MUNITY-East

By: Danice Abril, International School Ho Chi Minh

In a tiny room, debates, arguments, voting and a whole lot more create the Advisory Panel hum. An ongoing thread of ideas just keeps flowing. Two sides with two points of views: the Humanitarian, composed of NGO’s and UNO’s, and the Political,made up of representative countries. This committee focuses on one specific issue: dealing with the conflicts that involve the Pacific Islands.

Because THIMUN-Singapore 2010 revolves around the theme of government, the committee’s topics center on combating the strong government corruption faced by countries in the Pacific Islands.

Each idea produced by delegates supports the solution to the problem, but are they aware of the main purpose of the Advisory Panel and what it deals with? The delegate of the United Kingdom, Sung Won Lim, stated that the AP serves “to solve several problems within the Pacific Islands.” To be specific, they are debating borders and resource disputes and protecting the cultural identity of the countries.

A specific problem that this committee faces is the drowing island of Kiribati. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it is composed of 33 islands. Malavika Nair, the delegate of Kiribati explained, “It may be the first island to completely disappear from the map. The locals in the country have only 20 to 30 years to either evacuate the place or delay the sea level rate.” Currently, the delegates are focusing on the environment and tourism so that they can reduce the risks of the island’s dissapearrance.

Dhruv Srinivastava, head of the Advisory Panel, moves through both rooms to assist any delegates in need. He feels that they will develop a solution for mounting problems. When asked if the committee can produce a good solution on time, the president simply answered, “I think so.” Lastly, while checking up on the busy delegates, he stated that, “They are doing well.”

Solving that specific issue is not easy. Each delegate has his or her own perspective on how to solve it. The delegate of USA, Paddy Nopany, stated, “I would propose that we can solve this problem simply by researching for prevention of the rising tide,” In addition he proposes asking for help from NGO’s and UNO’s to gain funds to protect the country. He added, “We should implement a sustainable green development for the county” and, “international science may also have technologies that may prevent or maybe warn them about the problem that they are facing”.

By: Danice Abril

The President of the Advisory Panel, Dhruv Srivastava, finds MUN to be “an avenue to gain exposure, keeping in touch with International Affairs, and issues that plague out the world.” Perhaps that passion is what drove him to ascend the MUN hierarchy, as he served as the Deputy Assistant President of the AP in THIMUN-Singapore 2009. And why did he join in the first place? Simple. “I felt [MUN] was a good platform to gain exposure and discuss world issues on a small scale.”

Besides juggling his various MUN duties, Srinivastava manages to find time for his favorite hobbies, such as performing the guitar for his school band and playing varsity badminton. He is also involved with a charity that teaches English to young Chinese locals.

Dhruv hopes that “this conference broadens [the delegates’] vistas about the world.” He also adds that participants should help out their fellow peers, especially the newbies: “Don’t get bogged down, take risks, speak up, stay involved, but most of all, make friends and have fun.”

By: Danice Abril

The extroverted, determined and solution-oriented President of the International Court of Justice, Radhika Kannan first joined MUN because of her interest in debate, foreign policy and solving global crises. Since then, she has taken on a myriad of important roles, serving as senior chair for ECOSOC, registrar of the ICJ and the Secretary General of SIMUN 2010 in a total of 11 conferences.

Even outside of MUN, Radhika finds time to pursue other activities. She performs Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance, reads avidly and watches re-runs of ‘Friends’, her favorite TV show.

Kannan touts MUN as a way of cooperation, rather than individual glory, saying that “MUN is more about resolving the issues at hand rather than who has the last say. She also believes that partaking in these conferences allows delegates to gain “an economic, social, political and legal perspective.” She hopes that both new and returning delegates can “have the opportunity to look at the conference from different perspectives just as I have.”