837 honorary medals awarded
By Azlan Othman

More honorary long service, meritorious service and good service medals were presented yesterday by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam with another 837 medals bestowed on government officers and staff, uniformed personnel as well as members from the private sector.

Representing His Majesty was His Royal Highness Prince Hj Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office at a ceremony held at the Istana Nurul Iman.

Ninety-four recipients were bestowed with meritorious service medals or PJK while another 441 received good service medals or PIKB and 302 others were conferred with long service medals or PKL.

Present at the ceremony were Pengiran-Pengiran Cheteria, Cabinet Ministers, Legislative Council Members, Deputy Ministers and Manteri-Manteri Pedalaman, members of diplomatic corps from friendly nations, permanent secretaries as well as heads of department.

To further bless the ceremony, a doa selamat was read by the State Mufti, Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia (Dr) Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned.

Acting Director of Fire and Rescue Department, Lim Hock Guan, received a PIKB.

He has been working for the past 14 years and expressed his pleasure as it was his first medal. It was a very happy moment for him.

Another recipient, Pg Hj Sabli, who has also been working for more than 20 years with the Fire and Rescue Department was grateful for such recognition. He expressed appreciation to the government of His Majesty who has taken good care of the officers and staff.

Former CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, Brunei now working in the bank's branch in Malaysia, Tiew Siew Chuen who also received a PIKB said it was a pleasant surprise and really an honour to receive one.

"I would like to dedicate this to all my staff in Standard Chartered Bank Brunei and for the efforts in contributing to the community, not just from me but also all the staff."

Meanwhile, Managing Director of Kingston Beverage, Malcolm Lim, said he did not expect to receive a medal and highly appreciated the recognition for his service towards His Majesty's government. "We have been involved in government functions and community projects for so many years especially in making the national celebrations a success," he told the Bulletin.

Managing Director of De' Hayat Sdn Bhd, Pg Hj Abu Bakar Pg Hj Othman also expressed his pleasure especially as he is from the private sector and is thankful to the monarch for the award. "I will do my best for the sake of the nation and I guess this is the recognition we have received for making His Majesty's annual birthday celebration a success," he said. - Borneo Bulletin (26th October 2010)


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