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Chairman of committee for The Run, Raja Segaran (center) with Aaron Goh (left) the Co-chairman of The Run and Dato Paduka Alimin (right) the Advisor of The Run. Image courtesy of Wardi Buntar, The Brunei Times.

Guess what? There will be finisher medals presented for those running 21KM, 12KM and 5KM (within a qualifying time) in the upcoming The Run while the finisher medals for the 2KM fun run, 2KM special need and 2KM wheelchair for The Run.

I’m not sure yet as what the qualifying time is for the respective categories. I shall update you again once I have more news on this.

Another announcement I would like to share is to remind you guys of the deadline for the registration of The Run. It’s gonna be epic as it will be the final run before Ramadhan starts. By the way, the deadline for The Run is 8th June (today) or if the participants reaches 4,000.

Come and show your support for The Run where it is organised by Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hjh Mayram. For more info, you can visit http://www.therun.com.bn/ and the website is pretty comprehensive.

The finisher medals for The Run

The finisher medals for The Run

There’s also the Corporate registration. Click image to find out more.

In conjunction with the worldwide launching of Colonel Sander’s autobiography and cookbook on 5th June, KFC is organizing a cooking competition jointly with Sultan Saiful Rizal Technical College and Jen Studio, and managed by Trinity Advertising and Event Management. The cooking competition, known as KFC Home Chef Challenge will be based on the Colonel’s own recipe in the book. From the list of 33 recipes, we know that we just have to make a great cooking contest out of it and we have shortlisted to about twenty over that is suitable for the contest.” says Jonathan Bong, Senior Marketing Manager, KFC. There’s dessert such as upside down peach cobbler or main course such as meat loaf to breakfast such as The Colonel’s Special Omelet to name a few great recipe.

With the fully equipped Kitchen facilities that Sultan Saiful Rizal Technical College currently has, this competition will differ from any others in many ways. “We are thrilled when KFC approached us to jointly organize the KFC Home Chef Challenge because we have plans to organize a similar competition to motivate our students for better performance”, says Sheikh Lukman, Deputy Principal, Sultan Saiful Rizal Technical College. “A 1976 survey ranked Colonel Sanders as the second most recognizable celebrity in the world. Paying tribute to Colonel Sanders being an Original Celebrity Chef, Jen Studio is looking forward to capture all the exciting moments in where participants compete to be the KFC Home Chef of the year” says Jerome Wong of Jen Studio.

The launch of the KFC Chef Challenge. Registration starts on 8th June.

Registration for the KFC Home Chef Challenge starts from 8th June until 20th June 2012 and entry forms are available at all KFC outlets and also available for download at KFC Brunei’s facebook. Registration fee is B$10. All entry forms must be submitted to KFC Head Office at Gadong Central Outlet before 20th June 2012. First 50 registrations will also receive a goody bag. Audition round will be held on 24th June from 2 – 5pm at KFC’s Gadong Central outlet. Participants will present their dishes which is home prepared. The competing dishes for the Audition rounds will be announced on KFC Brunei’s facebook on 8th June 2012. Only shortlisted participants will be notified to advance to the semi finals and the finals which will take place on the same day at 8th July at Sultan Saiful Rizal Technical College. For more info, please log on to KFC Brunei’s facebook. Interested participants are encouraged to download and try out the recipes prior to the competition.

The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) together with the committee steering the Brunei International Airport expansion project has included the construction of a new surau (prayer hall) as part of its plan.

“It is progressing and we have already appointed an architect (for it),” Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) Dato Paduka Hj Ali Hj Apong told The Brunei Times in a brief exchange yesterday.

He added the surau will be completed in line with the time frame of the airport’s expansions. Drawings are currently being done on building the surau, and noted its construction will follow the time-table for the entire expansion project. “There is a sequence (we have to follow), but this (building the surau) is incorporated in the plan,” he said.

The new look of the departure/arrival hall at the Brunei International Airport. Taken from BEDB website.

The new surau is a quick response to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s titah last month when the monarch queried about the location of the current surau situated at the corner of the airport’s basement floor.

The completion of the airport expansion project by the end of 2014 will enable Brunei to become a logistics hub, said the monarch in a previous report, and is set to be one of the top strategic infrastructure developments in the Asia Pacific region. A surau should not be an afterthought, but the centrepiece of the facility, he added.

“When planes land, people should already be able to see the surau which will definitely have the Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIB) characteristics,” the monarch said. “Our religion encourages us to materialise the symbol of Islam with a landmark and not hide it from plain sight,” said His Majesty. Rachel Thien of The Brunei Times.

The Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) organized a post implementation of ICT Accredited Business (ICTAB) industry dialogue on Monday (4th June) at the Seri Kerna Hall, Block B13, AITI Building. The objectives of the dialogue were, among others, to share and update on the progress of ICTAB implementation as well as to gather constructive inputs from the industry players on the overall initiative.

The dialogue, chaired by Haji Yahkup bin Haji Menudin, the Chief Executive of AITI, was attended by more than fifty (50) representatives from the ICT industry. ICTAB is aimed at ICT businesses to be accredited as a pre-requisite before participating in any Government ICT tenders. This is to ensure that the projects are carried out successfully by qualified, competent and financially sound local vendors. With effect from 1st September 2011, ICTAB has became a mandatory requirement for vendors when participating in Government ICT projects or tenders.

In his opening remarks, Haji Yahkup stated that it is timely that this industry dialogue on post-implementation of ICTAB is held as the initiative has been operationalised for the past nine (9) months. He further added that the dialogue would be essential to gather the feedback for necessary review and fine tunning of ICTAB in the near future. A few examples of the feedback received are being considered. These are; extending ICTAB implementation for ICT projects in the private sector, reviewing the range of project cost that can be participated for the ICTAB classes and minimum percentage of local ICT skilled workforce for each respective class.

Since August last year, AITI has granted to date a total of fifty five (55) local ICT businesses with the five (5) different classes of ICTAB. To be qualified in either one of the five (5) ICTAB Classes, applicants should fulfill the following requirements:

Amongst the criteria that will be assessed by the Accreditation of ICT Businesses Committee (AIBC), chaired by AITI with members from Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Communications and the e-Government National Centre (EGNC), shall include the applicants’ financial capability, local ownership structure, availability of local ICT skilled manpower, overall workforce size, financial health, management structure, and track record.

The dialogue session also saw a briefing on the pilot proposal for iKHLAS Accounting System, a joint initiative by AITI and BAG Networks Sdn Bhd for the AITI Accredited Business (AAB) Status businesses. This program seeks participation from interested ICT businesses to trial the iKHLAS Accounting System at a subsidised cost for a maximum period of twelve (12) months.

Further queries on ICTAB and the iKHLAS pilot program can be addressed to AITI’s ICT Industry Development Group at 2323232 (during office hours) or email at itidg@aiti.gov.bn.