University Nottingham Malaysia Campus MUN 2021: Champions Cup (19/6/2021-20/6/2021 & 25/6/2021-27/6/2021)

 I thought I would hit the 20th MUN conference milestone at Champions Cup 2021 but NightMUN weekend took over the spot, it's okay! First day Champions Cup is quite relaxed, we have games such as the Scavenger Hunt, Sports Tournament and Spy Game. Due to special needs, I only managed to join two out of the three games. I think the Scavenger Hunt is a favourite in my list. Although, I didn't join the Sports Tournament, I heard some of the delegates didn't end up well after that. Ouch, that's harsh! Guess we all need to pump all that muscles despite being in full MCO. 

On the second day, let the brain power begin! I'm in the ECOSOC council once more, delegating as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. We have two topics to discuss on:

1. Regulation of Cryptocurrency 
2. Finance and Development of Sustainable Energy in Developing Countries 

As always before formal debate, we are given the primary speakers list for delegates in this council to set which topic we are going to debate on. Although, my personal preference is Topic B, everyone is on Topic A. We still have time for the second topic, if we managed to get the first topic done. For the third session of the conference, it's not debate but the team invited a guest speaker from UNMC - Dr. Andrew Silva to share his experience working in the UN. I did ask a lot of questions, especially on how to get youths to talk about mental health. 

Unfortunately, I didn't stay long because I have a Sunday class to attend. After the a long day of debating, it's time to kick back relax and go on a (virtual) holiday with Global Village. I think out of the three presentations, I love the Kenyan delegation, which really take us on a virtual holiday. We all miss travelling! Hopefully, after the pandemic, we can travel like we used to. 

To make our council interesting and stimulate our brains, Eiman has this idea of making our council into a crisis council but it's the ECOSOC version. I have to admit that crisis is not my best form in MUN conferences but it is worth a shot. At one point, Eiman played as the fictional prince in our council and Angus acts as a advisory to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

The draft resolution  has some acronyms that we would use in daily conversations but personally, I wouldn't recommend to put them, really. Here's a tip please use proper acronyms when writing draft resolutions. Again, I'm off to Sunday class. By the time I came back, I heard the delegate of France commits a fictional murder, which this delegate would not accept at all! She is one revengeful delegate in character! Please do not commit any of the actions above. Diplomacy and peace are the keys in a council, unless we wanna have conspiracy, please, go to a crisis council - where we can fictionally plot any plans. 

We headed to the crisis council- which has some intense discussion, it is, because we know crisis! How I wish they could play the running away music background as what we did in NightMUN weekend council.  I'm hopping on and off the channel to listen the discussion they have in council. 

I can say Champions Cup 2021 is not our traditional MUN. Although, there is some confusion in between prior to the conference, overall the team has done an amazing job to make this first ever virtual Champions Cup a success! Kudos to Yun Ni (Winnie) and team! Not forgetting my fellow delegates in the ECOSOC council and to our honourable chair and co-chair, Eiman and Jesse! 

This is Kar Marn, delegate of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from ECOSOC, signing off! 

Sunway Virtual Intercultural Project: Reitaku University Japan (24/6/2021)

 After an experience with the students from Petra Christian University Indonesia last month, now it's time to "pack" and "fly" to the land of the rising sun with the students of Reitaku University Japan. Okay, I'm not an up riser, but I have to. Luckily, I'm a morning person - which is a good thing. After breakfast, it's time to turn up the computer, log into the Zoom room and let's go to Japan (virtually).

Ms Joey - the coordinator for today's virtual intercultural project. First off we start off by welcoming the students to Malaysia (virtually) since we are the host for this project. I'm impressed with Ms Joey's Jaapnese skills. We showed the students of Reitaku University why Sunway campus is the #MostHappeningCampus, and in turn, they show theirs. 

We are broken up into breakout rooms for the Malaysian and Japanese students to meet. First off, the Japanese students show us a dessert - kakigoori, which is eaten during the summer - which is right about now but Malaysia is summer all-year-round, a tropical country. Marie and I ask the questions to the students whether we go by bike or by train. 

The best way to get to the kakigoori restaurant is by train - a station away with walking distance. It's similar to the one we have in Malaysia - ais kacang batu campur or ABC for short. Marie and I show the students the places in Malaysia. A five-minute break for us to take some time off, we are supposed to stay in the breakout room but I exit the breakout room a few times. We continued with the food in Malaysia and Japan. 

We head back to the main room to share our insights during the interactive session with our new friends. I really love it! It really brings me back to my trip to Japan with my family seven years ago. Hopefully, when the pandemic is over, we can travel again. 

Thank you to everyone who joins the event! Hope to see you at the next one! Please keep in touch! 

UNofficial MUN: NightMUN 2021 (5/6/2021-6/6/2021)

 I was in a middle of a MUN break after a hectic month of April of attending MUN conferences back to back. I was relaxing as always, then, Angus - the secretariat of NightMUN asked me to join in. The thing was just left a couple of days before the mini conference. The reason he gave was "They needed someone who is experienced to guide them in conference - an older sibling to look after them, to show them the ropes on how MUN is done," 

Prior to the conference, I did have a sneak peek of the list of who were in the conference. Veterans like Lim Ke Wen and our famous and friendly MUN detective "Sherlock Holmes" also known as Ernest, they have done more MUN conferences than I have before stepping into the scene in 2018. I was sure, they didn't need me to be there. I couldn't stand the bugging anymore, signed up at the last minute. My role was assigned as MP of Taman Setapak (it's a make believe constitution, imagine we are in the future year of 2053). 

In the beginning of the council, I was doing just fine - giving speeches in the general speakers list (GSL) and raising Points of Information (POI). True enough, I got shot by the new delegates on board and thought to myself: "Am I really in the right council?"

 Some of the delegates thought I was stealing the spotlight by flexing my experiences in MUN. Well, if we wanna to show the new comers on board on how a MUN conference is done, we have other experienced MUNers in the council right? I can just sit back and watch the drama and listen to the debate - which I eventually did, during the second day of council, most of the time. 

Okay, we had to admit the running away music scene it's pretty cool of a fictional crime, which it was because we were in a crisis council with a form of Dewan Rakyat. To new budding MUNers, crisis council might not be the best choice, but if you're adventurous and taking the first step, good for you! 

Kudos to Angus and team on the first ever NightMUN weekend conference! Keep it up! 

This is Kar Marn, MP of Taman Setapak, signing off!