Guest of honour Datin Paduka Hajah Suriyah Binti Haji Umar, Permanent Secretary (Administration and Finance), Ministry of Defence (center, sitting down) in the group photo at Media In-Service Centre (MiSC) yesterday.

The 2015 Girls in ICT Day event organised by the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) was held at the Media In-Service Centre (MiSC). The theme for Girls in ICT for 2015 is “Girls and Women and Innovation”. The audience was made up of Government CIOs, ICT industry representatives and students.

The Guest of Honour was Datin Paduka Hajah Suriyah Binti Haji Umar, Permanent Secretary (Administration and Finance), Ministry of Defence. The event was attended by Senior Government officers and female students from various educations institutions.

In the welcoming remarks by Assistant Chief Executive Corporate Communications, International & Legal of AITI, Tina Lim Keasberry highlighted the need to raise awareness in girls and young women about career possibilities in ICT and encourage them to consider a future in technology. Today’s world of ICT is more human oriented and requires the communication skills that girls and young women bring to the table. By nurturing an interest in ICT early on, we open the door wider to ICT study at the secondary and post-secondary levels and, ultimately, greater workforce participation by women.

Guest of honour delivering her speech

Tina Lim Keasberry, Assistant Chief Executive Corporate Communications, International & Legal of AITI, giving her opening remarks

Dk Siti Nor Bazilah Binti Pg Zulkipli, Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2013 winner for her mobile app call Autisay

Najwa binti Hj Majid, Senior Legal Counsel from Universiti Brunei Darussalam, moderating the session

A sharing session took place by Dk Siti Nor Bazilah Pg Zulkifli one of the team members who created Autisay. AutiSay is a mobile application created as a tool to assist children with autism to communicate with their parents, therapists and care givers. Dk Bazilah shared the journey that she and her team had to go through to develop the application which won at the Asia Pacific ICT Awards in 2013 and shared her thoughts on the benefits that girls and young women can gain by choosing the ICT as a career.

This was then followed with a panel discussion moderated by Najwa binti Hj Majid, Senior Legal Counsel from Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Panelists were Ikmalina Hakimah Hj Mohamad Yunos from Itsybytes, Siti Zurainah bte Zainalabidin from eGovernment National Centre, Hjh NurZurina Hj Assim Headmistress from Panaga School and Dk Siti Nor Bazilah Binti Pg Zulkipli, Asia Pacific ICT Awards 2013 winner. After the panel discussion, an open floor discussion centered on the theme of“Girls and Women and Innovation” between the students and the panelists took place.

Following the discussion, tokens of appreciation were then given to the speakers and the panelists of the day.

The attendees also had the opportunity to tour the MiSC centre and learn more of the many facilities that are provided.

In conjunction with Girls in ICT Day 2015, AITI will also be organizing a CodeUp Women on 8 May 2015 which will include discussions on the current situation for female programmers in Brunei Darussalam, the challenges, obstacles and opportunities followed by a hands on practical session on mobile apps.

The Girls in ICT Day event is an initiative backed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to create a global environment that empowers and encourages girls and young women to consider careers in the growing field of ICT. The event is celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of April. This year marked the third year that Girls in ICT Day is celebrated in Brunei Darussalam. Text and images courtesy of AITI.

A token of appreciation to the guest of honour

 

Lin Cheng-yi, president of the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) being accused of match fixing for the first match between Chinese Taipei and Brunei Darussalam where Brunei won 1-0. Image courtesy of Chinese Taipei Football Association.

Such a sad news to hear this that there was a match fixing involving Chinese Taipei and Brunei Darussalam. The alleged match was the first round of the Asian qualifiers of 2018 World Cup when Brunei beat Chinese Taipei 1-0 at their home turf. It was reported that Lin Cheng-yi, president of the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), has been accused of match fixing and he profited USD 1.29 million for that victory.

He instructed the Chinese Taipei’s head coach Chen Kuei-jen to leave out one of the top players, Turkish-born Chu En-le, who is now a naturalized Taiwanese citizen as reported in Next Magazine.

Chen has denied all the allegations and claimed that he didn’t give any instructions to keep Chu En-Le, their top player, out of the first match. The incident is still under investigation and let’s see where this will go from.

Playing under the name Chinese Taipei, the Taiwan team will meet Japan, South Korea and China in the second round of qualifiers that starts June 11, as they vie for a place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Chinese Taipei’s head coach Chen Kuei-jen (center) during the press conference in Brunei Darussalam

The night when Brunei Darussalam made history when they beat 1-0 against Chinese Taipei in the first round of Asian qualifiers of the 2018 World Cup.

 

The first team line-up last night. Image courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

Close but no cigar. Brunei was pretty close. Well, result based yes but performance wise, Brunei still have more rooms for improvement. As Mike Wong, interim head coach of Brunei Darussalam, said that Brunei need more international matches even friendly ones. Last night Brunei failed to capitalize on their home soil advantage as they went down to Chinese Taipei 2-0 and lost out on aggregate 2-1. Brunei Darussalam initially had a slim away lead after winning 1-0 in Chinese Taipei, giving our country a much needed hope to qualify for the next round of the qualifying group stage for the World Cup 2018.

Brunei Darussalam started pretty well and it was the influence of Ak Fakharazzi that create Brunei earlier chances. But Brunei’s shape changed and their performance dipped as a whole when he was taken off early in the game due to a back injury. Brunei’s attacking force was then depleted with Azwan Ali not being featured due to injury as well. It was a performance below average from Brunei and let this be a good lesson for Brunei and also NFABD that more international matches would have benefited the team’s performance.

Chinese Taipei were more composed of the two teams and they didn’t seem troubled by the huge turnout (more than 10,000 spectators). They played a possession game and controlled the match in different patches and looked more solid as a team whereas Brunei struggled to get 5 to 6 passes together. The visitors could have bagged in more goals if it wasn’t for the heroics of Wardun Yussof in goal. He kept the scoreline more respectable and he did the best he could for the team.

Mike Wong didn’t want to fault his players individually and he was happy with the team as a whole with the short given time to gel as a unit. He shared how Chinese Taipei were more experienced and they had more matches and hence looked more composed than Brunei. The bright point for the two performances from Brunei is that the head coach saw the level increased from the team as compared to five years ago. He advised that Brunei should move forward and see the development in the next six months for the national team and sought for long term goals.

Chinese Taipei head coach Chen Kuei-Jen looked happier during the press conference and he was confident that his team can beat Brunei at their own soil ground. He was disappointed that his team couldn’t muster any goals despite dominating in the first leg. He wasn’t surprised when Brunei opted for a defensive approach to shield Brunei’s one goal lead. On a good note, he was impressed with Brunei’s progress in the football scene and it was his first taste of what Brunei is capable of.

Goals by Wang Ruei and Turkish born Chun En-Le sealed the victory for the visitors while Brunei will have to wait till 2019 for another opportunity for a pre-World Cup qualifying spot. Nonetheless it was a great experience for Brunei national team and also the spectators. We are still 100% behind you.

Adi Said couldn’t make an impact last night. Image courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

A minor scuffle. Image courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

Brunei Darussalam vs Chinese Taipei. Image courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

Brunei Darussalam vs Chinese Taipei. Image courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

I saw my friends from a distance

Players not happy with a referee decision

Wardun kicking a souvenir ball to a spectator after the final whistle

Hello my friend 😀

Chinese Taipei head coach lifted by his players. Image courtesy of Fazizul Haqimie.

Chinese Taipei head coach in jubilant mood during the post match interview

Mike Wong, interim head coach, wished for more friendly international matches for more experience

 

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Download SnapFeed app on your smartphones and check out the latest deals in Brunei and also get rewarded from respective merchants such as BurgerKing, KFC and Sushi Tei to name a few.

 

Brunei team posing with visiting team from Chinese Taipei in this morning’s press conference

This is it!!! Brunei is confident that they will get a result out of tomorrow’s big clash with Chinese Taipei. They have initially won the first leg 1-0 away in Chinese Taipei last Saturday. It was a historic moment for Brunei Darussalam as it is their first competitive victory in the pre-World Cup qualifying and the best part is that they achieved the result with a clean sheet away from home.

They have won have the battle but tomorrow is the bigger day. They will need to at least get a draw to get pass Chinese Taipei. The match will be held tomorrow at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium at 8:15pm. Entrance is FREE and tickets will be available at the entrance. Yes, at the entrance and the gates are opened at 5:45pm tomorrow. For the record, there are 10,000 tickets being issued though you can still enter the stadium without the tickets but the tickets printed are part of the requirement from FIFA to calculate the number of attendance for tomorrow’s match.

Of course, the maximum capacity is 20,000 and they will have proper management of allowing spectators to enter the stadium.

Azwan Salleh, captain of Brunei Darussalam, Hj Mohd Noor Hj Hamid, the team manager for Brunei Darussalam, Ameer Lani, Marketing and Communication Executive of National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam, Chen Kuei-Jen, Head Coach of Chinese Taipei and Chen Yi-Wei, Captain of Chinese Taipei in today’s press conference

Azwan Salleh, captain of Brunei Darussalam exchanging hand shakes with Chen Yi-Wei, Captain of Chinese Taipei

Azwan Salleh addressing to the media

The media at the press conference

Hj Mohd Noor Hj Hamid, the team manager for Brunei Darussalam, believes a draw is sufficient for Brunei as they have a goal advantage. He expects Brunei team to give a better performance as this will be a historic moment if they go through the preliminary stage of the World Cup qualifiers. The team manager shared that Chinese Taipei had many scoring opportunities in the last game but it was the heroics of Wardun Yussof in goal and the defence that made the victory. He encourages all the Brunei supporters to come tomorrow to catch the match against Chinese Taipei.

The Chinese Taipei head coach is also confident that they can get a result tomorrow and his players are well acclimatized to the humid weather in Brunei. Of course, he felt disappointed after the 1-0 loss at home but during training the next day, they just forget about the past and focused on the upcoming game as the 2nd match is more important than the first. He believed tomorrow’s match will be exciting for the fans of Brunei and Chinese Taipei and to the fans of football.

Azwan Salleh, the captain of Brunei team, expressed how the matches against Chinese Taipei is the biggest match of his life because it’s a qualifier for the World Cup and this is the biggest tournament that he has ever been in. He shared that this opportunity doesn’t come to Brunei all the time.

I will be expecting a full house attendance tomorrow and the crowd will be filled with yellow and black tomorrow. Can Brunei make it through the pre-qualifying stage? We shall wait and see. Good luck to the players tomorrow.

Get your tickets tomorrow at the entrance. This will be a good souvenir to keep for a very long time.

A few nights ago, Brunei made history when they scored an away victory. Can they repeat the same thing again tomorrow and qualify?

 

Catching Cinderella with my siblings last night at The Mall Cineplex. A highly recommended movie for all ages and if you like Frozen, you are in for a better treat.

Check out my full review on my podcast (The Popcorn Panel) on SoundCloud on Disney’s Cinderella 2015.