By Yulz. Wednesday, 2. January 2008, 02:48:52
Bandar Seri Begawan - 2008 is finally here! Excitement was in the air as people with their families and friends counted down the final few seconds of 2007 into 2008 at numerous locations.
"It's definitely one of the events I look forward to every single year!" exclaimed 15-year-old Lisa.
"I usually celebrate the New Year with my family and relatives by having BBQ at my grandparents' house, and once the clock strikes twelve, we play some fireworks and sparklers and do a little cheer," she added. Some people went to the beaches to watch the firework displays at the Empire Hotel and Country Club and Jerudong Park Amphitheatre., Some even parked at the side of roads to not missy out on the pyrotechnics in the sky that signified the coming of 2008.
A group of 20-year-olds have made it a ritual to go celebrate New Year at either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, where it's `more happening'.
"We usually go a few days before to hype ourselves up," said one of them. "Of course, it's one of the most expensive times to go as its peak season, but it's worth it. We have friends there who we are staying with, but some of us are taking advantage of hotel packages to get an even more exciting experience."
Some, however, don't share the same kind of enthusiasm - 43-year-old Laila preferred a quiet night at home with her family.
"It's just another new year for me," she said. "My family and I had dinner and went to sleep early like any other night. A new year doesn't necessarily mean new things happening in the world; it's still the same."
"Sadly, I had to work during New Year's," said Aimie. "I've been doing so for the past five years but I'm actually quite content as I have something to do." -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
By Yulz. Wednesday, 2. January 2008, 02:41:19
Empire Hotel
Bandar Seri Begawan - As soon as the clock struck 12, a spectacular fireworks display at the Empire Hotel & Country Club beachfront lit up the sky to mark the New Year.
While some cars were seen parked by the roadside to view the fireworks display, those who had made reservations at the hotel enjoyed the exciting package deals offered by the hotel.
Exciting activities included sumptuous dining specials, impressive room packages, spectacular fireworks display, live music performances and the Countdown at the Atrium.
Kids were not forgotten during the eventful happenings at the hotel, Clowns at Kids Zone were also featured with a line-up of exciting games, indoor bouncers, cartoon corner, activities, toys, balloons and appearances by the Empire Mascots.
Wholesome food choices featuring specially themed dining menus included 'Bountiful Buffet' at Atrium Cafe, 'Celebratory BBQ' at Pantai, `Festive Italian' set meal in Spaghettini, `Auspicious Beginnings' at Li Gong and also a `Grand Indulgence' buffet spread at the Atrium lobby.
Guests were also entertained with enjoyable instrumental music pieces performed by the Jazz Band.
Meanwhile, at level 1 of the Atrium, building, guests were entertained by special performances and popular tunes by the Beatz Band.
The Empire New Year's Eve celebration continues with a `Splash with Clowns' event located at the Hotel's Lagoon Pool Tuesday.
The event is open to members of the public with tickets priced at B$12 per adult and B$6 for children.
Splash with Clowns is a fun-filled event packed with exciting activities from adventure games to bouncing castles and more.
The Empire Hotel & Country Club's New Year's Eve Celebration was sponsored by Baiduri Bank Sdn Bhd, Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd, The Dorchester Hotel London, Plaza Athenee Paris, Royal Plaza on Scotts, Nusa Dua Beach Hotel & Spa and supported by Kristal FM.
Meanwhile, the Splash event at The Empire Hotel and Country Club on Tuesday is supported by InnerSpacc and Pepsi. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
By Yulz. Wednesday, 2. January 2008, 02:36:38
2008, New Year
Bandar Seri Begawan - As We have turned over the last page of 2007 and enter a new chapter of our lives with the first day of 2008, we do so still trying to continue living in a world that is both full of an undeterred human spirit of promise, optimism' and hope as well as that overwhelming fear and suspicion that much human misery and suffering still continues everywhere else unabated and unchecked.
In Brunei Darussalam, we continue to be blessed by living in an abode of peace that has been spared much from the hardship and misery that is brought on by declining social, moral and economic factors, such as depression, unemployment and lawlessness that continues to affect almost every other country worldwide.
As a people and nation, we have all continued to take on our individual civic responsibility to ensure that our collective security is always maintained for it truly is in all our common interest and safety that a country that looks after itself will be the one that can fend for itself in. times of crises and troubles.
The government and its entrusted authorities, ever since proclaiming independence, continuously and consistently, facilitated means and ways to improve all our standards of living as well as our continued welfare.
These faceless bureaucrats have carried out a magnanimously tremendous and thankless job for all our benefits, but it is accepted that much more still needs to be done. Similarly, the needs and wants of a people and their lives are never the same yesterday as they will be tomorrow.
What is construed as a good process on how to run things may not necessarily be the best thing for people tomorrow. Some of these processes and systems that have served Brunei Darussalam and its people so well, since 1984, are currently put under review, tested and improved upon to ensure that it is not out-dated or faulty, in order to ensure that the people and the government get the very best out of it.
This introspection is the mantra of many other countries on its government and civil servants. We in Brunei Darussalam are no exception. The only real difference is that things are done to improve upon it elsewhere, where the people are also encouraged to voice out and point out all that is out-dated or faulty with the service and the change is likewise carried out in a transparent manner, to the benefit of the civil servants and the public alike.
Being a relatively young country in this modern day and age, the improvements and changes that are necessary to the betterment of the civil service infrastructure of the sultanate will be a slow going process. One that requires the ardent support and active participation of every stakeholder of society.
How this will be translated into results in 2008 will be the result of exactly that.
A generation ago, it was ingrained into students and society to respect its elders as well as its teachers.
Furthermore, it was also an acceptable social norm for people to keep their mouth shut and to keep their opinions to themselves. This social concept was even more ingrained into the generations that have come beforehand.
But as we enter the New Year, the present generation, who have been brought up with a
user-friendly learning and working environment of IT and technology, that continues to develop and improve, in huge leaps and bounds, with each passing month, have been so adept at voicing out their opinions to their elders as well as being more vocal and expressive, in many other ways, which is something common for youths anyway.
Relations between students and teachers today are very different than what they were five to 10 years ago. Ethics and morality is arguably declining today, with more under-aged sex.
Despite some observers citing the reason behind the encroaching bad influences of MTV and Hollywood to blame, it would be easy and completely wrong to put the blame on something so far-reaching despite the fact, that this reason° may be true, to some extent. Society and thinking has become so open today. The internet has truly opened up to newer and more expansive ways of research and learning that could never be truly imagined twenty years ago.
But everything always comes with a. price. Yesterday, youths would only be considered complete if they have a personal handphone. A couple of years ago, it would be owning a personal computer at home. Then, the social and technological trend changed to owning a personal laptop.
Now, all these ceaseless advancements in technology have made youths only consider themselves complete if they have their own blog, which they maintain as a means to express themselves to an audience that not only consists of fellow Bruneians but one that encompasses the whole wide world.
The youths of the nation have repeatedly be told and reminded with the encouragement that they are the future leaders of tomorrow.
But how we help to support and shape their lives is what will truly determine whether they will be true and effective leaders of tomorrow or whether we fail them and let them fall by the wayside - never to realise their full potential.
The destiny of every society and its youth are always linked and interweaved together as part of the eternal cycle of life.
Society today has truly evolved into a smaller global village, with the advances in security, communications, and transport linkages as well as the global economy.
With all these advancements and changes, news and information are now more readily accessible than ever.
With the growing urgency for more transparency and emphasis placed on creating awareness on the need for social contract, youths, through their blogs, as the main medium of communications, are more accessible, now than ever before, to soak up newer ways and means to improve themselves with knowledge and information.
However, society will still need to play a more active role than ever before to ensure that what our youth of today are picking up from news reports and other articles, from the internet as well as feedback on their blogs will not sway them away with the strong undercurrents of modernisation.
This is where the social norm of expressing oneself needs to be monitored by teachers and parents first and foremost, rather than relying too much on the authorities.
Other than matters on defence and security, the current mindset of the civil service is just to facilitate means and ways for the people. For most of our youths this is still exactly the kind of guidance that they need. And the experts, on the other side of the fence, also need to ensure that the advice that they give is holistic and correct.
As we march on into 2008, full of hope, resolve and determination to ensure that generations worth of hard-work, commitment and dedication are cherished and safeguarded, then we will need to further encourage our youth to take on a more pro-active role and give them the trust and support with which to express themselves and maybe just by doing so, we can also do our government and society justice.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
By Yulz. Wednesday, 2. January 2008, 02:28:57
Jerudong Park
Bandar Seri Begawan - The Double Year End Countdown at Jerudong Park and Country Club Monday was a huge success, attracting thousands of public members to the playground to greet the New Year of 2008.
Attendees were treated to an array of entertainment including performances by Zul F and the Gambus Jabatan Penjara.
Mohammad bin Abdullah, who was accompanied by his wife and five children, said he liked celebrating at Jerudong Park because of the safety measures the personnel took to ensure all games were safe for children.
He also expressed his hope that the park would be refurbished to bring back the glory of its early days.
Meanwhile, Gloria Loh, who attended the celebration with her family, said, "We came here to celebrate New Year's Eve and see the dazzling displays. Spending the occasion with family on this night is special, of course, because family is important."
She also gave the new line-up of JP musical fountain a thumbs-up. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
By Yulz. Friday, 28. December 2007, 06:12:50
Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's economy grew 0.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2007, a reversal from a 3.6 per cent contraction in the first quarter, owing to the double-digit growth of the non oil and gas sector, government statistics showed.
The sector's expansion, however, could not offset the negative growth in the oil and gas and the agriculture sectors, according to the Department of Economic Planning and Development data.
The 0.3 per cent second-quarter rise in gross domestic product (GDP) - the total sum of the country's goods and services, minus income from abroad represents a big fall from the 4.9 per cent expansion in the same period last year, the data showed.
Based on the income accounts, output from the oil and gas sector contracted 9.1 per cent in the second quarter.
The oil and gas sector, according to an International Monetary Fund public information notice in December last year, accounts for about half of Brunei's real GDP.
It also generates more than 90 per cent of total export earnings and, government revenues.
Of the three major sectors, the services sector alone posted a double-digit growth of 15.3 per cent in the second quarter from 4.3 per cent in the first quarter.
This sector includes the transport and communication, trade, finance, real estate and ownership of dwellings, private and government services sub-sectors.
Of the sub-sectors, government services posted the highest at expansion at 20.3 per cent in the second quarter from a mere 4.3 per cent in the first quarter and one per cent in the same period last year.
Trade activities' contribution to the GDP grew at 20 per cent, followed by transport and communications, with a 14.6 per cent rise, the finance sector at 10.6 per cent and real estate and ownership dwellings at 2.3 per cent.
As a whole, the 8.7 per cent contraction in the industry sector's output was due to the negative growth in output of all sub-sectors except for electricity and water. The industrial sector includes mining, manufacturing, construction and the electricity and water sub-sectors.
Mining, which covers most of the oil and gas activities, posted a negative growth of 11.3 per cent against a 10.3 per cent contraction in the first quarter.
Manufacturing showed a recovery in the second quarter, with only 1.5 per cent negative growth compared to 5.1 per contraction in the first quarter.
But the construction sector's output worsened, showing a 10.4 per cent contraction against 3.7 per cent in the first quarter.
Electricity and water services' output, however, grew by 4.1 per cent in the second quarter from a 0.2 per cent contraction in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the agriculture, forestry and fishery sector showed some improvement from the first quarter albeit still registering a contraction in output of 4.9 per cent versus a 10.1 per cent contraction in the first quarter. In the same quarter last year, the sector showed a positive growth of 8.2 per cent.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
By Yulz. Friday, 28. December 2007, 05:25:51
Bandar Seri Begawan - an international charity sale was launched yesterday at the exhibition hall of the Bumiputera Commercial and Trade Centre in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Officiating at the launch of the charity bazaar was Hjh Misnah Hj Bolhassan, the acting director of Community Development Department, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.
There are variety of products ranging from textiles, clothing, accessories and carpets at an affordable price for visitors to choose from.
Some 40 booths are made available by the organiser for participating business enterprises from Asean member countries as well as India and Pakistan.
The sales which will be held until January 5, is organised by the Department of Community Development.
Also present at the official launching ceremony yesterday were senior officers from the department.
The highlight of the event was the handing over of a donation to the Brunei Darussalam Fund for the Disabled from Perdana Sdn Bhd, the sponsor of the international bazaar.
The $3,000 donation was handed over to the guest of honour by Momin Hj Saleh, a representative from the company. The guests were then taken for a closer look at the products on sale.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
By Yulz. Saturday, 15. December 2007, 07:08:40
By Yulz. Wednesday, 12. December 2007, 13:29:19
Bandar Seri Begawan - The brolly brigade can expect more rain this month into January as the nation now weathers the monsoon season, the Meterological Office said yesterday.
A spokesman told Borneo Bulletin that the highest recorded rainfall to date this month was on Tuesday evening where the unusual downpour - 125.7mm of rain in over two hours - caused flash floods in Kiulap, Beribi, Subok, Gadong and the Hassanal Bolkiah highway, just to name a few.
"For Brunei, December and January are traditionally wet season. More rain is expected but not at all time. The wet season is caused by several factors including air in China and persisting wind," the forecaster said.
She added that since 41 years ago, the mean rainfall for November is around 321mm and 346 mm for December.
So bring out the raincoats. And the boats.
Overflowing its banks, Sg Kedayan turned roads into rivers in the capital and Gadong and stranding motorists, causing landslip in Kiarong. The morning after meant a big-clean-up in muddied places like the Police HQ and BruneiMuara Land Transport office in Gadong. One driver was pictured atop his submerged vehicle on the Hassanal Bolkiah highway.
According to figures from the Fire and Rescue Department yesterday, 26 distress calls by the public from 8.15pm (Monday evening) till 5.56am early Tuesday morning as the capital was swept off its feet by the flash floods which kept Fire & Rescue personnel busy.
Personnel from BSB, Berakas, Lambak Kanan, Beribi and Jerudong Fire Stations were at hand to handle the situation. Some 53 personnel with nine fire engines were put into action.
From 8.15pm to midnight, there were four calls on uprooted and fallen trees, nine calls to drain water, landslide (1) and leaked roof (1) — hence, 36 personnel and five fire engines were dispatched. From midnight to 5.56am (Dec 11) 17 personnel and four fire engines were dispatched, during which they received 10 calls to drain water and one call due to a landslip. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
By Yulz. Wednesday, 28. November 2007, 04:18:10
Congratulations to my Sisters and Brother .. hope you all will get a job in the near future
Read more...
By Yulz. Sunday, 25. November 2007, 08:33:59
Bandar Seri Begawan - The prevention for the misuse of drugs does not lie solely with the law enforcement. Education is also an important front in preventing it. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Education, Pg Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Mohammad bin Pg Hj Abd Rahman, who was the guest of honour at the prize presentation of Inter Colleges and Schools Drugs Prevention Education Competition 2007 held recently at Dewan Raya RTB.
Emerging as the champion of the Anti-Drugs Action Group was SM Pg Anak Puteri Hjh Rashidah Saadatul Bolkiah, Lumut. Second and third places went to Sekolah Ugama Arab Menegah Perempuan Raja Isteri Pg Anak Damit, Jalan Tutong and Sekolah Menengah Syd Hussain, Jerudong.
Meanwhile, the winners of the Anti-Drug Choir 'category were SR Orang Kaya Besar Imas Subok, Brunei II in first place, followed by SR Yayasan Sultan Hj Hassanal Bolkiah and SR Sultan Hassan Bangar, Temburong in second and third places respectively.
For the Anti-Drugs Group Concert competition, first place went to SM Syd Husain, Jerudong, second place went to SM Awang Semaun and third to SM Raja Isteri Pg Anak Saleha, Tutong.
In the guest of honour's speech, he also expressed his appreciation to the organiser, the Counselling and Career Section, Department of Schools, Ministry of Education for the success of the competition.
The competition, which was held earlier in the year, was aimed at spreading the anti-drugs awareness and to encourage creativity among youths. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
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