About 220 personnel comprising men and women from Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) gathered at the mnb parade square to celebrate its 48th year anniversary on 14 June 2013. The event was organised at a later date to give way to the ASEAN Humanitarian and Disaster Relief and Military Medicine Exercise.
The ceremony began with inspection of the parade by First Admiral Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Abdul Halim bin Haji Mohd Hanifah, Commander of RBN followed by the march pass in slow and quick march. The Parade Commander was led by Major (L) Khairil bin Haji Abd Rahman.
The event continued with a Meet and Greet session between RBN personnel held at the RBN Warrant Officer, Staff Sergeant and Sergeant’s Mess. This was followed by a speech from Commander RBN, in which he praised all RBN personnel for their contribution to the Armed Forces and the country. The Commander RBN also talked about the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief & Military Medicine Exercise, held on 17 to 21 June, which was concentrated at Muara Naval Base. He commented on the involvement of personnel from the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF), specifically the RBN, that showed outstanding professionalism in one of the largest multilateral exercises in the region. The involvement of RBN assets in the future was also highlighted, citing participation of RBN ships for the first time in Exercise Komodo in Indonesia, Exercise RIMPAC in Hawaii and the deployment of an RBN ship to China in 2014.
Certificates and awards were also presented to Ships’ Commanding Officers, Bridge Watch Keeping and Coxswains of Landing Crafts who have demonstrated outstanding work performance and commitment to RBN as a whole. Four catagories of outstanding achievement awards were presented, namely:
1. “Rule Of The Road Master Award”, awarded to 929 Lieutenant (L) Mohd Shahrul Idham bin Haji Bungsu;
2. “Gold Anchor Award”, awarded to 13007 SSgt (L) Aliuddin bin Haji Serbini;
3. “Best Technical Award”, awarded to 11951 SSgt (L) Sufiri bin Atar;
4. “Bintang Harapan Award”, awarded to 16610 L/Cpl (L) Haji Mohd Nazmin Salhadi bin Awg Haji Salehuddin.
Ship Command Badges were also presented to two new ships’ Commanding Officers as follows:
1. 720 Captain (L) Pg Faren bin Pg Mohd Noor, Commanding Officer KDB PERWIRA
2. 801 Captain (L) Haji Mohd Arnold bin Haji Osman, Commanding Officer KDB PENYERANG
Before the end of the event, a tree planting ceremony was organised. In supporting the world’s cry towards a greener planet, RBN played their part by planting saplings around the parade square.
[mappress] Press Release, June 27, 2013; Image: Brunei MoD