By: Izah Azahari & Danial Norjidi
Bandar Seri Begawan: The
final get-together ceremony (in the Brunei-Muara District) for His
Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's 67th birthday celebration was held yesterday in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.
It saw a great number of uniformed
personnel as well as representatives from various organisations and
associations together as one on the field of Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar
'Ali Saifuddien in full patriotic flavour as they took part in the
morning's event.
The, Borneo Bulletin had the opportunity
to interview a few of the supervising teachers and the heads of
uniformed personnel at the field.
Among those that the Bulletin had the
opportunity to interview was Pengiran Khairel Putra bin Pengiran Ahmad, a
Supervising Teacher for the Awang Semaun Secondary School Police
Csdets, who said that a total of 100 Police Cadets students from 12
schools in the Brunei-Muara District were involved in the event.
"The students from Awang Semaun
Secondary School Police Cadets, for example, are all from the senior
class who have had extensive training in marching so all I had to do was
just refresh their memories and take them through their phases so that
when they come here all they have to do is just to follow orders because
they would already know every movement that they have to make," he
explained.
Pg Khairel Putra later added that the
cadets would only need three sessions to practise, as they are different
from other students in that they have already learned the basics of
marching in unison, so all that was left to do was to fine-tune their
synchronised movements.
"Despite the rain that poured down, the
Police Cadets managed to stay in formation to show their high discipline
as Police Cadets are trained to be," he said.
Also among the uniformed personnel involved in yesterday's festive celebration were the Army Cadets.
Major Fadzley, the Commanding Officer of
the Army Cadets, told the Bulletin that the cadets had been split into
three groups, with one group responsible for flag-carrying, while
another took part in activities on the stage, and another was present
for the 'Menjunjung Ziarah' ceremony.
The cadets, who hail from various local educational institutions, were aged between 16 and 21 years.
In preparations for the event, the
cadets took part in various training activities, including coordination
with the organisers as well as at Rimba Camp.
Major Fadzley confirmed that the cadets
were proud to be a part of the procession, and added, "All of them are
students who took part in clubs at various colleges related to youth
cadets.
"This is a way for them to become
Bruneian citizens who are not only excellent in their studies, but also
in self-discipline as well as to learn more about their future careers
and so forth."
Also on the field were 100 personnel
from the Brunei-Muara Red Crescent Division headed by Director Hj Md
Suhaimi bin Hj Ibrahim, who stated that this year, they covered three
areas - the first part was the performance, and then the get-together as
well as patrolling around the field to take care of the public present
at the event.
"We participate in this event yearly
where the personnel from the Brunei-Muara Red Crescent Division are made
up of students from various educational institutions in the BruneiMuara
District, along with some volunteers.
"This year, we can see that there is
less of a crowd compared to the previous years. As for the heavy rain
and strong winds that we experienced earlier, we are grateful that there
were no injuries," said Hj Md Suhaimi.
Meanwhile, among the uniformed
associations that also did not miss out on the opportunity to take part
in this year's celebration was the Girl Guides Association, headed by
Chief Commissioner Hjh Siti Hafsah binti Hj Abdul Halim, with 200
Brownies and Girl Guides from various primary and secondary schools in
the Brunei-Muara District as well as the Girl Guides Association's
Administrative Committee members.
This year the Girl Guides Association
was invited by the Co-Curriculum Department to perform the national
anthem and the sovereign cheers along with other uniformed personnel and
representatives of various organisations and associations.
- Borneo Bulletin Online. Monday September 30th, 2013.
