By Salawati Haji Yahya
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 2 OCT – The Language and Library Hall (DBP) as the Secretariat of the Southeast Asian Literary Council (Mastera) Brunei Darussalam this year hosted the 28th Mastera Session, 2024.
Accordingly, a conference is underway for 2 days from today until October 3 and will be held in Meeting Room 4, 4th Floor, Rizqun International Hotel, Gadong.
The session was officially opened by the Acting Director of the Language and Library Council, Dayang Hajah Haireni binti Haji Awang Damit, as Chairman of Mastera Brunei Darussalam yesterday.
Dayang Hajah Haireni in her opening speech explained, among other things, that the implementation of Mastera is very challenging, both from the aspects of planning, implementation and management, but many literature projects have been implemented successfully as a result of the strong mutual agreement between Mastera member countries.
He further hoped that Mastera would continue to actively achieve its goals in line with the Mastera Strategic Plan 2023 – 2027 which aims to strengthen and further ensure the coordination of the further implementation of the effectiveness of Mastera events for the long term.
With the development and progress of the world today, he added, Mastera needs to redouble its efforts to promote and introduce all Mastera products not only at the Mastera regional level but also at the global level.
“This success will not be separated from the commitment of cooperation between the Mastera member countries in discussing, debating and confirming the proposals of Mastera’s strategic plans carefully and unanimously,” he explained.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Mastera member countries, namely Acting Deputy Director as Deputy Chairman of Mastera Brunei Darussalam, Dr Haji Mohd Ali bin Haji Raden; Acting Head of Literature and Magazine Division and also as Secretary of Mastera Brunei Darussalam, Dayang Wathiqah Amirah binti Haji Wasli; Deputy Head of Mastera Indonesia, Hafidz Muksin; The Chairman of Mastera Malaysia, YBrs Dr Hazami bin Jahari and the Chairman of Mastera Singapore, Dr Azhar Ibrahim.
The Mastera Conference is a literary collaboration project at the Mastera regional level which is made up of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
The meeting is a meeting of representatives of member countries and Mastera experts every year in rotation to discuss, coordinate, update and decide on the implementation of Mastera programs and projects in their respective countries, thus preparing for the 29th Mastera Session, 2025 in Singapore later
