| By Saiful Rizal
L-R: Ak Md Ezul Hazrin, Hibri bin Sarililah, Md Yusra bin Hj
Piut and Hj Amirul Azuan Hj Ahmad, the would-be cadet officers
from the 121st intake
The Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF)
held a ‘Holding Platoon’ ceremony to welcome the would-be
recruits and cadet officers of the 121st intake yesterday
morning, at the Dewan Pahlawan, Berakas Garrison.
The ‘Holding Platoon’ will
end on February 23, 2003.
A total of 179 male recruits
and cadet officers out of the 547 applicants were chosen for
this new intake. Out of the 179, only four of them were accepted
as cadet officers.
The training period for this
new intake will run from February 24, until August 15, 2003.
The ceremony began with the
recital of the Surah Al-Fatihah, followed by an opening speech
by Major Pg Said bin Pg Hj Mahmud, Deputy Recruiting Officer at
the Ministry of Defence.
In his speech, Major Pg Said
stated that there were 3 successful recruitments for the year
2002, to which, only 481 out of 1662 applicants were accepted.
In 2003, there were 195 applicants for the cadet officers. Only
22 were accepted.
Major Pg Said also stated that
for the beginning of 2002, the recruitment office had taken
specific steps and one of them was introducing the matrix
evaluation system, where points are awarded for academic
qualifications and fitness tests. Other than that, swimming
ability and Extra-Curricular Activities (ECA), especially in the
uniformed group activities, were taken into count.
He also added that for the
122nd intake, among other things that have been agreed upon for
the awarding of points are; applicants who have BJCE ‘O’
Level credits in selected subjects and those who excelled in
sports at national or school level.
These steps were taken to
ensure that future applicants would continue to work hard at
achieving academic qualifications as well as to be actively
involved in school activities.
He also urged the parents of
future applicants to advise their children to study at higher
institutions, participate in school activities, and not rush
into looking for a job when they could still continue their
studies at a higher level.
Present as the chief guest
during the welcoming ceremony was Col (U) Hj Mahmud bin Hj
Saidin, Commander of the Royal Brunei Airforce.
In his speech, Col (U) Hj
Mahmud urged the new recruits and cadet officers to focus their
attentions and efforts towards the excellent level during their
recruit training.
“It is suitable with the
RBAF’s objectives to produce members that are firm in terms of
physical, mental and spiritual aspects, to prevent them from
getting into socially ill activities” he added.
Ustaz Hj Azamain Hj Kaliman,
Religious Teacher at the Bolkiah Garrison, read the “Doa
Selamat”.
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