First Model United Nation Experience!

First Model United Nation Experience

Being a non-international relation students, it was actually a bit late for me to know this stuff. I was youtube-ing when I found out Model United Nation (MUN) for the first time. A bunch of university kids went to Harvard Model United Nation and apparently one of them won. But the thing is they look like were having fun!

Decided to get out of the dark, I finally did a small research (or basically type “Model United Nation” on Google and see what happens), hoping for some kind of enlightenment. To put it simply, MUN is a role-play except it is non-NSFW because you don’t need to tell people what your fetish is and  judging them for being not-open-minded if they don’t take it the same as you. Jovial da Lopez (2013) in “Model United Nation : How It Goes” calls it a place where a bunch of ambitious kids gather around to look cool (LOL). Some others also define it as a United Nation (UN) simulation conference where you will pretend as a delegate from other countries and discuss about current issues. It involves research, debate, negotiating, and public speaking. All in English.

As we all know, I like learning English and it crossed my mind that this could be one of the best way to improve mine. It didn’t take long for me to come up with an idea to include “Participating in MUN” on my 2015 list. It was a rush decision considering my lack of experience both in MUN and English. That’s why when a club in my campus were having an International Studies Club Diplomatic Course (a non-serious version of MUN) I took it as a chance to know how it feels to do MUN.

Despite of all the disasters, I actually really enjoyed it. I mean yes, I didn’t send my working paper on time, I came late, and I got nervous every time I have to speak (by the way I only spoke 2 times during motion and didn’t even raise any). This is completely different from English class I used to take. People here spoke English very well. They knew what they were doing (later I found out that some of them have been to HMUN/NTUMUN before, which explains a lot). I felt lost and that somehow affected my speaking. I couldn’t reach out the audience!

Being done with ISCDC doesn’t mean I am also done with friends I met there. Isn’t that the point of MUN? To have fun and make friends (well, besides winning of course). I met this girl named Tara, and she is very passionate in MUN. We were like “let’s keep in touch after this!” and we did. Even though we just knew each other like couple days, we agreed to participate in South East Asia Model United Nation 2015 (SEAMUN 2015).

Perhaps I should give a special paragraph to describe SEAMUN 2015. SEAMUN 2015 is the first MUN held by Project Diplomat, a community for MUN lovers. Though it took place in Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) and most of board members are UPH students (I actually didn’t see any students from other universities), SEAMUN 2015 is open for international applicants and can be held outside UPH. And just like its name, SEAMUN 2015 has a special council which they claimed to be the first time ever in MUN : ASEAN Ministrial Meeting.

The only thing that got in our way is money. To solve it, we sent funding proposal to some companies and even the faculty we belong. We were very eager to do this. Hey, that could be my last chance to join MUN! We sent it through email (too many I can’t even recall) and sometimes visiting the office just to drop the proposal, wishing it could be considered (I did this to BNI, BNI Syariah, and ENTER). I knew all along emails wouldn’t be very effective while BNI wasn’t very promising. Being close with the supervisor, I thought I had a better chance with ENTER. A week after sending it, the supervisor told me our proposal had been reviewed. It was just a matter of time before they announced their contribution, or what he bluntly called by “the amount of money we will get”. But a week later, he changed his mind saying that it was impossible for them to fund us. I was very upset because he didn’t even look sorry and that actually meant a lot for us. Well, some people don’t give a shit what we have been through. But we finally found a donator, which is my faculty, Fakultas Syariah dan Hukum. It was very surprising that we made it since FISIP rejected us no more than 5 minutes after we stepped into the office.

The worst part came after that. I had difficult times dealing with Tara but it is over now. We kinda made up after SEAMUN. Now moving on to the main topic, SEAMUN 2015! Since SEAMUN consisted of 3 days conference, we stayed in a boarding house near UPH. It costed us 400K IDR and that included free wifi, toilet inside, AC-room, and twin beds.

DAY 1

I still remember when we were told to introduce ourselves, I said “This is my first ever MUN experience and to be quite honest I am very nervous” and the co-director was laughing. Haha.

Well, being in ASEAN council, don’t expect the room will be filled by loads of people. In fact, there were only 10 delegates minus delegate of Thailand who had been absent since the very first day. We presumed he was busy shooting for the upcoming Thailand horror movie, LOL. Delegate of Myanmar and Brunei come from Ganesha MUN Club, ITB. Delegate of Vietnam comes from ITS. Delegate of Philiphine comes from President University. Delegate of Indonesia and Myanmar come from Widyatama University, Bandung. Delegate of Malaysia comes from SMAN Tangerang. And of course, delegate of Singapore and Lao come from UIN Jakarta J

We only had 1 committee for the first day, but in 4 hours! I didn’t know how it works in other MUN, but my experience in previous simulations clearly didn’t anticipate this coming. It actually doesn’t sound that bad because we always had a 30 minutes break in every committees.

Selected as delegate of Singapore! YAY

When we had a debate about which topic we would discuss first, I silently spelled a curse to prevent Trans-boundary Haze for being chosen, haha. The reason was simple, I wasn’t ready for that plus economic development has always been my concern. Delegate of Malaysia disagreed, but thanks to delegate of Indonesia (he was afraid of being cornered, haha) and delegate of Myanmar, we only talked about narrowing gaps in ASEAN for the next 3 days.

In the beginning, I still got nervous when it was time for me to speak. But slowly I was trying to adapt with the situation. And since there were only 9 delegates, delegates got more chances to speak. I didn’t raise any motion and tend to raise my placard after some other delegates did. That’s because I need some time to put my thoughts on a piece of paper to make it more structural. I wasn’t able to do it spontaneously. I also realized that my English needs more practice because it is supposed to be a formal meeting while I am more like a conversational girl. That’s the problem with me. Academic writing is also something I should improve because you couldn’t write a draft without it, DUH!

The first day went very well, though I was still left behind compared to the other delegates especially those who had participated in MUN before.

DAY 2

The night before, I decided to do more preparation. I received a guide from COP21 Simulation on how to be best delegate and I used that to review my previous performance. This material is actually very helpful (perhaps I should share it in a place where public can have an access). I also did more research to support my argument.

Delegate of Myanmar, ITB

We had 2 committees now, 3 hours for each. I tried to be more connected to the other delegates but lately I realized it’s becoming more repetitive. I also spoke more, be faster in writing ideas and tried to be more critical.

Delegate of LAO PDR, UIN Jakarta

This day we came up with 3 working papers. It was made by delegate of Indonesia, delegate of Philiphines and delegate of Myanmar. I supported both working paper (wp) from Indonesia and Myanmar, especially Myanmar. I could see that she did a very good job in making it. It was better than any other WPs. No wonder, she’s experienced and have attended 2 more MUNs before, one of them is Asia Pacific MUN.

Delegate of Malaysia, SMAN Tangerang

There were funny moments when I got involved in a debate with delegate of Cambodia. This guy kept insisting on his idea about bonds, hedging, and market chain supply to be implemented in ASEAN while financial literacy in less developed countries are still low. How is that supposed to help SMEs development, our main purpose? But we finally came to an agreement to give assistance to SME first before jumping into bonds and blah. He also didn’t mind giving us “a class” by demonstrating a simulation using available medias (or basically piece of paper) to explain how bond could work, haha. Delegate of Brunei called it “precious paper”, lol.

Delegate of Vietnam, ITS

           

     Before going home, we decided to have a meeting to discuss the draft resolution. The dice expected us to come up with more than one DR but we were too united to listen, haha. Some of us went out after magrib because we were stuck in one point. Turned out it didn’t help much.

Delegate of Philipines, President University

                DAY 3

                Finally the last day! I have improved a lot since the first day (or at least I think I did). And now time to focus on the draft resolution. Sure we already handed it over to the dice before the committee started, but we could always revise it later. Like I said, we only came up with one DR. Delegate of Indonesia proposed delegate of Myanmar as the only sponsor since she is the main contributor to this DR. We all voted for yes. Congrats Myanmar!

Delegate of Indonesia and Delegate of Cambodia, Widyatama University

          The dice also reminded us the importance of our nation’s stances and that we were representing our countries. So I always tried to bring Singapore’s interest (did I mention that I was delegate of Singapore? hehe) to be put on our DR.

Delegate of Brunei Darussalam and Delegate of Indonesia

                Delegate of Malaysia proposed an idea to make Lao PDR as base hub of ASEAN mainland transportation because of its strategic location. Of course this raised a question since Singapore has been known as a maritime hub in ASEAN. We did realized that implementing this idea might not help some countries, especially Indonesia which is located far away. BUT it IS possible for countries around Lao PDR such as Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. And it could help distribution of goods between countries become easier. I asked the other delegate to put a phrase “still supporting Singapore as the main maritime hub in ASEAN” and they agreed, just in case.

                Speaking of distribution, it is strongly related to infrastructure and of course, investment. Being a developing country, Lao and countries around couldn’t do that alone. That’s when I came in. I put myself forward as the main investor in helping those countries developing the infrastructure. Unfortunately, delegate of Brunei also proposed herself so they put both of us on DR. I was going to raise a motion to discuss about the proportion of our contribution but it failed. Apparently people were getting tired and it was almost time to go home. Hehe.

                The day’s session was closed by delegate of Lao PDR, “Delegate of Lao PDR would like to adjourn this ASEAN Ministrial Meeting 2015”. And that was it!

                It was such an experience! Well, of course I had bad moments, but the good one is much more than that. There are things I decided not to write here due to some reasons. But overall it was awesome. It brought me to a realization that I actually enjoy doing this. I like to participate in MUN. I like doing public speaking though I am not very good at it. I like doing research. Even I like getting involved in a debate. And most of all, I like getting to know new people, having a discussion with them, and of course having fun.

                For non-international relation students who are interested in MUN, don’t be afraid to start. Maybe you can participate in ISCDC or MUN simulation before starting the real thing. Or even joining a MUN Club in your campus (it’s too late for me to do that, I wish I knew ISC before). That could help. And don’t forget, MUN is everything but cheap. SEAMUN 2015 cost me 1 million, not to mention accommodation fees during the conference. So if you just want to play around and look cool by joining MUN like Jovi said, you better find another place.