A Conversation With the Delegates of MalayaMUN
Includes tips for aspiring delegates.
From the 18th to 20th of December, several members of Taylor’s Lakeside Model United Nations club participated in MalayaMUN 2020 as a group delegation. During the weekend, our members debated in councils like the European Union, African Union, United Nations Security Council and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
We are beyond proud to mention that TLMUN members have won best delegate for all 4 councils hosted by MalayaMUN! Furthermore, TLMUN was awarded Best Group Delegation, another stunning achievement.
Herald sat down and interviewed the delegates who participated in MalayaMUN to ask about their experience attending one of the most prestigious MUN conferences in Malaysia. Read on to find out about their experience, some tips from our senior advisors about attending a MUN conference and what our President had to say about winning Best Group Delegation.
What was it like to attend MalayaMUN as your first ever conference?
Ong Li Jun
MalayaMUN was nothing short of surprises and fun. Even though it was my first time attending a conference, my nervousness disappeared the moment we started discussing the actual topics and I quickly got caught up in the flow. It was a life-changing decision and I can take pride in myself for attending my first conference while the Covid-19 pandemic was ongoing. I really do hope to be there for future conferences and to meet new people.
Tushar
It was a very educational experience that helped to motivate and drive my passion for Model UN and helped to train me in adapting and growing as a speaker.
How was MalayaMUN different from other MUN conferences?
Chee Luo Yi
From the technical aspect, MalayaMUN is distinguishable and different as they have a Crisis element — whatever that’s being said by a country in a council will have an impact on the same country in a different council, affecting the overall conference outcome.
Personally, MalayaMUN reserves a special place in my heart because it’s my first time speaking up in a council, which was a huge step outside of my comfort zone. Although this progress was intimidating, it was also exciting and it opened my eyes to a whole new level of knowledge, wisdom, and most importantly — self-discovery.
What was your experience at MalayaMUN like?
Tham Jim Ren
The experience in MalayaMUN was quite a unique one. In terms of the delegating experience, it was challenging as many of those within the council (being the Security Council) have a significant load of experience. Plus, the chairs were highly-experienced in the Model UN community. Not only that, there was also the usage of Remo, which was an interesting deviation from the norm of Zoom and Discord. In addition, they had a unique and intricate connection between councils through their crisis system, in the form of the ‘IPA’. Overall, it was quite insightful conference
How did it feel to win best group delegation?
Poh Hoh Shan
In a word, wonderful. Our club returned from MalayaMUN with much more than I expected. I am proud of the TLMUN delegates who participated, as they all played a part in helping us win ‘Best Group Delegation’. I am also very grateful to the Academics Vertical (Emma, Daniel, and Nicholas) for their part in training our members to be the best delegates they could be. Our group delegation’s success was a team effort, and as the President, I look forward to TLMUN Club achieving even greater things in the future!
What are some tips you can give for prospective delegates?
Leong Qi Zhong
First and foremost, I urge everyone, be it new or experienced delegates, to join conferences with the intent to learn and to make a difference in our community, no matter how minute it may seem. Awards should be a target that motivates you to be better as a person, not something you pursue actively for the sake of winning.
Secondly, don’t be afraid of making mistakes. Heck, I even encourage you to make more mistakes. Learn from those mistakes and improve as a delegate. And soon, you will rise above and beyond.
Finally, something simple: Quality always trumps quantity. Be it number of speeches, number of moderated caucus or number of clauses in the resolution.
Lim Ke Wen
For those interested to join an upcoming MUN conference, here’s what I suggest:
1. Prepare your research materials, Google about your council topics and save your links in a word document so that you can refer to it at a later date.
2. Join MUN training sessions, such as the ones held weekly by the TLMUN club, to practice on MUN skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, resolution writing and negotiation.
3. Have an open mind, always be ready to learn something new and listen to new ideas.
4. Ask your own MUN seniors if you are not sure about anything in regards to pre-conference preparation.
5. Read more about your topic, understand it from the perspective of the country/character you are representing.
We here at Herald would like to once again congratulate the TLMUN delegates for such an amazing achievement! We also hope that the interview provided some new insight on Model UN and that it provided useful tips for any prospective delegates reading this.
[Written by: Sarah Chong]
