BIA undergoing facelift

Maher Zain Live in Brunei 

The promotional poster for Maher Zain

Maher Zain is one of the most popular artistes in the international Islamic music industry and finally he will be performing live this coming 3rd March 2012 at the Jerudong Amphitheartre. He is due to arrive Brunei on 1st March 2012 which is actually tomorrow. This will be his first concert in Brunei after his short appearance two years back at Plaza Athirah.

Also performing during the concert will be Irfan Makki (who has a vocal similar to that of the legendary Michael Jackson) and there will be performances by our local artistes Fakhrul Razi and The Seeds.

YAM Pengiran Anak Qayyum, the event manager of the concert said that it’s a privilege to bring Maher Zain to Brunei again and his songs are very inspirational and Islamic and this also promotes the MIB culture in Brunei.

Tickets are sold at $120, $90, $70 and $40 from KFC Mall outlet, KFC Plaza Athirah outlet, KFC Belait outlet, KFC Lumut SPARK outlet, Deejay Home Video outlets and NMHQR Studio Productions (on the sixth floor of Plaza Athirah building) and part of the ticket sales will be donated to Pusat Ehsan and SMARTER Brunei.

You can contact 224 1777 or 815 1118.

Sheikh Jamaluddin of Brunei Tourism, YAM Pengiran Anak Muhd Haffiz, co-event Manager of NMHQR Studio Productions and YAM Pengiran Anak Qayyum, co-event Manager of NMHQR Studio Productions.

Don’t forget to buy your tickets. I will be heading there too 🙂

You can buy your tickets at KFC Mall Outlet

The Body Shop Brunei National Day promotion was started last Feb 23 and is extended until March 4. The mechanic of the promotion, entitled, “Show Your Patriotism”, is to bring a Brunei Flag to show their patriotism for the country in all the Body Shop stores and they can get 28% off in any one of the product of their choice. It can be a physical flag itself, in their cellphone wallpaper, a key chain, a shirts with Bruneian flag or anything as long as the flag is visible and clearly recognize.

Not Brunei Investment Agency but Brunei International Airport and the passengers pick-up point will be shifted to the airport’s P2 car-park area. Please refer image below for details.

The arrival hall will also be affected as the renovation works will be conducted. Yes, BIA will be going through a major facelift to give a more modern, vibrant international feel.

Now the tricky part is routing the cars to P2 car park area which will take some time for the public to get used to. But I’m pretty sure there will be signboards to lead drivers to the correct parking area.

However, the departure drop-off routes remain virtually unchanged.

Yesterday Lee San San, Project Manager of Brunei International Airport modernisation project, briefed on the three year project which should be in completion in November 2014. This will include a new terminal, new car park, a more efficient baggage handling system, a new check-in facility, a new arrival corridor and flight transfer area.

This project is a collaboration with Brunei Economic Development Board and Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) of Ministry of Communications and last October 2011, it was given the royal consent by His Majesty The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam to initiative the BIA Terminal modernization project.

For more details of the BIA’s development, you can click here.

The new parking area at Brunei International Airport

Brunei International Airport Aerial View (Taken from BEDB’s website)

Brunei International Airport’s departure/arrival hall (Taken from BEDB’s website)

Brunei International Airport’s departure lounge (Taken from BEDB’s website)

Brunei International Airport’s baggage claim area (Taken from BEDB’s website)

The Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) organised an ‘Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF) Competition 2012’ at the Sungai Basong Recreational Park, in the Tutong District. Two local amateur radio clubs, the ‘Brunei Darussalam Amateur Radio Association (BDARA)’ and ’Persatuan Gemilang Daerah Tutong’ jointly support this event.

The ARDF competition allows participants to compete and show their skills in amateur radio direction finding. It requires the skills of orienteering and navigating of radio direction finding in locating hidden transmitters called ’beacons’ or ‘foxes’ within an area using the bearings of the transmitted signal in pedestrian mode.

Ten (10) teams participated in the ARDF and every team consists of three (3) members with at least one person in the team holding a valid amateur radio station licence. The ARDF competition started at 7:45am and lasted for two (2) hours. During the competition, each team also displayed their capabilities in the design of their home-made directional antennas.

Winners of ARDF will be announced during the seminar on “Awareness on Amateur Radio Usage” which will be held at the Indera Samudra Grand Hall, The Empire Hotel & Country Club, Jerudong, on Sunday 4th March 2012. Images courtesy of AITI.

Through the ARDF Competition, AITI hopes to achieve the following objectives:
• To create public awareness on amateur radio licence, its rules and regulation , and its ethical use.
• To promote the use of amateur radio service in Brunei Darussalam.
• To create harmonies and network among radio enthusiasts.

During the fox hunting competition

Group photo after the competition. Click image to enlarge

A team developing an innovative financial learning application emerged as this year’s champion at ThinkBig Ignite 2011.BruInnovEdu, helmed by Shavon Hon and Vincent Wong, returned home with the biggest prize money from the competition worth $20,000 under the competition’s ICT Open Business Plan Category, putting them among the ranks of the competition’s past winners such as Crescent’s Online Education, Infindo Technology, LoveFoodHateWaste and GoHalal, among others.

The team also won the Outstanding Rookie Award and the AITI (Info-communications Technology Industry) Multimedia Award in the competition.

The awards were presented to the winners yesterday by Minister of Finance II Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Abdul Rahman.

ThinkBig Ignite is an initiative of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) to encourage entrepreneurs to develop business ideas in the field of Information and Communications Technology and bring these products or services into the market. [Source: Al-Haadi Abu Bakar of The Brunei Times].

Outstanding Rookie Award – BruInnovEdu

AITI Multimedia Award – BruInnovEdu

DST Mobile Application Award – Socialdeal

Islamic category Award – no awards

Open Category Award
1st place – BruInnovEdu
2nd place – Socialdeal
3rd place – Nollybook

College and University Category Award
1st place – Bright Beginners Day Care Centre
2nd place – ETakaful
3rd place – Nur Qaseh Salon and Boutique

Guest of honour of THINKBiG Ignite 2011 Awards giving his welcoming remarks

Nollybook receiving third place in Open Category

Nur Qaseh Salon and Boutique came 3rd in College and University Category

The big winners of the day – BruInnovEdu, winning the Open Category, Outstanding Rookie Award and AITI Multimedia Award. Sharon Von and Vincent Wong holding their trophies

He was super excited after knowing that his team came first in College and University Category

… and 20 minutes later, he’s holding the big prize

Consolation prizes for the international participants from Malaysia

One of the rising technopreneurs, Socialdeal, who bagged 2nd place in Open Category

Group photo with the winners of THINKBiG Ignite 2011