The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) yesterday announced the introduction of new corruption laws to address abuse of power and misconduct in public office.

The new laws will allow legal action to be taken against civil servants who fail to carry out their duties to a “high ethical standard”, said the AGC in a statement issued yesterday.

Following extensive discussions between the AGC and the Anti-Corruption Bureau, several amendments have been made to the Prevention of Corruption Act.

New offences have been included in the legislation, criminalising the use of public funds for private purposes; giving undue preferential treatment; misuse of information acquired during the course of duty; and allowing private interests to come into conflict with public duties.

The legislation also states that any public officer who seeks to interfere or influence the “appointment, promotion, suspension, demotion or dismissal” of any other public official, can be prosecuted under the new laws.

Similarly, any civil servant who demonstrates “willful misconduct or neglect of duty” to a degree which amounts to abuse of public trust, is considered guilty of an offence.

The punishment for all the new corruption offences is seven years’ jail and a $30,000 fine.

The AGC added that offences can be committed without the receipt of gratification or monetary benefit.

The legal definition of “public body” has also been changed in the legislation, to include government-linked companies and statutory bodies, such as the Brunei Economic Development Board, Brunei Shell Joint Ventures, Royal Brunei airlines, among others.

The new laws came after His Majesty, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, lambasted police for corrupt practices last March.

“The main purpose of the amendment is to address the concern of His Majesty… during a working visit (paid to the) Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) Headquarters… in respect of corruption in the form of abuse of powers for personal interest,” said the AGC.
During the visit, His Majesty cited several cases of police corruption, including the case of a high-ranking police officer accused of accepting a luxury car from a convicted criminal in exchange for helping him cross the border illegally.

In a fiery address to police officers, the monarch accused RBPF personnel of “elements of lawlessness” such as involvement in gambling, drinking and smuggling banned goods, as well taking bribes to “look the other way”. Text courtesy of Quratul-Ain Bandial of The Brunei Times.

 

Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar with senior management of Brunei Shell Joint Venture and the 42 feted BSJV scholars

Late post: Three weeks ago, the Brunei Shell Joint Venture (BSJV) Companies officially awarded scholarships to 42 students, marking the occasion with a signing ceremony at the Royal Brunei Polo and Riding Club.

The guest of honour was the Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office, Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin bin Haji Umar. Also present was the Managing Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd (BSP), Andrew Faulkner.

The 42 scholarship students will be embarking on their undergraduate courses, with disciplines ranging from engineering to science. In addition, two BSJV scholars will be continuing their studies and undertaking post graduate programmers in their respective vocations.

Some of the students will be enrolling at Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB), while the rest will be enrolling in courses in Australia and the United Kingdom.

As a BSJV statement reads, “The students have undergone a rigorous assessment process to ensure they meet the company’s criteria and subsequently identified as best in class amongst their peers.”

The event also saw recognition given to 10 BSJV scholars who successfully completed their degree programme with First Class Honours.

In a speech yesterday, the Deputy Managing Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd, Haji Kamaludin bin Haji Bungsu said the BSJV scholarship programme started decades ago, highlighting that the programme is an important and big investment for the company.

“By investing in youths, we hope to answer the call of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam to bolster the economy and give locals the opportunity to become workers and leaders,” he said.

Good luck to all the scholars and I believe they all have started their journey as BSP scholars by now. Text courtesy of Danial Norjidi of Borneo Bulletin.

 

The Peugeot 2008 with the sales team from Peugeot Brunei and members of the press

Recently we had a sneak preview of the latest edition of Peugeot that will enter the Brunei market pretty soon. It was a concept car back in 2009 in one of the the motor show and now it has become a reality. The media was able to get a sneak peak of the Peugeot’s new urban 2008 crossover at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Gadong.

What I love about the Peugeot 2008 is the exterior design and it has both a characteristic of a hatchback and an SUV. The interior is pretty impressive as well. I won’t spare much details as yet but you will be able to ask more information at Peugeot office at Kiarong. I believe this car will be a hit. I’m not quite sure of the price just yet as they are pretty tight lipped about it but I won’t be surprised if it will be affordable.

I will update once the Peugeot 2008 crossover will be available in Brunei market. You can follow their Facebook Page for updates too.

We caught a few videos on what the Peugeot 2008 is capable of and the Peugeot 2008 DKR won a one-two finish at the China Silk Road Rally

The beautifully crafted Peugeot 2008

The interior of the 2008

 

Recently we had the chance to taste Markus Dybwad’s cooking on Snofood products (food items that are supplied to Excapade). For your info, Markus Dybwad is a popular culinary consultant and he is Norwegian. So he prepared some great dishes for the invited guests and a big thank you to the Snofood management for the invitation. I was quite impressed with the food presented. Just to let you know that the food you dine at Excapade is mostly from Snofood.

Michael Chong, owner of Snofood (2nd from left) with his invited guests at the standing cocktail session hosted by Snofood management

Markus Dybwad from Norway show his cooking skills and tasted pretty good too

 

The smiling faces of the volunteers at the beach clean up this morning

I wonder how many tonnes were collected at all the five beaches

We have seen all these familiar contribution to the community of Brunei Darussalam and beach clean up is one of them. This morning, Brunei Shell Joint Venture Companies, Shell Deepwater Borneo (SDB) and Brunei Gas Carriers (BGC), ran a beach cleaning campaign at five beaches in Brunei and this is to commemorate the International Coastal Cleanup Day 2015 (ICC 2015).

The five beaches today were at Silver Jubilee Beach and Lumut in the Belait District, Telisai-Danau Beach in Tutong and finally Muara beach and Meragang beach in the Brunei-Muara District. For your info, this is the second year that they are running the beach clean-up campaign.

The objective of this campaign is to keep the ocean free from trash and this is one way to make the ocean more resilient. This campaign will also help to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism and also the mutual cooperation among staff, youth and members in the local communities.

For these efforts alone, we can see that the stakeholders involved are keen to promote Brunei’s environmental sustainability. For instance, Brunei Shell Petroleum’s support goes way back to 2007 where BSP partnered with the Government of Brunei for the groundbreaking, tri-country Heart of Borneo biodiversity conservation initiative. The current progress of the research projects includes the discovery of new endangered species and breeding areas.

Brunei LNG has also been involved in the environmental sustainability project such as dealing with the degradation of the peatlands in Lumut. The same goes to SDB where there is a partnership with the Biodiversity Research and Innovation Centre through the Marine Biodiversity Centre (Ministry of Primary and Industry Resources) and they will monitor to see if our marine biodiversity is well maintained.

Today at the Muara beach, they had 179 participants involved and present were the Royal Brunei Navy, Brunei-Muara District Office, Royal Brunei Police Force, Head of Village, Cosmopolitan College, BSP associates and BSM retailers.

The total number of people involved in the beach clean up was 758 people. Well done on the organizers. Images courtesy of BSP, BSM.

Let’s hope the young ones can shape the future of our environment especially at beaches

This looks like a bbq grill… tsk tsk

The volunteer sign up sheet and some educational tip to dispose rubbish

 

Search for Coffee Bean Brunei on Apple Store or Google Play

A souvenir for all the attendees at the launch of the Blended App yesterday at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Mata-Mata outlet)

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, officially launched their “Coffee Bean Brunei App” on Friday, 18th September 2015 by having a two hour private app launch event for their merchant partners at their Supa Save, Mata Mata outlet. The “Coffee Bean Brunei” app introduces their digital lifestyle magazine, “Blended”. The event was officiated with surah Al-Fatihah by Mudim Haji Suhaili bin Haji Kalong.

At the beginning of the event, registered guests were given an iphone or Samsung bookmark that displayed the blended app with a limited edition blended badge. Guest were also treated to some finger food including the very popular mini magherita pizzas and tropical passion fruit tea.

Doa selamat and surah Al-Fatihah by Mudim Haji Suhaili bin Haji Kalong

Invited guests and partners of CBTL

Amy Cheong was the emcee for the day

Nice bookmarks from CBTL

You can get your digital loyalty card on their app. They even have a special promotion until the 2nd October

Amy Cheong, popularly known as DJ Amy from Pilihan FM hosted and presented the App. “Blended” allows users to search outlets nearest to them and gives them updates on the latest The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf promotions and news. Users will also have access to the local events and happenings in Brunei. The app also allows users to pick up to 6 lifestyle categories of their favourite topics, which gets updated on a daily basis. One of the main highlights of the App was the digital pink card. The Digital Pink Card allows the user to collect 1 e-stamp with every drink purchase. When users reach 12 e-stamps, the user is entitled to a free small size beverage.

Local entrepreneurs were also invited to the event to display their products. They included Mairgix Fitness Centre – the first calisthenics gym in Brunei, Lokalground which is a local clothing design store owned by 8 Entrepreneurs, DIG Records – a record player and vinyl store, WallAtLarge that provides photography, video prints services and Wood Work Kendamas, and NeoClassic Music School.

The TV and TV stands were also sponsored by D’Sunlit in support of the event. The app was created by a local based company HIVE Digital.

I kinda love this outlet and also their pizzas.. Must try

There’s even a menu guide in the app

Check out the merchant partners of CBTL

Representatives from Mairgix Fitness Centre and Lokalground

 

Head of student representatives Muhd Romulus bin Muhd Roland speaking on behalf of the scholars

Last year it was above 40. This year, Brunei Shell Joint Venture (BSJV) awarded 54 students for scholarship programs and it is also the first time that a few scholars will be sent to Germany in August to pursue Mechanical Engineering at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

The scholarship program has been one of the most sought program and they have been many applications as demands are increasing in these fields. In actual fact, around 234 people applied for this year’s program. Furthermore, there are many students who are taking such subjects and interests and it’s pretty evident on the increase numbers of intakes for this year’s edition. Forty students will be heading to the UK, two in the United States, two in Germany and ten in Brunei Darussalam.

Before being awarded, the scholars had to undergo a tough assessment set by BSJV. Did you know that BSJV have sent over 600 students and this is back dated from 1972. Amazing!! The scholars will also be given the opportunity to be placed for attachment during summer to gain more experience.

Present during the event were Azhar Hj Yahya, Commercial Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) and the guest of honour Hjh Rosmawatty Hj Abd Mumin, Permanent Secretary (Upstream), Energy Department at the Prime Minister’s Office.

There was also tokens of appreciation to First Class Achievers and they are Lim Jong Hau, Han Wenxiu, Fiona Shim Siew Ying, Izzah Mardhiah Zulkipli and Farah Azyan binti Ali Umar Safri and they all received mini iPads :p

Congratulations to all the beneficiaries of the BSJV scholarship program and do make them proud and contribute back to the economy of Brunei 🙂

Azhar Hj Yahya, Commercial Director of Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) with the scholars

Students pursuing Masters

Students pursuing Masters

Fiona Shim receiving a token as a First Class Achiever

Lim Jong Hau receiving a token as a First Class Achiever

Han Wenxiu receiving a token as a First Class Achiever

Farah Azyan binti Ali Umar Safri receiving a token as a First Class Achiever

Izzah Mardhiah Zulkipli receiving a token as a First Class Achiever

Elizabeth Sim and her co-host Kevin Lo interviewing Chris Woo at Timeout with Liz last weekend

I missed the first show of Timeout with Liz and I didn’t realise it has been a year already. Good job on Elizabeth Sim to keep the show going despite the challenges that she has to go through over the period. Venue has always been a problem and it looks she has found a proper setting for her show. Last weekend she had two special guests – Chris Woo and Bridgette Ang as well as Joanna Kwan. There was also a food demo by Hip and Healthy during the 3rd segment of the show.

Overall the energy was great and so was the turn out. Great to see Zainal Bostaman and Joanne Tan to be involved in the show as well as Liz’ co-host Kevin Lo.I would like to congratulate Elizabeth on her one year anniversary of her show and things can only get better from here. I’m looking forward to your future shows this year and let’s start the 2nd year with a bang.

Chris Woo sharing his experience as a toastmaster and his world championship final experience

All of them have something in common. There are all WCOPA Brunei representatives

Joanna Kwan doing the Asian thing

Joanne Tan helping out with the show. Good to see you again.

Bridgette Ang, another WCOPA participant and I love her vocals

Zainal setting the tone of the evening

The ever charismatic Zainal

Such a great turn out last weekend

The couple behind Hip and Healthy

Liyana Yus and Nadiah posed with a fan last week at the DST event

As part of DST’s “Ihsan Kasih” community program, over 30 orphans accompanied by their parents and guardians from the Tutong District between the ages of 8 and 17 were treated to movie outing to watch Brunei’s local film “Yasmine: The Movie” as well as have the opportunity to meet and greet the stars from the local Brunei film “Yasmine”.

The outing began with a welcoming reception at Dewan Kemasyarkatan in Tutong town by DST’s “Ihsan Kasih” volunteers where the children accompanied by their guardians were provided bus shuttle return transportation to the cinema in Empire Hotel & Country Club in Jerudong. At the cinema, the orphans were greeted by DST “Ihsan Kasih” volunteers.

DST also treated the children with a free popcorn and drink before they were ushered to their seats in the cinema joined by the stars themselves.

According to Elixsurian Hj Busu, Manager of Group Corporate Communications on the Ihsan Kasih initiative with Orphans, “DST have been proactive in arranging activities for orphans from fun futsal tournaments in Brunei-Muara district, educational trips to places like the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre (OGDC) in Seria, Belait District, and now a movie outing to the cinema. We are glad that we have the means and opportunity to give the orphans in Tutong a movie outing as currently Tutong does not have its own resident cineplex. At the same time, DST have the opportunity to share the enjoyable experience with the children and get to know them better”.

He also adds his positive views on the chosen film for the outing, “Feedback from many local viewers have recommended Yasmine as a movie that is universal for all ages as it also comes with various life lessons that can be learned. Also, as the movie is produced by our own local talents, it is also a means to inspiring the orphan children to believe that anything they dream of can be possible. We are fortunate that the director and actresses have taken their personal time to meet the children and to get to know them during this short time.”

After the movie the children were given the opportunity to an exclusive surprise meet and greet photo session with the stars from “Yasmine: The Movie”- Liyana Yus, Nadia Wahid, the movie director from Origin films, Siti Kamaluddin. The visit ended with DST providing DST “Ihsan Kasih” goodies to the children before their departure back to Tutong.

Also invited to the movie outing were DST’s corporate and premium clients as a token of appreciation for their loyalty and support to DST’s products and services throughout the years.

“Ihsan Kasih” is DST’s community program aimed to gather DSTians for voluntary work and to do beautiful things out of love, to help the less fortunate Bruneian, orphans and special needs community.

A great turn out from the DST event last Friday

Radin Sufri of DST with the crew of Origin Films and the stars of Yasmine

Photo opportunity with the stars

Siti Kamaluddin appreciating DST and the audience

The screening of Yasmine

A great turn out last Friday

Gotcha Liyana :p