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Linking Young Minds Together
     Volume 2 Issue 5| January 31, 2010|


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Feature

Learning Diplomacy -
My Experience in Malaysia

Md. Saimum Reza Talukder

THE word diplomacy perhaps does not need any introduction. This is a skill one must acquire if they really want to establish anything good for this world. But leadership cannot be learnt so easily! Because it takes time, practice, and of course proper grooming. From 22--25 October 2009, I attended a wonderful event of Scouts of the Asia Pacific region to strengthen the participation of the young members of Scout Movement in decision-making. Held in Malaysia, it was the 6th Asia-Pacific Regional (APR)

Scout Youth Forum that provided an opportunity for young scouts to discuss and express their views on issues affecting them, and thus learning the diplomacy skills to materialize their demands.

A total of 107 young people comprising 39 delegates, and 68 observers from 27 countries attended the programme which discussed several issues including health, climate change, economic issues, peace, education etc. During this four-day event through different interactive sessions, we discussed issues including the above-mentioned ones related to the contribution of the youth towards society. Based on the discussions, we made proposals towards the APR Region of World Organization of Scout Movement (WOSM) for the implementation of those directives.

The most interesting part of the whole event was the election of the Young Adult Members Group (YAMG) to co-ordinate the young leaders' activities of Asia Pacific which took place at the end of the programme. Candidates from 11 countries competed for 7 YAMG posts. This was one of the real challenges of diplomacy in the entire event, as the countries having candidates for the YAMG had given the genuine effort to raise support for their candidates. It became something like a mock trial of the international politics by the next generation leaders!

Being a delegate from Bangladesh, I learned about practicing diplomacy, bargaining, lobbying, strategy making, putting up with the work load, experiencing the cold war between international delegations and so on!

This APR Youth Forum is undoubtedly one of the best extracurricular events I have attended till date. But this event gave me another lesson as well. This was the event where I realized the harsh truth that internationally our negotiating power is very weak as in our country there is less opportunity to learn these skills and we are yet to be able to tie up with any strong international lobby in true sense. As we sometimes remain pro-eastern, and sometimes pro-western, it is difficult to convince others in any international event that we are on their side.

Nonetheless, staying at the International Youth Center (IYC) at Kuala Lumpur with a large group of future leaders, enjoying knowing Kuala Lumpur closely and experiencing the best of the educational tour in Putrajaya remained a bonanza to the programme. But perhaps, making some wonderful friends who are committed to leading their nations in the future was one of the best things about the event. And together we made the commitment to make this world a beautiful one upholding the theme of the Scout movement 'Creating a better world!'

(The writer is a Rover Scout and a 3rd year student of Law, University of Chittagong.)

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