Who's the culprit?

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam gave his official seal of approval for the new layout of Borneo Bulletin. His Majesty highlighted that the colour has changed which lightened the atmosphere. He also described the new layout, “very nice and something different”.

Few days ago, I uploaded some photos of the wee hours of the prints of the latest layout of Borneo Bulletin. I’m a regular reader of Borneo Bulletin and I have good relations with most of the reporters from Borneo Bulletin. Congratulations Borneo Bulletin on the new layout.

His Majesty and the Crown Prince with the Borneo Bulletin journalists and photographers

His Majesty browsing through the new version of Borneo Bulletin

This is the guy behind the hoax letter. Image taken from Brunei FM facebook page and a screenshot of RTB news

[Edited] Now who’s the culprit behind all this? So this evening we find out that this guy named Lakim Hj Md Noor is the mastermind behind all this. The story grabbed today’s headlines in Borneo Bulletin and The Brunei Times and apparently the hoax government letter was being circulated in social networking sites such as Facebook to warn others of such scam or hoax.

Around 45 women and 31 men from the 300 recipients provided statements to the police to assist with the investigation.

“I actually applied with the Municipal Department and a few other government offices last year,” said one of the women. “I went through the examination and I didn’t think much of the letter when I received it,” she explained and added that she is still employed with her private sector employer in Kuala Belait but was in the final process of resigning. “I’m actually starting to hand over my work to my replacement,” she said.

Some unlucky ones were instructed to hand over cash between $250 to $300 in order to secure a government position. Now this is really sad to whoever created this hoax and scam and ruining the careers of our own people. I believe this could be an inside job since some of the complains had applied to the Municipal Department a few years ago and the letters also contained their full names and identification which made the letter more legit to their eyes.

The fake letter was posted on a popular Facebook page “Brunei FM” which went viral from there onwards. For your info, Brunei FM fan page is not affiliated with fmBrunei Group of Companies. But it was good that Brunei FM fan page alerted the public on the hoax letter.

I do hope the authorities do catch the culprit asap and punished accordingly. [Source: Borneo Bulletin, The Brunei Times, Brunei FM].

The Fake Letter that many fell for.. Taken from Brunei FM Fan Page

Today’s headline at The Brunei Times

Today’s headline at Borneo Bulletin

I was disappointed with the previous two pay-per-views – Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber and I was a bit skeptical about WWE’s Wrestlemania.. There’s no Money in the Bank and the match between Sheamus and Daniel Bryan only last 2 seconds *lol*

Nonetheless the HHH vs Taker was pure classic and I have a huge respect for the Undertaker for pulling off another great show. He doesn’t wrestle as much as he only wrestles once a year for the past two to three years because of his age and body tolerance. This is one of the best matches I’ve seen for quite some time and this is enough to make my money’s worth for the PPV on Kristal Astro.

The other big match is between the two icons – John Cena vs The Rock. It’s not as spectacular as The Rock vs Hollywood Hogan but it was still entertaining from start to the end. I also had doubts of The Rock’s ring ability after his last wrestling performance was back in 2004. The Rock has still what it got in the ring though he was rusty at times. Loads of boos for JC as usual because Wrestlemania was held at The Rock’s home town, Miami.

I wished the other matches lived up to Wrestlemania’s expectations. Missing were Money in the Bank match and TLC matches. I would still give this a high rating though. Wrestlemania 28 verdict: 8/10

The Rock and Cena went head to head at Wrestlemania

The Rock looked a bit out of shape for a wrestler. I could see some flab from his tummy *lol*

Are you willing to take up this challenge?

There have loads of talks about interest in animation in Brunei alone. This is still an untapped industry in Brunei and I’m pretty sure quite a few Bruneians here are talented in this field of animation. We are living in the digital media age and AITI has come up with a competition or challenge known as the Pro-Digital Animation Challenge.

The digital media is paving more channels for new job opportunities, sustainable growth and economic diversification.

PURPOSE
The purpose of the Challenge is to source out local talents in the ICT-related industry to produce short digital animations that utilize digital technology in a creative and innovative way.

There are two themes for this Challenge: 1) Public awareness and education on ICT related topics such as, but not limited to, cyber security, internet etiquette, social media networking, or

2) Brunei Folklore such as any legends, myths, cultural values or history relating to Brunei Darussalam.

ELIGIBILITY
1) The competition is solely open to ICT businesses and production houses registered in Brunei Darussalam.

2) Participants must produce Brunei-made components, i.e. animations that are made, developed and produced wholly or partially in Brunei by Bruneians.

3) All submissions must adhere to either one of the themes of this Challenge.

PRIZES AND AWARDS
Three (3) best entries will be selected from the submissions and will receive a prize money of Ten Thousand Brunei Dollars (BND$10,000) each.

Out of the three (3) best entries, the judges will select the best of the best, who will be awarded with:
1) A grant of minimum Twenty Five Thousand Brunei Dollars (BND$25,000) to further develop their winning entry; and

2) Be eligible to participate in a mentorship program in order to gain opportunities to collaborate with international players in the field of digital media production.

So guys, what are you waiting for? Showcase your talent and we Bruneians can do it 😀

A timeline to guide for interested participants

You may have read in the papers with regards with the recent luxury cruise ship The Azamara Quest which suffered from a fire at the engine room and left the ship stranded off southern Philippines coast. The ship was safely docked at Sandakan port at Malaysia’s Sabah.

Royal Brunei Airlines and Department of Civil Aviation came into the picture yesterday as they combined their efforts to help chartered a few relief flights from Sandakan to Brunei and transiting to Singapore on the same day which is happening now as we speak. Some passengers from the cruise ship have flown to Singapore via BI421 at 9:15am this morning.

So thumbs up to @royalbruneiair and DCA for their involvement in transporting the passengers from Sandakan to Singapore via Brunei.

In this handout photo taken Saturday, March 31, 2012 and released Sunday, April 1, 2012 by the Philippine Air Force, the stricken cruise ship Azamara Quest is seen in the Sulu sea, southern Philippines. The cruise ship with 1,000 people on board that had drifted for 24 hours after being disabled by a fire was headed toward Malaysia following repairs and was expected to reach shore Sunday, the ship’s company said. PHILIPPINE AIR FORCE,HO — AP Photo

Passengers from the Azamara Quest are taken by bus from the port in Sandakan, Malaysia, Monday, April 2, 2012. The Azamara Quest carrying 590 passengers and 411 crew, was left a drift for 24-hours after a fire broke out in one of the ships engine rooms on Friday night. MARK BAKER — AP Photo

Earlier today, the U.S. Embassy’s Consular Officer was at the Brunei International Airport to extend assistance to American citizens who were among the passengers of the cruise ship Azmara Quest. The passengers were transiting through Brunei Darussalam from Sandakan, Malaysia where they disembarked following an emergency last Friday, when a fire broke out in the ship’s engine room.

There have been no reports of any injuries among the 590 passengers, which included 201 American citizens. Before the passengers arrived in Brunei Darussalam, the Azmara Quest reported that propulsion has been restored and the ship will sail to Sandakan, Malaysia. Consular Officer Ms. Christin Ho met each chartered flight on Royal Brunei Airlines, which the cruise line passengers took from Sandakan, and facilitated their transit to Singapore. The last group of the cruise line passengers departed in the evening. Consular Officer Ms. Christin Ho commented “those of us providing American citizen services

were very glad to be of assistance to the passengers of Azmara Quest. I would like to thank Royal Brunei Airlines and the staff at Brunei International Airport for all their efforts in helping all the stranded passengers get home safely. The Americans who transited Brunei expressed their delight in the beauty of the country and the efficiency of the staff at the airport.”

The Department of State places Consular Officers at Embassies and Consulates worldwide whose primary responsibility is to aid American citizens abroad, particularly in emergency or crisis situations. While in Sandakan, the Consular service team from U.S. Embassy Kuala Lumpur provided consular services and assistance for the U.S. citizens onboard the cruise line. Press release courtesy of U.S Embassy to Brunei Darussalam.

That’s one huge number for a run especially for when it’s running for good cause. There will be 4,000 participants which is way beyond Standard Chartered Bank’s expectation and this is first time that SCB Brunei is holding a half marathon race which received a favourable response from the public.

For your info, there will be best fancy dress category for male and female and the most creative will win prizes sponsored by SCB. There will be also Spot-the Liverpool – Tshirt contest where individuals may choose to wear their SCB Liverpool FC shirt for a chance to win some exclusive Liverpool FC merchandise.

There will be lucky draws with exciting gadgets such as Macbook Pros, Macbook Airs, iPhone 4s, iPads and iPods (woohoo.. lots of Apple products). Did you know there are other runners from different countries namely Australia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

The winner of last year’s best dress at SCB’s run

The Rubiks also made an impact that day

The Flash also took part in the fancy dress competition last year

ALL participants of the upcoming Standard Chartered Brunei Half Marathon are reminded to collect their running packs during the Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) that will be held on April 5, 6 and 7 at the National Indoor Stadium.

The REPC will be open from 10am to 7pm on Thursday, April 5; 8.30am to 7pm (breaking for prayers between 11am to 2pm) on Friday, April 6; and 8.30am to 4.30pm on Saturday, April 7.

All runners collecting their Race Entry Pack (REP) are required to produce a printout of their confirmation slip, identity card or passport (for participants of adult race categories), a photocopy of their birth certificate (for child participants only), personalised donation card (or a police report slip, in the event the donation card is lost) and the donations collected.

The Race Entry Pack (REP) will consist of a running bib number, an exclusive event running t-shirt, a timing chip (for half-marathon and 10km categories only) and a lucky draw ticket.

Timing devices will not be issued to 5km and 2.5km Fun Run participants. T-shirt sizes will be given on a first come first serve basis, depending on stock availability. As there will be no collection of race packs on the race day, all participants and appointed representatives are to collect the race packs during the REPC period only.

Over 4000 participants have signed up for Run for a Reason across the four categories 2.5km, 5km, 10km and 21km, exceeding the number of runners in the Standard Chartered Charity Run last year by over 83 percent. This number has way exceeded the number of runners in the Standard Chartered Charity Run 2011 last year by over 83%.

Will these pretty ladies join again this year? See you again :p

Cits is the face of this year’s SCB’s Run for a Reason promotional poster

Dermalogist Beauty Therapy

Dermalogist Beauty Therapy which is located in Serusop, is using DERMALOGICA, one of the high end products in U.S. This year their facial treatment is famous of oxygen facial, diamond dermabrasion facial, anti aging facial, Chromawhite skin brightening facial, Vitamin C facial and Skin Lifting facial. Their location is at Serusop, same row as DST and opposite of Secret Recipe (Serusop). Any enquiry pls call 2342928 or 8716680.

Earth Day Clean Up brought to you by Beach Bunch on 22nd April 2012 at Jerudong Beach. Let’s volunteer and show some support 😀

Robbie Fowler scored quite a few goals last year at the EPL Masters. He will be back again this time round.

Profile of Robbie Fowler. Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English footballer. He is best remembered for his playing days at Liverpool and is the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League. Fowler is widely recognised as the most natural finisher of his generation. Fowler scored 183 goals in total for Liverpool, 128 of which were scored in the Premier League (162 Premier League goals in total). He subsequently played for Leeds United and Manchester City, before returning to Liverpool in January 2006.

He moved clubs 18 months later to sign for Cardiff City. He refused a one year “pay as you play” contract extension and signed with Blackburn Rovers on a three-month “pay as you play” deal instead. In December 2008, he departed Blackburn and has since forged a career in Australia. He has been capped for England twenty-six times, scoring seven goals.

Early Life. Fowler was born in Toxteth, Liverpool and brought up in the inner city area of Liverpool. At this time he was known as Bernard Ryder, his mother’s surname. He lived in Toxteth at the time of the 1981 Toxteth riots, when he was six years old. As a youngster he supported Everton F.C., regularly travelling to Goodison Park. He played regularly for schoolboy team Thorvald, and once scored 16 times in a 26–0 rout.

In 1985 a 10-year-old Fowler was selected for Liverpool Schoolboys and was spotted by Liverpool scout Jim Aspinall. He began training with Liverpool once a week and signed schoolboy forms with the club. On leaving school in 1991 he signed as a YTS trainee, and turned professional on his 17th birthday less than a year later.

International Career. Fowler has won 26 caps for England scoring 7 goals and has not been called to the England team since 2002.

Do get your tickets for the upcoming EPL Masters Cup 2012