https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdBgI5Y7_LQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A34cUL_Vv4

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Written by: Isabella Wood

Photographs by: Dorian Chen and Zara Yap

All good things must come to an end, just like THIMUN Singapore. As the lights dimmed and all the committees settled down in their seats, Evan Chiang (President of the General Assembly, Pacific American School) began the ceremony with the now-all-too-familiar “May the house please come to order.” The secretariat then quickly left the stage, lending the attention to a video recapping the week created by MUNITY’s own Tijn Van Den Dikkenberg.

The audience was immediately captivated by the video. Delegates laughed and cheered when their peers and themselves were shown on screen. The atmosphere was filled with joy. Delegates were proud of what they had achieved, but also nostalgic for the week’s adventures. Thunderous claps and cheers echoed across the room when the video ended. The Secretariat reentered the stage, with Chiang giving an introduction speech. After he finished, he gave the mic over to each chair and president of the individual committees, starting with Elyse Barg (Chair of GA1, Australian International School Singapore). Barg spoke highly of her delegates, the four resolutions that were passed over the course of the week and thanked her co-chairs for assisting her.

As one chair of a committee left the stage, the next chair of another committee entered. Ariel Chen (Chair of GA2, Hsinchu American School) made mention of the whopping seven resolutions passed within her committee. Julian Levieux (Chair of GA3, Harrow International School Hong Kong) acknowledged the “hards topics and gripping debates” that his committee was faced with. Charles Tan (Chair of GA4, British School Manila) described his committee’s efforts as “impeccable to say the least”. Elina Du (Chair of GA6, Beijing World Youth Academy) made the crowd gasp as she revealed that only three out of the ten resolutions in her committee passed. Presidents of ECOSOC, the Human Rights Council, the Security Council and the International Criminal Court all discussed the humorous amendments made within their committees. As the speeches from each of the chairs came to a close, the Hwa Chong Institution National Cadet Corp presented a compelling performance, eliciting wow’s of fascination across the entire audience. 

The closing speeches then begun, starting with Joel Tan, head of the admin team. Tan discussed the entertaining notes that were passed around and the peculiar jobs that were given whilst working as admins. Shavi Rajesh (Deputy Secretary-General, United World College of South East Asia) moved the crowd with her compelling speech about how THIMUN has impacted her life. The ceremony was then officially closed by Omar Kausar (Secretary General, International School Manila), marking the end of the 15th THIMUN Singapore conference, beginning the long wait until next November.

Written by: Ping Tsai

Edited by: Priyanka Krishna

The house burst into laughter as delegates made supporting speeches for the creation of an “OK-BOOMER Council.” Several delegates joined the fun, but many complained that there has been little progress in passing resolutions. 

Over the course of four days, delegates have worked tirelessly to represent their countries. Yet, as the conference progressed, multiple committees have encountered the problem of “trolling:” the act of making off-topic or inappropriate remarks during debate. Several delegates have described trolling as “the most fun” or as “necessary to keep delegates away from boredom.”

Ophelia Burchell (delegate of Madagascar of GA6, Australian International School of Malaysia) thought that “the funniest part of the conference so far was when Equatorial Guinea roasted Kuwait and referred to the dead whale in the audience.” Similarly, Fred Fang (delegate of Bangladesh of GA1, Yew Chung International School of Shanghai-Pudong) said that his chairs allowed delegations to submit “meme amendments,” which are characterized by irrelevant content or funny acronyms; he described one time when a delegate “tried to use prisoners in order to test out artificial intelligence.” 

However, other delegates were concerned that excessive trolling would distort the purpose of debate. In the HRC, Dylan Yu (delegate of Ukraine of HRC, The British School Manila) remembered that some delegates “entered different committees and pretended to be Ireland.” In some more extreme cases, some delegates believe that their committees were constantly trapped in the cycle of trolling: “After the first resolution, everything is just a troll,” Centauri Liu (delegate of Switzerland of GA4, International School of Beijing) suggested. Anngu Chang (delegate of China of SC, Pacific American School), communicating his concern, cited trolling as an obstacle to maintaining a serious discussion. He explained that “although there was not a lot of trolling on the first day, as it goes to the second and the third day, what you notice is that everyone is doing it. It’s really hard to be serious.”  

Even though “work hard, play hard” may be a life philosophy of many delegates, trolling could become a problem if it has gone too far. To ensure productivity and preserve the meaning of MUN — practicing diplomacy, enhancing critical thinking, and improving public speaking — delegates and chairs must be aware of the extent to which “having fun” is appropriate. 

Written by: Joey Lin

Eight out of 30. 50 out of 60. 88 out of 100. These are the results of some quick surveys conducted in THIMUN Singapore XV committees about whether they have read MUNITY East this year, whether they prefer the admin meme account to the publication, and whether they prefer to read MUNITY East on the website or in print. 

Specifically, out of 30 delegates in the Security Council, 13 have seen at least one MUNITY issue, and 16 planned on reading it eventually; 22 delegates preferred the Admin staff’s THIMUN meme account to MUNITY East. Out of 30 delegates randomly selected from the General Assembly Second Committee, the responses were even more bleak. Only eight of them have already read MUNITY East this year, and 11 promised to read it in the future. An overwhelming majority of 25 delegates out of 30 would rather view the meme account than read the articles. 

The International Criminal Court, a more selective committee, produced slightly better results for the press team: six out of nine participants have read MUNITY East this year, eight of them were planning on reading it, but seven also preferred the meme account. 

Furthermore, 24 out of 25 surveyed delegates of the Economic and Social Council preferred a print version of MUNITY East, instead of the digital version that the press team decided to transform to. 

The hope of MUNITY East seemingly lay only on the directors. Out of 17 directors, 14 preferred the digital version to the print version, citing “good for the environment” and “easy to share with parents” as the primary reasons. Mr. Buscher, the MUNITY East Coordinator, opting for the digital version, poignantly recalled that “copies [of the magazine] were laying around the campus [last year].” 

On that note, the 3 directors who preferred print wished to see more alternatives, like social media, which they would prefer over website and print. Mr. Newman, the coordinator of MUNITY the Hague, chose the digital version over the print version due to environmental concerns and the ability to make modifications after the deadline.

To change the fact that more than half of the delegates do not want to read MUNITY East, Mr. Buscher expressed that the meme account taking away the attention to MUNITY East should be called to account for its name “thimunadmeme.xv,” since THIMUN Singapore did not authorize it. He also attributed a part of the low publicity to the press team for the lack of promotion. In the future, MUNITY East will need to consider how to grab readers’ attention, in order to gain more traction.

Written by: Priyanka Krishna

The circular tables were set throughout the ballroom. The chandelier dangled from the ceiling.  The polished marble floor reflected all of the light, as the stage was set with drums. At eight at night on Thursday, many participants of THIMUN Singapore arrived at the Orchid Country Club to attend the THIMUN Dinner and Dance. It was an opportunity for participants to take a break from the hectic days of debating and lobbying.

The night started with a buffet dinner serving a wide range of options: non-vegetarian halal, vegetarian Indian, and lactose-intolerant, along with an array of desserts. The dinner was exceedingly popular among the attendees, as Baptiste Gaud (Delegate of Poland of GA4, Lycée Français de Singapour) and Adrian Divo (Delegate of DR Congo of GA4, Lycée Français de Singapour) expressed, “The naan was really good, and the pasta was too.” Whilst there was a variety of options catering to different dietary requirements, a major source of disappointment was the extensive queues for the food. “The food went out really fast, and the queue was really long,” noted Gaud and Divo. 

The formal mood of the dinner was soon overwhelmed by a stirring performance by a Singaporean drumming group. As Aishani Sambasivam (Delegate of Paraguay of ECOSOC, Australian International School Malaysia) stated, the drum performance “was spectacular! Everybody joined in and the crowd was fully supportive. They were amazingly coordinated.” The performance started as the drummers vigorously walked through the ballroom, gradually making their way up to the stage. They concluded by raising the roof with another drumming rendition characterized by colored lights and their contagious spirit. This exciting presentation successfully boosted the energy in the room, and prepared everyone for the dance.

“Dancing was fun,” noted Zain Karim (Delegate of Paraguay of ECOSOC, Australian International School of Malaysia), “I loved the energy and the music.” Karim was not the only one who was greatly thrilled by the dancing. In fact, almost everyone who attended grouped at the front of the ball raving with utmost enthusiasm to EDM music. Nial Cane (UNICEF, Yew Chung International School of Shanghai). stated it was a “very eventful night.” Cane also noted the “whale [stuffed toy] being ripped open” after it was thrown among the dancers. All in all, Cane elaborated, “The atmosphere last night was great.”

As the night of great fun socialising with delegates met from all over the world came to an end, the participants left by one bus at a time. As Karim stated, “It was an awesome night and it was indeed a night to remember.”