The Daily Brunei Resources

Julius Hong and Rachel Thien BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Tuesday, March 8, 2016 THE Tiong Hwa community treated His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, to a magic show and acrobatic performances during the Lunar New Year celebration at the International Convention Centre. More than 1,000 people came together for the Lunar New Year celebration, the 10th year since His Majesty attended the first gathering that showcases Chinese culture and to promote cordial relations in the country. Accompanying the monarch were Her Majesty Duli Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Her Royal Highness Pengiran Anak Isteri Pengiran Anak Sarah and other royal family members. The royal family was welcomed by Yang Berhormat Pehin Kapitan Lela Diraja Dato Paduka Goh King ...

[Note: My article below was published yesterday in the Brunei Times, 14th March 2011] +++++ THE GOLDEN LEGACY BRUNEI IN CHINESE HISTORY By Rozan Yunos The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports stated recently during the launching of new books published by the Brunei History Centre that history is crucial for the life of a nation and in determining the survival of its race, development of its civilisation and also nation-building of a country and community. The Brunei History Centre, as the premier national institution responsible for researching, collecting, keeping and publishing Brunei history in that role has just published eight new books and two journals. Two books focused on more recent history that of the late Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien III. One was a book entitled, “Royal Poet: Al Marhum Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien” produced by Yang Berhormat Pehin Jawatan Dalam Seri Maharaja Dato Seri Utama Doctor Haji Awang Mohamad Jamil Al-Sufri a...

Happy Chinese New Year to readers celebrating it. You know it’s funny. Whenever it’s time to look at the new moon to decide the new fasting or end of fasting, people will bring up their Chinese calendar expert – ‘…mengikut bulan Cina, hari ani guarantee nampak anak bulan – bulan china 3 hari sudah…’ etc. Yet, nobody asked if the Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar like the Muslim, how come the Chinese New Year is always around the same date give or take a few days? Whereas the Muslim calendar, loses a couple of weeks every year compared to Gregorian Julian Calendar which we are using. The Chinese calendar is not a pure lunar calendar. It is a lunisolar calendar, adding elements of a lunar calendar into that of a solar calendar. The Chinese solved the shortages of the few lunar days by incorporating an intercalary month every second or third year – sort of like a ‘leap month’ just like we add in the extra ‘leap day’ to make February 29 days every four years. That’s why the Chinese New...