The guest of honour was His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik

His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik last Saturday graced the prize presentation ceremony for the “I Love Brunei Darussalam” Nationwide Competition organised by The Brunei Times.

The event took place at the Songket Ballroom of the Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong.

In a welcoming speech delivered by The Brunei Times’ representative and Senior Reporter Ubaidillah Masli, he explained that the competition was opened to the public from January until March 15, 2012, to commemorate the 28th National Day celebration.

“We hoped that through this competition, we were able to provide a platform for the public to express their love and patriotism to His Majesty Sultan Hj Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, and the nation,” said Ubaidillah.

“For this year’s National Day, we felt that organising this nationwide competition would be a perfect opportunity for Bruneians and the country’s residents to return the gesture and express their love and gratitude to our Monarch.

“The participants of this competition conveyed such emotions through five different media, namely through painting, graphic design, photography, English and Malay essay writing and video,” he added.

“To give everybody a chance to participate, the categories of the competition were divided into various groups: Under-12, 13-18 years old and an open category.”

Ubaidillah Masli of The Brunei Times delivered his welcoming speech

Representatives from the government agencies were also present

Ubaidillah said that the competition backed by four exclusive sponsors, the Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA), Baiduri Bank, Setia Motors Sdn Bhd and AV Electronics Sdn Bhd received an overwhelming 676 entries and it took over one month to decide the Top 10 finalists for each category before entering into the final judging rounds.

“His Majesty’s Government recently announced its intention to establish a national policy to nurture and promote creative industries in the country. Therefore, we hope that we have been able to play our part towards this aim, through this competition,” said Ubaidillah.

The “I Love Brunei Darussalam” Nationwide Competition prize presentation ceremony started off with the recital of the Surah Al-Fatihah by Deputy State Mufti, Pehin Orang Kaya Paduka Setia Raja Dato Paduka Seri Setia Hj Suhaili Hj Mohiddin.

The event proceeded with the opening remarks from The Brunei Times’ representative followed by the prize presentation ceremony.

His Royal Highness presented prizes to 11 winners of the “I Love Brunei Darussalam” competition.

The Graphics Design competition was won by Flubert Neri, who was not able to attend yesterday’s event and was represented by Maria Criselda.

The Photography Competition was won by Pg Syahreen Pg Metassan.

For the Painting Competition, the Open Category was won by Marsidi Omar, the 13 to 18 years old category by Mohd Nadhir Hj Mohamed Husaini and the Under 12 years old category by Yeo Yeo Chiew.

For the English Essay Competition, the Open Category was won by Earvin Charles Cabalquinto, the 13 to 18 years old category by Khong Yu Neng and the Under 12 years old category by Mohd Amir Putera Razzaqzharfan Hakeemuddin Hj Yacob.

For the Malay Essay Competition, the Open Category was won by Hj Shahwardy Hj Hamdan, the 13 to 18 years old category by Rifhan Naqiah Hj Erwan and the Under-12 category by Syamimi Karmila Mohd Ramlan.

Among the prizes were savings accounts worth between $1,000 and $4,000, cash prizes, return air-tickets to Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur as well as iPod Nanos.

After the prize presentation ceremony, competition winners together with members of the Board of Directors of The Brunei Times as well as sponsors of the “I Love Brunei Darussalam” Nationwide Competition joined in a group photo session with HRH.

Among the senior government officials present at the prize presentation ceremony were the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, Minister of Home Affairs, Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Hj Badaruddin Pengarah Dato Paduka Hj Othman and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Hj Halbi Hj Md Yussof.

The “I Love Brunei Darussalam” Nationwide Competition was organised by The Brunei Times and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Text courtesy of Nurhamiza Hj Roslan of The Brunei Times and images courtesy of The Brunei Times.

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The Ministers (Education and Health) also showed support for The Run

More than 5,000 people congregated in the capital in various colour-coded shirts to take part in the Pusat Ehsan Charity Run or “The Run”, which was a significant milestone for Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam as a multi-category running event.

Also participating in the race and showing support to the cause was YAM Pengiran Muda Abdul Mu’min.

The chief guest of “The Run” was Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Awg Abu Bakar bin Hj Apong, Minister of Education. Also present in showing their support for the charity event were Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Adnan bin Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Mohd Yusof, Minister of Health and Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources.

The morning race, which was deemed a success, signified Pusat Ehsan’s desire and commitment to raise awareness of the inclusion of special needs people in society through a range of community-based events in the spirit of equality. In addition, such was the magnitude of the event that it attracted the involvement from all layers of society and the general community.

Before the runners were separated into a number of categories contested namely the 21km race, the 12km race, the 5km race, the Fun Run and the Special Needs category, thousands of people assembled for a warm-up around the Waterfront area.

As daylight fell, the runners prepared for the start of the race with the 21km race being the first category flagged off followed by the other categories. Within the half-hour mark, the winner and the first few runners in the 5KM category crossed the line.

Organisers had affirmed that the 5km race received favourable response among the public even though initially it was intended to be a Students’ category.

The veterans’ category also received similar interest among the public. Dato Paduka Mohd Alimin Abdul Wahab, the Acting Chairman and Senior Trustee of Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam who is also the Advisor of the Run, said that they had learnt a lot and were grateful for the participation of sponsors and partners as well as the participants.

“We have a lot to learn and since this is the first time, we would learn from this experience and improve on organising such events in the future,” he said. Speaking to the Bulletin, Dato Paduka Mohd Alimin also pointed out that major positives could be taken with the competitors showing good sportsmanship throughout the race. Dato Paduka Mohd Alimin also highlighted the essence of the running and fitness clinics, which ran consistently over the last few months to enable the participants the best possible preparation before the main race.

“We are still new to organising events such as this and we are not event organisers, we are volunteers. We can learn from this and move on. Obviously in the technical side we’ve received consultation from the BAA (Brunei Athletics Association).”

Dato Paduka Mohd Alimin said that everyone played a massive role in the cohesion of the organisation and lauded the sponsors and partners for their efforts and contributions towards realising the success of the event. Meanwhile, Raja Segaran, “The Run” Organising Chairman, said that the talent of Brunei runners was palpable and that the field is getting increasingly competitive. “You can see that there are higher standards with the number of runners we have here.”

A team of volunteers was also called into action to render any medical assistance at strategic locations throughout the routes.

“There were support groups on bicycle. The routes were categorised into zones and a group of cyclists stationed in each zone. The H E A R T Volunteers Group were made to do real-field observations of what is going on, particularly in incidents where runners require medical treatment or attention,” Dato Paduka Mohd Alimin said.

Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam also played a major role as the official bank partner of the Pusat Ehsan Charity Run 2012. Some 30 employees conveyed their support through their group participation in the Corporate Category.

“It is overwhelming for me to see such support from the public. It touches me that the participants, no matter how big or small, able or disabled, young or old take part in this event in however they can. This will be a memorable event not only for Pusat Ehsan but also for the Sultanate,” Head of Corporate Social Responsibility Hjh Nurul Akmar binti Hj Md Jaafar said. Text courtesy of James Kon of Borneo Bulletin.

One of the official chip timing results. To see more, click image above.

To all runners who have not return the white timing chips, please kindly return the chips as they are needed for the next event. Please return the chips to; Warisan mata mata complex, Unit B6, 2nd Floor, Kg Mata Mata, Jalan Gadongor call 2425002