It’s normal to be ghosted.
Over here in Goody Feed, we’ve always planned for the worst: five people are coming for an interview? Expect only three to come, because two would ghost us. Two new employees are coming? Don’t expect two to come because at least one would ghost us. Someone came in today, worked halfway and then disappeared after a “visit” to the toilet? Don’t bother thinking that he’s stuck in the toilet bowl; he most probably has ghosted us.
(There’s a chance that it’s due to our boss’ body odour, but let’s not go there)
Any HR manager would know this, and there are usually no serious consequences; we’re all prepared to be ghosted by strawberries, whose sense of responsibility is much smaller than their ego.
But what if someone planned a large, prestigious event, invited hundreds of students from various universities to the event and suddenly, that “someone” decided to ghost all of them?
Well, it happened.
Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference 2019
The name itself sounds atas because it is atas.
Every year, this conference would take place in a different city in Asia. It’s kind of like a simulation of a United Nations meeting but for students who can learn (and experience) about diplomacy and international relations.
This conference is run entirely by students, because what better way to let students learn the ropes of diplomacy through experience, right?
This year, a second-year arts and social sciences student, Miss Deng Yushan, had apparently travelled all the way to Australia to bid for the event.
Deng had approached the Political Science Society of NUS (PSSOC) and partnered with them to host it. What she essentially wanted was merely to borrow the name of PSSOC—it’s, after all, a legit big society. PSSOC agreed, but they’ve nothing to do with the event as they were just “lending” their name.
She succeeded, so she’ll be the secretary-general of this year’s AMUNC. Lest you’re not aware, a secretary-general is basically the leader.
If she pulled it off, I’m pretty sure her resume would be so shiny, it’ll blind her future employers.
But alas; all good things come to an end.
Because she didn’t just screw it up: she took the easy path of ghosting everyone instead.
Even Cancelled After Organiser Remained Uncontactable
The 25th session of AMUNC is scheduled to take place from 7 July 2019 to 13 July 2019.
And just like a summit held by real politicians minus the security details and photo ops, those students, who are called delegates, travelled all the way from their countries to attend the week-long event.
However, Deng had become uncontactable, and suddenly, the PSSOC had to step in.
Deng did reply on 27 June 2019, claiming that she was overseas with intermittent connection.
PSSOC added that her lack of planning and response had raised concern. Eventually, they made the “difficult but necessary” decision to cancel the event, saying that “Our society, though not the organiser, is now forced to clear up the mess that the organiser had created…We are trying our level best to settle matters amicably and to protect PSSOC’s interests and its members.”
The event, set to take place in Resorts World Sentosa, has cost $400,000 that is owed to RWS and delegates, but these monies are not missing.
Apparently, a source from NUS Students’ Union (Nussu) said that a few members had gone to Deng’s house but couldn’t find her.
Here’s PSSOC’s media release:
And interesting enough, Deng has “ranted” about the event on January this year in a public Facebook post, comparing AMUNC with MUN (Model United Nations), a similar conference that’s usually for people in the same country to experience the conference:
Interesting.
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