Nicholas' Farewell & Christmas Gathering

 A momento for Nicholas

 One for the album

Last night Persatuan Warganegara Malaysia (PWM) organized a farewell party for Nicholas Chung, (our Honorary Treasurer for the past two years) who will be leaving Brunei for good as he has taken up a new appointment in Singapore. As Christmas is just around the corner, Azlan Ahmad proposed an exchange of gifts among the twenty one participating Exco members. As usual, our ever resourceful President, Mr. James Lee, found this chic and cosy place at Bunut to host this farewell party. The house was beautifully adorned with Christmas decorations from the living room to the dining area setting everyone of us in celebration mood! The atmosphere and ambience were further enhanced by the soft lighting, not to mention the good food and drinks (BYO)! There's also ample parking both inside the house compound and outside the house. I would definitely support PWM's future events here! Good luck, Nicholas and we shall meet again, probably in Singapore...

PWM Deepavali Night 2013

 Traders Inn's supporters!

 Best dressed ladies!

 Beautiful Cake!

Last night, Persatuan Warganegara Malaysia (PWM) celebrated Deepavali with the Malaysian community at the Cesar Hall of the Orchid Garden Hotel. As an Exco member, I took one table costing B$350-00 for my colleagues in support of Mr. Supurmaniam, the Organizing Chairman of this year's event. The guest of honour was the new Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei, Datuk Hj Ag Sahak Hj Ag Salleh who was attending his first PWM function! Programmes lined up for the evening included cultural dances, songs, games and lots of lucky draw prizes! I walked away with a lucky draw priize (a Kenwood water hotpot), one of those very rare occasions I actually won something! Happy Deepavali! 

Borneo Fighting Championship

SL & Leong Chen Luk

 At RM25, it's a bargain!

Brazilian BJJ fighter Leondro Luiz Da Silva KO his opponent in 21 seconds of the 1st round in the 60kg pro category!

L-R: Coach Eazy, Alwee, Dayat, SL, Luk & Nobel

 The following images were from BFC's Facebook profile featuring our man!

 Noticed our TI logo?

 The winner is....

The Borneo Fighting Championship (BFC) was held at Likas Sports Complex, Kota Kinabalu on 16th November 2013. Scheduled to start at 11.00am, the first match took place at around noon and ended around 3.00pm. More than 700 spectators attended this first mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament in Borneo and as a sponsor for a Brunei fighter from Busiido MMA, what better way to support our fighter, Mohd Norhidayat, than to witness the event live! Initially, there were supposed to be ten matches but two matches were cancelled as one fighter did not qualify at weigh-in and one fighter didn't show up! Mohd Norhidayat was pitted against Effendi Kalai, a national boxer from Sabah in the 60kg amateur category and scored an impressive win by submission (rear naked choke) after 21 seconds in the 2nd round. Congratulations! 

UPDATE

Welcome Seafood Restaurant @ Penampang

Daniel & SL 

Leong Chen Luk

Alwee & Daniel

Upon arriving in Kota Kinabalu (KK) via BI 825 at almost 5.00pm, Luk & I went straight to the Promenade Hotel to check-in. At Promenade, we met up with Alwee, the owner of Brunei's Busiido MMA gym, who had arrived a day earlier. Daniel, my room guest (at Traders Inn) whom I met on the plane had volunteered to bring us to Welcome Seafood Restaurant in Penampang for dinner that night. This restaurant caters mainly to the locals and the place was very busy during the whole time we were there. The price tag for the four of us inclusive of beer came to only RM177-00 (B$70-00)! Fantastic deal and you can't get live seafood cheaper than that anywhere else in KK!

Humanitarian Aid to Kg Awat-Awat, Sundar in Lawas

Arrived at Bangar; L-R: Raja, Hj Japar, Sammy & SL

I woke up very early this morning as I will be joining two PWM Exco members (Raja & Sammy) on a trip to Lawas to support Jabatan Belia dan Sukan's humanitarian aid to fire victims in Kg Awat-Awat, Sundar. We took the 6.30am speed boat to Temburong where we used Hj. Japar's Nissan Patrol which was parked near the ferry terminal to meet up with the other volunteers at the Temburong-Lawas border. The convoy of about eight four wheel vehicles and MPVs were stacked with food supplies purchased in Brunei a day earlier. We reached our destination, Kg Awat-Awat, which is situated about 50km from the Temburong ferry terminal at around 10.00am. The collection and meeting point was at Masjid Misbahul Huda where some of the fire victims, the Penghulu and a Barisan National representative welcomed us. We also visited the site of the fire which is two minutes away by boat. We returned to Brunei by land and arrived in Brunei at approximately 3.00pm. A big "thank you" to all those who donated to this worthy cause and we left Lawas contented, knowing (and feeling) that the fire victims were very grateful and appreciative of our efforts, especially when the aid comes from a neighbouring country! 

The above photos showed what's left after a fire destroyed a section of Kampong Air (water village) at Kg. Awat-Awat, Sundar on 29 October 2013. Fifteen houses were totally destroyed while three houses were partially damaged resulting in 47 families (comprising more than a hundred residents) homeless. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The site is a mere two minutes away by boat from the mosque.