On MUN and my High School Life

Before I start, I would like to pay tribute to the late, great Kofi Annan, former United Nations (UN) Chief, who passed away at a ripe old age of 80. Mr Annan lived a life worth remembering, having brought the UN through trying times such as the invasion of Iraq. He was also the founder of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and set the direction for the UN going into the 21st century. He was not the most successful UN Secretary General, but he certainly left the UN in a better place than when he inherited it. Thank you sir.

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Recently, I was invited back to NUSHS for the SDYC Dinner and Dance. For the uninitiated, SDYC stands for Sustainable Development Youth Convention, my school's version of a MUN. For the still uninitiated, MUN stands for Model UN, a simulation of the actual UN when youths come together to represent different countries (or stakeholders) and debate on issues concerning the world, real or hypothetical. At the end of debate, the representatives (in MUN terms, delegates) are to pass a document as a solution to the issue at hand.

I was ecstatic to have been invited back despite never having formally planned SDYC with the Organizing Team (OT), representing my close ties with the (OT). Not only did it give me a chance to catch up with old friends, but also it was a good opportunity to reminisce about my school life, notably in MUN. I congratulate the OT 2018 for a successfully run SDYC 2018.

My time with MUN spanned across 4 years from 2014 to 2017, but I stopped for a year during 2016. In this time, I took part in 7 MUN conferences with 3 Verbal Commendations (VCs). This was considerably a bad record, but oh wells. I also did participate in a few other MUNs in other portfolios, such as an Admin Staff and a Political Actor.

I actually started my time with MUNs in 2013, when I was a Political Actor for one SDYC committee. SDYC 2013 was also where I met Dejoy Shastikk Kumaran, who would go on to become a major influence in Singapore MUNs. I was interested in how MUNs worked, with the dynamics of the UN and current affairs urging me to sign up for my first MUN in 2014 for River Valley's MUN. 

My first MUN was where I learnt the ropes of MUN-ning through watching videos and spending countless hours on bestdelegate.com and the like. I was certainly a nervous wreck during the MUN, but perhaps I was keen and eager enough and got a VC. But since this was my first MUN, I was being more social than caught in the debate as I was unfamiliar with the proceedings and didn't expect anything. 

My second MUN was rather a traumatic one, as I was thrown into an experienced council despite only having done MUN only once before. I was also roped into going against the main bloc, which was never an easy task, and hence it was quite a bad experience, though I learnt quite a lot from it. This was also where I met an older friend who I would still keep in contact with once in a while. This was also where my levelmates got introduced to MUN, and I got to know some of them such as Rayhan (who would go on to be pretty influential as well), Darell Chua (very popular I heard ;)), Jingwen, Yunyi, Wei Juan and Chermaine Bok.

My third MUN was where I started to be introduced to some toxicity in MUN, but I was able to see through it. I was given a rather strong delegation in a rather new committee, so I was able to hone my skills better. I was not fully participative since I was quite shy, but I did get  a VC for my efforts (haha). 

My fourth and fifth MUN were big flops. Not because of the organization (I must say the organizing was pretty solid), but because of the people who I was with. One MUN had too big a council with inexperienced chairs, and the other was just toxic betrayal all around. Perhaps I was too nice to be a MUN-ner, so I left. For 21 months.

My sixth MUN was a return MUN, and I went with my co-delegate Teddy Ong, a good friend of mine. But surprise! We were not only put into UN Security Council, the most competitive committee, but also given no substantive voting rights (though it was also not the organizer's faults, more of our late signup 😂😂😂). We had a lot to catchup, since MUN had become a rather toxic environment by then, and we were very rusty. I felt that we did very well, having submitted numerous Working Papers and co-writing the eventual (failed) resolution. But perhaps the competition was too tough, and we didn't get any award despite putting up the toughest fight of our MUN careers. I was also happy to have met my 2 chairs, Huang Feiyang and Tan Yong Yi. I also met good friends in Wynsey Chen, who would play a key role in my final MUN, as well as Surya Varma and Neo Xiu Yang.

My seventh and last MUN was one that Teddy and I gave a lot of effort, and left it all on the "battlefield". While we did not submit as many working papers as MUN #6, we did play a significant role in council despite having been given the WORST planet possible (it was a space organization). We co-sponsored 2 resolutions, which was "snaking" in some people's eyes, but in our defence it was to unite the council. Wynsey and I then merged the resolutions, and thankfully it passed. Wynsey and her co-del won their deserved BD, while Teddy and I got our final VC (Teddy's first, lmao). I found a good friend in my chair, Johanna, and Teddy and I found friends in our close allies Reisha and Alicia.

But the seventh MUN was where I decided to leave as a delegate. I could no longer keep up with the mental and physical stamina required to perform in a MUN. I was also sick and tired of people being snakes and toxic in MUNs, with betrayal being so rampant it's almost commonplace, and used as a joke sometimes. MUN had no longer become a place of discussing affairs that concerns the world, rather the competition took over and petty politics took the place of constructive discourse. Those in the MUN industry could still continue their ways, I don't really care, but as far as I myself was concerned, I was done.

This was not to say MUN is totally bad though. MUN has certainly taught me a lot of things, be it public speaking, how to be succinct and sharp, how to think on my feet, and how to interact with people. I would definitely recommend people to go into MUN to shape their knowledge of the world and hone their confidence/public speaking skills. It is definitely an eye-opening experience debating world issues and meeting new people. But I also encourage newbies to know their morals and values, stick to them, and be careful not to end up as spineless creatures.

Furthermore, also very quickly I revised my stance from leaving MUNs to leaving MUNs as a delegate. I realized I have not had the opportunity to become a chairperson or a secretariat member for a MUN. Maybe my views of MUNs would be different after going through a different experience, from another angle. Therefore I am willing to return to MUNs, only as a chairperson or in the secretariat. However, such commitments would likely take a lot of effort, hence I should only continue (if I even continue) during University, or at least after NS.

So, goodbye MUNs, till we meet in 2 years. Maybe.