MUNITY-East

By Regan Plekenpol, Shanghai American School Pudong

When wandering the halls of the Hwa Chong, you may run across GA6 delegates. Ask them about their conference, and they may reply: “We talk about drugs.”

“What?”

“Drugs.” 

Indeed, the GA6 has been focusing on cooperation against the world drug problem, crime prevention, and criminal justice, among other things. From what we’ve heard, it’s been running “very smoothly with some amusing analogies—but nothing too inappropriate” according to Rhiannon Wiley of the Overseas Family School, Deputy Chair of GA6. Well, if analogies are amusing, then the chairs are like the laces of shoes, tying the whole committee together.

As for the delegates, they have been “really enjoying [themselves]” according to Josh Howard, the Delegate of Barbados of Tanglin Trust School. “Though at times [the debate is] hectic, the problems are mostly [found in] technicalities rather than complete disagreement with the [respective] resolution,” he comments. “It [has been a very] constructive conference” and his only wish is to be given the chance to speak even more.

“I am really enjoying working with friends and collaborating,” adds Mary Wei the Delegate of Iran from Chengdu International School, enthusiastic about the affairs of the committee.

Although GA6 delegates may find the debates more amusing and less academic, the delegates of GA6 spout out comic analogies to lighten the mood.

In essence, GA6 is like Ke$ha, loud and confident…except they do it on purpose.

The Chairs:

Photo Credit: Cindy Song, Tianjin International School 

By Sean Liu, International Bilingual School at Hsinchu 

Photo cred: Judy Park Intl. School of Beijing

After a long morning of discussion and resolution-merging, delegates rushed to the lunch area, eager to fill their stomachs. 

As hungry as they were, delegates had a variety of opinions regarding their different lunches. Most who had the Western-style lunch seemed to enjoy it. However, those who had the Asian-style lunch had mixed feelings. Many delegates thought that the food had room for improvement.

The juice was amazing! 

“The cabbage and fish tasted off, and the meat lacked flavor,” commented Amanda Chen (Kaohsiung American School), the delegate of Lithuania of General Assembly 6. In addition, Susanna Chen (International Bilingual School at Hsinchu), a reporter for MUNITY-EAST, shared that “I found a bug in my lunch!”

However, many delegates enjoyed and complimented the food as well. “The juice was amazing!” commented Minna Chen (International Bilingual School at Hsinchu), delegate of Irelend of General Assembly 5, “I’ve never tasted such a uniquely delicious flavor before!”

Not all delegates used their coupon lunches. A few delegates preferred alternatives, including microwaved sandwiches from the sandwich machine in the Student Activities and Leadership Training Center, and ordered food from outside the Hwa Chong Institution.

When asked about their ideal lunch, delegates’ mouths watered at the thought of their favorite meals, which ranged from light, small sandwiches to all-you-can-eat buffets. Sid Singh (German European School), delegate of the Russian Federation of General Assembly 5, was especially passionate: “I would want a one-kilogram T-bone steak with black pepper and red wine sauce, along with carrot garnish, a glass of red wine, and a tiramisu cake for dessert,” he said.

As a whole, delegates enjoyed the food at THIMUN and continue to look forward to lunchtime, when they recharge for their busy afternoons.

By Susanna Chen of International Bilingual School at Hsinchu

At the back corner of every conference room huddles a group of students in brown blazers and red ties. They are the invisible hands that make every conference possible and rewarding. Despite the scorching sun and the oppressive heat, one can see them scurrying from one end of the huge resort-like campus to the other, carrying out their duties to the best of their abilities, offering their help to bewildered delegates, and ensuring that all technical difficulties are solved. Like the diligent and industrious bees of a sturdy beehive, producing mouth-watering and delectable honey, these dedicated students are the unspoken assistants that support the making of prolific and high-quality debates, the overcoming of the initial anxiety and fear of public speaking, and the learning of the delicate art of teamwork along with other capable students. All of which are the primary and most prominent purposes of all the conferences that occur at the Model United Nations.

Photo cred: Mars Huang of Intl. Bilingual School at Hsinchu

Leading all 68 silent helpers in brown suits is a responsible and fervent leader, who sits upright in a wooden chair at the front desk with an air of confident regality and appeal. Chng Luey Chi, a senior currently studying at Hwa Chong Institution, holds the title of administration head. Throughout his entire high school career, he had already attended five “thrilling, exciting, competitive, and challenging” conferences as a delegate. When inquired why he did not again embark on this annual cerebral adventure as a delegate, he boldly proclaimed, “Although this will be my first time as administration head, I believe it is time for me to take on a greater responsibility and challenge. I strongly think that I have what it takes to create an appropriate and comfortable learning environment for all advisors, chairs, delegates, and press members.” He also hopes that “this four-day conference will run smoothly, the delegates will enjoy themselves, and that all the problems of the advisors and student officers will be easily solved.”

Although all participants desire a smooth and manageable conference, complications are, nevertheless, inevitable. Fortunately, Chng stated, “Up until now, there was nothing major that happened. Just a few resolvable minor hiccups. Some of the microphones were not working, people kept losing their stuff, and ceilings were leaking water.” To avoid messy and hectic situations in the next two days, he encourages the administrative team to “keep working hard and do your duties! Up until now, all of you have been great. I think you guys should know that I wholeheartedly appreciate all of your hard work. Without your contributions, there will be no conference.”

By Jae Lee, Korea International School

Photo cred: Cindy Song of Tokyo Intl. School

Among the hundreds of delegates representing 70 different schools at THIMUN-Singapore, there are only 31 students and 3 advisors on the press team, which covers everything that happens at Hwa Chong Institution. The press team, consisting of well-

trained reporters, designers, artists, and photographers from 21 different countries, brings the news to you through the daily newspaper MunityEast. You may see them around with cameras taking photos and interviewing delegates, or scurrying around inthe morning persuading you to buy a newspaper (they’re just one dollar!). Once when buying newspapers, a school’s advisor asked them: “How do you guys do it? Do you work all night?” Though our diligent press members do exert much effort into their work, sleepless nights and deepening eye bags are not the secret ingredients to producing our glamorous publications. A scoop inside the press room will show you that organization and cooperation are key to providing you with the most updated newspapers every day.

The press team, just like the delegates, start their day off bright and early at 9 A.M. Reporters and photographers, led by editors Angie Jo, Elissa Lee, and Karen Sims, receive their assignments in the morning

and leave to conduct interviews, record information, and take photographs throughout the day. Layout editor Alex Zhang, creates templates and discusses design elements with his talented crew as they wait for finished articles, photographs, and artwork to arrive. Artists are assigned pieces of art that play off their strengths, which may include digital art, black and white art, pen and ink art, or hand-drawn artwork.

After lunch, most of the finished articles and artwork arrives in the hands of the layout crew. Responsible for putting the whole newspaper together, the six-member layout team works together to pair artwork and photographs with written articles and create the colorful and uniquely designed newspapers. Within three hours, the layout crew puts everything together and hands it to the publisher at 4 PM to be printed and delivered the following morning.

With each new edition of Munity East, the same content is posted to the online newspaper at www.munity-east.com. From this site, you can also access episodes of METV and the application for the THIMUN 2012 press team.

Creating a newspaper isn’t as easy as one would expect. It involves cooperation, meeting deadlines, and oftentimes, hair loss from frustration-induced hair pulls. So the next time you step off the bus in the morning and see a bunch of students attempting to sell you a newspaper, buy it. After all, it’s only a dollar.

Photo cred: Mars Huang & Judy Park

IBSH, International School of Beijing

By Emily Tang, International Bilingual School at Hsinchu 

Photo cred: Cindy Song of Tokyo International School

In the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), participants endeavored to create the best solutions for seven distinct issues ranging from combating sexual exploitation of children to fighting against increasing financial corruption. In the spacious drama center of

Hwa Chong Institution, delegates persevered to work towards promoting higher standards of economic and social progress. This year’s ECOSOC delegates exemplified qualities of professional UN members as they worked intently throughout lobbying. “Though there were few enthralling events during the course of the conference,” noted deputy president Tiffany Wong (Shanghai American School), “there were a lot of passionate delegates who were really dedicated to their issue. Some of them even wrote eight pages for their resolution! I have never seen this before in a conference, and the delegates’ knowledge of their issues was reallycomprehensive.”

The council’s atmosphere was both composed and serious. However, not all delegates were caught up in the action. Hyun Min Kang, (Qindao MTI International School), delegate of an NGO, expressed woe that he was “not

able to actively participate in the lobbying yet because the council was not quite intense enough.” Unlike what some delegates were used to, ECOSOC merged an astonishing eleven resolutions to form one. “It is my first time here, and it was interesting to see so many resolutions merged together and approved,” said Lana Poljak (United Nations International School Hanoi), the delegate of Malta.Other delegates hoped to have an opportunity to submit their own resolutions rather than stay passive.

Though a large part of the conference lacked intense excitement, some embers were sparked in periods of the conference. During the lobbying session, the delegate of Guatemala, Ally Jiang (Beijing City International School), and the delegate of Pakistan,

Esther H. Yoon (Yongsan International School of Seoul) showed signs of discontent as they discussed who should submit their resolution for the issue regarding the effectiveness of long-term humanitarian aid with regards to natural disasters. In the end, a voting process was held between the group of delegates and the delegate of Guatemala’s resolution was submitted. The ECOSOC council even crashed the high school Internet by accident, though it recovered eventually.

As they strive for more exciting debates, ECOSOC participants will continue to discuss economic and social issues of the world, steadily making the climb towards higher standards.

Article by Ho Jai Yoon of Concordia Intl. School of Shanghai

At eight A.M. on November 16th, highly passionate students attending the 2012 THIMUN Singapore conference filled the Hwa Chong Institution with a vibe of passion and zeal. However, before the participants dive themselves into the feverishly hot atmosphere, they must first understand the purpose of MUN. Why do MUN debates and rebuttals allure participants? What is so fascinating about MUN that it attracts participants to the annual conference after long hours of flights?

Art by Joo Yeon Lim of CheongShim Intl. Academy

According to Swathi Bhat (Anderson Junior College Singapore), delegate of Cameroon in the General Assembly 1, MUN provides a “nice forum for youth, who usually [have] no seat in politics to discuss global problems and worldly issues.” For youth, who are usually excluded from the political world, MUN is a wonderful opportunity in which they can voice their thoughts. Thoughts expressed by the young generation may be idealistic; however, the true purpose of MUN lies in assisting the fresh and innovative words of youth to be voiced to the world. Julia Choi (Beijing International School), the delegate of Guatemala in General Assembly 3, further strengthens the idea by commenting that MUN gives students a “chance to talk with people they normally cannot meet, and it also allows participants to explore future careers and discover who they really are.”

On the other hand, some participants find that the useful skills and knowledge acquired from MUN can be applied to our daily lives. William Chen (Shanghai American School), the delegate of Lebanon in the Security Council, said, “Issues discussed in MUN are not just political or conceptual, but are actually very practical in that, for example, learning from discussions on humanitarian affairs can also be applied to our daily service club activities.” Those participants believe the purpose of MUN is not to simply earn certificate of participation, but to learn and apply great ideas shared during conference to daily lives.

However, despite the great purposes which allured participants to join MUN, Tiffany Wang, deputy president of ECOSOC, worries that sometimes debates and rebuttals become so aggressive that the “purpose of MUN turns into bashing others and picking on every single punctuation mistakes, rather than looking at the whole meanings behind resolutions.” Sometimes, participants are tempted to debase others’ opinions, rather than to cooperate and come up with better terms and ideas. Yet, there is no winning or losing in MUN. It has its purpose in connecting youth from all over the world and providing them an opportunity to collaborate with each other.

Therefore, all delegates must not forget the reasons why they chose to participate in MUN. Raising objections can result in fruitful debate in that it helps participants to think critically; however, denunciation only creates chasm among delegates. Therefore, before participants choose to criticize others, they must remember they joined MUN to accept diversity and spread their voices.

By Christine Choi, Korea International School

Photo cred: Mars Huang of Intl. Bilingual School at Hsinchu

A bright, sun-drenched day. Buildings bustling with students from all over the world. An atmosphere mixed with excitement and anxiety. This is the very scene witnessed upon arriving at the Hwa Chong Institution.

Half past eight in the morning, the main entrance of the school was already packed with students, teachers, advisors, and administration staff. Due to the warm Singapore weather, most of the girls were dressed up in skirts or dresses. Guys wearing their layers of dark suits, on the other hand, seemed to be sweating, even with their sleeves pulled up.

Waiting to be appointed to their rooms, students from the same schools circled around and received their name tags. A couple of participants recognized familiar faces from past conferences, and they greeted each other with welcoming smiles. Some students had dark circles under their eyes from preparing their clauses and resolutions the night before, and some were still exhausted from the plane ride. Danny Kim, an ECOSOC delegate representing Nicaragua, commented in an exhausted voice, “I’m kind of worn out right now because I slept late yesterday.” Others seemed to be more relaxed, chatting away with their friends and laughing out loud. With some time left, numerous people were flicking through the pages of the Munity-East paper.

Confidence comes naturally with experience. Unlike those attending the conference for the first time, the MUN veterans did not show any signs of uneasiness. “I’m actually more thrilled than worried, since this isn’t my first time at a conference. I’m looking forward to debating and meeting new people for the next few days,” said Eun Hwa Lee, a delegate from GA6 representing Poland.

Of course, there were a few people who arrived late, and they began rushing around the campus as soon as they hopped off the buses. Amid the bustling, Luigi Marshall, a GA6 delegate representing Cameroon, took the time to note, “This is my first time attending THIMUN, so I’m quite anxious right now. I’m hoping that I make new friends today.” After responding, he quickly walked across the hallway to his designated room. Others were not late, but simply had trouble finding where to go.

With the rooms jammed with participants, some students had to wait until they could be seated. “I like how Hwa Chong is so well-equipped with different facilities and how everyone here is really ambitious. Since there are so many people in each room, it is a bit frightening. However, I’m still glad to be here to learn about the different perspectives that students from different countries have,” commented Ang Wei Jia, a delegate representing Sierra Leone in GA2. She added, “I hope everything goes well today.”

The hectic morning soon passed by, and students across the campus began to settle down. They entered their rooms, got in their seats, and the chairs initiated the conference by running some brief introductory presentations. All participants are now ready to take their next steps into this four-day journey.

By Karen Sims, American School in Taichung 

The THIMUN-Singapore experience is not confined to the formal setting of the SALT Center. From the moment the buses pull away from the Hwa Chong Institution, students are already contemplating their next Singapore adventures. The shopaholics look forward to the cool blast of department store air conditioners, the beach-goers wrinkle their toes in anticipation of sun-bleached sand, and the entertainment-minded picture the adrenaline-filled screams of various thrill rides. No matter who you are, Singapore has an endless arsenal of amusement, and MUNITY-EAST is here to help you prioritize.   

Shopping 

Orchard Road is the first stop on a serious shopper’s itinerary. Lined with glittering lights and festive holiday décor is a paradise for luxurious and casual shoppers alike. Quirky jewelry and miscellaneous knick-knacks are available at Far East Plaza (14 Scotts Road), while Ngee Ann City (391 Orchard Road) hosts designer brands such as Zara, Mango, Guess, and even Harley Davidson Motor Clothes. Also at Ngee Ann City (bookworms, rejoice!) is Kinokuniya, the largest bookstore in Southeast Asia. For sweet-toothed shoppers, experienced THIMUN-Singapore delegate Mary June Manno from the American School in Taichung (Thailand, HRC) recommends visiting Candy Empire and The Cocoa Trees at Vivo City (located at Singapore’s Harbour Front).

Culture 

As much fun as shopping may be, sometimes MUN-ers need a break and to just immerse themselves in the rich cultural experience Singapore has to offer. Singapore’s unique blend of ethnic groups is manifested in cultural districts such as Chinatown, Little India, and Arab Street. With souvenirs, traditional snacks, and exotic scenes, these districts are a photographer’s dream and a great place to pick up gifts.

Entertainment 

Adrenaline junkies would recommend the GMAX Reverse Bungy located alongside Clarke Quay. This thrill ride reaches heights of 60 meters and speeds of 200 km/hr. Not intense enough? Then the GX-5 Xtreme Swing might be more your thing, soaring 50 meters into the air before catapulting 100 meters across the Singapore river. Animal lovers should also take the time to check out the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari.