From left to right; Muhammad Afif Purwandi, Alyssa Shafira Azwan, Yolanda Mustika Bohal, Tanesha Novilta Putri Aden, and Prima Putra Airlangga

ITS Campus, ITS News – The will to achieve something is one of the reasons for Muhammad Afif Purwandi to fight in the prestigious Asia Pasific Model United Nations Conference (AMUNC) 2018 at University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Evidently, in the international debate competition, Muhammad Afif Purwandi won the ‘Honorable Mention’ award last July.

Afif explained, during the competition which was held in the form of a simulation of UN meeting, he and all delegates must present a country to discuss and negotiate about problems in the world. The participants themselves came from universities in Asia, Pacific Islands, Australia, and New Zealand. “We are all in one meeting room to compete with each other,” explained Afif who was also a student from Department of Industrial Engineering.

The 20-year-old guy claimed to work harder to get the award. The reason was, the competition was very strict with a very competitive participants. “The ability of most participants are balanced,” he said after attending AMUNC which was held last July.

Before traveling to Australia, Afif and his colleagues must regularly practice twice a week. In less than two months, during the training, they must collect materials for research. This schedule ran from the beginning of semester’s holiday until the day of the competition. “We also have to take part in the local MUN competition twice for the warm up,” said Afif who was born in Madiun.

When asked about the difficulties they experienced, he admitted that he had difficulties when he had to do research on three topics that have been determined in AMUNC this year. That was because the MUN held in Indonesia generally only refers to one topic. “The point is that we must have a good preparation and a moral obligation to bring home the award,” he said.

During the diplomacy session, Afif was given the task to represent the country of Portugal. He had to deal with more than 400 other delegations to discuss the topic of Volunteerism Impact on Sustainable Development, Preventing Regional Conflict Through Improving Water Security, and Human Displacement. “The opponent is quite difficult,” added the man who likes to play badminton sports.

For Afif, his experience in joining AMUNC was more important than the award itself. Thanks to participating in this competition, he and the team were able to hone their skills in research, strengthen logic and analytical skills, present solutions to problems, write, negotiate and diplomacy. “I hope that ITS students will also be more sensitive to global issues,” he concluded.

In addition to Afif, ITS sent four other delegations to this competition that had existed since 1995. The other students were Alyssa Shafira Azwan, Tanesha Novilta Putri Aden, Prima Putra Airlangga, and Yolanda Mustika Bohal. (hen / jel)