I have been doing MUN for the past 3 years almost on a non-stop basis. I used to be obsessed about it and what it can offer. Done those both nationally and internationally. Now as I slowly retire from the scene, I can say this with a fresher eye: MUN is an illusion, however, a necessary illusion for a period of time. I guess I would not introduce what MUN is (if you dont know, google it.) But what I really want to stress in here is the point that doing MUN is important, but not too much. I have met so many people around the world who seem to be addicted with MUN. Some nations are far more insane about it than others. Venezuelans go to international MUNs such as Harvard National MUN with its astronomical costs despite their economic crisis back home. Indians and South Asians in general could be crazier, a lot of MUN people I met from there did at least more than 50 (FIFTY) TO 60 (SIXTY) MUN conferences since their high school times (average Indonesian MUN delegates I observed participated in about 6-10 MUNs becausw it is indeed expensive). And man, they are ambitious as heck. The Dutch created United Netherlands, basically a "national team" dedicated to win international MUNs and the Peruvians created Peruvian Universities, a team of multiple universities in Peru that won many world-class awards. But what's the deal with it anyway? It has to do a lot with the idea that you simulate the process to world peace. In a way, yes MUN could be an embodiment of world peace itself. When you participate in international level MUNs like Harvard World MUN or The European International MUN, you do meet people from other countries. And they brought with them stories and cultures which would be great to be exchanged with ours. Meeting people of all races and kinds do give your eyes a great opening and instill that idea that "Man, I am in charge of making peace in this world now". You will be put around young "diplomats" from Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Russia, and all corners of the world, and you are tasked to solve problems, complex and sophisticated problems like world hunger, refugee crisis in Europe, war in the Middle East, post-war state building in Western Sahara, or as one of my experiences would say, structural reform of the European Union. However, those are illusions. Yes, those topics seems to be complex and sophisticated, but I can tell from my experience, with young high school and college students that have no deep field experience about the problems they are tasked to solve, gathering and discussing to find a solution, they end up oversimplifying the problems at hand. Really. For example, in MUN, there is something I call the "standard package of solution" a.k.a. overused template of solution, a.k.a. fricking cliche bla-bla-blas. They are solutions that go around "regional cooperation, cooperation with media, long term education, creating a new UN body on X issue, financing assistance from developed countries to developing countries, campaign to promote X idea" and stuff. Man, you could go to MUN in Jakarta and then do one in Boston and you would find that package. Whether you discuss about refugee crisis, economic reform, or warfare in the Middle East, you will find that package. It is a sign of inexperienced students trying to solve deep and complex world problems. And that's what you get, the illusion of having big grand ideas that will change the world but untested on grounds, and unseen on the fields. Talking about changing the world, let us observe how MUN can change the world. Usually after passing a resolution that goes through tough political fight, you would feel accomplished, that there is something you contributed towards world peace. Again, this is an illusion. Most (and I think by "most" is 98% of the) resolutions do not even get any recognition from the real United Nations. They are usually just a .docx file gone minutes after the awarding session, losing all the importance after we found out who the Best Delegate is. (And with the current popular scoring system, ironically, the Best Delegate could be a delegate that actually lost in the draft resolution voting). The duration of the conferences also plays it part. Usually MUN lasts about 2 to 6 days. And then, that's it. Of course, it could seem to be grueling (trust me, a 6 days MUN conference will exhaust you) and it does give us a sense of accomplishment somehow, like after putting a long good fight. But hey, changes aren't made in 6 days. Real changes come after months or years of work. This will also serve for elite level meeting, say the Parliament. Passing a new law won't change things. But enforcing it, which of course could take years to accomplish, will change things. The danger of this world-problems-solver illusion is that it could create a kind of elitist bubble. Smart young students going to MUNs and glad that they solved problems yet do not realize that they are far off from the reality. And even more dangerous if they are satisfied with their MUN awards and accomplishment, perceiving that those are indeed achievements they can be proud of. Winning one or two Best Delegate awards, they are hungry for more and jump in to more conferences. It will seriously distract them from doing real work with longer time commitments to actually help people. The most terrifying possibility is that they will feel that their winning of MUN is enough to keep them satisfied, enough to make them a great person. Yet, with all of those dangers and illusions, I still however think that MUN is a necessary illusion. I would say that the importance of it lays in the divide between constructive imagination and destructive obsession. MUN indeed have strong benefits, and I have to credit my MUN experience for a lot of things that has made me who I am today. Negotiation, public speaking, persuasion, those are the qualities I learn from MUN, and without my MUN experience perhaps I would be less sharpened on them. It is indeed began from a constructive imagination, the way you imagine yourself as a diplomat tasked to solve complex problems ahead of you. And I personally think that the most valuable thing is friendship won. With MUN, you really meet people from all degrees and spectrum, and you really can see the world, although perhaps still superficially, but wide enough to humble your existence. Friendship, I think, is the most important benefit of doing Model United Nations. Just like gathering with people who have the same interest with you, MUN would be a great start for a long and lifetime friendship from the collective participation in an illusion. A necessary illusion, indeed. Nowadays, there are far more people doing MUN than when I began doing it three years ago. Yet I saw that some of them are going on the trajectory of destructive obsession part of the illusion. High schoolers are more than ever ambitious to win the Best Delegate awards, some even beat college-level experienced delegates. Now before they are trapped into the elitist bubble I have mentioned before, they have to learn when to finally stop doing MUN and start doing real work of change. If you are a seasoned MUN delegate and you start to keep thinking about "how could I win the next Best Delegate award", you have to stop. Because you already miss the point of MUN. The conferences itself should never be the end point of your achievements. In fact, I believe that it should be the beginning point of your real work for the society. I have many friends from MUN who are working on real work of changes like in climate and environmental issue, inter-religious relations, and others. I myself am working with my friends to build a filmmaking movement that focuses on social and political impact and to give voice to the voiceless, the Gerilya Film Mahasiswa. And I can say that this all began with my MUN experience, with the question on how can we all do something after passing a resolution. The "Best Delegate" award and certificate will blur itself to the background when the question "Okay, then what have you done to help the community around you?" arises. I believe that everyone could learn from MUN, and it is not and never about being the Best Delegate. It is about actually working and fighting for the values that we move forward on the resolutions. Yes, we could be illusioned on solving complex world problems, but without those illusion, we might never be initiated to dream big. The illusion of MUN is necessary to spark inspiration and imagination to solve world problems and therefore initiate action. We do not have to solve the refugee crisis or be the middle-person in a civil war somewhere now, but we can begin by little and small steps, going ahead. We should always ask ourselves this: "What is my resolution to help the people around me? And what have I done about it?" Because world peace and happiness is never about the United Nations fighting on it. World peace and happiness is about everyone, you and I, him and her, us and them, fighting on it. So, what is your resolution, delegate? #ModelUnitedNations
