By Sim YH –
BELAIT, NOV 26 – His Royal Highness the Crown Princess Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM), today, agreed to go witness the Forest Warfare Demonstration under the Regional Forest Warfare Symposium (RJWS) 2024 which takes place at Kargu Dam, Andulau Forest Reserve, Sungai Liang, Belait District.
The arrival of His Royal Highness at the Kargu Dam Landing Site aboard a Blackhawk S70i helicopter of the Royal Brunei Air Force (TUDB) was graced by the Minister at JPM and the Second Minister of Defense, Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Lailaraja Major General (R) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Halbi bin Haji Mohd Yussof; Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF), Major General Dato Paduka Seri Haji Muhammad Haszaimi bin Bol Hassan and the British High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam, Her Excellency Alexandra McKenzie.
As soon as the departure arrived, His Royal Highness agreed to listen to a welcome prayer from the Commander of the Royal Brunei Army (TDDB), Brigadier General Haji Mohammad Shanonnizam bin Sulaiman.
Next, His Royal Highness was given an introductory briefing on RJWS, Forest Warfare Demonstration and Forest Warfare Skills which was given by TDDB Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Erwan bin Haji Ibrahim as Co-Chairman of RJWS 2024.
His Royal Highness then agreed to go to the demonstration area in a vehicle Light Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle (LT ATV) and then introduced to the RJWS participants before being escorted to a special stage to witness the Forest War Demonstration.
His Royal Highness then agreed to accept a prayer in the form of a Underwater Scooter at the end of the demonstration worshiped by the ABDB Government, followed by a photo session with the participants of the demonstration.
His Royal Highness also visited the Forest Warfare Capability Static Exhibition and Life Effort Exhibition, followed by a crowd photo session.
His Royal Highness also then agreed to present the prizes to the participants of the Forest Warfare Skills and then were escorted to the dining room to witness Sail Pass which includes 84 participants and 19 TDDB and Royal Brunei Navy (RLDB) assets.
His Royal Highness then agreed to receive an address from the RJWS 2024 Co-Chairman who is the Chief of Staff of TDDB and Defense Advisor of the United Kingdom to Brunei Darussalam, Captain Jonathan Caple, Royal Navy.
In order to bless the ceremony, Doa Selamat was read by the Acting Director of the Department of Religious Affairs of the ABDB (JAMA’AT), Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Mujib bin Haji Japar.
Before leaving the demonstration area, His Royal Highness agreed to sign the departure memory sheet.
RJWS 2024 is the 4th symposium, which was previously held jointly by the ABDB Training Institute and the British Brunei Armed Forces from 2017 to 2019.
This year, TDDB for the first time chaired the symposium together with the British Brunei Armed Forces which had a theme Enhancing Survivability Through Training and Technology and involving 17 countries and 289 participants.
The symposium aims to increase regional cooperation and expand efforts in forest warfare capacity development, information sharing as well as research and development at the operational and tactical levels.