon complex and divisive issues, and banning it is simply unwise.

Here’s another major contradiction. The presence of other controversial issues in IASAS, specifically China-Taiwan tensions. Last year, the Taipei American School (TAS) hosted IASAS, but discussions on China-Taiwan tensions were encouraged to align with IASAS’s nature. Though the topic is highly divisive in Taiwan, the fact that it is still debated, where the issue itself is based, highlights a major inconsistency. Now, I want to ask whoever is reading this: What does this inconsistency reveal about the nature of IASAS, as some sensitive topics are accommodated, while others are prohibited?

Instead of completely censoring or banning discussions of this issue altogether, IASAS should focus on handling it responsibly. A mature way to do this would be to regulate the more ideological aspects of the conflict. But IASAS must allow the parts of the conflict that focus on humanitarian and developmental consequences.

ISM is hosting IASAS next year. We need to ensure that the standard of debate doesn’t fall, and that the younger generation, middle schoolers, those who are interested in these topics but don’t talk about them in classrooms, are inspired. A space needs to be created where people with different views and interpretations challenge one another. Total restriction is not the way to achieve this. Appropriate regulation and freedom of opinion are.