Summary

Ipoh Model United Nations (IpohMUN) 2025 marks the second iteration of our community-led, non-profit initiative, held from April 4th to 6th, 2025. Our goal remains dismantling the geographic barriers that often sideline talented students outside the Klang Valley, providing an institutional-grade platform for regional youth diplomacy.

As a non-profit conference, it sought to increase awareness and accessibility to educational opportunities, including Model United Nations, to students who may not find it as easily accessible to attend a Model United Nations conference elsewhere, due to often incurring higher costs, registration fees and reduced travelling support. Additionally, it aimed to improve understanding on international awareness and promote global citizenship among members of the youth in Malaysia. 

The 2025 session achieved over 250 total participants, with 50 online and 200 physical. While we did not seek formal recognition from the Ministry of Education this year, registration from SMK schools surged from less than 10 last year to over 90 this year, demonstrating a 800% increase that marks our biggest milestone for access. We further lowered the barrier for these students by reducing our SMK registration fee from RM60 in 2024 to RM50 in 2025, while maintaining a RM110 all-inclusive fee for other delegates. We also organised introductory workshops to Model UN, featuring speakers from HarvardMUN, open for registration to the public and free for IpohMUN participants, to raise awareness and build confidence and understanding among youth in their willingness to participate.

In 2025, we scaled our academic offerings to eight committees through a hybrid format designed for maximum accessibility:

• 6 Physical Committees: United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), United Nations Economic and Financial Committee (ECOFIN), BRICS+, European Council (EUCO), CRISIS: ASEAN 2030, and the International Press Corps (IPC).

• 2 Online Committees: United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The International Press Corps also offered online participation.

This expansion was made with the intention of eliminating travel, accommodation, registration, and other financial costs associated with physical participation. Online participants were charged RM20 for the entire conference to cover the cost of chair remuneration.

As before, Ipoh Model United Nations 2025 remains unique in its ability to penetrate often-overlooked communities that are willing to participate but lack the awareness or capability to do so. We deepened our commitment to access by continuing to allow open participation from students registering individually or as part of their school / university. We retained our delegate registration fee of RM110, which included a complete set of meals on all three days of the conference, snacks, goodie bags, refreshments, bus transportation from the partnered hotel, participation certificate, other delegate resources, Chair and VIP remuneration, and many other registration inclusions expected from a premium-quality conference. The focus on providing an all-in experience also meant that delegates did not have any necessary hidden costs before or while attending the conference. 

As always, our quality of debate is demonstrated by a total of 36 delegate awards being given out across the various committees, a testament to the quality of debate that occurred in IpohMUN, which featured a world-class environment and a Board of Dais consisting of highly experienced Head Chairs internationally. Within the Board of Dais also included ex-President and ex-Vice-President of the Malaysian Youth Association of Diplomacy and Policy (MYADP), Mr Lim Ke Wen and Ms Winnie Choong respectively, as well as chairs from other top universities in Malaysia and Indonesia. The Best Group Delegation Award and Trophy was awarded to the UNOfficial Group (UNOG).

Our highly experienced and community-led Secretariat team continues to grow and push IpohMUN to further heights. Our Secretariat team comprises Malaysians from states including our host Perak, Selangor, KL, Penang, and Sarawak. Additionally, we introduced team members from Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, and more, in accordance with our partnership with the International Junior Honor Society. 

To view the gallery for IpohMUN 2025, click here.