Women's council honours Her Majesty

Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha (L) and other members of the royal family, accompanied by Brunei Women's Council (BWC) president Pg Datin Paduka Hjh Mariam Pg Hj Matarsat (R) welcomed by ballet performers during Her Majesty's 64th birthday celebration at ICC.

Her Majesty (L) receiving a souvenir from BWC president Pg Datin Hjh Mariam.

BRUNEI Darussalam's Women's Council (BWC) threw a celebration in honour of their Royal Patron, Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha's 64th birthday last night at a ceremony held at the International Convention Centre (ICC). Her Majesty was greeted upon arrival by the president of BWC and chairperson for the celebration, Pg Datin Paduka Hjh Mariam Pg Hj Matarsat.

Accompanying Her Majesty were Her Royal Highness Pengiran Anak Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Zariah, Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Bini Hajah Faizah, Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Rashidah Sa'adatul Bolkiah, Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah and Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna.

In an interview on the sidelines of the occasion, BWC President Pg Datin Paduka Hjh Mariam and Vice President 1 Datin Hjh Masni Hj Mohd Ali told The Brunei Times that hosting yesterday's function for Her Majesty was "very important" to show their love for their patron.

"Raja Isteri is our leader and we want to show her that we love her. She is also our role model as a mother, and as the wife of the Head of State and government. So this is a very important function for us," they said.

The president and vice president 1 added, "Raja Isteri is our patron, and its very important, not only socially, economically and politically. So we have a very important guest. We want to show that we are collectively united, because all women and NGOs must be connected. This is a very important effort by the Women's Council and it is nice to work together with all the women." In her opening speech, Pg Datin Paduka Hjh Mariam said one of the objectives of the establishment of the council was to tackle family and community issues.

In conjunction with Asean Women's Day this year, she said the council carried training programmes from July 5 to 7, which were participated by 50 members from different associations under the council as well as the public sector.

"This sort of activity is a contribution and social responsibility towards welfare efforts that have been executed by relevant agencies and NGOs," she added.

The BWC president further announced that the Women's Council, as a member of the Asean women associations, will be attending the 14th Asean Confederation of Women's Organisations (ACWO).

The conference themed "Encouraging participation of women towards a peaceful Asean society" will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam from October 19 to 20.

She also noted that Brunei had previously hosted the conference twice.

On the international level, Pg Datin Paduka Hjh Mariam said they will be sending a representative of the council to the International Council of Women (ICW-CIF) Assembly in Auckland, New Zealand from November 7 to 9.

The highlight of last night's ceremony was the cake-cutting event which was followed by the handing over of the specially prepared "pesambah" as a token of affection and love for Her Majesty from various women's associations.

The evening also saw a line-up of singing and dancing performances which celebrated Brunei's both locally and internationally diverse culture.

The ICC plenary hall echoed with the resonance of traditional songs and vibrant colours and the performances were executed and choreographed by respective association members and their children.

The celebration was jointly organised by BWC, the Brunei Shell Ladies Association, Brunei Association of Nurses (Penjuru) and Women's Association for the Welfare of Police Families and Children (Pekerti).

Brunei to join bid to break sport stacking record

Jerudong International School students trying out sport stacking.

SPORT stacking enthusiasts here are calling on Bruneians to join in the World Sport Stacking Association's (WSSA) bid to break the Guiness World Record for "Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day" on November 18.

WSSA has succeeded in consecutively breaking the record for the past four years, and the association's Malaysia-Singapore-and-Brunei coordinator is hoping to include the Sultanate in this year's attempt to surpass the 276,053 mark achieved in 2009.

"We still have about one month to go. Our target this year is 300,000 ("stackers") from all over the world" Ng Kock Seong told The Brunei Times yesterday. "We hope that Brunei will join us this year."

About 217,000 people from around the world have already registered to participate in the "2010 WSSA Stack Up!" so far, the association posted on its website on August 10. The WSSA is asking stackers to register and sport stack for at least 30 minutes on November 18, regardless of local times in the countries participating.

Last year, WSSA said that 1,252 schools and organisations from 24 countries took part in breaking the world record. All 50 states in the US, where the sport of stacking specially-modified plastic cups in pre-determined sequences originated, were represented.

Ng said that if the record would be successfully beaten this year, registered participants would receive certificates.

Dionysius Wee, the manager of My Small World said the toy store in Gadong, the only place in Brunei where the public can get Speed Stacks merchandise was preparing for Brunei's involvement in the world record attempt.

Wee said they were still planning how to coordinate the event here, along with the training scheme to prepare Brunei's stackers for the international bid.

The toy shop manager remarked that sport stacking was not new to Brunei, that about a fifth of the population were aware of the sport and that a small group of university students were practitioners.

Wee and Ng were promoting sport stacking to students of Jerudong International School yesterday, bringing along with them the current world record holder for the "Masters Two" division, a category for stackers aged 34 to 44, to perform for the students.

Alan Lim Joon Tatt, 38, achieved a time of 9.31 seconds on the "cycle stack", one of the competitive sequences in sport stacking, during the 2010 WSSA Times Square Sport Stacking Fair in Kuala Lumpur in February.

Lim, who is also director of WSSA Malaysia, claims that he has managed to achieve a "personal best" unofficially at 7.97 seconds.

He said that he has been sport stacking for more than three years and took up the sport after watching videos online. Asked if he had initially set out to be a record-holder in the sport, Lim said, "I wanted what all stackers want: to be the fastest and to break the record."

The sport stacking enthusiast practices everyday for at least an hour.

He also spoke of the 2011 World Sport Stacking Championships to be hosted in London. "If Brunei has a fast stacker, then Brunei should also send a representative," Lim said.

In developing the sport in the Sultanate, the world record holder hoped that Brunei would eventually produce a national team of stackers.

Sibutramine in capsule can cause stroke, blood pressure

THE US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday advised consumers who have Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules not to use the product.

The FDA warns that the capsules contain the active pharmaceutical ingredient sibutramine, a prescription-only drug which is a stimulant.

Sibutramine is not listed on the product label and could harm consumers.

FDA lab tests reveal that the product contains excessive amounts of sibutramine that may be dangerous to people who have a history of cardiovascular disease, because it can lead to elevated blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack.

Consumers who are otherwise healthy and who take the amount of sibutramine found in Slimming Beauty capsules can experience anxiety, nausea, heart palpitations, a racing heart, insomnia, and elevated blood pressure. Sibutramine also may interact with other medications and can cause serious side effects. Xinhua

Hungary villages evacuated amid new toxic flood fear

An aerial view of rescue team members crossing a pontoon-bridge replacing the original bridge which was washed away by a sludge flood in Kolontar, 167km southwest of Budapest, Hungary, last Friday.

HUNGARIAN police and soldiers evacuated 800 villagers yesterday as authorities said a second flood of toxic sludge from a chemicals plant was likely after new cracks appeared in a dyke.

The villagers were evacuated at dawn from Kolontar, which is close to the reservoir that burst in western Hungary last Monday, killing seven people, injuring scores more and poisoning rivers in the country's worst ecological disaster.

Security forces also warned thousands of residents in the nearby village of Devecser to be ready to be moved if necessary, officials said.

"The reservoir is so damaged that it is likely that it will give way for a second time," Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.

"If the dyke of the reservoir gives way, about 500,000 cubic metres will be released. Several cracks are visible from the north side of the reservoir," he said.

The first flood on October 4 released 1.1 million cubic metres of foul-smelling red toxic sludge into villages and rivers.

"The evacuation of Kolontar began at six in the morning after we noticed that the dam started weakening at tank number 10," Disaster Relief Team chief Tibor Dobson told AFP.

One of the new cracks was seven centimetres (three inches) wide, officials said.

The entire area was under surveillance, with helicopters with heat-detecting cameras in the air and 650 policemen on the ground co-ordinating rescue operations, the national police's website said.

"The police's primary tasks are keeping peace and order in the villages and the sealing off of the surrounding areas," it said.

The Kolontar villagers were taken by bus to Ajka, the nearest major town which is 160km from the capital Budapest.

Some were to stay with friends and relatives and those with nowhere else to go would be put up in the town's sports complex, officials said.

"There is despair and sadness, but no panic," said Orban in Ajka.

Police and army personnel were in Devecser, with a population of about 5,400, to urge people to pack all they need in one suitcase so they could leave quickly if necessary, Dobson said. Dozens of army trucks and buses were on standby.

"We are prepared for the worst and we can save the residents of Devecser in case of a new spill," the prime minister said.

Work was under way to build a new dam in Kolontar, in case of a new flood, to save those houses that were undamaged in the previous disaster, the Hungarian News Agency MTI reported.

The dam would be four to five metres (around 13 to 16 feet) high and made of earth and rocks, and would be ready in 48 hours.

The death toll rose to seven last Friday, with one person still missing. The dead include a 14-month-old girl.

Brunei must cut waste output

Hj Mohd Rozan Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Yunus (R), Permanent Secretary (Administration and Finance) at the Ministry of Development officially handing over recycle bins to the Business School. Picture: Courtesy of the Business School

DUE to limited land area, Brunei needs to take waste reduction seriously as the country's waste production is higher than other countries in the region.

Hj Mohd Rozan Dato Paduka Hj Yunus, Permanent Secretary for Administration and Finance at the Ministry of Development (MoD), emphasised this in his opening speech at yesterday's launch of the Business School's "3R's programme"of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

The programme launched by the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation (Jastre) aimed to raise awareness on the importance of orderly waste management and recycling.

In his opening speech, Hj Mohd Rozan cited a 2005 study by Jastre that Bruneians on average produce 1.4 kgs of waste a day.

In contrast, many countries within the region only produce one kilogramme or less of waste daily.

Some of these countries have even taken waste management to a new level unobserved by Brunei. The countries that produce less waste than Brunei actually commit to recycling 10 to 20 per cent of their total waste disposal, whereas Brunei's waste collected for recycling is estimated at less than five per cent each year.

He added that due to the country's limited land area, the people need to take waste minimisation seriously.

To date, 70 per cent of the nation's total waste is actually able to be recycled as 36 per cent is organic, 18 per cent paper and 16 per cent plastic, the permanent secretary said.

He then warned those present of the hazards of disorderly waste, noting that plastic takes years to breakdown and could produce toxic substances, while organic food waste when decomposing lets off methane, a greenhouse gas widely accused of catalysing global warming.

Spearheading the awareness campaign, MoD through Jastre has vowed to "continue to implement strategies and programmes on 'waste minimisation' to achieve the waste production level of 'one kilogramme per person per day'," said Hj Mohd Rozan.

The focus of such programmes will be activity-based to garner as much participation and involvement as possible to make a population practising the three R's a reality.

The green initiative is part of a unit for final year students taking Business and Finance and Secretarial Studies programmes at the Business School.

Yesterday's activity was part of the social responsibility unit, which will teach the students the social issues that businesses might address. It was also hosted in a lead up to the students' "main event", which would take the form of a "Green Carnival" to be held on October 30 and 31.

Royalty at musical drama

Her Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bulqiah (L) is being accompanied by Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Datin Hjh Adina Othman upon HRH arrival at The Empire Theatre.

His Royal Highness Prince Haji 'Abdul 'Azim (C) and Her Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bulqiah (L) talking to Deputy Minister of Development Dato Paduka Hj Ali Hj Apong (R).

THE Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports held the debut of musical theatre performance of "Tragedi" at The Empire Theatre.

Present at the evening were His Royal Highness Prince Haji 'Abdul 'Azim and Her Royal Highness Princess Fadzilah Lubabul Bulqiah for the curtain-raising event and charity dinner.

Also present were Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Laila Diraja Dato Paduka Hj Hazair Hj Abdullah, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS), Deputy Minister Datin Hjh Adina Othman, Dato Paduka Hj Jemat Hj Ampal, Permanent Secretary of the ministry.

The musical drama was preceded by a three course dinner while in the background, a gulingtangan troupe entertained the audience with their musical performance.

The musical drama "Tragedi" brought together elements of traditional music, traditional dance and silat, which included Bruneian songs such as "Ya Maulai". The story behind the musical was based on the local romantic legend, Puteri Lela Menchanai.

It was jointly organised by the Culture and Arts Section, Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and the Empire Hotel and Country Club. The one-night performance was sold out.

Haj pilgrims call on His Majesty

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam (L) and His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah (R), Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, receive in audience Haj pilgrims at Istana Nurul Iman yesterday.

A TOTAL of 1,370 Bruneians bound for the Holy Land for this year's Haj pilgrimage called on His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam yesterday.

The pilgrims also met His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, who accompanied His Majesty in receiving the male pilgrims while female pilgrims called on Her Majesty Raja Isteri Pg Anak Hjh Saleha, Her Royal Highness Pg Anak Isteri Pg Anak Sarah and Her Royal Highness Princess Hjh Rashidah Saadatul Bolkiah.

This year's intending Haj pilgrims comprising 677 men and 693 women include new 26 converts (muallaf) who are going on the trip free of charge courtesy of His Majesty through the Religious Council.

Abu Bakar Hj Abd Rahman, a 36-year-old Traffic Police Officer, who is part of this year's batch of intending pilgrims, yesterday expressed his deepest gratitude towards His Majesty for providing him with the means to perform the Haj under the government Haj airfare sponsorship for civil servants.

Performing the Haj is the fifth and final pillar of Islam and for those who have the means to do so even once in their lifetime is considered a blessing, said Abu Bakar who only recently became eligible for the government Haj airfare sponsorship.

Abu Bakar, who is scheduled to leave for the Holy City of Mekah along with the fifth group of Haj pilgrims this coming October 29, will be performing the Haj together with his wife and mother-in-law. Seventy-seven-year-old Ahmad Ismail accompanied by his son-in-law said he was grateful that he is finally able to fulfill his life-long dream of performing the Haj after so long.

Even though he may need assistance to perform several tasks, said Ahmad, "knowing that I am able to do this even at my age is good enough for me". After greeting the royal family, the intending pilgrims were each given a bag of ihram (worn during the pilgrimage to the plains of Arafah) for the males and telekong (female prayer attire) for the women upon exiting the room.