By Yusrin Junaidi
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 02 OCT – The Opening Ceremony of the 28th Mastera Session, the Southeast Asian Literature International Seminar (SAKAT), the Mastera Theater Festival (Drama Manuscript Appreciation) and the presentation of the 7th Mastera Literary Award, 2024 were perfectly inaugurated at Dewan Songket, Rizqun International Hotel, Gadong yesterday.
Present as the guest of honor to complete the opening ceremony and the launch of new books published by DBP and to present the recognition of the 7th Master’s Literary Award, 2024 was the Minister of Development as the Acting Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports (KBS), the Honorable Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Muhammad Juanda bin Haji Abdul Rashid.
The ceremony started with a welcome speech by the Acting Director of DBP and also as the Acting Chairman of Mastera Brunei Darussalam, Dayang Hajah Haireni binti Haji Awang Damit followed by a speech by the Honorable Dato Minister of Development.
The Honorable Dato’ Minister said that the establishment of the Mastera, which has already reached 29 years, has a clear and important direction, which is to strengthen the relationship, understanding and cooperation of the literature of the member countries in an effort to advance regional literature into authoritative world literature.
The Honorable Dato’ Minister also suggested that Mastera redouble its efforts to promote all Mastera products so that their dissemination reaches beyond Mastera members, even at the international level in the explosion of information and communication technology.
The ceremony continued with the announcement of the four recipients of the 7th Master’s Literary Award by the Deputy Permanent Secretary (Culture), KBS and also as the Deputy Chairman of the 7th Master’s Literary Award Central Evaluation Panel Committee, Dr. Siti Norkhalbi binti Haji Wahsalfelah was followed by the presentation of the award which was completed by the guest of honor.
The recipients of the award for each country are Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Director Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman (Badaruddin HO) for Brunei Darussalam, Taufiq Gaffar Ismail (Taufiq Ismail) for Indonesia; The Blessed National Writer (SN) Dato’ Seri (Dr.) Abdul Samad bin Mohamed Said for Malaysia and Djamal Tukimin (Djamal Tukimin) for Singapore.
According to the statement, the Mastera Literary Award is a Brunei Darussalam Mastera recognition project awarded by His Majesty the Sultan and the Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam as a sign of support, support and recognition to recognized writers at the regional level Southeast Asian Literary Council (Mastera).
The ceremony then continued with speeches from the award recipients and continued with a visit to Mastera’s mini exhibition.
Also present in the ceremony were the National Assembly Councilor, Yang Berhormat Awang Abdul Aziz bin Haji Hamdan; KBS Permanent Secretary (Culture), Pengiran Haji Mohd Hasnan bin Pengiran Haji Ali Hassan; leaders and representatives of Mastera member countries, former directors and deputy directors of DBP, literary figures, as well as associations and activists of literary arts, language and culture in Brunei Darussalam.
The Opening Ceremony was also made possible by the sponsoring companies which are Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB), Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), Brunei Shell Oil Company Sdn Bhd (BSP), PUTRA Seni Group (KPS), Little Ummi Company and Angkatan Sasterawan. and Literature (ASTERAWANI) Brunei Darussalam.
