Check out our review of Kingsman: The Secret Service starring Rano Iskandar and his co-host Del Goh

 

Acer Aspire

Free labour charge on repairs for Peugeot. Click image to enter website to find out more.

Promotion from Pizza Hut. Click image to enter website.

 

Travel with agoda

  

Click image to enter ICON Design Store

DPMM FC vice-chairman YAM Pg Maharaja Setia Laila Diraja Sahibul Irshad Pg Anak Haji Abdul Rahim Pg Indera Mahkota Pg Anak (Dr) Kemaludin Al-Haj receiving token of appreciation from DPMM FC Club Manager yesterday.

Let’s forget about last season. It was the closest DPMM FC ever go to winning the S • League title. Close but no cigar. The only highlight to remember was DPMM FC’s League Cup title. This season they can take a step further this season. Their jinx team has always been Tampines Rovers but let’s hope history will not repeat itself.

DPMM FC will take on Harimau Muda on 1st March 2015 at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium. After that they will have two away matches Albirex Niigata FC (S) at the Jurong East Stadium on 7th March and Young Lions (Singaporean national Under-23 team) at Jalan Besar Stadium on March 11.

Yesterday was the signing ceremony for DPMM FC’s sponsors and also signing of the DPMM FC squad for 2015 season. Missing from the squad so far that I know of are Shahrazen Said and Subhi Abdillah.

Present during the signing ceremony was the guest of honour DPMM FC vice-chairman YAM Pg Maharaja Setia Laila Diraja Sahibul Irshad Pg Anak Haji Abdul Rahim Pg Indera Mahkota Pg Anak (Dr) Kemaludin Al-Haj. Images courtesy of Khairil Hassan.

Katherine Hii of You•C1000 continuing the sponsorship for DPMM FC

DST becomes recurring sponsor for DPMM FC

Another regular sponsor for DPMM FC, Brunei Shell Marketing

Maju Motors, another sponsor for DPMM FC

Signing with the DPMM FC players

Signing with the DPMM FC players

Guest of honour with the DPMM FC club manager and sponsors of DPMM FC

The registered squad players of DPMM FC

The imports of DPMM FC – Northern Ireland defender Brian McLean, English forward Craig Fagan, Bosnian defender Boris Raspudic, Brazilian striker Rafael Ramazotti and Irish midfielder Joe Gamble.

 

Rino Donosepoetro, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Brunei and Hj Abdul Malik Hj Mohammad, Director of the Department of Youth and Sports at the opening night of Standard Chartered Bank Trophy 2015

The tournament has begun. It was the first time that Standard Chartered Bank Brunei held a futsal competition known as Standard Chartered Bank Trophy 2015. The winner of the 24 team tournament will fly to Malaysia to represent Brunei and once they beat Malaysia and Thailand, they will sent to the UK to where the finals will take place at Anfield. Awesome, right?

The 24 teams include a team from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, Telbru and the media team (Media United) to name a few.

The biggest winners were OLSCB who scored 4-0 over HBS F.I.T in Group H. The tournament continues tonight at Indoor Stadium. Public is more than welcome to catch the matches.

Present were Rino Donosepoetro, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Brunei and Hj Abdul Malik Hj Mohammad, Director of the Department of Youth and Sports.

Rino Donosepoetro said, “We are extremely delighted that Brunei will be represented among the 19 participating markets who are also vying for a chance to advance to Anfield and I am extremely hopeful that we will be one of those countries who will make it through.”

This event is made possible by SCB Brunei and they are very grateful with the support by Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and endorsed by the National Football Association of Brunei Darussalam (NFABD) in assisting SCB Brunei with the upcoming event. Images courtesy of Khairil Hassan.

With team SHLM/EasyWay

With Media United

A token of appreciation

Futsal players in action

Guest of honour greeting the players

The captains of the teams

The results last night

 

Pg Sarimah Pg Hj Abd Latiff, mentor and founding member of TEDxGadong, Edward Findlay, US Embassy Public Affairs Officer and Abdul Malik Omar, Chairman and Co-Partner of TEDxGadong at the iCentre last Sunday.

Great job by Abdul Malik Omar and his team for the recent TEDxYouth@Gadong event that took place at the iCentre last Sunday. I only managed to catch two of the final speakers as I had prior commitments to begin with. Nonetheless it was my first presence at this event and I would like to congratulate Abdul Malik Omar to pull off another great session.

This time round, the speakers are not even seasoned speakers. They represent the youth and all the speakers are in the their teen years. What an excellent platform for them to speak in public and share their messages from their experiences and furthermore inspire the audience.

The speakers were as follow:

• Sidharth Raj and Osama bin Tariq on ” Negative Effects of Technology”

• Seyrence on “Bullying”

• Ruby Lim on”Forestry Management”

• Eric Ngu on “Don’t ask “why, ask why not?””

• Awangku Naim on “Youth Leadership”

• Brandon Chin on “The Silent Youth”

• Hee Sang Hong on ” The Ridiculousness of Comparing Yourself to Others”

I kinda enjoyed Hee Sang Hong’s presentation and I believe it relates to all of us whether we like it or not. For someone to pick this awareness up at a very young age, I salute you because this is not an easy thing to share and many of us tend not to acknowledge it due to our high ego.

To the TEDxYouth@Gadong, keep it up and you can follow them on social media @tedxgadong on instagram or check out their Facebook page. Images courtesy of TEDxGadong.

Some of the youth speakers and the attendees

Networking during the break

Hee Sang Hong’s interesting take on comparison. Nicely presented.

Iskandar, didn’t know you were there too :p

Izzah of Brunei Economic Development Board talking about entrepreneurship

 

Check out our review of The Black Sea starring Rano Iskandar and his co-host Del Goh

 

Pengiran Mohd Nasir Pengiran Anak Ja’afar made our country proud by winning gold in the bronze category of the Competition Showjumping International (CSI) 2-Star International Event in Oliva, Spain

I knew he will make it to the summit one day. With more support and encouragement, Pengiran Mohd Nasir Pengiran Anak Ja’afar will make a name for Brunei over and over again. He bagged a gold medal in the bronze category of the Competition Showjumping International (CSI) 2-Star International Event in Oliva, Spain.

The name of his horse is Rudolf Z and he beat his nearest challenger Christiane Boos of Germany and Stephanie Bichsel of Switzerland.

Of course, the highlight moment was when Brunei’s national anthem was echoed during the prize presentation.

The victory propelled to his argument for being excluded from the ASIAN games 2014 as he is confident that he can compete among the best in Europe and that surely can be a good bench mark to be part of the ASIAN games. Pg Nasir has bigger dreams and he is focusing for the upcoming Olympics 2016. He will need full support from the people and also from the relevant authorities to make his dream possible and make our country proud. Images courtesy of @pg_nasir

Pg Nasir with his horse Rudolf Z

Nice saddle, bro

Pg Nasir being featured in Borneo Bulletin. Click here to read more.

 

Our podcast review of Yasmine the movie with my special guest Seng Yee. Find out what is my best scene of the movie.

 

The media and bloggers heading to Singapore for the test drive organised by Volkswagen Singapore earlier this month

That’s the beauty of driving Volkswagen. You will be spoilt for choices on what model to buy. A few months ago, I test drove the Volkswagen GTI and it is an awesome car indeed. Recently I test drive other models of Volkswagen (Golf Polo 1.2 and 1.4, Tiguan TSI and Golf R) in Singapore. Maybe the right word for that is “sakai” because it was my first experience driving on Singapore roads 😀 It seemed like an unexpected bucket list and I thank you Volkswagen Singapore for making that opportunity a reality.

Today I’m gonna share my experience of driving the new Volkswagen Tiguan TSI. If you know of the Touareg series, then Tiguan has similar design and features. Actually when I drove this particular car, I already have thoughts on replacing my 11-year old car 😀 The Tiguan TSI is almost a perfect SUV car for my liking and it’s also one practical car which is also ideal for my profession. I currently drive an SUV so it would make sense if my next car will be an SUV.

So what are the impressive factors about the Volkswagen Tiguan?

Firstly, the drawing factor for me is that the fact that it is an SUV. I actually don’t mind driving a saloon car but it’s always a bonus if I drive an SUV. Hence, among all the cars that I drove from Volkswagen, the new Tiguan caught my eye. The size is not as big as the Touareg and that’s how I preferred it to be. If you are opting for a mid-size range SUV, this is my recommendation.

Secondly, I’m always concerned about safety measures when it comes to driving. I know my close friends will find me annoying because I drive with caution sometimes. I’m not a fast driver per se but I still make sure that my car is in fine condition on the road. The plus points about the Tiguan is that safety level of this particular model. This Tiguan series have been named the SUV as its “Top Safety Pick” by New Car Assessment Program. For the record, this evaluation covers extensive measures in the areas of active and passive safety. There is so much that I can blabber on especially the multiple airbags and the seatbelt force limiters but I think you will get the gist of my hints about the safety.

Thirdly, the drive factor. Of course, I didn’t really drive full force like I did with the Golf R *lol* The latest Tiguan driving experience was simply worth the drive. It makes my current SUV feel so inferior but then again, it’s an 11-year old car. I drove this among the hills of Singapore and it was just amazing the power it has for the size of the car. It makes me want to test drive the Tiguan TSI once more in Brunei. The handling was also great during the curves of the hills and it felt that I was bonded with the Tiguan for such a long time, considering it was my first drive on the Tiguan.

Fourthly, the price of Volkswagen Tiguan TSI. I won’t reveal the price as yet but wow, I’m amazed how a quality European brand can make produce such an affordable price and I can guarantee you that this model will be a big hit in Brunei considering that it kinda caters to different markets such as the young crowd and also families. Of course, my category is the young one for sure :p

The Volkswagen Tiguan TSI will be launched this Friday so stay tune for updates on that. I highly recommend you to drop by Maju Motors showroom at Telanai this Friday and guess what? They will be having an open house also for the public on that day.

A few Volkswagen cars that I managed to test drive

The Tiguan TSI that I test drove in Singapore

My companions – Dionne of Volkswagen Singapore and Nasroul of The Brunei Times

This is an awesome car – Volkswagen Tiguan TSI

The other models that we had to test drive

Now available at Sin Hup Huat Company

 

Chairman and Co-Partner of the TEDxGadong team Abd Malik Omar (C), Shavez Cheema (L) one of the inspiring speakers and the rest of the team posing for a picture after the press conference recently. Image taken by Nadzri Zailani of The Brunei Times.

A group of youths have banded together to bring in the first TEDx conference in Brunei titled ‘TEDxGadong’ to help inspire youths of the nation in making a difference.

During a press conference at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf branch in the capital, the TEDxGadong team spoke to The Brunei Times about hosting the first ever TEDx in Brunei at the SEAMEO VOCTECH Building in Gadong on August 24, 2014.

With a team comprising mostly volunteer youths between ages 18 and 22, the chairman and co-partner of the group Abd Malik Omar said that they hope when other youths see them bring in the TEDx brand, they would be inspired.

“TEDx is about unearthing and exploring new ideas so it’s about time that we had our own TEDx conference. Despite us having the lack of resource and most of us being students, we still managed to do it. Showing that where there is a will there is a way,” said Abd Malik.

TED means Technology, Entertainment and Design, which is a non-profit organisation devoted to ideas worth spreading. TED has encompassed the corners of the world spreading ideas and bringing innovation leaders together to inspire the young and old, according to a statement by TEDxGadong.

TEDx is a programme for local and self-organised events, where the x stands for the independently organised TED events.

For the first TEDx conference in Brunei, there will only be 100 tickets for the event ranging from $5 to $20 which will be available for the public on Thursday August 21 at the Core, Universiti Brunei Darussalam Residential College.

Eight local speakers which includes Delwin Keasberry, Denny Ambuyart and Keeran Janin will be speaking about separate topics, and there will also be mystery speakers which will only be announced during the event itself.

“The speakers we chose have the ideas, energy and passion to be able to share their story with the audience. Their passionate about what they do and their contribution to the economy. For us it’s not a matter of age, it’s a matter of ideas,” added the Chairman.

According to the Chairman, helping to inspire the youth is a way for them to actively contribute to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s aim for Vision 2035 as they believe that the youths are the future.

The Chairman added that “through the TEDx event, we may not be able to change the world, but if we can make a one per cent difference to the society we live in, then we have to.” Text courtesy of Nadzri Zailani of The Brunei Times.

The official poster of TEDxGadong

Apparently the tickets are fully booked