CCA Fair Preparations!

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! The Yishun JC CCA Fair 2009 is around the corner, and much has been done in preparation. This is especially the case in the publicity front. Many thanks to the Publicity Team and all else who have put in their time and effort to help!

That aside, we also had, as a soft sell, put up a short skit for the JC1s last Wednesday with a skit entittled "What a Girl Wants", which was performed by Sherry-Ann and Joanna.
The skit was successful, given the responses. At least we knew they were paying attention, so let us cross our fingers and hope that we'd have an abundance in members this year!

NTU MUN 200: Press Corps

There were three press agencies present to give the most up-to-date reports on site. They were the BBC, Al Jazeera and FOX News, which I was in. Our responsibility was to attend Council sessions, and produce a newsletter every morning and evening. That's why they say that the most hardworking are the press who never sleep. Which was the case.

We spent our nights writing articles, and the wee hours of the morning fitting them into layouts and editing our articles. After it was sent for printing, we had to arrange and staple the newsletters together, before we could disseminate them. It was painful work, but seeing our own articles in our hands in hard copy made the work all worth it. Sleep could be caught up with once NTU MUN was over.

Now, because I'm biased, I largely have photos only of the FOX News team, and my team members.

Say "Hello!" to the FOX News Press Team.

Al Jazeera won 'Best Press Corps' and, because the event was sponsored by 'CNN: Impact Your World", the Best Press Corps' team had their prizes sponsored by CNN. The prizes include a bag full of CNN Reporting Must-Haves like a portable radio, an adapter, a reporter's notebook, and a lomograph camera, plus the customary certificate from NTU.
We didn't know it was going to be a lomograph camera, and were really excited, so we forced Wella, from Al Jazeera to open up her package.

We all burst out laughing in the middle of the Secretary General's speech.

This Devi, from FOX News. She was the only other member who stayed up with me all night to do the editing and layout fittings. And we aren't even the editors!
"Politics will reign!"

Ervin from BBC.
He came up with the witty headline for his article on the Security Council
"UN: United Negligence"

And with that, I end my detailed presentation on NTU MUN 2009. Be sure not to miss it next year, because despite the stress, it's all fun and cheer, and the experience is beyond comprehension.

-Joanna

NTU MUN 2009: Security Council

Because of some major cock-up that occured, with regards to my editor and the press director etc, I had the fortunate liberty of covering two councils at the same time. The second council on my the agenda was the Security Council. This year, the Security Council had a pressing issue at hand. It was becoming obsolete, because much of it's efforts at maintaining International Security & Peace were futile. As was admitted by the Delegate of China, "It's not that the Security Council makes the wrong decisions, but that we[the Security Council] don't make any decisions at all."

Whether that could be blamed on the vast diversity of interests present within the council, or the pure selfishness of the delegates, was the main issue of discussion. Until they could find the root problem, they cannot move on.

The atmosphere of the Security Council was vastly different from that of the Historic Security Council. It was jovial and injected with, mayhaps too much, humour.

If some of you might have caught the news report awhile back, where a member of the room council (can't remember which) threw both his shoes at the then-President of the USA, George Bush. Though there was no shoe throwing this time, the Delegate of Canada still did give his shoe to the Delegate of USA all the same.

Halfway through, President Mugabe of Zimbabwe was pronounced as dead, having died in his sleep. Being the UN, they honoured him with a moment of silence. It lasted for approximately 2 seconds. That was pretty much how long it took for them to get over the shock of the sudden interruption before they went back to discussing if Egypt should represent the AU. It was the USA's idea.

Then came the writing of Resolutions. The delegate of Turkey drafted a resolution with faked signatories, so the look of shell-shock on the face of delegates who found their names on it was priceless.

All this, of course, explained why the article devoted to the Security Council by FOX News was titled "Clowns of Circus Towns". It was, of course, approved. We are FOX News afterall. :D

And with that, I will end this post with PICTURES.

That's me sitting in one of their sessions. I had to type out everything everyone had said, to better facilitate the writing of another article.

Delegate of USA, re-iterating his point that no one else listened to. Another apparent problem with the Security Council. No one listens to each other.

The Chair. Every Council has a Chairing Committe that ensures that order is carried out.

They do get passionate sometimes, especially during unmoderated caucuses.

Delegate of Japan (left) and Delegate of the United Kingdoms (right) both writing their own working papers.

These things are called chits. If delegates need to discuss something with another delegate (as open conversation is not permitted), they will write whatever they need to discuss on a piece of paper, or a 'chit' as they were referred to as, and a runner would be present to help them pass the chit.

Towards the end of the session, where the Council was approving the final resolution.

I am unclear as to what the final resolution was, besides the fact that they will be increasing the number of permanent member seats to 11, that it required at least 3 permanent members to veto a proposal before the veto would take effect, that USA would trade Nuclear Weapons with North Korea and that a system of 'Collective Veto' -- where non-permanent members could vote as well-- would be implemented. So that was some progress. We can only hope for peace.

NTU MUN 2009: Historic Security Council

The Historic Security Council (HSC) was the newest edition to the NTU MUN's list of councils. Like the Security Council (SC), the HSC discussed issues pertaining to maintaining International Peace and Security. However, the HSC discusses past issues that once was a threat to International Peace and Security. Last year's topic was the Cuban Missile Crisis which ended well, and was resolved early. This, if some of you are educated on the background of the Security Council, is surprising, because the Security Council is notorious not for coming up with wrong resolutions, but none at all.

This year, the issue at hand was the Third Balkan War. The scene was set in the year 1995, two years into the war. To re-iterate: two years of discussion had passed. yet, not only was there no inkling of a potential resolution, the deelgates were still fiercely debating under two schools of thought: the first being "Those who want peace!", led by Serbia. The second was "Those who want the arms embargo lifted off their countries", led by Germany.

These two clowns made life for the Press Corps very difficult.
On the left you have the Delegate of Serbia, and on the right, the Delegate of Russia.
The HSC was actually on the path of reaching Peace, with all pertaining conflicts of the Arms Embargo etc solved. Suddenly, probably out of boredom of sorts, the delegate of Russia announced that they had been secretly supplying Serbia and the Republic of Srpska with military aid, and would continue to do so, for the sake of a Greater Serbia.
And everything went back to square one. On the second day.

Guy on the left most is the very incensed Delegate of Bosnia, demanding an explanation from the Delegate of Russia, just after the bombshell was released.

One of the many heated Unmoderated Caucuses that were held, that really, went no where. Shouts of "NO, YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" were heard.

An illustration of the ONLY time they were really united. When voting for another fifteen minute Unmoderated Caucus.

And that was the Historic Security Council. Eventually they did come up with a resolution, with about 8 clauses. It took them approximately one hour to approve the first 2. I didn't stay to watch, as I had an article to write, and no time to waste of dawdling.

NTU MUN 2009: Opening Ceremony

Hello ducks, one and all! I am finally back from NTU MUN 2009 and I really wish the entire society could have been there, whether as a delegate, part of the press corp or as an observer. Rest assured, you can take part in the next one next year, what with it being an annual event. You needn't sign up under a University or institution either. So do keep a heads up for it. One thing to look forward to next year: the guest speaker would be a nobel prize winner from the UN. So that's good.

First up was the Opening Ceremony. After registrations at the Nanyang Executive Centre (NEC) where we would be living in throughout the entire time, we were transported to where Lecture 1A was. The Opening Ceremony was held there, along with dinner that followed the event.

Delegates and Press and committee members settling down.
That lady in the centre is Meena.
She's the Press Director.

Delegates familiarizing themselves with each other as we await the arrival of the guest-of-honour.

Mr Paul Madden, British High Commissioner to Singapore.

Having worked in the UN before, he gave a short autobiography, to inspire the hopefuls and potentials that sat in the crowd, that they too could be like him.

Mr Geoffrey Yu, Senior Specialist Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He touched on an issue that was to be discussed by the Security Council. The Security Council has been seen as almost futile a branch of the UN. What then can they do to rescue themselves from becoming obsolete?

Dr Yeo Lay Hwee,
Associate Director of the European Union Centre.

Dr Yeo touched on the Issue of Immigration, a topic that would be addressed by the European Union. More specifically, she addressed the issue of Mass Asian migration to European States.

Prof. Rohan Gunaratna,
Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.
Touching on the topic of Global Terrorism, that would be tackled by the General Assembly throughout the course of the two days of council sessions, Prof. Gunaratna was passionate in suggesting methods to curb terrorism, and eventually, remove it.

And that was the report on Day 1: Opening Ceremony of NTU MUN 2009. The ceremony ended with a buffet spread for dinner. Unfortunately, NTU MUN has always been notorious for it's buffet spreads that were never suitable for human consumption. So, as I left the newbies to partake in the biggest shock of their lives, I had subway. That's the kind of food they have at Canteen 2A of NTU. Subway, Canadian Pizza, Mcdonalds and Sakae Sushi.

President's Note:

Hello there, Special Ones!

I wish all of you a very happy 2009. What's a new year without new beginnings? The previously independent English Drama Club, Debating Society and Poetry Slam Society have recently joined forces to become one English Language Drama and Debating Society or ELDDS.

This year, many new exciting activities are lined up just for the society. These activities and events include the Literary Festival, a Community Involvement Project (CIP) whereby we will be creating our own audio books for charity, and many more.

As such, it is my sincere hope that we can all work hand in hand, as one big family and soar towards greater heights. Let us then embark on a journey of exploration of various aspects of the English Language, and further widen our horizons. The English Language will no longer be a mere classroom subject.

Furthermore, I also do hope that this new blog would be largely beneficial as a platform for you to share your views and thoughts. As such, please do feel free to maximise your usage of this blog to your benefit.

I will now end with a short story:
There once was a man who constantly complained about the injustices of the world, and would often declare how he could change the world. One day, he chances a sage, and immediately started on his jeremiad. The sage listened, then replied: "You be the change and the change that you desire will follow."

With that, I would like to encourage all of you to take up the challenge to be a part of this change, and go the extra mile to make a difference.

-President, ELDDS '09
Athena