The good old days.. I came across my old images from my hard drive and these bring back the memories of my journey as a blogger. The pictures below are from Year 2005 and some Year 2007. Sometimes I look back and see how things have really changed for the better, of course.

My lil sister reading both Buyer’s Guide and Grab It!! Both free magazines were making their names in Brunei and they survived through means of advertisements. The business model didn’t pull through and now the only notable free magazine that’s worthy is BIG Magazine

Hmmm… This was a huge hit back in 2005. Blogs were “mushrooming” and Facebook hadn’t impact Brunei just yet. I remember there were more than 1,000 bloggers listed in Simpur Blogging Nation but now it has left in the stagnant stage after the influx of Facebook and Twitter

This is one of the reasons why RA had a huge surge in traffic – women’s football. I remember the rivalry of Sirens FC and Dragonfly FC made every tournament interesting. Women’s football then faced its darkest hour as it was banned in 2006.

The good old days before “Superfriends” were born, the clique “RA6” was formed among my peers! I was nicknamed Randy for a reason. Keeran (left) was known as o’Murphy for his Irish blood *lol* and this was taken during one of our trips to Singapore back in 2005. The far end was Bambi and Godfather who were catching up with their sleep

When softball was revived back in 2005, it became popular once again. However, bringing new blood was a tough transition as it was the seniors who dominated the softball scene. Robin (below) of Black Arrows is a dedicated softball player and man, you looked slim before

This was the last public performance by a foreign artist. I wouldn’t say the last but these were troubled times where approval for concerts and foreign artists became strict. The AF stars were the main draw for The Empire’s New Years celebration coming to 2006 and they were the last foreign act to appear for The Empire’s new year celebration.

Blitz FC came about a little late when women’s football was picking up

This was one of the costume parties held at the Baze back in 2005. I was dressed as the Riddler and I had to improvise by using my Baju Melayu to good effect *lol*

This was one of the turning points where I managed to create a culture of Winning Eleven/Pro Evo tournaments in Brunei. I had mini tournaments at Crowne Princess Hotel, The Empire Cinema, The Orchid Garden Hotel and finally Brunei Cyber Games at ICC. This was taken at The Empire Cinema cafe and we had 40 entrants then. Now we are averaging at 200 to 300 participants. How things have changed…

One reason why I enjoyed watching the ladies softball team was the presence of Izzah of Comets. She was a good batter and also an efficient catcher. Comets was one of the strongest team then.

Woww… This is a classic picture with Sharon and Fidz. I can’t even remember where we took this pic.

This was Jenny’s big day and for first time, my RA hits tripled as readers were interested to see pictures and updates of Jenny’s wedding. Interesting..

This was another ladies football team that was pretty active in tournaments

Remember the big flood… Well, this was five years ago and the car couldn’t see the road properly and ended up in the drain.

This is super cool idea to have an account dedicated for savings for Haj and this was made possible by TAIB. Yesterday marked a new milestone for TAIB as they unveiled the new “Akaun Tekad Haji”. Apparently it was introduced back in 1994 and now they have added new features to enable individuals to financially plan ahead for Haj.

The event was officiated by the Minister of Religious Affairs who is also the Advisor to TAIB Board of Directors. The welcoming speech was delivered by Yusof bin Hj Abd Rahman, the Managing Director of Perbadanan TAIB.

New features include lower initial amount required for account opening (as low as BND 10) and now it’s open to all ages. TAIB will embark on awareness campaign by having roadshows at Kiulap branch 25th and 26th November abd Tanjung Bunut 9th and 10th December 2011.

Congratulations to TAIB on the relaunch and this system will hope to encourage all generations to save up for Haj.

Minister of Religious Affair (r) launching the new Akaun Tekad Haji while Managing Director of TAIB (c) looks on

I love this kid’s voice.. very soothing 🙂

Aren’t they such a cute bunch?

Nasyid performance after the launch of the account

Every applicant will get this book to keep track of his/her savings

HSBC Retro night looked like a blast!!! And too bad, I wasn’t there last weekend to be part of the spectacle. It was quite cool to see loads of people from the lcoal press dressing up for the occasion too. Last year, it was the Fright Night theme. Let’s hope I won’t miss the next one. For more pictures and story, you can click here (courtesy of AnakBrunei).

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Churrasco at Radisson Hotel
 

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Today 23rd November, the male category for the preliminary round took place at Yun Ho Studio. The competition is organised by Yun Ho Trading Company who holds the local distributorship for Obsidian Professional Hair products. There are 23 male participants and 33 female participants that signed up for the competition. Tomorrow will be the preliminary rounds for the female category.

The judges for the preliminary rounds are Mr. Ken Taira and Mr. Adam Chhooi who are professional judges from Malaysia. They are looking for a variety of hair designs and the hair style must also suit the shape/structure of the person’s face as well as the skin tone. The judges have been impressed with some of the results but only 10 male will be chosen for the finals which will take place this Saturday at Times Square.

The top winners for male and female category will get a chance to tour Korea, win a trophy as welll as $300 cash prize. The finalists will also get consolation prizes depending on their ranking in the finals.

So do come to Times Square this Saturday 7pm to find out who will win the Obsidian Hair Cut competition :))

The preliminary round that took place this afternoon at Yun Ho Studio

Loo Wengson of Haircut City hopes to reach the finals this Saturday

Will his creativity be enough to warrant him in the Top 10 spot?

Ken Taira and Adam Chhooi (the judges) examining the outcome of Johnny Leong’s effort

Four contestants with their respective models. So far 20 participants took part in the competition

Sorry, peeps!! This is just a quick update on RA as I will be busy today for a few events and my weekend will be totally taken up as I have volunteered to help out in a weekend workshop course. Below are some pictures that I shall be posting more in details by tomorrow or this weekend.

Oh yeah, if you guys want to share any upcoming events, please do email me at ranoadidas @gmail.com as I will be posting events on the RA Calendar (located at the right hand side bar) so you will be able to know of upcoming events happening in Brunei.

Have an awesome Thursday, peeps!! By the way, The Mall Cineplex is trying their best to bring in the big office hit from Taiwan, “You’re the Apple of My Eye” which is already the Best Movie of the Year for me 😀 I do hope it can pass the censorship board though *fingers crossed*

The film crew from China Movie Channel was at @kitarojapanese Restaurant for a short filming coverage. Nice to have met Julia and Shadow.

Fadhil smelling the soil used for the Art Display installation at Alliance Francaise (Brunei) and theme for this month is War: Thoughts & Remembrance. It will be held until 4th December and it’s open to the public.

Try your Savy’s Brasserie lunch prmotion

KFC branch Giant won the Best Performance of the night at KFC’s Annual Dinner last night at Centrepoint Hotel. Jonathan Bong, Marketing Manager of KFC Brunei, announced KFC Brunei plans for 2012 which includes KFC’s Drive-Thru and KFC Egg Tarts 😀

Genevieve, Jordine Maxine and Clovis were also at KFC’s Annual Dinner

BELTA, Laneige and MOE representatives were being interviewed recently on the update of the Laneige Broadway Musical Charity Competition. More details tomorrow and find out how you can win tickets and catch the talents of our local students. 19 schools will be participating (an increase by 8 schools) and this should be a spectacle show.

Shark Night 3D to premiere today at the 150-seat cinema at Seria Complex. This will be the first 3D show at the said cinema. The management has yet to come up with the name for the cinema.

Have you tried iGolf? This is a simulation where you can practice your swing and yes, you can play 18 holes and choose different types of courses. I have yet to try but it looks interesting. This is located at Seria Insani Centre.

This is now available at ETA

This should be a spectacle too. I shall be catching the rehearsal later today. Good luck, guys!!!

Breakfast menu is now available at Chill-V at Citis Square. In the image, it’s Seria Kuey Teaw, Tau Fu Fa and Ipoh Brewed White Coffee

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Book now on AirAsia

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Wanna plan for an advanced holiday season for 2012? Then I highly recommend you to grab the great deals at AirAsia and make Malaysia your holiday destinations and visit the beautiful cities such as Penang, Alor Setar, Kota Bahru to name a few. Fly to KL and you connect your flights to 75 destinations.

Fare starts at BND 40 from AirAsia and the booking must be done by 20th November.. The travel period will be from 1st April to 30 June 2012.

Visit Hot Buys places – Langkawi and Labuan. Did you know textiles are quite popular there among the tourists? You can also do some shopping and enjoy great prices at duty free shops.

If you are craving for food, I suggest you fly to Penang. I’ve been there twice and I give it two thumbs up for food. You can choose from street food to fine dining.. Try dishes such as Nasi Kandar, laksa, char koay teow and many more.

If you are searching for “Nature”, then AirAsia recommends you to fly to Kota Bahru and Johor Baru. From there, you can transfer to Redang/Lang Tengah/Perhentian and Tioman/Pulau Sibu/Pulau Besar respectively.

So what are you waiting for peeps?? Book your travels this week to enjoy great deals from AirAsia.

The awesome food you can enjoy at Penang

Discover the hidden gems in Malaysia

Wanna visit one of the exotic places in Malaysia?

Now this would be fun to spend your time, relaxing in one of the beaches

Sunday Brunch at Radisson Hotel

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KFC Brunei recently sent their team made up of national champions to Indonesia to compete in the highly anticipated Regional Champs Challege.

Regional Champs Challege or RCC is held annually at different locations and this year it was in Jakarta on 2 November 2011; where there were 10 teams competing in the event, namely Indonesia, Phillippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Cambodia, and Brunei..

The KFC Brunei team was able to win 2 awards, one for the Fastest Cook award won by Ronalyn Ilustrisimo, and the other was the Least Wastages award won collectively by the team..

The team members include Ronalyn Ilustrisimo, Siti Nornazirah, Mohd Ali Yusran Bin Razali, Mohd Aminuddin Qudra, Norah Bte Brahim and led by their captain Benson Mangabat. Accompanying them were their coaches, Awang Anak Ahmad and Khairulizam Malih..

KFC Brunei representatives in the recent regional Champs Challenge held in Jakarta

Why am I loving their smiles? Because yesterday I witnessed 13 patients who were given the privilege to shop at Toys R Us and the purchased toys were borne by Baiduri Bank. The patients are from the RIPAS Paediatric Haemoto-Oncology Centre and they are accompanied by their parents.

The charity was part of Baiduri Bank’s CSR program. The purpose of the visit was to provide the children the opportunity to pick toys for the Centre. Mr Pierre Imhof, General Manager; Mr Ti Eng Hui, Deputy General Manager, Retail Banking and Branch Network and senior managers of Baiduri Bank were on hand to greet and welcome the patients in Toys R Us. Also present were Ms. Tsaranawwarah Abdullah Chen, Senior Occupational Therapist and Dk. Nurul, Occupational Therapist from the Centre.

Mr Imhof commented, “To see the children with smiling faces during the visit to Toys R Us really warms my heart. It is our duty as a local bank of Brunei Darussalam and a human being to make it easier and memorable for them. At Baiduri, we are thankful that we have this opportunity to help those in need. This is also such a timely manner as the holiday season is coming soon.”

Mr. Ti Eng Hui leading the kids into Toys R Us

The children were full of joy upon entering Toys R Us

The little boy was interested in buying Lego

Pierre Imhof was excited as well during the shopping session

The kids bought toys for themselves which will be used for the centre

Baiduri Bank has worked closely with RIPAS Hospital throughout the years. Besides being a major sponsor of the Annual Blood Donor Day, Baiduri Bank has helped finance the development of various areas within RIPAS. In 2008, the Bank donated B$27,000 to the Child Development Centre, RIPAS Hospital for the set up of the sensory integration and audio visual rooms, books for feeding clinic, wheelchairs, commodes, chest walkers and stroller buggies. In 2009, Baiduri Bank donated B$8,200 to help cover the cost of educational aid at the Pediatric Occupational Therapy In-Patient Service Unit while in 2010, B$7,500 was donated to the Child Development Centre, RIPAS Hospital.

This morning’s activity is part of the B$15,000 pledged in July this year to RIPAS Hospital for the new Paediatric Haemoto-Oncology Centre. The money is to help furnish the Centre equipment, books and toys for the patients.

The Centre was established to attend to children with blood disorders and with cancer. The Centre consists of 4 rooms and the ward bay which can accommodate 5-6 patients. At present there are 77 patients diagnosed with cancer since 2002.

Thank Mr. Imhof for settling the bills 😀

Group photo with the kids and management of Baiduri Bank

The kids were treated to some “Blitz” yoghurt ice-cream

Sweet moment for father and son 🙂

Date: 27th November 2011 (Sunday)
Venue: Brunei Hotel (Lobby)

0900hrs – Start of Registration and collection of competition apparel
0930hrs – Annoucement of Theme 1 and commencement of competition
1700hrs – Annoucement of winners and prize presentation (subject to change based on judging process)

1. The Canon Photo Shoot Out Brunei 2011 (“Event”) is an event open to all.
2. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis subject to receipt of a valid registration.
3. All information including personal information submitted by the participant to Interhouse Company. (“Organiser”) in connection with the event shall become the property of the Organiser. The participant is deemed to have given the Organiser authorisation to use such information for any purpose (including market research, planning, data-processing, statistical and risk-analysis, research, fund-raising).
4. The Organiser reserves the right to cancel the event at any time without notice. In the event of such cancellation, the Organiser shall use reasonable efforts to inform the participant prior to the date of the event.
5. The stated event timings are subject to changes.
6. Participants must abide by the competition rules, and by any decisions made by the Organizer.
7. Participants under the age of 18 must obtain parental consent
8. The Organiser reserves the right to use any submitted photograph for any purposes without compensation to the participant.
9. The Organiser reserves the right to disqualify any participant who has infringed any of the competition rules.
10. Decisions by the Organiser and competition judges are final. No queries will be entertained. 11. All nationalities are welcomed.
12. By participating in the Event, the participant is deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions.

Competition Process

1. Participants will receive Theme 1 at approximately 0930hrs on 27th November, 2011 at the Event Venue.
2. Participants must submit ONE picture deemed suitable for the Theme before the assigned deadline.
3. Theme 2 will be announced immediately after the deadline for Theme 1 submission has lapsed.
4. Theme 3 will be announced immediately after the deadline for Theme 2 submission has lapsed.
5. The Top three prizes will be awarded for each Theme.

Competition Rules

1. All participants must wear the Canon apparel provided during the event.
2. Participants can use any digital camera during the Canon Photo Shoot Out, Brunei 2011.
3. All photographs submitted MUST be in JPEG format and sized to approximately 5MB.
4. Storage format accepted are CF / SD / MMC / XD / MS formats. Participants using other formats must supply their own relevant adaptors / drives for use during the submission of entries during the event. The Organizers will not be held responsible for the inability to read / download images.
5. All photographs will be judged based on the following criteria:
– Relevance to theme
– Creativity in theme interpretation
– Use of colours and light / shadows
– Composition of photograph
6. All submissions for each Theme must be completed before the announced allocated deadline. The Organiser reserve the rights to reject any submission once the deadline has lapsed.
7. All submitted photographs must be taken on 27th November 2011.
8. Submitted photographs must not be altered by any editing software.
9. Participants must submit their entries personally. No proxy submission by any participant is allowed during the Event.
10. The Organiser will not be responsible for providing photographic equipment including camera, spare batteries, lenses or additional memory cards. All participants are expected to come prepared with all their photographic equipment.

The voice behind Upin dan Ipin was also at the Awards

Wu Chun & ISB pledge for “Green”

It was a touching moment for students of ISB students as they had the opportunity to host the ever popular figure in Brunei and Asia, Wu Chun himself, who was in Brunei for a short trip. Wu Chun who is also concern about the environment, pledges for Fitness Zone to go green. He was interviewed by the students of ISB for the BGIC where he was being filmed.

ISB has been heavily involved in promoting and creating awareness on “Going Green” and this has certainly created a stronger brand on ISB for their continuous support for improving the environment in Brunei. Having Wu Chun’s presence really made a difference and this will boost and inspire students to practice “green” within themselves.

It was also the first time I heard of the “humming bird” story during the video interview. So something new for me to learn too 😀

I learned of the “Humming bird” story from the boys

Their classmates given moral support to the interviewers

The students interviewing Wu Chun on “Green” issues

Photo opportunity with superstar Wu Chun

Wu Chun had a quick group photo with ISB students

She was so happy that she kept saying this after her photo with Wu Chun

ISB students saying goodbye to Wu Chun

Projector for your entertainment

I know this is overdue and today I’m gonna share my experiences as a guest while watching MBA students of UBD presenting their innovative product presentations to the Vice Chancellor of UBD, Dato Paduka Dr. Hj Zulkarnain and Professor Soon Loo as their projects are being assessed as part of their course subject.

Though their main subject is more into management, the lecturer Soon Loo challenged the students to think out of the box and they were given 5 weeks to prepare an innovative concept and deliver they did.. I was quite amazed by their enthuasiasm as presenters and this really showed how dedicated the students were for the presentation.

The UBD Vice-Chancellor was awed by the presentations too and he was pleased that everyone (the presenters) was out of their comfort zone. He also congratulated every individual and told them to continue to innovate and not stop there.

I hope to see more of these presentations and I’m also impressed that that they even used 3D animations for their concepts especially for “Super Tech Laundry” and “Daffodil” group. These guys are good example for those doing ThinkBig Innovate Business Plan competition and sadly, the presenters from UBD didn’t join the said competition.

Before the end of the day, Professor Soon Loo and the students gave their feedback and support to one another and appreciated each other for their contribution and support in making the presentation not only a success but a memorable one.

Well done, guys… and I’m proud of you 🙂

 UBD Vice-Chancellor Dato Paduka Dr. Hj Zulkurnain encourage to spread the “virus” of innovation among the students. He really enjoyed the presentations by the MBA students and he hopes this will inspire them to excel more.

 

 Team “Kin-ethics” was the first presenters and they had a big vision of the future of mobile phone batteries. They came up with a prototype and a short video clip on their prototype.

 

Team “Kin-ethics” with Professor Soon Loo and their prototype

Shukrin of Team “iPick” explaining the different types of concepts they came up with before their final prototype

Harina talked of the marketing strategy for her group “Sm@rt-lly”

Team Sm@rt-lly showing their folding trolley concept in promoting green

Team “Sm@rt-lly” with their prototype

Noradah introducing her team Super Tech Laundry

I love their concept of laundry though this will require huge space to implement

Team HETTA came up with interesting concept of a “warmer” food cover

Vice-Chancellor taking a closer look of the “Hetta”. Now you can keep your food warm than usual

Team “Daffodil” came up with a concept of niche shoe storage/cabinet

Hannah presented her team “Daffodil”

Professor Soon Loo mingling with the students after an entertaining afternoon session

The students taking photo with the professor

Group photo with all the presenters and Professor Soon Loo

This has been a big problem in Brunei. Two weeks ago, the newspaper reported that the road accidents have claimed 36 lives this year. This has brought a lot of concern to the eyes of the public and also the National Road Safety Council. This is a worrying rate, considering that only 26 people died from 25 fatal road accidents last year which is the lowest numbers recorded by the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) since 2005.

Yesterday the National Road Safety Council paid a visit to the prone accident areas such as Mentiri Roundabout and U-turn in front of Hua Ho Tanjung Bunut. Leading the visit was Chairman of the National Road Safety Council Dato Paduka Hj Awang Alaihuddin. Prior to that, a discussion was held and briefed by the Royal Brunei Police Force on the reasons for the accidents in prone areas.

The purpose of the visit is to further reduce the number of actions and also to support the vision of “Brunei Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020” by increasing more awareness among the public. Images courtesy of Imelda of Media Permata.

Dato Paduka Hj Alaihuddin being briefed by the committee

They made site visits to accident prone areas

One of the accident prone areas is Mentiri Roundabout

Dato Paduka Hj Alaihuddin being interviewed by the local press

A good reminder from The Brunei Times

Standard Chartered Bank today awarded prizes to winners of its $ave & Build contest that was held during September and October. Yang Mulia Awang Haji Mahrub bin Haji Murni, Permanent Secretary (Core Education), from the Ministry of Education was Guest of Honour at the prize presentation ceremony and presented prizes to the winners. Also attending the event was Dr Haji Junaidi bin Haji Abd Rahman Permanent Secretary (Higher Education), Awang Haji Suhaila Haji Abdul Karim Deputy Permanent Secretary (Core Education), Awangku Abdullah bin Pengiran Haji Tengah Deputy Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) and Hjh Siti Mahrum binti Haji Abdul Halim, Senior Education Officer (Primary Section).

Other guests at the event included senior officials from the Ministry of Education, winners and their families and principals of the winners’ schools.

Lai Pei-Si, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank said in her welcoming remarks:

“At Standard Chartered Bank, we truly believe that financial planning and learning to manage your money well is important for all. By instilling good money habits in our children, they will grow up with sound money management skills that will help them achieve their financial goals as well as contribute to the overall health and wealth of our nation.”

Brenda Low, General Manager of Consumer Transactional Banking for the Bank said: “The $ave and Build campaign was designed to give children an understanding of the skills necessary to manage their financial future while the contest element clearly illustrate the benefits that one can enjoy by saving for a rainy day.”

The $ave & Build Campaign contest was open to all children enrolled at a registered primary school in the country, aged 12 and below and holding a My Dream Account with the Bank. To enter the contest, children had to build and decorate a coin box house provided by the Bank and entries were judged based on artistic creativity and originality, amongst other criteria. Contestants were also asked to complete fun and easy-to-do worksheets on financial literacy.

The contest was divided into two categories, (a) Upper Primary Category: exclusively for children in Year 4 to 6 and (b) Lower Primary Category: exclusively for children in Year 1 to 3. The contest winners are:

Working hand in hand with the Ministry of Education, through this campaign, Standard Chartered Bank reached out to over 40,000 students through all primary schools in Brunei. During the event, the Bank also expressed their thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Education for their strong support in the areas of financial literacy programmes with both its programmes for primary and secondary schools being supported by the Ministry.

Standard Chartered Bank strongly supports the Government’s move to encourage savings and actively educates the community through financial planning roadshows, financial literacy pieces and so forth. The Bank’s initiatives include an ongoing weekly Money Matters column in Borneo Bulletin since 2008, appearances over RTB’s Berita Ekonomi to share financial tips, sharing of financial tips over RTB radio and a Money and Sense column in Brunei Time’s Newspaper in Education series back in 2008. Text and images courtesy of SCB Brunei.

The winners of the respective categories with Guest of Honour Hj Mahrub and Lai Pei-Si, CEO of SCB

Jewel Shim was one of the top three winners

The designs by the students

Today is World Diabetes Day and the theme is to wear blue to create awareness for this campaign. Take a pic of you wearing blue and send to reedz@ anakbrunei.org

Firstly, good day to all the readers. I didn’t expect that I’m gonna take a day off after my quick weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur to cover the Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) which was superb. Perhaps the timing of the flight schedule took a toll on me as I had lack of sleep and I was restless by the time I hit my bedroom after my early morning flight. I even missed sending my family off to the airport the same day as I was catching on my sleep.

Now I feel better and slowly recovering back the groove of blogging. It was also a packed weekend in Brunei which I missed too. The successful Covergence 2011 hosted by ProjekBrunei was well received with positive comments. The International Week Jis Concert according to @lilmopiko was pretty good too. KFC Brunei and Mega Strike Bowl at Airport Mall kicked off the 11.11.11 last Friday and it was also the unveiling of The Airport Mall logo created by Mixmediaworx. Baiduri Bank hosted Deepavali dinner last weekend too.

I shall be posting pictures of the events happening last weekend but for now, I shall be posting some pictures from AIM 2011 and I would like to thank my friend for giving me the opportunity to cover the event and also introducing me to the organiser of the event – Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM).

Too bad that Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza wasn’t present during the event and she has the most record for being the most awardee for the Best Female Vocalists (11 times). She wasn’t even nominated in any category. (Maybe because she hasn’t recorded any songs? I haven’t done any research). But it was the first time I saw Yuna live and wow, I was super impressed. She was the big winner of AIM 2011, winning the Best Female Vocalist (Penakut), Kembara Award (for brining the music internationally) and most of all, she won Best Song (Penakut) which kinda created controversy in a way. Why? Because “Penakut” song wasn’t airplay-ed as much as the other nominated songs. But of course, the organisers based on the criteria of music arrangement, song, lyrics, voice and other things and not based on popularity *thumbs up*

Sheila Majid bagged the best album – The Malaysian Philharomonic Orchestra Celebrate 25 years of Sheila Majid. Anuar Zain was one of the big winners for Best Male Vocal and Best Pop Song (Sedetik Lebih). Perhaps the best performance of the night was the duet between Greyson Chance and Najwa Latif.. Simply awesome….

We attended the Post-Party AIM 2011 which was held in one of the rooms at Putra Bukit Jalil Stadium. Not all artist were present but it was still a great crowd attraction for many. I didn’t get to mingle with any of the artists but more of taking photos of them up-close. It was a great experience and it’s good to see how the locals are supporting the music industry and their fight against piracy. In Brunei, piracy is still a huge problem and this could deter the local artists in Brunei to be more creative if their music are not appreciated if fans just download their music for free.

Najwa, Datuk Sheila Majid and Yuna with their AIM trophies at AIM 2011. Photo by Shahrul Fazry Ismail.

This happened somewhere near E-GNC building today. Picture taken from FB *forgot from who lol*

The smoke was quickly handled by the rescue team. Image taken by GC.

The biggest prize achieved by Brunei happened a few nights ago at Pattaya Thailand. It was the APICTA Awards (regional competition) and MTSSR bagged the biggest prize as they beat 24 groups from 19 countries to win the Merit Award from Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2011. The project was named” Brunei Experience Multimedia Project” and it all started at the beginning of the year.

Since then, the project had won 3 awards:

1. Winner – The VTIs Engineering and Technology Final Year Project Competition in 2011
2. Winner – Brunei ICT Awards 2011 Tertiary Category
3. Merit Award : Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2011

MTSSR is the first to win the merit Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards 2011 for Brunei. They competed with other universities in the tertiary category though MTSSR students are in diploma level. The “Brunei Experience” is an interactive multimedia using the latest technology in Adobe Action Script Animation, XML, Google API and High Definition Video. The MTSSR group was given a standing ovation by the judges for that day during their presentation.

Supervisor : Haji Suhardi Bin Haji Suhaimi
Students : Abdul Rashid Hj Osman (Group Leader), Mohd Rafiee Hj Rahim, Fatin Liyana Suhili and Dk Siti Syuhaidah Pg Hj Bahruddin.

For their efforts, AITI has awarded them with BND 25,000 to further develop their project. According to Abdul Rashid, the project funds will be used to develop the project in promoting Brunei tourism. MTSSR would like to take the opportunity to thanks, Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI), Ministry of Education, Department of Technical Education and everyone in MTSSR who support us especially our principal, deputy principals, Computing and Information Technology Department, Welding and Fabrication and English Department.

Chung Hwa Middle School (CHMS) won the Merit Award in Secondary category. So it’s a double win for Brunei. Their project was “WaSeven Facilities Reservation” which is about reserving facilities in their school by using a simple system. CHMS will also be awarded BND 25,000 for their efforts.

Such awards do show that Brunei Darussalam are no push overs in terms of ICT development. We have the talents but we just need more support, programmes, incentives and better facilities to give more motivation for the youth for their creativity in ICT. Thumbs up to AITI also for providing funding to the Merit Award winners. Images below are courtesy of Saini, Library Department of MTSSR.

MTSSR group was welcomed by the Minister of Communications at Brunei International Airport after their victory at APICTA Awards at Pattaya, Thailand

MTSSR’s project first award back in January 2011

MTSSR won BICTA 2011 Tertiary Category

Chung Hwa Middle School also the big winners for Secondary level