His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam graced the Gurkha 200 Commemoration Parade at Taman Hj Sir Muda Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien yesterday

His Majesty graces the Gurkha 200 Commemoration Parade. Video by The Brunei Times.

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, graced the Gurkha 200 Commemoration Parade at Taman Hj Sir Muda Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien yesterday.

His Majesty is also the Minister of Defence and Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF).

The parade marks two centuries of Gurkha service to the British Crown as well as the special relationship between the Royal Brunei Armed Forces and British Army.

The British High Commission here in a statement said the parade consisted of two contingents — one from the Brigade of Gurkhas and one from the Royal Brunei Land Forces, making up a total of 750 military personnel.

Queen Elizabeth II representative, Colonel Commandant Brigade of Gurkhas, General Sir Peter Wall, also attended the parade.

General Sir Wall said the parade demonstrated the special relationship between the Royal Brunei Armed Forces and British Army.

“The unique and enduring relationship between Brunei and the United Kingdom based on mutual respect, trust and close cooperation in education and defence has never been stronger,” he was quoted as saying in the British High Commission’s statement.

The Gurkhas have been based in Brunei since 1962, the statement added. According to the Gurkha 200 Commemoration website, the first battalion of The Royal Gurkha Rifles is serving in Brunei, where they are the army’s jungle warfare experts.

The booklet commemorating the event stated that the Brigade of Gurkhas’ role in Brunei is to conduct training in the tropical environment of the sultanate’s jungles as the wildlife provides the soldiers with challenging training opportunities. The Gurkha soldiers conduct regular arduous training with the Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF) to enhance the capabilities of personnel of both contingents as well as foster close friendships with each other.

His Majesty the Sultan talking to the attendees

General Sir Peter Wall, Her Majesty the Queen’s Representative and Colonel Commandant, the Brigade of Gurkhas

A similar parade was last held in 1998 when His Majesty and Queen Elizabeth II inspected a parade of RBAF and the Brigade of Gurkhas at the Indoor Stadium in Berakas.

Before the parade began, His Majesty was accompanied by General Sir Wall to inspect the contingents.

Standing tall, the soldiers marched in unison while their proud family members took pictures. Members and family members of the British Forces Brunei and students of the Hornbill School in Seria also mingled with His Majesty after the parade.

A similar celebration was held earlier this year with a parade through the streets of central London in April and a pageant held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London in June. Text courtesy of Wail Wardi Ismail of The Brunei Times and images courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

Lim Chien Yee, Lim Chien Hau and Lim Wan Shen from team “Much Wow” in first place of the Cyber Battle: Capture the Flag with guest of honour Dato Paduka Hj Hamdan Hj Abu Bakar, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Shamsul Bahri Hj Kamis, CEO of ITPSS last Sunday

Team Copypaste came 2nd place and they will also head to Jakarta for the Cyber SEA Game

Nine teams competed in the “Cyber Battle: Capture the Flag” competition held at the Authority for Info-Communications Technology of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) headquarters on Sunday, with a team of three siblings walking away with the Grand Prize.

Present to hand over the prizes was the Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Dato Paduka Hj Hamdan Hj Abu Bakar.

The team will also have the opportunity to represent Brunei in the Cyber SEA Game in Jakarta next month, alongside the first runner up, Team #copypaste.

The competition involved a Jeopardy style scoring system, where competing teams work on fixing security holes and solving challenges of network-based and web-based attacks in designated servers.
In his speech, ITPSS CEO Shamsul Bahri Hj Kamis said that the competition was held to educate the participants on how to strengthen and protect their networks.

He stressed that there will always be vulnerabilities in the web and networks, and so by holding the competition, the public will be more aware of the necessary actions that must be undertaken to defend IT networks.

Third place Tikana with their prizes

Team MUCH WOW did their homework and training through means of coCTF website to prep themselves for the tournament last Sunday and they deservedly won the “Cyber Battle: Capture the Flag”. I’m quite impressed by the turn out from the tournament and this shows that Brunei have the local talent especially in programming and computer science (does that make sense?).

The one-day competition was organised by the IT Protective Security Services Sdn Bhd (ITPSS).