School: Raffles Institution
    Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

4 students, ages 15 - 16 worked together to complete this Doors to Diplomacy project on March 16, 2010. They have participated in Doors to Diplomacy in the following year(s): 2008 2009

Classes and Teachers: Swee Noi Tang (Teacher), Chuan Kit, Lloyd, Ern Xu, Kwang Ik,

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://

1. Description of Our Team

Our team consists of our leader Foo Chuan Kit,Lloyd Tan Dirui,Seah Ern Xu and Wong Kwang Ik. We came together as a team to do this project, as we had previously embarked on a research project on ASEAN as part of our school program . We did quite well for the school project and our teachers recommended that we enter doors to diplomacy. As doors to diplomacy is an international competition and is extremely prestigious, we decided to join as we wanted to do our school and our country proud. That is how we came together as a group to do this project. We all have our various roles to play in the project. Kwang Ik and Lloyd are the main researchers in our group, and thus co-ordinated the research effort. Ern Xu is in charge of the sourcing of media that we could use for our website(mainly YouTube clips and old newspaper headlines) , and he planned our videos and the website. I co-ordinated the effort and helped out whenever necessary. Our main adult coach was Ms Tang Swee Noi a teacher in our school. She gave us invaluable advice during the course of our project. She helped give us ideas on how we should make our website and helped to vet our work.

2. Summary of Our Project

Our Doors to Diplomacy project looks at how ASEAN deals with the Myanmar human rights issues. We focused on how ASEAN tried to solve the Myanmar crisis and the ways and avenues diplomatically that ASEAN uses to try and solve the Myanmar crisis. The project will showcase how ASEAN uses diplomacy to solve problems. Our project will also enable students to understand how international affairs and diplomacy works by using the Myanmar crisis as a case study. This will enable students to understand how various countries interact with nations and how countries try and solve these problems and get these countries to embrace reform and change. Our project will highlight ASEAN’s various efforts and methods to try and convince Myanmar to change, and we are confident that our project will be able to educate the public about the nuances of international affairs and diplomacy.

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:more than 6

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

The first problem we had to face was how we had to scope our project to meet the requirements for Doors to Diplomacy. We had to work under a tight schedule and had to work fast. With guidance and team work, our group managed to modify our project, by doing more research and finding more materials and piecing these together with the research materials in our original school project. Thus we were able to overcome this problem. The second problem we had to face was the fact that none of us had any experience with creating websites and using the relevant software. While we tried to pick up all the neccessary skills, we also managed to enthuse our friend, Nathaniel to help us. Nathaniel is skilled with computers, and with his help we were able to overcome this problem.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

United we can make a difference. make the right choice. It has enabled us to look at international issues through a new lens, focusing on the possibilities rather than the obstacles.

6. How did your activities and research for this Doors to Diplomacy Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

This project ties in extremely well with our school curriculum. As mentioned above, this project is actually an adaptation of a project that we did in school. This alone showcases how relevant our Doors to Diplomacy projects are in the school curriculum. For our school work, we study regional diplomacy in South East Asia, and thus this project ties in nicely with what we have to learn in class. We also learnt many key skills with regards to group work which will come in handy when we have to do other project work. We have learnt how to effectively work together as a team and how to gel and work together with teammates on group projects in order to do things efficiently and effectively. We have also supplemented our school’s coverage of international issues and diplomacy by learning more about the situation in ASEAN and Myanmar. In the course of the project, we have interviewed Ambassadors and experts in the field. Such opportunities opened our eyes to real world diplomacy and politics. This truly extends beyond our curriculum which only covers how our country, Singapore behaves diplomatically, so this project has really enriched our learning.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your Doors to Diplomacy project?

This project uses historical method of qualitative research. Our primary sources of information are printed materials such as journals and books on ASEAN while internet sources were mainly used as secondary sources. Experts’ opinions were sought wherever possible to validate our arguments. We have also used youtube video clips.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your Doors to Diplomacy project both on-line and in person.

We have made used of every opportunity available to showcase the Myanmar issue and how we can better handle the issue. This could be seen from our presentations at the school's Research Congress. We presented our project to different groups of students and stressed the importance of resolving the issue peacefully and how the youth can help.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

The main impact of our project has been in school. Our website was used to teach the students in our school about international affairs and diplomacy. The students in our school were mainly apathetic to such affairs, as they were rarely exposed to any forms of media which educated the students about these affairs. Thus by reading and visiting our website, the students in our school were able to gain some new insights into international affairs and diplomacy, and were able to understand how international affairs and diplomacy worked in the region of South East Asia. Thus the main positive impact of our project was educating the students in our school.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

The one person in the community who really helped us was Nathaniel Wong a fellow student at Raffles Institution. We approached him as he was quite good with computers and websites design. The rest of us are not as fluent in website design and Nathaniel was most helpful. We would like to thank him for his efforts which were invaluable in creating our website.