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Students debate real-world issues at model UN conference

While university students took to the streets to protest against the government’s policy on subsidized-fuel prices, hundreds of high school students preferred to flock to Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Wednesday and Thursday, to debate various international issues from Ukraine and transnational crime to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in a simulated UN conference

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Sat, November 22, 2014

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Students debate real-world issues at model UN conference

W

hile university students took to the streets to protest against the government'€™s policy on
subsidized-fuel prices, hundreds of high school students preferred to flock to Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Wednesday and Thursday, to debate various international issues from Ukraine and transnational crime to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in a simulated UN conference.

Some 172 students from 32 schools in several cities including Jakarta, Bogor and Bandung in West Java, Purwokerto in Central Java and Pekan Baru in Riau, participated in the model UN debate. They stepped into the shoes of national ambassadors, prepared draft resolutions, negotiated, plotted strategy and navigated the UN'€™s rules and procedures aiming to resolve problems that affect the world.

High Scope Indonesia (HSI), the host of the event called High School Model United Nations (HSMUN), has staged the model UN conference since 2009.

HSI high school principal Callie R. Mackenzie said the UN conference was a great example for students to see how leaders from different nations gathered and discussed various issues that affected the world and to seek ways to resolve them.

'€œHigh school students were encouraged to look for, understand and discuss issues that were negotiated by world leaders in international forums. Afterward they should make a draft resolution,'€ she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The students honed their diplomatic skills in the model UN conference with the aim of shaping potential leaders needed by the nation,

Students prepared and organized themselves in the two-day event on Nov. 20-21 with the theme this year of '€œAwakening the Spirit of the United Nations: Redefining Social Concepts and Perspectives to Promote the Cultivation of Peace and Tolerance'€.

They even chose a secretary-general as head of the conference. This year'€™s HSMUN secretary-general Albie H. Trisura, 17, said the 172 students were divided into 22 delegations that then discussed major topics, namely Israel and Gaza, the security situation in Ukraine, transnational organized crime, LGBT rights in developing countries and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979-1989).

'€œWhat many people do not realize is that many senior high school students actually are passionate about talking about various global issues,'€ Albie said.

Mackenzie said students not only discussed global issues, but also learned to understand and respect different opinions in a bid to make them become tolerant leaders.

'€œWe avoid our students reading and memorizing text, and they answer related questions only. We want to make them become innovative critical thinkers. They should take their stances on particular issues and share them. Other students who disagree have to respect their stances,'€ she said.

The first day of the HSMUN was attended by several guest speakers, such as Foreign Ministry official Agus Sriyono, US Embassy official Jessica Eicher and United Nations Information Center director Michele Zaccheo.

'€œPak Agus told us that the topics discussed in the HSMUN were similar to those discussed in a conference he recently attended in New York,'€ said Leody Sarmanella, one of the school'€™s teachers.

He added that his school would send six students to the global National HSMUN conference in New York next March.

Mackenzie said she hoped that next year not only would high schools from across Indonesia attend the HSMUN but also those from other countries in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Zaccheo praised the HSMUN as a venue for hundreds of students eager to discuss how to make peace in the world. '€œIt is very inspiring to see such a well-organized Model UN Conference at the high school level in Indonesia,'€ he said.

'€œThere has been a lot of work done in Indonesian Model UN conferences at universities in the last few years. However, when we speak of tolerance, it is really important that the debate also takes place at the high school level. It is never too early to strengthen a culture of peace,'€ Zaccheo added. (alz)

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