A glimpse of Asian Parliamentary Format, one of English debate formats.

1. Asian Parliamentary Format
,

2. • Mainly used in Asian English debate
competition
• There are 2 teams: the government
and the opposition teams. Each
team consists of 3 speakers
• Debate will be started and ended by
the government team
• Each speaker is given 7 minutes for
speech. After each speaker had their
speech, there will be a reply speaker
from each team who will have a
speech for 4 minutes.

3. • Points of Information (during 1st – 6th minute) is a short interjection (could be in the form
of a question, comment, statement, example, rebuttal, etc.). There will be no POI on the
reply speech.
• Any person on the other team who is not speaking can stand up, rise an arm and offer a
question by saying “Point of information! May I ask a question on that point?”.
• Interjection from the other team can be accepted or rejected by the speaker.
• If the speaker want to reject the question, she/he can say “No, thank you”; “Not at
this time”; “Sit down please” and so forth. But the speaker must take 1 POI or
preferably two.
• Once the speaker gives permission for the interjection, then the person who ask for POI
can start presenting his/her POI. She/he should not be rude and try to distract or
interrupt the speaker. The POI is usually no more than 15 seconds long (about 2
sentences). Then the speaker should respond to the question/comment.
• There is no limitation how many POI can be offered.

5. The Prime Minister (PM) / 1st speaker of the government Team
Roles:
A. Define and set-up the debate
• Give the most literal and straight forward definition
• Define words that might have multiple meanings or might be misunderstood
• Give the context or background of the topic
B. Present team’s position and case
• What are your team defending?
• What do you want to prove?
• What will you and your second speaker talk about (this does not mean that
you have to mention yours and the second speaker’s arguments, but your
ideas in general)
• Provide policy if possible
C. Make 1 or 2 arguments
• Present the most important arguments. Do not save the best for the last

6. The Leader of Opposition (LO) / 1st speaker of the opposition team
Roles:
A. Respond to definition and set-up from the government team
• Address how you and your team are approaching the problem
• Whether you agree or disagree towards the government’s definition
• Provide some additional clarity to that definition and set-up
• Explain some ideas that PM has not explained well enough
B. Present your position and case
• What your essential agreement and disagreement are
• What are you going to prove and not prove?
• Show your policy as well, if possible
• What will you and your second speaker talk about? (this does not mean that you have
to mention yours and the second speaker’s arguments, but your ideas in general)
C. Rebut the PM’s arguments
• Briefly outline the PM’s arguments then rebut why those arguments are wrong or
ineffective
D. Present 1 or 2 arguments

7. Deputy Speakers / 2nd speakers
(Deputy Prime Minister & Deputy Leader of Opposition)
Roles:
A. Defend your case
• Identify the points that have been attacked. Respond by telling them why those
things are not true
• If the leader of opposition does not rebut your teammate, mention their failure
and re-emphasize why your team's points are important.
B. Attack the case, position and arguments of the other team
• Briefly summarize what the other speaker had said and respond to those
things
C. Rebut the previous speakers
• e.g.: deputy leader of opposition may rebut deputy prime minister and prime
minister
D. Present 1 or 2 NEW arguments

8. The Whips / 3rd speakers (Government Whip and Opposition Whip)
Roles:
A. Briefly summarize and defend your case
• Emphasize the points made by your team  clarify issues to the judges and
audience
B. Summarize and prioritize the most important arguments/issues in the debate
• Mention the major arguments that are dominating the debate
• Mention the clash points
C. Rebut and analyse the arguments
• Compare your team’s arguments and other team’s arguments and show why
yours are better
• DO NOT mention new arguments BUT present new analysis, new examples, or
new rebuttals that will support your team’s arguments

9. The Reply / Final Speakers
(Government Reply and Opposition Reply)
Roles: CONVINCING THE JUDGES AND AUDIENCE
A. Summarize the debate as a whole
• What the debate is about
• What is the important issues
• What are the most important impacts of this debate
• What happened in this debate (we did these, they did these)
B. Briefly summarize your team’s and your competitor’s position
• How did you and other team approach the debate?
• Outline the most important ideas
C. Compare why your team’s position and arguments are better
• Show your arguments relevant/good/strong/did not contradict
• Explain why your position and arguments better answers the most important
questions in the debate.

11. Balavijendran, Logandran. 2010. Introduction to The Asian
Parliamentary Format. Retrieved from
http://www.learndebate.net/node/1.