Behind-the-Scenes: MUNITY-East Press

By: Annie Park, Korea International School

A day in the life of a press member is nowhere near easy. From 8 in the morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon, every reporter, layout person, artist and photographer is constantly on his or her feet. The tension that emerges within the pressroom every day is unbelievable – it grows and grows until the prized USB containing eight hours of intense labor by 40 people is placed in the hands of the publisher.
Having started preparation months in advance, the team produces a daily newspaper for all THIMUN-Singapore 2008 participants. “The press, in my opinion, is here to highlight the successes of the conference, to really celebrate the students’ achievements – we’re the historians of MUN,” said Mr. Longbotham, chief advisor for the group.
Although working in the press does not involve hours of lobbying, days of heated debates, placards, speeches or resolutions, the truth is, the members producing the paper are just as much a part of MUN as any of the delegates at this conference. Press advisor, Mr. Parker, expressed, “One thing that really impresses me is that the students all get along. That kind of cooperation is very much the heart of what MUN should be - delegates all over the world coming together and working toward a common cause.”
Considering all of the time, the stress, the effort and the work the students put into creating the paper, it is no surprise that something so impressive as a 16-page newspaper is produced every 24 hours.
The true importance of the press is revealed each morning, when delegates purchase a paper, and show their interest and excitement in seeing themselves and their friends featured in the articles. “In terms of our role in the MUN society, I think that the delegates can sometimes be so focused on their own committee that they don’t know what’s going on in the other committees. By reading the newspaper, they can gain knowledge on many of the other issues – [the press] serves a very valuable purpose because of this,” said Mr. Parker.
The MUNITY-East press truly is a business, and what makes successful is, as Mr. Parker said, that, “The students all get along – people are working with the editors and accepting the editors’ suggestions without any attitude problem … there’s a real sense of professionalism in the atmosphere of the pressroom – every member is very mature and responsible.”
Advisor, Ms. Craig, added, “I think the press gives something that people can take away– a keepsake, a memory that will last even after THIMUN-Singapore 2008 is over.”

The Men of Law

By: Ting Chen, American School of Taichung

In a corner of the SALT Center, the International Court of Justice isolated itself from the other committees with its blocked windows and secured doors. The deputy chairs and registrar, Varun Arte, Yenson Huang, and Akihiro Matsukawa, spread out in a line on one end of the room with their President, Jessica Hung. The three silent young men helped to strengthen the structure of the court.
Varun Arte’s first experience as an advocate of the ICJ at THIMUN-Singapore in his tenth grade year kindled his enthusaism and passionate love for the committee. Through intense debates and questioning of the witnesses, Arte learns to self-actualize his potential as a successful deputy chair. “[ICJ] is a different forum [in which] we can speak without using the third person,” said Arte. “ I’m interested in law.” He found using the third person hard to trigger an active debate.
Arte’s satisfaction for the conference so far was beyond his expectations. “The advocates have prepared the witnesses really well. The witnesses are really making some good points. In our previous conferences we have witnesses that didn’t know what they are talking about.” Arte’s fellow companion, Akihiro Matsukawa, who has worked with him for numerous conferences, also added that “The judges are really active this year because [in the past] they usually fall asleep because of the boring debates.”
Matsukara began his career as an MUNer in THIMUN-Singapore a delegate in the GA. He became a judge in the ICJ for the first time when he joined BEIMUN the following March. “It’s really different from MUN, that’s why people shied away from it,” remarked the Registrar. “[But] the debate [here] is more direct. It’s less formal, so it leaves more room for actual and heated debates.”
Unlike Matsukara, who had experience in chairing, Yenson Huang from Taipei American School took on the deputy chair role for the first time in his MUN career. “ICJ so far has been quite exciting for me because its my first time being a student officer. I was quite nervous so I staggered a lot while I was chairing. It was quite scary for me,” stated Huang. He came in touch with MUN during a summer camp in Yale University. “I want to major in law,” replied Huang when asked about his devotion in the ICJ. “I don’t like to speak in front of a lot of people, so ICJ is a small conference [suitable for me].” In school, Huang demonstrated his love for singing by joining the choir. “I love singing in a group. I don’t sing solos or duets,” continued Huang as he moved on to voice his hope for this conference. “ I hope to be more firm and to speak more properly because I tend to mumble a lot.”
Arte, another enthusiast for the performing arts, tried out Theatre back in the International School of Beijing. He said with a comical tone that “Even though [he is] Indian, [he does] not like cricket.” As for his advice to the future judges, advocates, and chairs? He asked these participants to consider carefully before they step into the court. “If you really want to be a chair. You’ve really got to be interested in law, because it’s completely different. Once you got in, it’s really hard to get out. You’ve got to stick to your decision.”
Together and hand in hand, Arte, Huang, and Matsukara kept the ICJ under control and gave their full support to Hung the President.

Busted!

By: Lauren Lee, Korea International School
Resolutions might take days, weeks, or even months to put together. I haven’t seen a delegate that loved the process. But it is a matter of fact that every delegate loves debating the resolution afterwards. Maybe due to such a long preparation period, some delegates have forgotten that they loved debating. Munity-East snapped photos to find out how and why some delegates were rocking THIMUN Singapore and why some were sleepwalking through the conference
We witnessed a lot of snoozing. While other delegates were presenting or debating against the submitted resolution, some delegates were nodding off, possibly dreaming about debating and portraying their ideas. Due to packed schedules -- conference, homework, flirting, shopping -- delegates could no longer stay awake to hear resolutions that they had spent hours on. Whether or not they were going to be able to present a valuable vote did not matter, sleep was sweet as candy for those delegates.
If sleeping didn’t suffice, reading and texting proved tempting substitutes. Some delegates preferred novels to resolutions. They were very concentrated -- just on the wrong material. Some delegates were so excited about telling their friends about the resolution that they actually forgot about debating and went ahead with texting.
However, more good attitudes than bad attitudes presented themselves. Most of the delegates had resolution out and ready to quickly turn to the necessary clauses. Most of the delegates also had pens or highlighters to mark important passages. Delegate of Cameroon Callum Jubb and Suzie Kim never stopped taking notes and commenting on the margins of his resolution copy. This left him well-informed and ready for speeches right away. Good attitudes also included delegates’ speaking confidently and portraying their colors and ideas. Delegate of Netherlands Rick Harting commented that he demonstrated his enthusiasm for MUN by “speaking confidently and portraying his ideas whenever he is recognized.”

THIMUN's Fashionistas

BY: JACQLYN HANNA, PRESBYTERIAN LADIES COLLEGE SYDNEY

Delegates from all over the world gather together at THIMUN-Singapore, bringing with them their individual fashion styles.
Standing in the midst of the stressed and anxious young teenagers, a sense of personality and professionalism emerges through the clothing they are wearing. The female members are seen in dresses, skirts and shirts, pants and shirts, and suits, while the male participants are all in suits with a large variety of colored ties and shirts, expressing who they are.
The past two days at THIMUN-Singapore, presents us with black as the most popular color worn by both male and female candidates. The hue black demonstrates a sense of formality and seriousness, which is how these teenagers want to be perceived.
“The fashion this year has definitely improved since last year. The girls seem to be expressing who they are more here at THIMUN-Singapore than they have at previous conferences, which I think is fantastic. The boys also seem to be courageous with their brightly colored shirts and ties,” said GA 3 Delegate of Thailand Renée Klioufis.
Although the females are in suits, they have each added their own personal touch to their outfits through their accessories. The most popular accessories seem to be large designer bags and colorfully printed scarves.
GA 2 Delegate of Liechtenstein Anton Kabischa, commented on the current fashion at this year’s THIMUN-Singapore conference, saying, “People should be combining their jackets and pants, and making sure they fit. I also like pointy shoes on both males and females. The badges do not really work well with most people’s outfits, so they should be subtler. Scarves are also really fashionable on girls.”
A popular trend amongst the male delegates is the combination of plain suit pants with patterned jackets and ties. Striped shirts are also in style.
Kahyun Park, Manas Bajaj, and Jingshen Zhao, Chair and Deputy Chairs of GA 1, stated, “We like grey, stripes, and black. Everyone seems to look acceptable. Earlier today in the Student Officers meeting, we had people wearing inappropriate clothing, so the Secretary General said not to wear anything that would make people cringe, and no converse shoes!”
The majority of females at the conference seem to have opted for flat comfortable shoes, as opposed to stilettos and other shoes that are based on looks rather than comfort.
The floral patterns, stripes and spots seen in bright colors on the female participants’ skirts and scarves, compliment the males’ ties, bringing together a sense of unity between all the members from all over the world. With bright colors coming through all the outfits, Delegate of Ireland Cristie Kennedy, said, “There are fascinating trends, and the bright colors are interesting.”
Chair of GA 2 Yoon Siang, summed up the overall fashion at this year’s THIMUN-Singapore as, “Pretty decent. Both the females and males are all dressed formally and appropriately.”

Advisory Panel on the Question of Nepal

by Emily Kim, Korea International School

With a room only a fourth the size of General Assembly and the small debating circle consisting of ten seats, one could easily stereotype the APQN forum as rather quiet. However, the enthusiastic, passionate delegates – or rather, “experts” – disaprove this assumption. Talkative participants like the zealous expert of the Communist Party of Nepal stimulated the debate, continuously presenting new amendments to the clauses.
As the forum itself is called the Advisory Panel on the Question of Nepal, APQN focuses on the issue of developing and stabilizing the small Himalayan nation. Conflict in Nepal started as Maoist rebels sought for a people’s republic in a country that had been a monarchy for over 200 years. The experts in APQN have had a hard time coming up with the perfect resolution. On top of the economic issues, there is the difficulty of reaching all the Nepali citizens living in rural, mountainous areas. Debaters are to recognize the different roots of the problem and come up with both political and humanitarian solutions.
Because the group is so small, the debaters got to know each other very quickly. By break time, everyone was busy socializing with one another, although most of the conversation revolved around MUN-related subjects. This intimacy among the participants helps create a more relaxed environment, which probably explains why the APQN room is not as tense as some of the bigger forums that have delegates eager to attack one another.
Another advantage of having a small group is that because everyone can be heard in the little discussion circle, there is no need for microphones, and thus, podiums. point of informations are simply asked in each expert’s seat, and for speeches and amendments, all they need to do is stand up and present.

ICJ –Intense, Concentrated, and Jumping with Joy

By EUNJI RHEE, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BEIJING

“Today [the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is] here to debate the delimitation of the maritime borders of Peru and Chile. We’ll be referring to international laws and listening to the cases that both countries bring to the court,” explained Judge Aisha Fakhroo from American School of Doha. Fakhroo added, “This case dates back to a long time ago, so we also have to consider previous cases.”
A long time is right. The dispute over the borderlines of Peru and Chile surfaced in 1879 when Peru and Bolivia engaged in a four year war against Chile over this matter. While Peru claimed that the marital border was undefined, Chile claimed that it was, in the Santiago Treaty of 1952. The controversy has grown more intense and finally in 2008, Peru decided to bring the case to The Hague. At THIMUN Singapore 2008, The ICJ committee will discuss this case for two days.
“On the first day of trial, we had an opening statement, followed by an introduction of evidence from the advocates of Peru and Chile. We evaluated the evidence by the significance it held, and then Chile called for three witnesses,” said President Jessica Hung from Overseas Family School. The ambassadors of Ecuador, the United States, and Chile stood as witnesses in favor of Chile. On the second day, the trial began with the ambassador of Peru, a witness that the advocates of Peru called for. The intense and incessant questioning from both Peru and Chile surrounding this witness exemplified the gravity of this hot debate.
The advocates of the two countries showed determination to win. “We think we are better prepared, with a multi-faceted case to back us up. We also have many more pieces of evidence,” remarked advocates of Chile, Chong Kee En and Toh Jia Jun from Hwa Chong Institution. Advocates of Peru, Jesse Chang and Hunter Putzke from the American School in Taichung, disagreed: “We believe that our case will succeed because the Santiago Treaty states that the border would be defined from the parallel to the land border in the presence of islands, which, there are none.” Although engaged in such an intense debate, the advocates are happy to be here. Chang added, “This is my first time in ICJ, and I’m glad to have this wonderful opportunity.”
Overall, events in ICJ seem promising. As Registrar Varun Arte from the International School of Beijing commented, “The forum is enriching, advocates are focused, witnesses are well prepped, and the judges are keen.”

Showing Potential of the Youths

BY: HEE SANG PARK, BEIJING WORLD YOUTH ACADEMY

Although their forum follows a very different procedure, representatives of theYouth Assembly have the same concerns and attitudes toward global issues as delegates of other forums. What sets the Youth Assembly members apart is their enthusiasm. Chair of the 1st forum of the Youth Assembly, Charles Tsai from the International School of Beijing, described the forum, as an experience which “ brings youth to solve global issues.”
The Youth Assembly works on an action paper, which is quite different from a resolution. Tsai explained it as “People who are in the same level as us establishing solutions,” and repeated the significant role in society by citing it as an example of the change a real-world organization made a few years ago just because of one action paper submitted in the Youth Assembly. He looked forward to his fellow co-workers finishing their work on time with fresh suggestions to embellish action papers and attempt to have a great impact on the plenary session this Saturday.
The Action Paper was the one task that they pursued with limited variety of readers, but people in each forum of the Youth Assembly also worked on group projects to appeal to a wider range of the population. The project aimed to relate to as many parts of the world as possible by actively using media that allows a great amount of people to access it. This year, forums of the Youth Assembly worked on assignments such as making web pages and videos.
Enthusiasm of the Youth Assembly is apparent not only when considering the projects that they have been working on, but also from interviewing delegates. Kevin Wu from Shanghai American School aims to “find out ways to increase global citizens and encourage youth to do more work for a world.” He thinks “children these days are too obsessed with their own world,” and explained that the Action Paper of Forum 1 will concern itself with how to urge youth to become more globalized citizens. Ji Hye (Amy) Park in forum 2 who is from Qingdao MTI International School also found the action paper to be very significant regarding the issue of “being aware of severity of gas emission and child labour” because she realizes that she is taking actions to support the solving of problems by making videos about them. Lastly in forum 3, when asked about his topic in Youth Assembly, Gabriel Macbeth, International School of Beijing said, “I think the problems are worth while topics that substantially affect both the world and personal lives.”