UGM must be proud that its ten students had a chance to show their diplomacy skills in Harvard World Model United Nations (HWMUN) 2010 held in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 13 to 19. They consisted of seven students of the Faculty of Economics and Business class 2007 (Mohammad Mirza Anugerah, Taufik Bagus Murdianto, Anwar Setyawan, Steffi Stephannie, Glenda Arunthy, Rosalina Chandra Bestari, and Ivan Triyogo Priambodo); two students from Faculty of Law (Gabriella Viorena and Anniza Dwi Laksmi Pratiwi), and a student from Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Lizta Permata Nurwati).
HWMUN is simulation of UN official sessions intended to train students to conduct lobbying and negotiation as in the real United Nations sessions. HWMUN is organized by Harvard University in cooperation with the UN. This event has been held since 1992. This time, more than 2000 students from 48 countries and 200 universities around the world participated. Besides UGM, Indonesia was also represented by University of Indonesia, Parahyangan University, and Padjadjaran University. This year is the second time for UGM. Previously, as the first delegation, UGM sent 11 students to the HWMUN 2009 that was held in the Hague, Netherlands.
The Head of delegation, Mohammad Mirza Anugerah, said that there was no selection of the university to follow HWMUN such as the Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) but they were elected as delegates to the prestigious event due to their membership in the KOMUN community in the Faculty of Law. KOMUN is a community formed by students of the Faculty of Law at the end of 2008 to accommodate students’ interest in representing UGM in HWMUN. "With KOMUN, we have practiced much on how to talk, lobby, and negotiate as if we met representatives from various countries," he explained, Thursday (10/6), at Faculty of Economics and Business.
Various preparations for the HWMUN have been made since the end of November 2009. In addition to routine discussions, essay writing, and simulation every week, they were also trained by students who attended HWMUN in the previous year. Despite the preparations, they were not yet relieved and were worried due to financial problems. In the end, however, Eka Tjipta Foundation was willing to fund their departure to Taipei.
"We had difficulties in getting sponsors. The faculty and the university were not very helpful in terms of financial arrangement. Hopefully, they support every UGM delegation to HWMUN more in the future," he hoped.
Further, Mirza said that in the conference, delegations from various countries acted as representatives from other countries. This time, the UGM delegation became representatives of Bulgaria and they participated in five committees: the Legal Committee, Historical General Assembly, Special, Political and Decolonization Committee, Social Cultural and Humanitarian Committee, and Disarmament and International Security Committee. Each of them discussed the theme given by the committee and they tried to find a solution for world peace.
Mirza said that he was interested in joining the HWMUN after hearing the story of the first UGM delegation in 2009. What he had imagined was very much different from the reality. This activity is really prestigious. He will not forget his experience. Meanwhile, Glenda Arunthy said that by the HWMUN gave her additional knowledge in negotiating and lobbying. "From this event, I learned extra soft skills on how to conduct negotiations with people who have various characters, political ideologies, cultures and different religions," she concluded.