TAYMUN Mock Conference

The 4th of April saw TAYMUN Sri Hartamas organize their inaugural conference, chaired by Isabell Zubinsha and Audrey Ser. While others would have slept their Saturday morning away, 27 delegates were quick, keen and exuberant on getting a taste of what the Model United Nations had to offer.

The General Assembly rolled into session as the Chairs begun role-calling, to identify member states present. Donned in formal wear, the delegates took to the podium to deliver their opening speeches with much poise and eloquence.What followed suit was a two and a half hour lobbying session, where delegates formed blocs with their allies to co-submit a resolution together. There were much heated up discussions in the hall as delegates brainstormed for the most appropriate solutions, before submitting their resolutions to the Approval Panel.

After lunch only did the debate commence, on the topics of Kyoto Protocol and the Gaza-Israel conflict. Despite very persuasive arguments, with example of Malaysia saying, ‘‘The resolution is like a fortune cookie, but with no fortune. It gives you so much at the beginning, but in the end you get nothing’’, 2 out of 3 resolutions were successfully passed at the end of the day.

Formalities aside, there was much laughter throughout the conference, as time and time again the Chairs had to call for the house to come to order. Irrelevant notes between the UAE and India, regarding the flawed alignment of papers, stirred up much laughter in the house. Yet another one was to Singapore, from Syria. It read: ‘‘Stupid!! Your writing looks like indo mee!’’.

To close it all off, an award ceremony took place, with the delegates of Russia and Malaysia snagging the Most Diplomatic and Most Passionate award respectively. Mr Rahul Ramachandran, Secretary General for the day, expressed in his speech how pleased he was that the mock conference had the participation of students from all intakes. You can bet he was even more pleased thereafter, as he was voted as ‘‘Sexiest’’ in the General Assembly.

Really, one has to experience it before being able to embrace the likes of Model UN – because it goes way beyond formalities and what this article can portray in a limitation of words.

By JIA MIN