STUDENTS’ WORKS

Herdarudewi Prabandari

On 30^th January 2016, Saturday, our school facilitated us to attend a seminar in Leiden about leadership, especially for those who are in the 11th and 12th Grades. As I am in the 12th Grade, I was selected. This event was organised by PPI or The Indonesian Students Association in Leiden and supported by The Indonesian Embassy. The main speaker of the seminar was Mr. Handry Satriago, who is the CEO of General Electric of Indonesia and was the youngest CEO in Indonesia.

Before the seminar began, at first, honestly I thought the event would be uninteresting with just a regular talk that we might get sleepy in the middle of it. Then, when I got in and he started talking, it changed my mind. The seminar was really interesting and very inspiring for everyone in the room or maybe at least for me. He didn’t teach us step by step on how to be a good leader; instead he just told his story how he got chosen as CEO and some humour in addition. The story was inspiring and it let the audience think what the points they can get from that are. What I got and remember was these three points on how to be a good leader: by having self-awareness and a self-confidence, by being able to say “no”, and by being brave to deal with tough things and go out of our comfort zone. These three points really stayed in my mind.

Having a self-awareness might not be hard, but having a self-confidence might not be easy or the opposite, what if having both? It must be hard to balance them I guess. Well, at least for Indonesians like me, which being a down-to-earth person had been inherited in our blood. Not just myself who is saying this, but Mr. Satriago also said that we are actually these kinds of people who also thought they are small and nobody. He also said that he had that kind of feeling. When he said that, I couldn’t believe it because he is now a huge man and he had those feelings. I actually felt that I am not alone. He was after all the same like us or maybe other great leaders too.

The moment when he built up his confidence was when he got offered to be the CEO in Indonesia. He thought it was not real at first and was troubled. After he thought about it, he realised that only him that could understand Indonesian market, only him that could make the job done and all in sudden, he felt confident. From this part of the story, he realised all he had done was having self-awareness and forgot the confidence. So, having only self-awareness too much will not bring us to success. Maybe if he still had his self-awareness too much that time, he would not accept the leading assignment. It was a good choice for him to gain his confidence that time.

Besides having self-awareness and self-confidence, an ability to have our own original idea is required as well. This is when Mr. Satriago told his story when he already become a CEO he asked his boss why Indonesians usually were not got picked to have a greater job while Indonesian employees are well skilled. Then the boss answered, “They are skilled and work well, they’ll do anything when we ask them to do a task,” he paused, “But that’s the problem. They only accept order by saying yes and unable to say ‘no’.” By this, I made a conclusion myself that those people who couldn’t say ‘no’ are people who do not have any idea. That’s why they only follow without giving their thoughts. The boss hadn’t enough and said, “They are not leaders.” People who speak up their mind are potentially able to be a leader.

When you realise your position, you are confident, and you speak up your mind, now you need to challenge them by challenging yourself. Even when you were wrong and made mistake that is oppositely an advantage for us. During his experience, he made a mistake then he told that to his superior. What his boss replied was, “That’s your first mistake after becoming a CEO. It’s okay because if you don’t, you won’t improve anything.” These words are the words that people might need to listen. Some of us may be afraid of challenging ourselves and face some tough things, but maybe we should change our mind-set about it and think that they are not actually bad for us, instead they make us develop. Therefore, leaders face tough issues because they learn how to improve from their mistakes.

Like I have expressed earlier, Indonesians are too down-to-earth, that sometimes they forget that they actually can do more than what we actually think. That would include me as well. This event was unexpectedly a helpful and inspiring event at the end of the day for me. Maybe it was not only for me, but for everyone who was present in the room that day.

The talk had made me rethink and introspect about myself. I would like to be affected by the event to make myself better in the future. Not forgetting other Indonesian people who are still not confident enough, I would like them to be affected by his inspirational talk so that more Indonesian leaders could be born. We are actually able by having self-awareness and self-confidence, having tons of idea, and break through our box of comfort zone.

Picture © PPI Belanda

Wassenaar, 11 September 2013 — This is an essay written (in Bahasa Indonesia) by one of our 2012 alumni, Rasyida. She is currently a B.Sc. student at the University of Groningen. It is a recount of her first-hand experience toward tertiary education in The Netherlands.

Wassenaar Campus, 8 May 2013 — This is a feature essay written by one of our students, Rizki A. Laksmiputri, recently published on the KAWANKU Magazine. In this mostly young females readership publication, Rizki awesomely wrote her hands-on experience immersed in the Dutch society. She tried to sum up that The Netherlands has been becoming her second home!

By Rasyida Noor (The Ambassador/Class XII Natural Science)

This year is the XLIV Annual Session of The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN), held from 22nd-27th January 2012 at the World Forum Convention Centre, The Hague. This year’s general theme is “Seas and Oceans”. SIN Wassenaar was assigned to represent the Republic of San Marino with the selected students representing our school consisted of:

1. RASYIDA NOOR (GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1st Committee/Ambassador)

2. AYU PUSPITA ASRI (GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2nd Committee)

3. NADIRA FEBRIANTI (GENERAL ASSEMBLY 3rd Committee)

4. SALSABILA ZAKIYYAH (GENERAL ASSEMBLY 4th Committee)

5. MUHAMMAD IQBAL NASUTION (DISARMAMANET COMMISSION/Sub-Commission 1)

6. RICHARD VAN DER KRUIT (HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION/Sub-Commission 1)

7. ANNISA ZOONTJES (SPECIAL CONFERENCE/Sub-Commission 1)

8. RIZKI AMALIA LAKSMIPUTRI (ENVIRONMENT COMMISSION/Sub-Commission 1)

Our delegation had prepared for this event since November 2011. At that time, all the students that haven’t participate in THIMUN were invited to join the English Debating Team (EDT) Camp 1 at SIN Wassenaar’s student dormitory. Our THIMUN seniors from the previous years facilitated and organized this activity, so everyone who joined the EDT Camp could grasp and understand about THIMUN and its procedures. The EDT Camp 1 was held for 3 days. Day one, we received general explanation from the seniors about THIMUN itself. We also got lists of countries we had to represent and also the issues for our resolution. In the following day, we do the lobbying process, and on the next day, we went to SIN Wassenaar to refine our debating skills, and technical problems. The EDT Camp 1 was very exciting.

The preparation was continued in January though the EDT Camp 2, for which we received a trainer, Ms. Syafreni who guided and supervised us in preparing the resolutions. It was held every weekend before THIMUN. This time, we could be more focused on our resolutions, how to understand the issues well, to find possible solutions from the issue, and write a good resolution that could be debated.

And finally, after weeks of practicing, we finally attended THIMUN 2012 at the World Forum, The Hague. At first, we all got so nervous because it was our first time to attend an MUN event, especially the colossal THIMUN. Everyday’s activity was started at nine o’clock. So we had to wake up early to catch the bus and tram to the World Forum. At the World Forum we met hundreds of people from different countries, also different nationalities, representing UN’s countries. When we got into the building, our delegation was delegated to eight different rooms on different floors, according to each assigned committee/commission.

On Monday, we received a briefing from our Chairs and then took part in the lobbying process. At this phase, the delegations had to discuss about the resolutions based on the issue they focused on. The delegates discussed solutions, merged their ideas, made alliance, and gathered co-submitters, so their resolutions could be debated in the forum. At 15.00, our delegation attended the Formal Opening of THIMUN 2012. There were opening speeches and flag parade.

On Tuesday there were opening speeches of General Assembly, Commissions, and Special Conference. After the speeches, every committee/commission proceeded to the debate phase. In the debate time, every delegation that already submitted their resolutions presented their resolutions and explained it in a persuasive way, to get the House’s vote.

During the debate time, there were several rules and procedures that had to be adhered by the delegations. There were also several motions and specific statements that could be used in the forum. Every delegate was required to obey these rules and use standard parliamentary language. The general stages of debating time was explanation and short speech from submitter, in favour, against, amendment, and finally the voting procedure. The resolution that passed on the forum would be brought to the plenary sessions of THIMUN 2012.

On Friday, we had to attend the plenary session for every committee/commissions, and finally, the closing ceremonies. The closing ceremony was very spectacular. It involved marching band accompanying the flag parade brought by the ambassadors from every delegation.

For our delegation, THIMUN had been unforgettable. Started with our routine to catch up the bus every morning so we would not be late. On a certain day, we’re almost late because the first bus didn’t stop at the bus shelter as usual. So we had to run to catch up the tram to the World Forum.

Every delegate from the delegation of San Marino has their own story. For example, in GA1, our delegation found that the debate session in this committee was very intense. They tended to put down a resolution rather than negotiation to generate cooperation among them. But the people were actually friendly and nice. In GA2, it was full of brilliant ideas from the delegates, and our delegation found that it was nice to be in GA2, because the people in that forum could put everything together, so they could cooperate well. Our delegation for the Environmental Commission (EC) said that her forum was very nice and friendly. People in there were very kind – they voted in favour for almost all of the debated resolutions. In the end of the event, they even make a ‘Wall of Chair’ to express their gratitude to the Chairs. Different from the EC, our delegation in the Disarmament Commission got many new friends in his forum. Lunch time was also one of our favourite times, because we could meet people from another committee and got acquainted. For example, we met the delegation from one school from Singapore. They were very nice and we talked a lot about our schools. We also met these foreign people who had lived in Indonesia for years, so we had a chance to discuss about our shared experiences.

THIMUN had been an unforgettable event for most of the delegations. It is a great experience for every young student from all over the world to gather in one forum, discussing ideas, try to find solutions to the worldwide problems. As for our delegation, THIMUN has been a valuable experience we won’t get in any other places. In THIMUN, we met hundreds of people from foreign schools. We met different nationalities, different cultures, and languages. We got many benefits from this event. We could improve our English skill by talking to the native speakers from different countries, beside that we could comprehend the system and procedures of the United Nations in mini scale, and to experience how to be a real UN diplomat, and also, by trying to draft resolutions we were involved in thinking and finding out the solutions for worldwide problems; we gained more knowledge about international issues, and of course the most important thing is, we could get so many friends from schools around the world, so we could build an international network that would bring more mutual benefits in the future. We hope that more students can experience this kind of event, so they can learn how important it is for being part of an international community. Without any doubt, we frankly acknowledge that THIMUN 2012 has been an amazing experience for the delegation of San Marino.

Wassenaar Campus, 28 November 2011 — SIN Wassenaar commemorated the Indonesian Teachers Day of 25 November 2011. As a token of appreciation, students of SIN Wassenaar, launched the first edition of the HANDY Magazine, a quarterly tabloid by the students, which was especially dedicated to the teachers. SIN Wassenaar would like to thank the Editorial Team: Royyan, Rasyida c.s. for their creativity and outstanding effort.