Yesterday marks an important day for EPL Masters Football tournament. With the success of 2011, EPL Masters Football Tournament Brunei Cup is back once again this year to Negara Brunei Darussalam.

This year, Masters Football will be presented by the mobile service provider, B-Mobile Communications Sdn Bhd and is scheduled to awe the audience in about 3 months time. Masters is a 6 a-side indoor football competition in the United Kingdom, where players over the age of 35 are chosen by the Masters Football Selection Committee to represent a English Premier League club which they played for.

According to Idham Abas “Masters Football has enjoyed tremendous success over the past 3 years; it has established itself as quality tournament offering excellent corporate benefits with staggering coverage. The Masters Football as a brand, is growing and its success has been recognised and fuelled expansion. It’s developed into a star studded annual event in the corporate sports calendar. In 2012 the Masters Football is heading out into countries around SEAsia, including Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore.”

A signing ceremony was held at The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Members Lounge yesterday between the organizer, Adsem and B-Mobile as the Presenting Sponsor. Signing on behalf of B-Mobile was its CEO, Mr Lim Ming Soon, witnessed by his Deputy Mr See Wei Kie. Representing Adsem at the signing was Idham Abas, General Manager witnessed by Jenny Malai Ali, Sponsorship Relations Manager. The signing ceremony was witnessed by Guest of Honour, Sheikh Jamaluddin Bin Sheikh Mohamad the CEO of Brunei Tourism Board.

Everyone yearns to lead a quality lifestyle filled with excellent health, vitality and beauty. Such a desire is possible through Zell-V with its anti-ageing products; although such a product is not the first of its kind, the store boasts to be the “first image store in Brunei”.

The grand opening of the store yesterday was commemorated with a festive performance by a lion dance troupe, followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony officiated by the High Commissioner of Malaysia to Brunei, Dato Abdullah Sani Omar and his spouse Datin Adeda Rahimah Ahmad, along with international artiste and Zell-VAmbassador, Rosyam Nor, Zell-VMedical Advisor Dato Dr Nor Shahidah Khairullah and KFCManaging Director, Nelky Goh.

The event was held at the store’s premise on the first floor of the Rizqun International Hotel at the Mall in Gadong. After the ribbon cutting ceremony, the event continued with a tour around the premise and a health talk presentation entitled “How To Defy Ageing With Zell-V Cellular Therapy” by Dato Dr Nor Shahidah Khairullah.

She touched on the product from an aesthetic to a medical point of view; essentially on how Zell-V works, how it is effective in defying ageing, and how people can benefit from it.

Rosyam Nor, a Malaysian celebrity and spokesperson for the product, also shared on how the product has helped him keep fit, be energised and focused on his everyday work in the entertainment industry.

Other highlights of the opening included a free cell check (live blood analysis) and health consultation by two medical specialists. Text by Anwar Rosly and some images courtesy of Vincent Hong.

Celebrate Prosperity. McDonald’s has brought prosperous times back for Bruneians with the all-time favourite Prosperity Burger. Enjoy your favourite Chicken Prosperity meal now and is available for a limited time only.

“The Prosperity Burger is a Malaysian creation and its phenomenal popularity has been making waves in the region. The secret to the great-tasting Prosperity Burger lies in the quality ingredients that we use. We do not compromise on food quality and maintain strict quality and safety standards from sourcing for ingredients right up to serving the finished products. When it comes to our food, our values are one of our most important ingredients, and we focus hard on delivering only the best to our customers,” said Dk. Kemariah Pg Hj Duraman, General Manager of McDonald’s Brunei.

It’s not certain on the release date but it should be out tentatively this August. The book on Kampung Ayer was initiated by the author Dato Paduka Dr Hj Abdul Latif Hj Ibrahim and last Saturday was a Memorandum of Understanding between the author and Pentagram Designs.

In his welcoming remarks, Dato Paduka Dr Hj Abdul Latif gave his appreciation to Brunei Hotel for hosting the MoU ceremony. The MoU signing was between CEO of Pentagram Designs, Siti Zaleha bte Kaprawi and the author Dato Paduka Dr Hj Abdul Latif.

The author will published an English version ‘Kg Ayer – Living Memory ‘ and a Malay version ‘Kg Ayer – Kenangan Abadi’. At the moment, Dato is in the midst of collecting nostalgic photos of Kampung Ayer. We shall see how the book will turn out one day.

A great turn out at Radisson Hotel on the 1st day of Chinese New Year and there were quite a number of expats who witnessed the lion dance performance at the lobby of Radisson Hotel.

Present were the General Manager of Radisson Hotel, Peter Feran and Director of Sales, Paula Munoz and the associates of Radisson Hotel.

A few days before CNY, Laneige (Brunei) hosted a small prize giving ceremony for the successful Broadway Musical Charity Competition which was organised by Laneige (Brunei) with the support of the Ministry of Education. The fund raising competition was intended to raise funds for KACA and Pusat Bahagia.

19 schools participated in the 2nd Laneige Broadway Musical Charity Competition which involved 700 students and teachers (coaches) and it was held back in November 2011 at the International Convention Centre.

Presenting the trophies and prizes was Cheong Huat Joo, Acting Senior Special Duties Officer for the Department of Schools (Secondary).

I noticed this when I was covering the 2012 Regatta Brunei Darussalam last Sunday. There were tons of umbrellas seen in public as people were carrying them to shelter from the hot scorching sun. So I thought to myself why not have a post on the different types of umbrellas they carry. I was using my reliable HSBC black umbrella which can withstand strong winds. So peeps.. What umbrella are you? 🙂

Click image to enter Royal Brunei Airlines website

Many reasons why the Regatta competition should be an annual event. One of it is because this will build up the name of the capital of Brunei and give Brunei River a good brand among the locals and tourists alike. With the facelift of the BSB Waterfront, we need more activities at bandar to attract more locals.

Another reason is the cleanliness of the Brunei River. I belive the river was considerably clean and the relevant authorities have been proactive prior to the 2012 Regatta Brunei Darussalam to make sure that the river is clean from rubbish and man-litter pollution. With more government activities at BSB Waterfront, this could enforce the authorities to educate the public on disposing of their rubbish. I have to tell you that the Brunei River does collect a few rubbish here and there and it’s not good sight to see them floating by the edges of the platforms along the BSB Waterfront.

It was a great turnout today and everyone was enjoying the activities of the 2012 Regatta Brunei Darussalam. There were boat, powerboat and jet ski races to name a few. It was also great to see His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei rowing in a friendly race with other boats.

I hope to see more of activities at BSB Waterfront and kudos to Ministry of Home Affairs and the organisers for making this event possible. This is indeed a historic moment to see the Regatta event being revived.

PHMD Publishing Company will publish another product called The BruneiQ PuzzleTM . It is specially designed and created for all ages so everyone can have a FUN and EXCITING experience. It also motivates those who try to solve the puzzles to not give up and keep trying to find the best solution. Anyone and everyone can solve it. If you can read, then you can definitely solve these puzzles. Make sure that you read all the instructions, hidden clues and hints in each of The BruneiQ PuzzleTM.

Click image to enter Royal Brunei Airlines website

Indah Sejahtera Development and Services Sdn Bhd, the site developer of Where2kerja.com announced the Lucky Draw Winner, Dyg Maslina Kula, 24, out of 2,500 entries registered on where2kerja.com, during the Oil and Gas Sector Job Fair which was organized by the Department of Energy-at the Prime Minister’s Office in last December.

Ms. Maslina, visited the Job fair and registered with where2kerja.com on the last day and emerged as lucky draw winner of Samsung Mini Tab.

The prize was presented by Marketing Manager of Indah Sejahtera Development and Services Sdn Bhd, Mr. Christopher Ng. According to Mr. Ng, over 2500 jobseekers registered to the site where2kerja.com and where enrolled to lucky draw contest.

Mr. Ng, also highlighted that there will be roadshows and more events to encourage and support local professionals jobseekers to register themselves on W2K.

Where2kerja.com is an online directory of local professionals and businesses that caters for the Bruneian market.

Today is the opening of Each a Cup at The Airport Mall and this will be their 3rd branch (One at The Mall, Gadong and the other at Times Square). The interesting concept for this particular outlet at Airport Mall is that it offers a new revolutionary concept of “Each-a-Brew” where brewing tea on the spot to bring out 100% freshness of the drink. Awesome, huh? You can check out Cuterabbit’s post on Each a Cup too.

Do expect spme wider varieties of healthy drinks such as peach oolong tea, millet mush (mashed wholegrain) and cranberry flavoured drinks to name a few. Their green tea is made from the sprout of tea leaf which contains significant amounts of Vitamin C. Not only they have nutritional energy boost but are delicious (sakura, orange, mango, jadeite, pineapple flavour).

Check out their new toppings too – almond, coconut jelly, korea apple bits.

By the way, there are only some drinks available at Airport Mall outlet.

• Coco Raspberry for chocolate lovers
• Red/Green tea with cream if you like whipped cream
• Earl Grey Milk tea (Singapore all time favourite)
• Summer Mango Mix with Peach (fruity and refreshing)
• Matcha with Red Bean is back

It’s never an easy thing to run a newsletter or page leaflet of the happenings in Brunei. Yesterday iBudaya introduced a new publication of newsletter called DuaMinggu which is a two-week publication. They have printed at least 10,000 copies for the 1st issue. You find the copies at Bello Cafe, Jerudong International School and Fitness zone for the moment. Do expect for wider distribution in the next few days.

Yesterday, Sheikh Jamaluddin, CEO of Brunei Tourism Board, lauded the efforts of Anais Maro and Cecilia Castilla of iBudaya for making DuaMinggu a possible project and the launch event took place at Radisson Hotel.

We shall see what the next edition will contain. Keep up the great work, ladies and congratulations on the 1st issue.

The Authority for Info-communication Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI) will be participating in the prestigious CommunicAsia 2012 which will be held from 19 to 22 June 2012 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. A briefing was conducted at AITI last Friday (14 January 2012) and 28 companies from the ICT Industry attended. AITI’s Assistant Chief Executive for International Relation, Wallace Koh Hoe Aik, kicked off the briefing with a welcome remark. Mars Enterprise and BruGPS then shared their success stories from their participation in CommunicAsia 2011 last year. Ms Claudine from Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd, organizer for CommunicAsia 2012, was on-site to brief the ICT companies with regard to the venue and preparation for the event.

CommunicAsia 2012 will feature a comprehensive myriad of key and emerging technologies from backhaul network, system integration to software and applications to end users. AITI is confident that CommunicAsia 2012 will provide an excellent opportunity for our local ICT companies to get maximum exposure to potential buyers and to strike partnerships and deals. Local ICT companies can also leverage this event to establish business networks and alliance with prominent ICT players from all over the world.

All the goals were scored in the first half. DPMM FC thriumphed over Chiang Rai United, a club from Thailand, in a charity match where the proceeds will go to the humanitarian fund for Thailand and Cambodia flood funds.

First of all, congratulations to DPMM FC on their victory last night but sadly there were no points to win as it was only a warm-up match and this is a great build-up to the upcoming S.League season which kicks off in February 2012.

Vjeran Simunic’s tactic paid off as he deployed three strikers – Shahrazen Said, Rodrigo Grahl and Osman Bashiru in the first half. It took them a while to get the fluidity of the game and Chiang Rai United are no pushovers too as they have seven import players at their disposal.

After a 0-0 draw last Monday, I’m pretty sure there will be some goals in the match and it was the Thai club that drew first blood. DPMM FC were caught off guard as they were complaining to the referee. While being distracted, Chiang Rai quickly passed the ball to the unmarked Chiang Rai No. 40 Wasan Nathasan who raced to the keeper and slotted the ball between the legs of Wardun for a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. DPMM FC and the fans were furious that the goal was allowed but the referee maintained his calm despite being confronted by DPMM FC players.

It was not long before DPMM FC sparked to life. The fans were able to witness the pace of Osman Bashiru who drew many fouls from his opponents. I believed he was the most fouled player on the pitch *lol* DPMM FC leveled the score when Grahl was rammed (or the term I would like to use “speared”) by goalkeeper Arthit Thanusorn in the box and the Brazilian cooly slotted the penalty kick to make it 1-1.

What I’m impressed are not only the import players but the re-emergence of Shahrazen who lost his scoring touch back in 2009. His glancing header connected well from an excellent whipping cross from captain Rosmin Kamis (Bobby) and the keeper had no chance to save it in the 26th minute. Though he was substituted by half-time, the goal will bring some confidence back to the striker who have won many hearts of DPMM FC supporters. The substitution was made because Shahrazen told the coach that he felt some pain on his ankle and Simunic was happy that he was honest with the injury.

The second half was slightly a let down compared to the first. There were some lovely exchanges between Grahl and Subhi at one point and Osman was one of the busiest man as he was fouled at many occassions. What I noticed about DPMM FC was that they couldn’t capitalised on the number of freekicks outside the box. I believed they had like 6 or 7 opportunities but their efforts hardly troubled the keeper. There is a lot of homework to be done despite the narrow victory. It could have been a 2-2 draw if it wasn’t for the heroics of Azwan Salleh (Param) who cleared a goal-bound effort in the dying minutes of the match.

All in all, the fans were ecstatic and we all had fun too. I can’t wait for the S.League season to kick off soon. This was a great teaser of what to expect at the Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium in weeks to come.