Veteran debaters demonstrate how to give good arguments in a friendly contest,

AFRIENDLY debate held recently at YMCA not only kicked off this year's joint school debating competition but also showed young debaters how to win.

The Debate Extravaganza '93, jointly organised by eight secondary schools, will see 11 competitions with over 90 students this month.

Debate teams, instead of representing individual schools, will comprise students from different schools.

''Instead of having schools compete each other, this year's contest allows students from different schools to join the same team,'' the chairman of the organising committee, Bessie Chen Huei-yu of Diocesan Girls' School, said.

''This will reduce hostility and reinforce communication.'' Bessie said this year's competition was the largest in scale and she hoped it would draw more public attention.

The debate at YMCA, designed to give young debaters some tips on debating, featured veteran debaters who have been members of the former Joint School Debating Society.

The opposing team, led by Germaine Ma, won the debate by arguing that the post-1997 political climate would not alter the economic performance of Hongkong.