On the afternoon of April 7, 2016, the AIMUN (Asian International Model United Nations) Summit Forum was held. The conference room of the Peking University (PKU) Global Village was filled with college students from all around the world, and they discussed how young people can contribute to the world and they interacted with each other.
Several scholars and officials attended the Forum as panel discussants, including Wang Yizhou, Associate Dean of the PKU School of International Studies; H.E Erlinda F. Basilio, Ambassador Extraordinaire and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Philippines to the PRC; Dr. Mohd Rozi Ismail, Counselor Secretary of the Embassy of Malaysia to the PRC; Sri Remaytin, Third Secretary of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia to the PRC; and Martin Taylor, Team Leader Health Systems Development and Collaborative Initiatives at the World Health Organization in the China office. These esteemed guests were invited to address the young delegates’ questions and to comment on the speeches given by the keynote speakers.
The first keynote speaker, Shuting Yow, a student majoring in International Relations at PKU, began the forum with a question: “How can we, young people, make a difference in the world?” Indeed, this was the question that all of the AIMUN delegates were trying to answer. Young people want to make a difference, Ms. Yow explained, but they don’t necessarily know how to bring about change. Young people are idealistic, passionate, and they are the ones who will lead the future, and their ability to do so comes largely from their ability to harness new technologies and have greater access to the world at their fingertips, but she cautioned that social media needs to be used appropriately and in a tolerant, inclusive manner, by preventing the incitement or joining of hateful or prejudiced messages. Ms. Yow also explained the importance of volunteer activities, as it helps to nurture one’s empathy and understanding of the world and allows for young people to make a positive contribution to the less privileged in our world.
The honorable guests then gave their remarks and expressed their thoughts about Ms. Yow’s speech. Some of the guests encouraged students to explore the globe by traveling or volunteering, and others reemphasized the importance of social media.
Following Ms. Yow’s remarks was the second keynote speaker Li Mengran, Secretary-General of AIMUN 2016. Given the topic “10 Years of AIMUN and MUN Development”, he shared his personal experiences of attending and holding MUN conferences, and he also explained the history of MUN and described his hopes for its future development.
Several questions were raised during the Forum by delegates in the audience, including one about how the youth can contribute to more effective law enforcement, to which Ms. Yow replied that they must be courageous and point out things that they see are wrong in from their community, such as telling someone politely to not smoke indoors, especially since there is a legal ban against indoor smoking. Another delegate also provided a comment about how MUN has changed his university life for the better, by training his logical thinking ability and by allowing him to express and share his thoughts with other like-minded young people. To this, many students actively involved in MUN nodded their heads in approval.
Written by Sienna Luk
Edited by Chen Meizhi
