On the 24th October 2018, SPM held its first Model United Nations, the same day as the United Nations day, the perfect way to celebrate the anniversary of the United Nations. In line with our school theme, the SPM MUN’s theme this year is Embracing Diversity through Diplomacy.

SPM Model United Nations was initiated by SPM students from the MUN club due to the growing interest from students to participate in this event. This is a medium for students to have a formal debate, learn to research, deliver thoughts, negotiate ideas and propose solutions to global issues in a formal forum. For these recent years, our school students have participated in MUNs local and international and brought some awards.

A few of them are:

1. Excellent Research and Preparation Award in the Regional High School Model United Nations (RHSMUN) 2015 in San Fransisco,
2. Best Observer in Jogja International Model United Nations (JOINMUN) 2016,
3. Most outstanding Delegate in Indonesia Model United Nations (IMUN) 2017, and the last one:
4. Best Delegate in Harvard MUN in Beijing 2018.

During the MUN day students have to be a delegate representing a country – wearing the formal western business attire-; thus, researching the country’s stance is necessary for them to actively participate in this activity. Learning how to confidently deliver their country’ stance, working together with delegates from other countries and achieving common agreement for solutions that can apply among countries of the United Nations members are those skills that they acquire from this event.

We have 2 councils for this year’s SPM MUN. The first one is Social and Humanitarian Committee (Sochum) discussing the topic of The Protection of Minority Groups: Religious Intolerance and the second one is United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) discussing the topic of Management of Hazardous Waste. While Junior High and Senior High Students participated as delegates of countries, our Grade 6 students participated as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) observer and Press in the United Nations Press Associations (UNPA).

The MUN was opened with a keynote speaker Ibu Anita Luhulima, the Deputy Director of the Multilateral Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She talks about the work of the United Nations and as the manager of Indonesia’s candidacy for the Security Council, she also explained the importance of Indonesia being the member of Security Council for the World Peace.

Overall, this activity practices students a lot of skills; researching skills, public speaking skills, collaborating skills, to name a few. In addition, students can raise awareness of current global issues, develop critical thinking, and collaborate in order to be global citizens creating a better future for the world.