Indonesia was among 46 countries to participate at the 2018 Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN), an annual international-relations simulation for high school students held in Boston, in the United States.

Held for four days from Jan. 25, the 65th HMUN was attended by 3,300 delegations from around 250 schools worldwide.

Indonesia was represented by 24 students from Labschool Jakarta who had the opportunity to gain insight into the workings of the United Nations and the dynamics of international relations.

“This was Labschool Jakarta’s fourth participation as the only representative from Indonesia and Southeast Asia,” the senior high school's principal Suparno Sastro told kompas.com.

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The conferences in which the students take part will depend on the existing committees in the United Nations, among which are the WHO and UNHCR. This year, the participants were assigned to be the diplomats from Greece and Norway.

One of the students, Rizqa A. Wibawanto, said he was honored to be selected to join the simulation. “I had the chance to meet and discuss on global issues with friends from Africa, Europe, Asia and the United States,” Rizqa explained, adding that he wanted to become a diplomat one day.

Another student, Kania Zilllan, shared a different story. “I met with students from Greece and Turkey. At the beginning of the conference, I met a Turkish student who taught me how to introduce myself and shake hands a la Turkish people; hence I learned about cultural diversity,” she said. (wir/kes)