With the belief and certainty that our youth can make a difference, Sunway recently played host to more than 200 delegates from 2 universities, 9 colleges and 10 schools around Malaysia at the inaugural Sunway Model United Nations (SUNMUN) conference. The conference themed ‘Defying Disaster’ was the first organised completely by students of the Sunway Education Group.
In her welcome speech, Dr Elizabeth Lee, Senior Executive Director of Sunway Education Group and Sunway University praised the Secretariat for their commitment and vision in organising the platform for the exchanging of views stating that the conferences serves as a platform for a "learning-by-doing" approach where the delegates can be involved in the vital decisions made in the international affairs arena similar to what is done by diplomats and world-leaders daily; citing that the delegates’ first hand involvement will hopefully lead to a deeper understanding of world issues and context as the issues are negotiated and resolved.
“You make up a quarter of our world’s population, so step up and take ownership for a world you want and help make our world a better place. Know that you are our future, know that you can shape the world’s social and economic development, and know that you can challenge social norms and values. Slowly, but surely, you can change and shape the future of our country, the region and ultimately the world” she said.
Founded in February 2014 by 3 friends Nur Izzat Aiman Nur Aziz, Thazjit Singh Bhatt, who are pursuing their A-Levels and Lim Jack Kin, who is in the Canadian International Matriculation Programme (CIMP), the Sunway Model United Nations (SUNMUN) has rapidly rose to become one of the most decorated and active clubs on campus.
Nur Izzat Aiman Nur Aziz, President of SUNMUN in his speech said that the members of SUNMUN has grown tremendously from just a handful when they first started to more than 300 currently. For him, his friends Thazjit and Jack, SUNMUN is built firmly on the foundation of brotherhood and fellowship.
For Thazjit and Jack, both Secretary Generals, the conference marks the start of greater things to come. Referring to the theme, they find that though disasters are inevitable, there are many ways one can do to defy them. Jack hopes the conference will be a great experience for all delegates, and urged them to take control of their destinies and take a stand to defy disaster. “We can do something, we have the power”, he affirmed.
The conference proved to be a learning journey for the Secretariat team and delegates where they came to learn, research and negotiate specific international issues in their various committees which ranged from developing global environmental policies to being advisors on the UN Security Council on economic sanctions.
At the end of the conference, Thazjit felt SUNMUN 2015 was a success. “The biggest challenge was when we had delegates pulling out at the last minute. We solved those problems by letting members of the Secretariat occasionally representing the countries and by replacing delegates from less important countries to more important ones.
Both Jack and I were lucky as we received help from our amazing board of Secretariats who were relentless in their efforts to make this conference a success. Sure, there were some hiccups on the way, but we dealt with them as professionally as we could.
From where I was sitting, Social Night was the most memorable part of the conference with many enjoying themselves. The performances were amazing, our MCs Hussain and Kishen did an amazing job”, he explained.
The 3-day conference saw the introduction of original and exciting committees such as the historical Ancient Roman Senate of 218 BC, the unprecedented Palestinian-Israeli Joint Council for Peace, and the spine-chilling United Nations Department of Emergency Aid and Defense (UN-DEAD) where delegates discussed issues from the past, present and possible future.
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