KLMUN 2012: SC

Delegate from Nexus include:

Kai Song> Bosnia-Herzegovina

What happened?

The First Day

I was quite nervous as I stepped into the prim, proper meeting room which was quickly filled with 14 other confident delegates.  This was the first time for me to attend a Security Council meeting and I knew that it might be a bumpy road ahead.  

  



The meeting started off with roll calls, and each of us made a short introduction about ourselves before continuing with our respective opening speeches.  The SC is very small and we managed to finish all our opening speeches soon *luckily*.  



Later, we had to collaborate with other delegates to come up with resolutions to solve the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic.  As expected, the delegate of USA decided to be the main submitter of the resolution to prevent further human rights violation of the Syrian civilians. But out of the blue, USSR actually agreed with the resolution.  



My heart sunk.  I always thought that SC would be fill with intense and vigorous debates, with the USA and USSR trying their best to shoot each other down.  However, since both of them contributed to the resolution, I doubted that there would be interesting debates tomorrow.
~Written by Kai Song~ 

 

Kai Song discussing with the other delegates!

The Second Day

Today, we debated on the resolution on the Situation in Syria.  Different from other councils, we do not debate the resolution as a whole, but instead clause by clause.  In other councils, I will be torn apart occasionally whether to vote for or against the resolution when there are some concise, practical clauses in the resolution but some others are vague and unrealistic.  However, the way the resolution is debated in security council solved this problem instantly.  The resolution produced in the end would be the essence of the discussion. 

The debate started quite slow, but when the delegate of Syria was brought in, it really kicked off the intensity in security council.  And from then onwards, it was enjoyable. 

Although we passed the resolution, the delegate of China and Russian Federation vetoed it since it infringed national sovereignty and was against the UN Charter.  Despite the fact that it was sort of disappointing, since all our efforts were virtually wasted, I still optimistically thought that the votes do not actually matter, but instead the process of debating and getting to that point should always be the most memorable experience. 

~Written by Kai Song~

 

Kai Song is the delegate of Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

Kai Song voting for the resolution/clause 

The Third Day

We got our emergency topic yesterday.  

The state of Israel has issued an ultimatum to the Islamic Republic of Iran stating that Iran is to terminate its nuclear programme within the space of 24 hours or a state of war will exist between the 2 nations.  

*A bunch of stuff* 

The issue has been brought before the UNSC as it poses an imminent threat of the United Nations 

We had to come up with solutions immediately for this problem that would threaten world peace and security.  Since I was a delegate of Bosnia-Herzegovina, I was pro-Iran but could not condemn Israel as well as the country would like to maintain good relationship with the EU.   As a co-submitter, we came up with a resolution that was slightly neutral and the solutions were only to prevent war.  

We had 2 resolutions on this issue today but they were both similar.  Due to certain reasons, the debate wasn't as fiery as yesterday, but it also brought me more chances of speaking.  I made about 4 speeches and a few POIs.  And it was enjoyable!  

The first resolution passed overwhelmingly and since the second resolution was similar, it passed unanimously as well.  

KLMUN 2012: ECOSOC

Delegate from Nexus include:

Nicole Lee> Guatamela

Adam> Morocco

What happened?

 The First Day

The ECOSOC is quite a small committee and we managed to finish up all the opening speeches, giving delegates an insight as to who to pull in for resolutions of the topics posed. For me, it was something like an introductory session where I get to know each delegate's viewpoint on certain issues as well as the countries that they are representing.

Majority of Day 1 was to collaborate with other delegates to come up with resolutions that can solve the issues at hand. As the regulation of financial market appealed to me most and the extensive research that I have done about the topic, I decided to be a co-submitter of the resolution. The regulation of the financial market is very important because without a strict regulation, financial markets will crumble, one by one thus we must strive to avoid this at all costs.

Our resolution was one of the first to be submitted so we had extra time to look over it and come up with speeches and POIs for the passing of this resolution to solve the problem. We look forward to Day 2 where the debate commences. 

~Written by Nicole Lee~

The Second Day

Today on ECOSOC we were able to get two resolutions done. Now of course many have said to me that ECOSOC will be funny and I will love it, they were not wrong when they said it. ECOSOC is nice to be in for first times. The second resolution we did had a few jokes in it but it was good nonetheless. The third one that we were not able to finish definitely had some good things in it mostly some jokes that we all could not keep our laughter in. (I was able though)

~Written by Adam~

Ever seen Adam so serious before?  

The Third Day

Nicole giving a speech

Day 3 started off quite quickly as all the delegates were very familiar with the procedures. We went straight into debate about the third resolution about universally accessible medical aid. As most of the debate was done in the day before, we moved into voting procedures and we had an unanimous vote for the well written, specific and effective resolution.

After a 15 minutes break, we debated about another resolution on the same topic submitted by Bangladesh instead. A lot of delegates brought attention to USA's extensive military spending and that if that was cut down, all the money can be used for providing medical aid to LEDC countries instead. Also, some delegates also brought attention to one clause which suggested to have a water plant/ pump in every district in the whole wide world. This clause was not agreeable to many because not only exhaustive in manpower, it is quite idealistic to be able do so in a short amount of time. While it is definitely very good in the long run, so many people are already dying so a more short-term solution may be more beneficial. Another clause that was brought into debate was the implementation of undergraduates to do fieldwork in rural areas. Now this was simply just too much because people in LEDCs should not be under the jurisdiction of being treated as white rats in the laboratories where the doctors can actually "experiment" on. This was then amended due to its controversial nature.

It was more relaxed, not as tense as the first day. A delegate came up with an amendment that all doctors should play Dr Mario everyday to ensure that they maintain and familiarise with what they are doing. To my surprise, this amendment actually passed because no one wanted to debate against it, unlike the Marvel and DC Comics amendment which was created to aid developed countries to pay off their sustainable debt and to regulate the financial market. Unfortunately, this resolution was not passed as quite a number of delegates voted against it.

With that, it brought an end to all the resolutions that the ECOSOC came up with and we proceeded to debate about joke resolutions which involved Pokemon VS Digimon, the Big Bang Theory and Harry Potter instead. That was quite fun because the previous formal topics were quite dry and these topics provided the delegates a new perspective to debate about. Only some delegate went with it and I, as the delegate of Guatemala, a LEDC country, have to reaffirm that our people, having absolutely no TVs and Gameboys so they wouldn't in a million years know what are Pokemons and the world of Pokemons so the resolution does not really benefit our country. This was greeted by quite a number of POIs, but since the resolution was quite popular, it was passed.

Moving on to the 2nd joke resolution, it mentioned placing chips in humans to assess their medical state, using magical powers to heal and bring people back from the death as well as having a robot army from Japan to save people from epidemics. While it was quite promising because it meant that no one would die, I went forward and delivered a speech about the consequences of messing with nature as well as being eventually terminated by robots, as seen in the movie Terminator. Most of the delegates went along and this resolution was not passed.

With that, ECOSOC of KLMUN 2012 was brought to an end. This year's was certainly one of the most memorable. Who would have thought that Adam and I would attend a conference where delegates sang the Pokemon song, spoke in Pokemon and Harry Potter language amidst discussing about crucial matters involving managing debts in developed countries? We certainly enjoyed working hard and playing hard. 

~Written by Adam & Nicole~

 

 

Nicole (Circled) voting 

See how straight Adam's arm is 

 

KLMUN 2012: HRC

Delegates from Nexus include:

You Zhen> Guatamela

Olivia Warr> Switzerland

What happened?   

The First Day

Today we arrived at MUN in GIS. We were all a bit nervous as we waited to get called into the Grand Hall where we had a presentation about what this weekend was going to be all about. Soon after we split in to our committees and because for many of us this was only our second or third conference, we nervously read our opening speeches. The different committees starting lobbying and we soon made good friends and colleagues that came together to make a resolution to resolve the issues depending on our topics. Overall, our first day reassured us, and we had fun! 

~Written by Olivia Warr~

 
Olivia in the midst of a group discussion

The Second Day 
The second day in the Human Rights Committee was extremely hectic yet enjoyable as countless resolutions were debated and amended. 

I arrived early at GIS and waited for my fellow colleagues and friends from a range of schools to arrive so that we can elaborate and add more to our close-to-perfect-resolution. We continued lobbying until 10:45 where we started debating on the first resolution. That was when the fun really starts. 


Fiery debates from countries made you think twice about the resolution as a whole, while detailed amendments were added to improve the resolution. The debate raged on and on, until the chair decided that we could not have any more speeches due to time constraints. This happened to every resolution that we have debated for, never ceasing to be boring for a second. 


Next, we had our lunch break where I discussed our resolution with another colleague and shared our interests. When we returned full of energy, a resolution has already been passed out and we all immediately sat down and took notes. 


I also found that I improved drastically from my previous MUN, where I realised that the more Points of Information (POI’s) you make, the less nervous you will be and the more efficient debating will be. I got more and more confident and raised many POI’s along with a speech. 


The result of our resolution was worth the hard work, as it passed with all member states for it, with one abstention and none against. At the end of the day, the Human Rights Committee passed altogether three out of six resolutions, and we all await fruitful debates for the remaining three tomorrow. 


I feel that the experience was really unforgettable as I managed to make friends from GIS, Mutiara Grammar School and Uplands international school in Penang. I would recommend MUN to anyone as not only can you learn something invaluable from it, you are also given a chance to socialise with students from all over Malaysia of various ages.
~Written by You Zhen~

 

 

Oliva and You Zhen making some final touches to the resolution 

The Third Day

How quickly time passes... It’s the last day and we’re all sad that it’s going to be over! Both of us were pretty tired but excited for today as it was the day the resolution we were co-submitting was being debated! 

There were three resolutions to be debated, however unfortunately there was only enough time to debate two. The Human Rights Council voted, and luckily our resolution, as well as one resolving the issue of gender discrimination, were voted to be debated on. The day passed, with growing anxiety forming for Olivia! 

Break started and the chairs asked us to vote for a several amount of superlatives (joke awards), including funniest, most likely to work for the UN, most likely to get incarcerated as well as best dressed. 

The votes were counted by the admin staff. And now finally! The time for our reso to be debated and voted! All speeches went well, no negative Points of Information were expressed, and everyone thought our reso was detailed, concise and close to perfect! Everyone voted for, no-one voted against or abstained which resulted in our reso passing! 

We didn’t have time to make a joke reso but we still had fun awarding the superlatives. Lunch started and ended, as well as the Ending Ceremony. By the end of the day, we made friends from all over Malaysia and exchanged Facebook requests! We were all relieved but sad that it was over, as we all had made great friends and had a truly memorable experience! 

~Written by You Zhen and Olivia~

KLMUN 2012: UNDC

Delegates from Nexus include:
Carlos> Bosnia-Herzegovina
Victoria Hoo> Guatamela
Teh Wen Wen> Iran
Jacelyn> Morocco
Ng Wi Kiat> Switzerland

What happened?  
The First Day

During the opening speeches, to keep track of my allies and adversaries, I made a table with their respective country's position on the topics of the UNDC based on the delegates' speeches. However, in the end, it turned out to be an exercise in futility because most countries (with a few exceptions) had the same view on the topics. Those who had differing views, merely wouldn't  participate in the resolution.

When lobbying started, I wandered around for a while, trying to decide which resolution formation I would join - eventually I realised that since Morocco seemed to be focused and adamant about nuclear disarmament I should join that resolution formation.

I went through the draft resolution (prepared by the delegate of Germany) and offered suggestions and opinions about the clauses with other delegates. That pretty much took the rest of the time.  The day ended with a roll call and that was it. It was a generally uneventful day.
~Written by Jacelyn~

Below are some of the pictures taken in UNDC:

 Working on the resolution

 Organising their clauses

The Second Day
The 2nd day of KLMUN got off to a slow start, after roll call we continued lobbying for our resolution. I, as the delegate of Iran, decided to concentrate on the resolution relating to the establishment of a Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone in the Middle East. And we spent most of the morning perfecting the resolution.

Things got a little more interesting when the debates started. The delegate of UK submitted a resolution to on implementing the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, which was quite flawed to be honest, and therefore it failed. After lunch, our resolution was up next to be debated. I have to admit I was rather disappointed that the delegate of Israel did not respond to my speech as much as I thought he would considering the tensions between Iran and Israel right now. But our resolution passed! So hooray! The last resolution we debated on was about eliminating the illicit trading of illicit small arms and light weapons by the delegate of USA, which also got passed.

All in all, it was more eventful than the first day, although I felt that the UNDC delegates this time round of KLMUN was not as enthusiastic as last year’s. Even so, I hope it will be a better round of debates tomorrow. 
~Written by Wen Wen~

 

Wi Kia, Wen Wen, Victoria and Jacelyn discussing

 

 Wen Wen giving a speech

 

Jacelyn giving a speech

KLMUN 2012: General Assembly

Delegates from Nexus include:
Hasmah> Bosnia-Herzegovina
Lena> Guatamela
Kenneth Choo> Iran
Sharmaine> Morocco
Chanda> Switzerland


What happened? 
The First Day
On the first day in the General Assembly, we started off by giving our opening speeches. However, unlike most committees, the GA has a huge amount of delegates therefore due to the lack of time only a few people got to read their opening speeches. After the opening speeches, we started our lobbying. We started of by choosing which topic our countries would most likely be apart of to help and then we continued we the discussions.
~Written by Hasmah~

 

Kenneth Choo collaborating with other delegates

 

Group Discussions 

 Sharmaine listens attentively (She's the main submitter!)

 

Lena!  (Cutest Delegate, anyone?)

The Second Day

KLMUN 2012: Opening Ceremony

The Nexus delegates arrived at the KLMUN on time, finalizing the last details to opening speeches and resolutions.

The Opening Ceremony began with a welcome from the Secretary General and Deputy Secretary-General.  The speech highlighted the focus of this MUN: solving the obstacles that our world faces in adapting to change and attaining absolute coexistence and harmony. 

This was followed by a welcome by the Head of GIS shared with the delegates that a focus on change in the world has been a centuries old adage.  With the reminder that change comes in all forms and shapes, and from a variety of individuals.  He urged the delegates to remember to work towards real world solutions by listening to not just those who are the most vocal, but also to those who sometimes take time to consider the issues and bring their ideas to the table later.  In combining the views of all, and taking the time to hear all ideas the goals of the MUN will be met.

Following the Opening Ceremony, the delegates headed off to their committees.  You will be hearing from the regularly over the next three days.  

Below find some pictures of the learners finalizing the last details before the opening ceremony.  Let the pictures do the talking!

KLMUN 2012: All prepared

KLMUN delegates will all be attending the 3-days event in Garden International School from the 17th to the 19th of February 2012. 

It's less than 24 hours before the actual conference where Nexus students will be showing off their awesome debating skills in solving these current affairs: 

The General Assembly (GA)

• Achieving universal primary education for children in developing countries.
• Achieving global food security.
• Improving world coordination in response to natural disasters.
• Sustaining aid to the less economically developed countries during global recession.

The Disarmament Commission (UNDC)

• Creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East.
• Eliminating the illicit traffic in small arms and light weapons.
• Ratifying and implementing the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention.

Human Rights Council (HRC)

• Issue of human trafficking in South East Asia.
• Laws against discrimination based on gender.
• Child soldiers in the Middle East, Asia and South America.
• Child labour in developing countries.

Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC)

• Universally accessible medical services and facilities.
• Long term sustainable debt management in developed countries.
• The regulation of global financial markets.

Security Council (SC)

• The situation in Syria.
• Emergency topics to be announced during the conference

SEASAC MUN: The final day

As always the final day is frenetically putting the final touches to resolutions, exploring the finer points of debate, preparing for the Emergency topic and most importantly superlatives!
Find out what our delegates had to say in summation :)

Idura:
Today was a very productive day. The committee of peace and security managed to pass 2 of the 3 resolutions submitted , including the one for which I, Mongolia, co-submitted. The terrible stage fright that had somewhat prevented me from really giving it my all yesterday had lessened and I was ready to get debating. I also believe that the speeches I made today is better than those of yesterday as I do feel more comfortable. After the debates in the committees finished, all the delegates was asked to go the theater for a General Assembly.

I was shocked to find out that I was the only representative of Mongolia for the conference this time. Going back to the GA, the emergency topic given in my opinion is a retelling of the assassination of Archduke Frank Ferdinand by changing it to the assassination of the Iranian president and serves as a catalyst of WWIII. I, as Mongolia, co submitted a resolution with China and a few other countries, unfortunately our resolutions weren't discussed due to time constraints. Despite that, attending the conference was a really good experience and has brought about many beautiful memories. I've grown attached to the state of Mongolia and is quite saddened by the fact that I'm no longer its "delegate". Ms Suzy serves as a big help for all of us, without her none of this would have happened. That being said I would like to say thank you to Ms Suzy for bringing us here and teaching us all we need to know regarding MUN.

Lisa:
The last day of the conference was very productive and we passed 2 of the 6 solutions that we wrote. One of which I co-submitted. As we debated the resolutions, the delegate of the USA wanted to take the delegate of Chile's speaking and voting rights away, as well as declare war on DPRK (North Korea) Spain and Syria. Lucky for them, the motion did not pass and as a result, Spain wanted to take away USA's speaking and voting rights. Unfortunately this motion did also not pass. Put together the debate was at times serious, but also filled with humour at certain times. The delegates, including myself, were in high spirits even though we didn't have enough time to sleep the night before due to arriving late to the hotel. It was an amazing experience and I hope to go to the next conference in Bangkok as well!

After we finished our own committee's debates, we had an emergency topic. Hypothetically the leader of Iran had been assassinated and Iran accused Israel. Israel denied all the accusations and the two countries were readying their nuclear weapons and were almost starting a war. The EU were behind their Israeli friends, claiming that they were innocent and were prepared to take military action if Iran fired the first shot on Israel. Of course, DPRK seeing that countries were readying their nuclear weapons, readied theirs too which caused South Korea to also ready theirs. So, it was quite hectic, even for a hypothetical global issue. Not to mention the fact that World War III could start anytime. So, Timor Leste gathered as many neutral countries that they could, especially the countries from the ASEAN bloc, and together with Argentina created a resolution to resolve the issue in peace and preventing war. However, our resolution did not get read out aloud and no-one in the Assembly knew about it but us. We went through 2 crappy (according to us anyway) resolutions which one passed due to a 'heartfelt' speech from the UK.

After the resolution was passed and the Assembly was finished and closed, Danny realised that thanks to that resolution, we hypothetically started a Nuclear War and World War III just after Danny got his committee to agree that Timor Leste gets the whole Island making Timor Leste a potential target for attack. After realising this, we further realised that Timor Leste's military forces are incredibly weak and very small. Basically meaning that we couldn't even defend ourself if we were to be attacked.  We were quite sad when we recognised that fact, after all the hard debating that we did to improve the situations in Timor Leste. Overall this was an incredible day and I had loads of fun (despite the fact that my feet were totally killed by my heels in the second hour of the debate).

Jo Yee:

No words could describe how the last day of my first MUN felt. Meeting exuberant individuals from all over South East Asia and debating about global issues is definitely an experience to be cherished. From being totally clueless on the first day, I ended my trip with a new range of vocab consisting of P.O.I.’s, P.O.C.’s, abstain, for/against speeches, clauses and so much more, it definitely amazed me how much these two days could change me. It makes me believe that us students DO have the power to make a positive change in the world someday where young minds will fuel the generation of tomorrow. Hence, I look forward to the next MUN conference that will further nurture my inclination towards global issues.

SEASAC MUN: The first day

 Danny Shariat Timor-Leste Political Committee:
The first day of the SEASAC Jakarta Mun was a great experience. There were many, very, memorable experiences in it and it is also the first meeting where I submitted a resolution. The delegate of North Korea created one of the most unusual amendments. So far my committee has only passed one out of the three resolutions put through. I really enjoyed the first day and I look forward to what tomorrow has to bring.

Loh Joh Yee Timor Leste Human Rights Committee:
Today in MUN, I represented the delegation of Timor Leste in the committee of Human Rights. I chose Human Rights as my preferred committee as I'm inclined towards the welfare of human beings. This being my first day and experience in MUN was a whirlwind as I'm surrounded by people my age who know lots bout lots. Its fascinating to see a variety of students coming from different backgrounds coming together in the pursuit of knowledge. I personally felt very lost in the first half of the day as I was not familiar with some terms and its procedures but by the end of the day, I felt more comfortable as it is no longer a foreign subject to me anymore. My target for tomorrow is to go up to the podium at least one last time to debate as to keep the discussion within the committee fruitful. My top tip is simply to have the confidence to mix around with other delegates as we could combine great ideas that can be used in creating the resolution.

Lisa Thimister Timor Leste GA2:
In this SEASAC MUN Conference I represent Timor Leste in General Assembly 2, which focused on the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian aspect of the committee. I chose this assembly because the topics that were going to be discussed sounded very interesting and therefore I decided to choose that as my preferred committee. The first day we introduced our countries and started lobbying and forming groups to write resolutions. In our assembly we had to write two resolutions for each problem, so it took quite some discussing to get the resolutions right. I have done this before so this time I actually felt quite confident in myself and I really enjoyed it. I hope that I will be able to talk more and be even more engaged in the debate. My top tip would be to have confidence in yourself and really talk to other people and mingling with the other delegates.  

Idura Mongolia Peace & Security :
Today was the first day of SEASAC MUN. I'm currently representing Mongolia in the Peace and Security committee. I chose to join this committee as most of the issues being discuss are issues that are very relevant to the wellbeing of Mongolia. For example, one of the issues discussed was international organized crimes, and though unfortunate, the sad truth is that citizens of LEDC countries such as Mongolia itself are often engaged in such despicable activities. I believe that the only reason this is happening is due to the lack of funding to provide employments and good education, thus the citizens of LEDC countries such as Mongolia itself, has no choice but to commit such horrific crimes to earn a living. Not only that, the topic of Peace and Security in the South East China Sea was also being discuss, and though Mongolia is not directly affected, any possible restriction impose on China relating to hydrocarbons and access to the sea could cause prices to increase, and as Mongolia relies heavily on China for import and export, if this does happen then Mongolia would fall into a great depression. We did lobbying today after giving opening speeches, I was very impress at the delegate of Haiti for his short but very concise speech. That being said I decided to create a resolution with him addressing the issue of International Organized Crimes on the grounds that we are LEDC countries that are most vulnerable to these crimes. I hope that tomorrow would be a better day and I also hope that some resolutions would pass as all three resolutions put forward today was rejected. My tip for any delegates going for an MUN conference, before making a for or against speech, make sure you at least write down your main points on a piece of paper as this will allow you to be more concise, especially for a newcomer like myself, trying to do an impromptu is a terrible idea unless you have full confidence that you can present a speech without stopping every few seconds to think of the next think you're going to say.

SEASAC 2012: The beginning

After months of preparation the team were ready to demonstrate their debating prowess at The British International School Jakarta.  We flew with Malaysian Airlines on Thursday 9th February from KLIA and after negotiating visas and baggage claim were met by the BIS representative and transported to our accommodation, the Kristal Hotel.

The accommodation is rather impressive!  The girls are staying in a huge 3 bed-roomed suite, so their living room became our MUN headquarters :)  After ordering room service we prepared for the conference and managed to get to bed, despite the nerves!

Tomorrow read about each of the delegates experiences in the 4 different committees.