醫學一林庭意

Greetings!

Ting Yi Lin, M104

World Model United Nation 2016, held in Rome, Italy, is the very first Model United Nation on the international platform and the most frightening I have participated in. In this World MUN I partnered with Kenny Hsu for the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian committee and discussed over the topic International Labour Standards from a foreign, diplomatic and Mauritian point of view and interest for four enduring days.

During Model United Nations we were exposed to countless delegates from different background and culture, who all excelled in their corresponding field of interest, academic major and MUN of their country. Despite being an eloquent speaker, delegates were also brilliant thinkers and sophisticated in solving conflicting ideas that actually had no right answer.

Numerous innovative ideas was brought to light and among my favourites were:

When you want to drive development you have to ask why with the greatest prosperity of information access, technological advances and increased public awareness have not driven sustainable development for the other minority, less informed and less affluent communities?

Why the success in countless scientific, social innovation and border openness have not lifted people out of poverty and out of the widening inequality of income. And install successfully the belief that the country’s wealth never meant money but the well-being of individuals in the long term.

Why the triumph in access to education, establishment of local universities, countless graduating classes have not bred visions and locally designed social development driven economic growth solutions for their country and instead bred wilful civic illiteracy and disengagement.   

And we’ve all reached the conclusion that raising standards for all the working people is synonymous with sustainable development and is vital for the well-being of global workforce and global economy; and hence, development priorities should not conflict with the protection and promotion of fundamental workers right and that the main issue is not whether developing countries should have labour standards, but what should these standards be and what is the best way of implementing them. At this point, delegates were eager to present and convince the remaining delegates to agree and sign their clauses of which they argue is in the best interest of all nations. The merging of beliefs inevitably bred clashes and non-alliances that expanded my perspective and the understanding of the full complexity of the issue: International Labour Standard. Through distinct priorities of each delegate, our draft paper is able to reach resolution on a comprehensive picture that portrayed the realistic world that the issue is leeching on.

This unique experience had been eye-opening and inspiring to a great extent. We began to understand how difficult it is, even for diplomats and professionals, to reach a conclusion that satisfy all. How real diplomatic discussion are carried out and structured in UN. And how artful it is to convince another delegate with a distinct interest and perspective to appreciate your thoughts. An art that not solely depend on innovation of idea, but the charisma, the skilful manipulations of body language and the act of listening and encouraging. These experiences are impossible to be acquired reading books, yet so indispensable in forming the future leaders and developing an ample ground of capabilities, insights and reasoning.

During the committee sessions we had to conquer our own fear of public speaking, of which was exacerbated in an environment where the audience majored in corresponding fields such as economics, international relationships and politics. Inevitably, the knowledge ground and confidence became a psychologically and emotionally disadvantage of our own. We had to adapt to the fast changing world of MUN where once a caucus had ended, the topic is moved on, regardless whether we had addressed our point of view sufficiently or understood the topic to our satisfaction. The fact that delegates from all over the world spoke with different accent and speed with the assumption that we as well excelled in English to their level was certainly intimidating. However, the delegates from Kaohsiung Medical University responded with more eagerness and attentiveness due to structured preparation and rehearsals.

Standing on an international platform, addressing global issues to an international audience was an incredible experience and made tons of extra research worthwhile. We confronted distinct personalities, cultures and discriminations with discretion and represented Taiwan proudly. We also witnessed the eagerness of delegates to voice their opinion and contrasted the culture with Taiwanese culture, where many prefer to remain silent when their beliefs contradicts the mainstream. We learnt the importance of getting out of our comfort zone, act confidently and to get involved.