On the occasion of celebrating Brunei Darussalam 28th National Day on Thursday, 23rd February 2012.

Let´s celebrate to honor our history and heritageby posting a Yellow and Black themed photos by using the Official brunika 28th National Day hash tag ” #kuninghitam2012 ” in Instagram which is also representing the patriotic colour of the Brunei Darussalam flag.

This is also an opportunity for us to reaffirm our shared hopes for the future and redouble the effort to work together to meet the challenges,seize the opportunities of the 21st century and echoes the spirit of patriotism, nationalism and unity.

There will be an InstaWalk among the members in conjunction with the 28th National Day and of course everyone is welcome to join us. The meeting point will be at the Waterfront, Bandar Seri Begawan 7am – 730am.

Theme: Yellow & Black
Official brunika 28th National Day hash tag: #kuninghitam2012 & #brunika

InstaWalk:
Meet up point: Waterfront, Bandar Seri Begawan.
Time: 7am – 730am
Lets Instagram, Brunei Darussalam!

This was taken at Rig Reef, Brunei’s signature Reef. Picture courtesy of Oceanic Quest

BruCupcake Brunei Darussalam 2012 in conjunction with National Day. Brought to you by Greenfrog

Brunei National Day Cat Show 2012 in March

There are many headlines about the tropical storm Washi that struck the Philippines in Decemvber 2011. I recently attended a press conference organised by the Filipino Association Brunei (FAB) and managed by Prismworks Event Management with the support of the Philippines Embassy in Brunei Darussalam.

The press conference was to highlight the upcoming charity events – Golf Tournament (25th and 26th Feb) and Charity Dinner Concert (26th Feb). Present during the press conference was Minister and Charge d’ Affaires from the Philippines, Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat. Also present were the President of the Filipino Association Brunei, Edel Bartholomew and Jeffery E Cadayong, Operations Head of Prismworks Event Management.

The charity golf tournament will be held on February 24 and 25 at the Jerudong Park Country Club (JPCC) golf course. The categories for golfers are: the men’s open (A, B,C division), the VIP category, and the ladies category. Registration fee is fixed at $110 and all the proceeds will be donated towards Washi humanitarian fund.

Let’s not forget also the charity dinner concert on Sunday 26th February at Centrepoint Grand Ballroom where the ticket will cost $50 per person inclusive of dinner. The celebrity will be Filipino crooner Richard Poon and there will be some opening acts by local artistes too.

Those who wish to participate in the golf tournament, or/and attend the charity dinner can contact 7169286 (for those in Brunei-Muara) or 8775112 / 8789344 (for those in Kuala Belait).

Jeffery E Cadayong, Operations Head of Prismworks Event Management, Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat, Minister and Charge d’ Affaires from the Philippines and Edel Bartholomew, President of the Filipino Association Brunei at the press conference

Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat with the organisers of the Golf and Dinner event this February

Zatty Joanda of The Brunei Times interviewing Celeste Vinzon-Balatbat, Minister and Charge d’ Affaires from the Philippines

Some of the photos that will be exhibited during the charity dinner

Some of the photos that will be exhibited during the charity dinner

Did you know that more than 1.5 million people are affected from storm Washi? More than 1,200 lost their lives. More than 50,000 houses damaged and it was reported that the cost of damages is approximately BND 50 million.

The priorty needs are such as Meals-Ready-To-Eat, Non-food items (blankets, folding beds), temporary shelters, generators and school supplies for children.

The Humanitarian Fund for Victims of Tropical Storm Washi-Philippines was established in Brunei with the consent of His Majesty the Sultan and was launched on 04 January 2012 by the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Seri Setia Hajji Hazair Hajji Abdullah,in his capacity as Chair of the Humanitarian Fund National Committee

It aims to alleviate the suffering of the Washi-ravaged Philippines and fund collections for three months (from 04 January to 03 April 2012) to allow the public to donate money and various organizations to raise funds through charitable activities.

Effective 1st March, Kristal Astro subscribers will enjoy new packages at very affordable prices. The new packages will start from $24.95 a month (Ruby Package) which offers more than 38 channels with new channels including NatGeo Wild, Arena, ESPNews and Star World HD.

With the new packages, all sports channels will be offered as premium where subscribers have to pay for additional fee of BND 10 per month. According to Idris Vasi, CEO of DST Group, it is imperative for KRISTAL Astro to offer sports as premium in view of continued cost pressures, including escalating global and Astro content costs and sports broadcast rights. DST Group is actually absorbing extra cost for the benefit of the existing subscribers and continue to do so with the new packages.

Two additional channels will be launched in March 2012 will be Star World HD and Discovery HD World.

Matnarudin Ibrahim, General Manager of KRISTAL Astro, Idris Vasi, CEO of DST Group and Ramlah Haji Rabaha, Senior Manager, Business Division, KRISTAL Astro during the press conference

Matnarudin Ibrahim explaining the new packages to the media

KRISTAL Astro will be providing FREE viewing for all existing chanlles commencing 23rd February to 29th February 2012 prior to migrating to the new packes which will take effect on 1st March 2012. The kind gesture is also in conjunction with the 28th National Day of Brunei Darussalam.

Effective 1st March 2012, Movie package customers will be migrated to Ruby Package, World Package to Sapphire Package + Sapphire Sports, Movie World package to Jade Package + Jade Sports Package. But this is another important point for existing subscribers that you can unsubscribe to the Sports Package if you don’t wish to subscribe it because effective March, the Sports package will be automatically added. So I assume that not all subscribers will want a Sports package.

These are the old packages or the current ones that we are entitled to right now. All of these packages will be revamped effective 1st March 2012

Now the new packages start from $24.95 which is very affordable for Bruneians

Another great offer from KRISTAL Astro is that subscribers will enjoy a 50% discount on their subsequent subscriptions so in fact you will be saving costs for multiple sets. The only condition is that the subscribers must have the same address. So this could be a share address among a big family and this will be useful for me since my siblings also have their Astro in their rooms.

So just refer to the illustration below on the discounts for multiple users. By the way, the 50% discount only applies if you signed up for the same packages. For eg. all set must be Ruby to enjoy the subsequent 50%. So you can’t have Ruby and Jade packages at the same household to enjoy the 50% discount. 

Now this is ideal if you have multiple users in the same address. Good move by KRISTAL Astro and only in Brunei

KRISTAL Astro’s effort is also to entice “illegal” subscribers to join ship with KRISTAL Astro as they are reasonably cheaper and the illegal ones won’t have the special packages offered by KRISTAL Astro. Currently, there are 30,000 subscribers of KRISTAL Astro in Brunei Darussalam and it was mentioned that there are a handful of illegal subscribers of Astro in the country.

But not to worry to all the “illegal” subscribers as KRISTAL Astro is opening arms to you guys to subscribe with them.

And to the current existing KRISTAL Astro subscribers, if you have an old decoder (not Astro Beyond), you can trade in your old set for an upgrade and not pay the full price. This is another good initiative move by KRISTAL Astro and you can drop by their roadshow at The Airport Mall this Sunday from 10am to 10pm to find out more.

If you have this Astro card, then this is a legitimate Astro set you are using

Wanna catch Maya Karin of Ombak Rindu this Sunday at The Airport Mall. More on this soon!!