Humanities Students at the ASEAN Youth Role Model Conference 2014

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities – Vietnam National University, Hanoi attended this year’s conference with 5 students: Mai Mai (K56 International Studies), Nguyen Tran Thai Nam (K58 International Studies), Nguyen Hai Chau (K58 Anthropology), Vu Anh Thu (K55 Linguistics) and Nguyen Duc Quang (K58 Psychology), with the head of the delegation being MSc. Tran Bach Hieu – Secretary of the School Youth Union.

The Youth Role Model ASEAN Conference (YMAC) is an annual event organised by students from five Singapore Polytechnics, sponsored by the S Rajaratnam Endowment (SRE). The YMAC focuses on recreating an ASEAN summit, in which student delegates take on the role of diplomats from the 10 ASEAN member countries, participating in research and debate on regional and international issues facing ASEAN. These issues revolve around the areas of Environment, Economy, Society, Security, and Culture and Arts. This year marks the third year that YMAC has been organised, and the first time that YMAC has featured outstanding youth from all 10 ASEAN member countries. With the theme “Today’s Voices - Echoes of the Future”, YMAC 2014 hopes that through debates, study trips and volunteer activities, students will broaden their understanding of related topics, work together to reach a final decision on feasible solutions to cope with and resolve current difficulties in a sustainable manner, and move towards realizing these solutions in the community after the conference.

Over the course of the four-day conference, the debates were perhaps the most exciting moments. The seven major themes of the conference, which were also the seven major challenges facing ASEAN today, with a focus on the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015, really attracted participants to express their personal views, share crisis resolution plans, and debate and reach an agreement to reach a unified statement that reflected the unique voice of the region’s youth towards the issue.challenges ASEAN is facing. At the same time, volunteer activities, study trips, cultural exchange and sharing activities also contribute to raising awareness and deepening understanding for students of the countries about the diversity of the region, people in particular and ASEAN in general, as well as connecting the youth of the countries in the region, creating an unforgettable experience for each individual participating in YMAC 2014.

YMAC 2014 also had the participation of Ambassador Ong Keng Yong - former Secretary General of ASEAN from 2003 to 2007 and Singapore's Minister of Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong. The direct and open exchanges between the participating students and the politicians really brought a lot of useful knowledge about ASEAN in general, about the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 (AEC 2015) and ASEAN Vision 2020 in particular.

Coming to YMAC this time, the student delegation from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities actively participated in contributing ideas in the debate sessions as well as bringing Vietnamese cultural colors through the exchange of folk games and national costumes. Ideas and solutions such as establishing small and medium-sized enterprise training centers closely connected with state-owned enterprises, banks, 4R's, disaster control centers, etc. were truly novel and created positive debates.

Sharing with VNA reporters in Singapore, Mai Mai (K56 International Studies) said: “We join this conference to bring a friendly and beautiful Vietnam. We introduce to international friends Vietnamese folk games, such as the horse racing game, the pass game, or the bamboo dance... Especially when participating in this program, we can learn about other countries. I come here not only as a Vietnamese student but also as a true ASEAN student and participate in the program to solve your problems..”

At the end of the 4 days of YMAC 2014, the 7 final statements of the conference, corresponding to the 7 major themes of this year’s YMAC with the signatures of more than 200 young delegates, were truly a great success of the conference. Going beyond the mere political significance of a simulated ASEAN conference, YMAC 2014 is also a bridge to bring closer and connect ASEAN youth. Even though the 4 days were very short, even though all the laughter and tears as well as the sad farewells have now faded into yesterday, what remains in the present and will resonate until tomorrow is no longer 200 separate individuals, but only a unified ASEAN with “one vision, one identity, one connected community” blending everything.