Camping by young scouts
By Suriani Garip & A M Zukarnaen

Pehin Ali (2nd left) inspecting the assembly.

A total of 278 boys and girls scouts of the Brunei Muara Scouts Association are now spending their school holidays at the pristine jungle of the Bukit Shahbandar Recreation Forest Park.

The camping which commenced yesterday would end April 16.

The Shahbandar Recreational Park seemed like a scene from a movie, where camps were sprawled out in every nook and crevasse. The young scouts with eager and happy faces were enthusiastic about their time there.

Guest of honour for the official opening yesterday was Pehin Orang Kaya Setia Raja Dato Paduka Haji Awang Mohammad Ali Haji Mohammad Daud, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in his capacity as the President of the Brunei Darussalam Scouts Association.

"We are the best of today and the leaders of tomorrow for peace, security, prosperity and harmony of our beloved country Brunei Darussalam, the one and only which we can call with pride and dignity as our own," said Pehin Dato Paduka Hj Ali, followed by a thunderous applause by the scouts.

He said that their participation was a manifestation of their will and determination to be active in the scouting activity by taking heed of objectives of the policy and principles.

"The basic aim is to encourage the physical, mind, spiritual and social development to be a useful individual for the nation and its people. This could be undertaken through attractive progressive training programmes based on the foundation of the scouting rules and adult leadership."

He stated that among the objectives of the camping were to encourage teamwork, learning the art of survival, leadership training as well as to love the clean and beautiful nature and environment.

He also urged scouts to attract more of their friends to join the Federation as this would help them to become useful persons, hence avoiding them from engaging in unhealthy activities.

According to Awg Hassan Mohammad, a total of 9 troops of the Brunei Muara Scouts Association are taking part in this annual camping activity.

Among the activities arranged for the camping are cleaning up and beautifying the Shahbandar park, night march, scout games, trekking and hiking challenge, playing traditional games, goodwill games and cultural night.

The main highlight of yesterday's function was the putting up of signboard "Love and Appreciate Our Park" by the guest of honour Pehin Dato Paduka Awg Hj Ali. He then proceeded to visit the camps put up by the participants.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin