Bandar Seri Begawan - Eleven male and eight female participants competed yesterday in the finals of the National Al-Quran Memorizing and Understanding Competition 1433 Hijrah that was held at the multi-purpose hall of the Police Training Centre at the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) Headquarters in Gadong.

Like in previous years, the competition had four categories. Yesterday's finals saw participants from Categories B, C and D competing in the morning session, while six others from Category A competed in the afternoon.

Present at the afternoon session as the guest of honour was Minister of Finance II at the Prime Minister's Office, Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awg Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim. Also in attendance was the Acting Commissioner of Police, Awg Bahrin bin Mohd Noon

According to the event's chairman, Pengiran Haji Haslin bin Pengiran Haji Ali, the competition, an annual project of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, was handled by the MABIMS Al-Quran Education and Dissemination Centre. This year, he added, they also collaborated with the RBPF in organising the competition.

Pengiran Haji Haslin further revealed that a total of 134 candidates had registered to take part in this year's competition.

A nasyid performance also enlivened the finals before the guest of honour presented prizes and gifts to the participants and judges. The results for all four categories will be announced at the National Nuzul Al-Quran celebration to be held on August 6.