BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah graced the 41st National Day grand assembly at the Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien Sunday (Feb 23). He was accompanied by Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Prince Abdul Malik, Prince Sufri Bolkiah and Prince Jefri Bolkiah.
The Sultan inspected the guard of honour, mounted by personnel of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) and Royal Brunei Police Force. The grand assembly began with the march-past of parade participants, led by the head of parade carrying the giant flag by 41 members of the RBAF Training Institute led by Lieutenant Izz Muqri Isa.
This year’s parade saw 11,000 participants comprising 185 groups. Group ‘A’ involved seven teams, the head of the parade preceded by the Brunei Darussalam flag bearer, followed by the oath reciting team, the Brunei Darussalam flag bearer team and the Brunei Darussalam 41st National Day celebration logo. It also included uniformed personnel, the uniformed cadet and association team, other uniformed teams, the public sector, the district offices and the statutory body team.
Group ‘B’ comprised higher learning institutions, vocational education and private higher education institutions, religious education, secondary education cluster I,II, III, IV, V and VI, as well as private schools. Group ‘C’ involved disabled and senior citizens, citizens of friendly nations, national sports associations, youth and community associations, general associations, financial institutions, government-linked companies, the oil and gas industry, private companies, Excellent Team and the seven Brunei Indigenous groups.
The National Day oath was read by 45 youth from the government and private sector and people with disabilities, led by Corporate Business Development and Marketing Officer at Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam Zahirul Ghazi Jomari, followed by the three chants of Takbir, led by Religious Officer at the Department of Syariah Affairs at the Ministry of Religious Affairs Pengiran Hafizul Hanif Md Hata.
Following this, the grand assembly proceeded with the theme performance, which drew the curtains down for the performance segments.
Prior to the Sultan’s departure, the event saw the flypast of four S70i helicopters and one C295MW aircraft by RBAF personnel, accompanied by the singing of the national anthem. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN
