The new bridge was officially opened this morning. After a few months, it’s ready for public usage.

This morning I covered an interesting ceremony – the official launch of the Chung Hwa Middle School Bridge in Bandar. This is a privately funded bridge with the objective of parents and students of CHMS to cross the road in means of the bridge. The project was initiated by Ong Tiong Oh who is the Chairman of CHMS Board of Directors and he is looking at a bigger picture – to ease the traffic congestion. Do you know that traffic congestion has been a recurring problem especially during lunch hours?

According to inside source, Ong Tiong Oh forked out approximately BND 850,000 for the construction of the bridge alone. If you ask me, that’s a lot of investment and you can even get two residential houses or even three. Now why is the CHMS bridge expensive? This is not just another bridge like you see at other places like the school bridge at SOAS. This bridge has a special design and the materials they used are of high quality.

Ong Tiong Oh engaged Bolton Hennesy Sdn Bhd (Consultant) and Pro Builder (main contractor) and yes, the total was BND 850.000 where the bridge cost BND 770,000 with an additional consultant fee of BND 80,000. The whole project is totally financed by Ong Tiong Oh, who is also the director of Low San Hardware Company (and Toolbox). I’m quite impressed that he stills remembers me as we met once during the opening of Toolbox a few years ago. Amazing memory!!

According to The Brunei Times article, Kho Guik Lan, principal of CHMS Bandar was very excited with the bridge as it will be quite convenient for parents and students to cross the road especially during rush hour.

Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman, Minister of Development, was very thankful to Ong Tiong Oh, for sponsoring the bridge near CHMS. All the bridges in the school in the capital have been identified as prone to congestions and this includes the CHMS bridge. The only difference is that the CHMS bridge is privately sponsored.

The Minister shared that the ministry will still continue to review the aspects of safety involving students and also road users from time to time. He will also monitor schools outside the capital if they would require bridges in the near future.

Now despite the bridge being built, the traffic lights for pedestrians are still active and the public can still use the pedestrian walk to cross the road. It’s soon to say if the majority prefer walk on the bridge (more effort required) or wait for the traffic light to cross the road. I do encourage parents and students to make use of the bridge for safety reasons and smoothen the road congestions during peak hours.

Before I end, I would like to give my full appreciation to Ong Tiong Oh for initiating this project and making it a reality. The idea was highlighted back at the Legislative Council meeting back in 2009 and to see the idea being materialised is awesome indeed. Furthermore, this is totally a generous offer of him to invest almost a million dollars in constructing this bridge. All I can say is “You’re the Man” 😀 and appreciate you remembering my presence a few years back #highlightoftheweek

Note: The high in school fees of CHMS Bandar is not affiliated with the construction of the CHMS bridge. It is fully sponsored by Ong Tiong Oh.

Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Suyoi Hj Osman, Minister of Development and Ong Tiong Oh (right) doing the honour of officiating the launch of the CHMS Bridge

The man of the moment – Ong Tiong Oh

Invited guests during the launch

Ong Tiong Oh and his family and friends

The event took place at the car park area opposite Radisson Hotel

City Neon making sure the event ran smoothly

Media frenzy trying to steal a good shot for the newspaper

Some of the behind-the-scene moments during the construction of the bridge

The CHMS bridge looks solid

Taking a photo on the bridge

The Minister being briefed on the journey of the construction

Good job by Bolton Hennesy Sdn Bhd, the consultant of the CHMS project

Group photo with the Minister with the CHMS Bridge

The view from the bridge with Radisson in sight

Guests heading for refreshments

The CHMS end of the bridge

Peng the photographer needed to improvise with the help of the engineering team from Radisson

Mark your dates this weekend and plan your travels 😀

[Edited]: Is Brunei going through a recession? It’s still early days to say for that but I know that some of my friends’ businesses are feeling the pinch(es). These are just from my observations as well as business environment shared by my peers. Let’s not forget some of the outside factors as well as policies that can influence the Brunei economy.

Let’s lay down some scenarios here from my knowledge. I know there could be more (factors) but I will just based them on my findings. First is the falling of oil prices. I remember once a top senior official said that such fluctuating prices won’t affect the Brunei economy earlier this year. However, I’m pretty sure it did (affect) in a long run as oil prices hasn’t been encouraging and it has a detrimental effect on the Brunei economy. Furthermore, at some point, Brunei’s export on crude and oil hasn’t been blossoming like the old days. Have the oil prices affected oil production in Brunei? Earlier this year, it was reported that Brunei’s exports went down by 39% (source: Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE).

It’s no big surprise that oil prices is a big factor here (weaker demand, higher supply). Imagine the previous year that the price of oil was at least USD $113 per barrel and now it’s averaging at USD $50 per barrel. It was also reported in Reuters that despite the improvement in prices, worldwide production won’t be producing last much as it’s “uneconomical” if oil prices are at USD $50 or below.

With low demand for export and also lower oil prices, this will mean that money flowing into the Sultanate will be lower than usual. This would also mean less activities or projects coming from Brunei Shell Joint Ventures or any companies relating to Brunei Shell.

Early in March 2015 during the Legislative Council, the Ministry of Finance that Brunei will be in the deficit in terms of spending (BND 1.58 billion) and this is related to the fall in oil prices. Did you know that 90% of the export of Brunei is oil and gas? So this is what we always mean when we say that we are relying too much on oil and gas.

Now I have touched on oil prices. How about other factors? One thing that has affected Brunei is the recent policy introduced by Authoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) – the total debt service ratio or loan cap (at 60 per cent for those earning a minimum net salary of $1,750). So who will be affected because of this policy? Not the consumers but the car dealers as sales has seen a drop of at least 15% and it keeps dropping every month ever since the introduction of the loan cap in June 2015.

If the car dealers are affected, this would also affect the finance companies such as Baiduri Bank and BIBD At-tamwil who finance the hire purchase of the cars. NBT (Toyota) used to sell an average of 300 units every month but recently the figures have gone below 200 units. Back in 2012, at one stage, cars sold in a month would break the 1,500 mark but recently it has lesser numbers (1,137 cars in July 2015 and 1,005 cars in August 2015). Last weekend, I even bumped into an NBT roadshow at The Mall (which is quite rare) and one of the representatives said that business wasn’t good so they needed to do more roadshow and promotion.

Yes, the business side of the automotive industry is feeling the pinch but the idea of the policy by AMBD is to ensure that the residents of Brunei will have enough savings and finances instead of using their disposable income for loan repayments. With the current situation of oil prices, such move (of the policy) has not benefited the local economy as loans are hard to come by especially those in the lower tier income group. In a long run, the TDSR or loan cap will be good for the country as people will have more disposable income than rather ending up using majority of their salaries to pay off loans. Remember the credit card policy? That really worked well, right? and this shouldn’t be a problem. It will just take time to adjust to the new financial environment. Car dealers will have to come up with better deals or promotions just like how Boustead are currently executing with their promotions with Suzuki and Nissan (tablets and smartphones respectively) to attract customers.

Another theory that cannot be discounted is the fact that the Malaysian ringgit has caught interest of Bruneians. The exchange rate now is BND 1 to RM 3 which is a real steal for us. For many Bruneians, Miri is still considered a shopping paradise. Just imagine this – It was reported that over two million arrivals from Brunei to Miri alone in 2013. I’m pretty sure the statistics will be even more in Year 2015 with the current weak currency of the Ringgit. Shopping will be cheaper and they will even buy their groceries across the border as it’s a cost saving measure.

So who are at the losing end? Of course, our local retailers and the department store owners. I interviewed two sources on how the supermarket business in Kuala Belait and Bandar and both gave similar responses – “people prefer shopping and spending across the border.” One commented that usually after Hari Raya season, their supermarket business is slower but this year, it’s even quieter and slower than last year. Even the extension of the opening hours across the border is not helping the Brunei economy.

Now that I have laid some of my findings based on reports and interviews, it’s not too premature to say that Brunei is undergoing a small recession – budget cuts, deficits, lower car sales and lower revenue in local supermarket as some of the effects.

Need action, less talking: I have attended many lectures, talks, keynote addresses, you name it,  for the past 10 years and the same topic remains – “Diversification” and we all have become accustomed to the over-abused word but it has only become a mere phrase than a means to an end. From the progress of Brunei, we have taken baby steps to diversify by creating new industries – pharmaceutical, the halal brand and also the Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals and Itochu Corporation from Japan for the methanol plant at the Sg Liang Industrial Park (SPARK). These are all good signs to come as it creates more job employment.

Even earlier this year, Brunei Economic Development Board and South Korean company DongYang GangChul, said that the BND 107 million project at the Bukit Panggal Industrial Park in Tutong will be a major boost to Brunei’s economy. The idea is the plant will produce billet and aluminium extrusion and export back to Sout Korea. I’m not really sure what are the status of this project as I have not seen any updates.

My biggest curiousity is the Pulau Muara Besar (PMB) project. There have been many mentions of the PMB project but as far as I know there is very little happening as the big players such as Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd, a petrochemical firm, will only begin their refinery operations by early 2017. Of course, this is no easy project and it requires intensive homework and making sure all the criteria are met. This is perhaps the biggest project for the Brunei economy as the refinery will cost at least BND 4 billion. But now it’s more of a waiting game until early 2017.

From the looks of it, Brunei needs a good number of Foreign Direct Investment, just similarly like Hengyi Industries. It’s never an easy task to bring foreign investors to pump in money into the economy. I believe that Brunei is a very ideal hub for this kind of industries and of course, the foreigners will need our vote of confidence in order to succeed. The PMB project would have been talking point (with action) if nothing was delayed and the refinery plant up and running by now. Maybe I’m just tired listening to the same old phrase and the emphasis of “diversification”.

On a positive spin, what’s trending (and booming now) are the influx of food and beverage outlets such as Rack & Brew, The Library Cafe, Ner|Dee Cafe, Chatime and coming soon (end of the year), Cinnabon. If you are thinking of opening a business, then F&B is a better approach as we still have the culture to dine out or even limteh. And let’s not forget the upcoming travel fair by Royal Brunei and we Bruneians love to travel (so maybe, just maybe, people are saving to spend on traveling).

What’s my outlook on Brunei 2016? It’s hard to say. I just hope that we can help one another and let our egos down that Brunei needs a wake up call. Our voices can be a stimulus and hopefully the Government of Brunei and the private sector can work together to tackle a growing (bad) seed before it can turn to a plant.

This article doesn’t represent the opinions of others apart from my own. I typed this because I feel it’s very relevant to our community and I also want to help to contribute to the betterment of our Brunei economy. If you have any queries or comments, you can drop me an email ranoadidas gmail and I’m more than happy to hear from your end. Sources of facts: The Brunei Times.

The smiling faces of the volunteers at the beach clean up this morning

I wonder how many tonnes were collected at all the five beaches

We have seen all these familiar contribution to the community of Brunei Darussalam and beach clean up is one of them. This morning, Brunei Shell Joint Venture Companies, Shell Deepwater Borneo (SDB) and Brunei Gas Carriers (BGC), ran a beach cleaning campaign at five beaches in Brunei and this is to commemorate the International Coastal Cleanup Day 2015 (ICC 2015).

The five beaches today were at Silver Jubilee Beach and Lumut in the Belait District, Telisai-Danau Beach in Tutong and finally Muara beach and Meragang beach in the Brunei-Muara District. For your info, this is the second year that they are running the beach clean-up campaign.

The objective of this campaign is to keep the ocean free from trash and this is one way to make the ocean more resilient. This campaign will also help to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism and also the mutual cooperation among staff, youth and members in the local communities.

For these efforts alone, we can see that the stakeholders involved are keen to promote Brunei’s environmental sustainability. For instance, Brunei Shell Petroleum’s support goes way back to 2007 where BSP partnered with the Government of Brunei for the groundbreaking, tri-country Heart of Borneo biodiversity conservation initiative. The current progress of the research projects includes the discovery of new endangered species and breeding areas.

Brunei LNG has also been involved in the environmental sustainability project such as dealing with the degradation of the peatlands in Lumut. The same goes to SDB where there is a partnership with the Biodiversity Research and Innovation Centre through the Marine Biodiversity Centre (Ministry of Primary and Industry Resources) and they will monitor to see if our marine biodiversity is well maintained.

Today at the Muara beach, they had 179 participants involved and present were the Royal Brunei Navy, Brunei-Muara District Office, Royal Brunei Police Force, Head of Village, Cosmopolitan College, BSP associates and BSM retailers.

The total number of people involved in the beach clean up was 758 people. Well done on the organizers. Images courtesy of BSP, BSM.

Let’s hope the young ones can shape the future of our environment especially at beaches

This looks like a bbq grill… tsk tsk

The volunteer sign up sheet and some educational tip to dispose rubbish

 

Search for Coffee Bean Brunei on Apple Store or Google Play

A souvenir for all the attendees at the launch of the Blended App yesterday at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (Mata-Mata outlet)

The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, officially launched their “Coffee Bean Brunei App” on Friday, 18th September 2015 by having a two hour private app launch event for their merchant partners at their Supa Save, Mata Mata outlet. The “Coffee Bean Brunei” app introduces their digital lifestyle magazine, “Blended”. The event was officiated with surah Al-Fatihah by Mudim Haji Suhaili bin Haji Kalong.

At the beginning of the event, registered guests were given an iphone or Samsung bookmark that displayed the blended app with a limited edition blended badge. Guest were also treated to some finger food including the very popular mini magherita pizzas and tropical passion fruit tea.

Doa selamat and surah Al-Fatihah by Mudim Haji Suhaili bin Haji Kalong

Invited guests and partners of CBTL

Amy Cheong was the emcee for the day

Nice bookmarks from CBTL

You can get your digital loyalty card on their app. They even have a special promotion until the 2nd October

Amy Cheong, popularly known as DJ Amy from Pilihan FM hosted and presented the App. “Blended” allows users to search outlets nearest to them and gives them updates on the latest The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf promotions and news. Users will also have access to the local events and happenings in Brunei. The app also allows users to pick up to 6 lifestyle categories of their favourite topics, which gets updated on a daily basis. One of the main highlights of the App was the digital pink card. The Digital Pink Card allows the user to collect 1 e-stamp with every drink purchase. When users reach 12 e-stamps, the user is entitled to a free small size beverage.

Local entrepreneurs were also invited to the event to display their products. They included Mairgix Fitness Centre – the first calisthenics gym in Brunei, Lokalground which is a local clothing design store owned by 8 Entrepreneurs, DIG Records – a record player and vinyl store, WallAtLarge that provides photography, video prints services and Wood Work Kendamas, and NeoClassic Music School.

The TV and TV stands were also sponsored by D’Sunlit in support of the event. The app was created by a local based company HIVE Digital.

I kinda love this outlet and also their pizzas.. Must try

There’s even a menu guide in the app

Check out the merchant partners of CBTL

Representatives from Mairgix Fitness Centre and Lokalground

 

Review of The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials with special guest Seng Yee

Summer prediction results and Top summer movies of 2015 with co-host Del Goh

 

Click image to enter website

 

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 and also check out the new movie listings as well.

 

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam (3rd R) speaking with Captain Sharifah Czarena Surainy Syed Hashim (L), as Deputy Chairman of Royal Brunei Dermot Mannion (2nd L) and Deputy Chief Operating Officer Captain Khalidkhan Hj Asmakhan (2nd R) look. His Majesty visited the newly renovated Brunei International Airport yesterday. He also took one of Royal Brunei Airlines’ Dreamliners for a spin. Image courtesy of Zaim Kasmat of The Brunei Times.

Minister of Communications Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Abdullah Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar (L) hands over the cash prize of $7,000 to Institut Teknologi Brunei student Nurulhidayati Hj Mohd Sani (C) for winning the Tertiary Project Category of the Brunei ICT Awards (BICTA) 2015. Well done, ITB!! As for the ICT Industry Category, the first place went to D5 Innovation with BND 10,000 cash prize. Image courtesy of Abdul Aziz Ismail of The Brunei Times.

For the first time ever, there is a chance I will be joining this competition. Just for fun. Never knew they will have one for adults. This will be interesting indeed. Any takers (adults)? *lol*

Cooking competition coming up at Hua Ho Manggis Mall in conjunction with Hua Ho Health Awareness Month

The King Burger from Peppermint Cafe. I love the home made beef patties.

Congratulations to Progresif Cellular on the opening of their Seria Branch at Panaga. Image courtesy of @progresif_cellular

Now you can pre-order a copy of Yasmine. Too bad there won’t be a blu-ray copy.

I am so proud of my mentee, Heidi Rahman, who stole the show as the Toastmaster of the Evening last Tuesday. My biggest milestone to date as a toastmaster – to see other members grow especially my mentees. Keep it up, lady!!

@baiduribank updates breaks the ritual by getting out of the box. Something different coming from a bank.

Lunch treat by Winnie Sia and it was the first time I dined at Seafood Palace at Tanjung Bunut. Not bad the portion. Couldn’t finish my spaghetti.

Happening this Sunday at Fun Bee Park.

Dilys Chai and Denise Chai, co-owners of Rack & Brew

One word: Impressive. Congratulations to Dilys Chai and Denise Chai on the opening of your new cafe, Rack & Brew. Love the deco, love the atmosphere and most of all, love the food too. The cakes are amazing too – my personal favourite is the Red Velvet Cake.

The cafe is located above Paddington House of Pancake (Gadong) and the area used to be a boutique store (Deseo) and now the boutique store is located on the 2nd floor, just above Rack & Brew. You can follow @rackandbrew on instagram for updates.

According to Borneo Bulletin, Dilys Chai revealed that Rack & Brew was part of her dissertation project back in the UK. Dilys had some sampling of her desserts at Hua Ho Manggis Mall and the responses were pretty good.

Rack & Brew operates from 11am to 10pm daily at Abdul Razak Complex in Gadong. I’m definitely dining there next time.

Liking the atmosphere here at Rack & Brew

Soft shell crab florentine

Roulette Wings

I love their home made kolo mer

Hui Chiet love his dish. Not sure what it’s called.

My companions for lunch

Caramel latte

Jolene’s first time and she likes the cakes

My personal favourite – Red Velvet Cake

They have munchies such as nachos

Group photo with the media and the co-owners. Image courtesy of Kazimah (2nd from right)

Thank Denise for hosting the other day

Curry Pasta is not bad as well

Cakes, cakes and more cakes

I have yet to try the curry puff

This area is always busy as more customers trying out.

Associates from Concepts Computer and Boustead Sdn Bhd (Suzuki) holding an ACER Iconia Tab 8W. For those interested to buy a Suzuki Celerio A+, it now comes with the Acer tablet but for a limited time only.

The MoU signing last Wednesday at Concepts Computer conference room

This is the first time that Concepts Computer collaborated with Boustead Sdn Bhd in a joint promotion. For those interested in purchasing a Suzuki Celerio A+ from Boustead, then you will be entitled to receive a brand new Acer Iconia Tab 8W (from Concepts Computer).

This is another way to reward their loyal customers by giving an instant gift and also boost the image of both Boustead and Concepts Computer.

Just like the Acer Iconia Tab 8W, the Suzuki Celerio A+ has quality, reliability, durability and most important, affordability.

To the Vincent Pao, General Manager of Concepts Computer, this is a win-win situation for both companies and the joint promotion will be able also to attract new customers.

So what can you expect from a Suzuki Celerio A+? It has a 1.0 litre engine, comes in either MT or CVT, good storage space and also fuel efficient.

As for the Acer Iconia Tab 8W, it’s the top-selling tablet powered by Windows 8.1 and comes with Office 365 (one year subscription) and has a long battery life and one year warranty.

This promotion will start with immediate effect and is valid until December 31. Information about the latest joint promotion can be obtained at any Suzuki showroom or Concepts Computer showroom.

Suzuki will also be holding a roadshow at Citis Square from September 24 to 26, welcoming the public to stop by and try their luck with their ‘lucky dip’ activity.

Pao Jia Wan, Marketing Advisor of Concepts Computer, Vincent Pao, General Manager of Concepts Computer, James Wong, Branch Manager of Boustead Sdn Bhd and Alvin Kho, Marketing Manager of Boustead Sdn Bhd

The group photo shot with the Suzuki Celerio A+ and the Acer Iconia Tab 8W

Members of the media

Check out the Suzuki Celerio A+

 

Thank you to the Korean Embassy to Brunei Darussalam for the kind invitation for the recent showing of the movie “Secretly, Greatly” as part of the three day event of the Korean Film Festival. The event was held at the Lecture Theatre, The Core, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

The movies being screened are free and it is open to the public. I was fortunate enough to catch Secretly, Greatly last night and I am a huge fan of Korean movies – (The Host, Old Boy, New World, Werewolf Boy). Now it’s good that the Korean Film Festival featured this movie because I was quite moved by the movie. This is maybe one of the Top 10 movies I have caught this year though this movie is released back in 2013. Last night, Korean Deputy Chief of Mission to Brunei Darussalam, Yi Chang-Hoon attended the movie.

The response was quite overwhelming and it was good to see a good crowd last night at The Core. This shows that we do appreciate the movies from Korea. Tonight will be the final movie to be screened and it’s entitled “The Face Reader”.

The Face Reader depicts a story where Nae Kyung is able to assess the mental state, personality and person’s habit by looking at his face. Interesting.. I am still 50/50 in catching this tonight but it is a high possibility.

The Korean Film Festival is organised by Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Brunei Darussalam and the Language Centre of Universiti Brunei Darussalam and supported by Korean Foundation.

Yi Chang-Hoon, Republic of Korea Deputy Chief of Mission to Brunei Darussalam, with movie goers last night at Korean Film Festival at The Core. Image by Adib Noor of The Brunei Times.

My favourite drink of the month – a Korea drink Paldo (From Hallyu Mart) while catching Secretly, Greatly last night

A great crowd last night. I expect a similar crowd tonight for The Face Reader.

The lead actor of Secretly, Greatly was pretty good. I just bought this movie on Blu-ray 😀

The Face Reader that will be screened tonight – Thursday 17th September 7pm

Gerald Goh (Contest Chair aka emcee), Rahul Breh (Organizing Chair of Area K6 Contest), Pranika Lama (1st place Evaluation, 2nd place Humourous), Rozana Yunos (1st place Humourous, 2nd place Evaluation), Farhan Jaafar Ali (3rd place Evaluation), Supatra Lee (3rd place Humourous) and Allen Ang (Area Director, in charge of Brunei Toastmasters) during the prize presentation of the Area K6 Humourous Speech and Speech Evaluation Contest at OGDC yesterday

Whooaa!! After a few years of hiatus, Rozana Yunos showed she ain’t rusty after dominating the Area K6 Toastmasters Humourous Speech and Evaluation Speech Contest held at the Oil and Discovery Centre (OGDC) yesterday. She’s no stranger to the Toastmasters scene as captured the hearts of other members of Brunei toastmasters where she came runner-up twice in District Level for Speech Evaluation Contest.

Yes, the terminology might be confusing for many as what do you mean by District Level. Ok, let me explain briefly in a simplified manner. Brunei Toastmasters is under Area K6 and we are privileged to have four clubs in Brunei – 1) Brunei Speakers’ Club 2) Brunei Advanced Speakers’ Club 3) Oil Town Talkers (OTTERS) at Seria 4) UBD Toastmasters Club. So the winners of the contest will proceed to Division Level (Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak) and then the winner will proceed to District Level (Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak, Indonesia).

Ironically, Rozana will be contesting in the Humourous Speech contest in Division Level (early October in KK). The 1st Runner-up of the Brunei Area K6 went to Pranika Lama and 2nd Runner-up went to Supatra Lee. This is for the Humourous Speech Contest.

Rozana holding Challenge Trophy endorsed by Stuart Lee (District Champion 2013 in Humourous)

Rozana and Pranika will be representing Brunei in early October 😀

The role players yesterday with their poses

A special day for the audience. A double shot indeed. Thanks JK.

The colourful feather duster is so eye catchy. Nice speech, Elaine 😀

As for the Speech Evaluation Contest, it was a reverse of the other contest as Pranika Lama bagged first place and Rozana settled for second place. The youngest competitor Farhan Jaafar Ali came third. The test speaker for the day was Chan Seng Yee.

The contest was full of laughters especially during the Humourous Speech contest. Rozana stole the headline when she teased the audience with her speech title “The F.. Word” and set the bench mark for the rest of the speakers. Totally fun and yes, she is very animated as well. A well-deserved winner.

My personal favourite will be Pranika’s speech about her journey as a Nepalese living in Brunei. I am amazed with her fluidity as a speaker. She is a very composed speaker and her delivery especially with her pacing is something to be amazed about.

In other matters, the confessions (in their speeches) between our two toastmasters members (no names to be mentioned hehe) ruled the Club Contest two weeks ago. However, their similar repeated performance yesterday couldn’t earned enough points from the judges. But at least, we learnt some new information between the two 😀

I was also contesting for both categories but I entered with a different mentality – to enjoy and have fun. Yes, I was sharing my “crying episodes” and my love for my mom. The best thing out of this contest that I love is the growth of the speakers especially the newbies (Sandy, Phillip, Jidun, Aziman, Rahul, the Liyanas, Saiful, Val, Dalton, Hilman and many more).

So I will be heading to KK sometime next month to support our toastmasters members Rozana Yunos (Humourous) and Pranika Lama (Evaluation). Let’s hope for the best of our Brunei toastmasters representatives.

Jati Transport treated more than 90 of their employees together with their families to the Durian Festival held at Bintudoh Greenspring Resort in Kg Lamunin recently. Yes, it’s the Durian season and I ain’t a big fan 😀

The outing event was organised through Jati Social Club with the initiative to support the local farmers as well as to encourange social activities among colleagues outside the work place. Looks like they had a very fruitful time indeed.

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, UBD Chancellor, braving the crowd and taking photos with the graduates and parents at the UBD 27th convocation last week

Taken from The Brunei Times youtube channel

A total of 1,125 students from Universiti Brunei Darussalam’s third batch of its GenNext programme received their certificates at the varsity’s 27th convocation last Wednesday.

This year’s graduates included 20 PhD students, surpassing last year’s record of 12, UBD said.

The total number of graduating students comprised 379 Masters holders, 664 Bachelor graduates and 62 Diploma recipients. These also include 73 international students at UBD.

During the morning session of the convocation held at UBD’s Chancellor Hall, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, UBD Chancellor, presented certificates to PhD, Masters and Bachelor programme graduates.

The monarch also attended the afternoon session, where he presented certificates to graduates of Education Masters, Postgraduate Diploma, Advanced Diploma and Diploma programmes.

This year’s convocation also saw the first cohort of 15 graduates for the Master of Public Policy and Management (MPPM), consisting of graduates from East Asian Summit (EAS) participating countries – the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Russia and Brunei.
The MPPM is a joint programme with leading public policy schools in the United States.

According to UBD, the unique interdisciplinary programme focuses on policy areas that are distinctive to Brunei, namely Islamic Governance, Energy Policy and Management and Environmental Policy and Management.

“It is hoped this interdisciplinary-based programme will be able to contribute to the development of future leaders of high calibre, apart from providing a network for them to interact and directly or indirectly raise the competitiveness of the sultanate internationally,’’ said UBD Vice-Chancellor Dato Paduka Dr Hj Zulkarnain Hj Hanafi. Text courtesy of Rachel Thien of The Brunei Times.

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah presented a certificate to my friend, Pranika Lama

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah presented a certificate to Alison

Hello Pranika 😀

Congratulations Gerald Goh

Maryam Rosli, Business Development & Marketing, Hj Mas Zuraime Hj Abdul Hamid, Head of BruCERT, Muhd Shahrul Fadillah Umar, IT Security Analyst. Shamsul Bahri, CEO of ITPSS and Caroline Ho, Business Development & Marketing during the briefing of the Cyber Battle: Capture The Flag recently

In the cyber sense, it’s a nicer way of saying penetrate the system or in our casual term, hacking.. I attended a press briefing on an upcoming Cyber Battle: Capture The Flag and it will be the first of its kind in Brunei. This is something very new and it will be interesting to see who participate in this competition. Of course, those who are showing interest would have prior knowledge of computing and programming as this is not those kind of console video games you will be playing.

The registration is already open and 10 tens will compete on the 11th October and their missions will be to exploit vulnerabilities on game servers, fix security holes, and defending their flags. The rules and regulations are already posted on their website and you can view them for any clarification.

So why this competition for the first time? Well, the main aim is to identify the winner from Brunei and represent for the ASEAN-Japan Cyber SEA Game which will be held in Jakarta this November. Only the top two teams will represent Brunei in Indonesia. This was announced by Shamsul Bahri, CEO of ITPSS.

The registration is open to Brunei citizens and also to permanent residents aged 30 years and below. You must enter as a team of 2 or 3 members. The closing date for the registration is 2nd October 2015. You can click here to register for the competition. You can also follow their IG for updates @brucert

The event is organised by IT Protective Security Services Sdn Bhd (ITPSS) in their role as Brunei Computer Emergency Response Team (BruCERT). This competition is also supported by Authority for Info-Communication Technology of Brunei (AITI).

Shamsul Bahri, CEO of ITPSS briefing the media on the competition

Caroline Ho revealed the prizes for the top 3 teams. Love the prizes too.

Check out the prizes for the top 3 teams

Muhd Shahrul Fadillah Umar explaining the flow of the competition

Representing Brunei – Lim Ao, Bridgette Ang, D-1 and What?!

They were happy to be on the international stage

They may have not won the finals but they stole the hearts of the audience. Last week, our local musicians belted it out at the ‘Be our Rock & Pop Soul’ Music Competition held at Ho Chin Minh City, Vietnam. Two representatives from Brunei made it to the finals – Lim Ao and What?! band. All in all, there were eleven musicians that flew off led by Lily Chiam and also accompanied by their music instructors.

This was the first time that Brunei participated in the competition and they managed to impressed the judges. Tyler Smith, the Senior Vice President of Trinity College in London, also had praised Bruneian performers. “They rocked the house right there,” he said, amid loud cheers from the audience. “The drums were in my face. I liked it.”

It’s good to see that Bruneians are able to perform on the international stage at a very young age. Keep the great work and also credit to the mentors. Images courtesy of Arthur John.

D-1 wooing the crowd with their rendition of “Crazy in love”

The grand winner from Thailand

Evan Chiam rocking the stage

Lim Ao electrifying the crowd with his solo performance

Click image to enter website

 

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 and also check out the new movie listings as well.

 

The three day activity hosted by Best Eastern will start off with a colouring contest for kids

Woohooo.. Am I gonna get hooked to colouring? I just recently bought a colour book called the Enchanted Forest and also some colour pencils to go alone with it 😀 Apparently these special colouring books by Johanna Basford (Enchanted Forest and Secret Garden) have bene very, very popular among ADULTS… That’s right.. Adults… Reason being is that the activity of colouring is very therapeutic and it can become addictive. So yes, I am giving it a shot as I bought one myself at Best Eastern last night.

However, since I’m on the subject of colouring, let me share with you that Best Eastern will be kicking off their activities starting tomorrow and it will be a colour contest for children. Do look at the details below and it will be a great time for parents to send their kids for this contest as it’s the school holidays.

Doodle Art Colouring Contest
11th September 2pm to 5pm
Open for kids 5 – 12 years old
Bring your own colouring pencils.  Will provide the colouring pages.
Prizes :

$100 Gift vouchers plus gift pack – 1st Prize

$80   Gift Vouchers plus gift  pack – 2nd Prize

$50  Gift Vouchers plus gift Pack  – 3rd Prize

Consolation Prizes as well.

The event will take place at Best Eastern, Times Square Shopping Centre but you can register at all counters at any Best Eastern outlets in Brunei but you will have to purchase any of the colouring book by Johanna Basford or Millie Marotta to eligible for registration.

Good luck to all the participants of the colouring contest.

One of the activities done earlier this week. This is a sample of what to expect for the colour contest.

Even adults are hooked with colouring 😀

Purchase one of the books, for instance, Secret Garden, for your children to be eligible for the Doodle Art Colouring Contest tomorrow, Friday 11th September.

The results of the colour can turn out like this

Another sample from the Secret Garden book when you colour it in.

The books are available at Best Eastern.

I even invested in colour pencils from Derwent at Best Eastern last night

Behold.. there’s even colouring contest for adults.. Woohooo..

Press release from Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam. Have you heard of financial scams? They are scams involving deposits, money transfers and credit card transactions. Although some financial scams are too good to be true, there are many people that still become victims.

These are the common financial scams in Brunei:

1. Get-rich-quick scheme: a plan, which offers high returns or dividends not usually available through traditional investments. The focus of such schemes would be to obtain deposits without a valid product or services which will be used to pay returns or dividends to earlier investors. The scheme may take the following forms:

  Ponzi scheme

  Pyramid scheme

  Gold investment

  Land-banking investment

  Forex trading

2. Credit card scam: Scammers calling victim’s phone pretending to be a bank officer informing that the victim’s credit card is suspected of crime. For verification purpose, the victims will be deceived into providing their credit card details.

3. Job scam: Scammers pretending to offer a job in their organisation. However, in order to secure the job offer, the victim must pay an upfront fee.

4. Lottery and competition scam: Scammers send out an SMS blast to would-be victims informing them of prizes they have won in competitions organised by some big companies and are advised to pay an entrance fee.

5. Inheritance Scams: Scammers assume the role of lawyers or representatives for a recently deceased distant relative or wealthy benefactor leaving a large inheritance usually in cash of which is to be distributed amongst them at an agreed percentage.

6. Internet love scam: (LOL, never been duped by this before) By creating fake profiles, fraudsters have managed to exploit the other users by pretending to develop an intimate and personal relationship with their victims.

The grand prize for the Open Category to top off with the BND 1,200 cash prize

AMBD believe that it is important to educate the public and raise their awareness to protect innocent people from becoming unfortunate victims. Show your support and creativity by creating a short video on financial scams awareness!

Well, there’s a good incentive for you to join!! Because the winners will win awesome prizes. For the Open Category, first place will win BND 1,200 cash prize with a GoPro Hero 4 Silver Edition, second place will win BND 900 cash prize with Sony Handycam while third place will win BND 600 with Sony HDR. There will also be student category with cash prizes for top three winners – BND 1,000, BND 750 and BND 500 respectively.

I won’t spare much details here but you can download the PDF form for eligibility and other information. Good luck and the deadline for submission is 30th October 2015.

 

BIBD announced its Race Entry Pack for the 2015 CE ALAF (Charity Expedition for Advocating Life-Long Learning for an Aspiring Future programme). The pack includes a runners’ shirt and a CE ALAF backpack. Additional merchandise is also available on the CE ALAF website such as Polar running watches, which can be purchased during the registration of the CE ALAF.

Registrations for CE ALAF can be completed via the ALAF website at www.bibdalaf.com or at CE ALAF Kiosks at Aewon outlet in Kiarong, Seria and Airport Mall.

Payment for registration along with merchandise purchases can be made directly via the website using any Debit or Credit cards or via cash payments through BIBD online, BIBD Mobile, BIBD CDMs and counters at BIBD Branches to the BIBD CSR Raised Fund Account at 1010400011.

For all participants opting to register their participation via cash payments, participants are required to keep their proof of payment in the form of deposit slips for payments via BIBD counters and CDMs, or printed online receipts or screenshots for payments made through BIBD Online and BIBD Mobile platforms. These proofs of payments must to be presented at the Race Entry Pack Collection weekend, together with their donation proceeds slip.

The closing date for registrations will be on the 30th of September 2015, whereby the first 1500 successful registrations will also be entitled to free limited edition CE merchandise.

The running kit for this edition of BIBD CE ALAF

BIBD is also inviting interested persons to register their interest as volunteers, where they will receive official CE ALAF 2015 volunteer t-shirts. Slots for volunteers are however limited and contact details of each volunteer has to be submitted to the BIBD CE ALAF team at csr@bibd.com.bn by the 25th September 2015.

This year’s CE will include a new competitive 5km Open Men and Women’s category. Other categories include an Open and Bruneian 21km and 10km, Men and Women’s category along with a non-competitive 3km fun run and cycling expedition. Fees for the respective categories vary starting at B$25. Participants will also stand a chance to win prizes of up to B$2,000. BIBD would also like to inform the public that a designated area will be provided for Subuh Prayers.

The CE is one of the imperative strategic ideas for fundraising in order to sustain ALAF as a long term initiative. ALAF is BIBD’s flagship CSR programme. This year’s CE is hoped to build on its previous successes with more than 6,000 participants all contributing to raise a total amount of over B$ 665,000, an illustration of Bruneians as a caring society.

The complete sponsors and partners of the BIBD CE ALAF

The ALAF programme, launched in May 2013 by Her Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pengiran Anak Isteri Pengiran Anak Sarah, was developed in close partnership with the Ministry of Education which will lead to constant efforts and close collaboration between both parties to ensure the successful implementation and provision of assistance to the ALAF programme. At the same time, The ALAF programme is also supported by the Islamic Studies Department from the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The ALAF programme currently has almost a hundred students under its care.

The ALAF programme provides the selected students with provisions for school and tuition fees, educational materials and welfare, as well as mentoring and counseling necessities amongst others. All this is to help ensure the absolute commitment of these students towards the development of their education, and not let them be bothered by the other commitments that come with. The ALAF programme will also continue to provide support and assistance to these students until the end of their respective educational requirement needs.

Through ALAF, BIBD hopes to align its support to His Majesty’s 2035 vision of obtaining a 100% level of education to everyone, which in turn is hoped to help reduce poverty, In Shaa Allah, leading Brunei towards a more prosperous and peaceful future, making Brunei populated with educated, highly skilful and successful individuals, in line with internationally set standards.

Apart from contributions during the CE, members of the public wishing to contribute into the BIBD ALAF fund may do so with a minimum donation of B$1.01 into the BIBD ALAF account at 1018181811. Contributing is further made easier as the public can utilise existing BIBD channels such as the BIBD Online website, BIBD Mobile app, BIBD ATM and CDMs, and BIBD branch counters. The public can also set up a BIBD Standing Instruction to ensure a monthly donation into the ALAF fund. As an added benefit, BIBD account holders can also use their accumulated BIBD Hadiah Points for cash conversion into contributions into the ALAF fund account.

A few weeks ago BIBD launched their third expedition to support ALAF

Cool medal for this year’s edition