Bandar Seri Begawan - In Response to His Majesty's National Day titah this year that highlighted the worrying trend of road accident fatalities in the country, representatives from the private sector yesterday stepped forward and joined forces with the government to take part in a huge Road Safety Awareness campaign, which will commence October 18, with a series of activities planned at various locations within the Sultanate as well as involving print and social media.

Baiduri Finance has entered into collaboration with the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) for a one-month-long programme aimed at raising road safety awareness in conjunction with the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which will fall on November 1 this year, when the campaign is also scheduled to end with a Remembrance Day walkabout at the Jerudong Park Playground as its grand finale.

The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was held in the Radisson Hotel, where the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communications, Dato Paduka Hj Awg Alaihuddin bin POKDGSLDSU Hj Awg Mohammad Taha, in his capacity as Chairman of the National Road Safety Council, signed the MoU with Pierre Imhof, the Director of Baiduri Finance.

Witnessing the signing ceremony yesterday were Hj Joharry bin Hj Abdul Karim, Head of the Road Safety Unit, Ministry of Communications, and Hj Haliluddin bin Dato Paduka Hj Talib, the General Manager of Baiduri Finance.

The parties involved who signed the MoU have pledged to work together to organise activities and further the cause over a one-month period, working hand in hand with other stakeholders in the automobile and insurance industries.

In addition, signing the MoU with Baiduri as co-campaigners were Brunei Automobile Traders Association (PPAB), the General Insurance Association of Brunei (GIAB), Takaful Brunei Am Sdn Bhd, Insurans Islam TAIB Sdn Bhd, the Brunei Darussalam Red Crescent Society and the Co-Curriculum Department under the Ministry of Education.

The exclusive print media partner for the campaign will be Brunei Press Sdn Bhd, with Ranoadidas.com as the online media partner.

Representatives of the various co-campaigners who also signed the MoU yesterday included Teng Chee Keong, the Chairman of Brunei Automobile Trader's Association; Helen Yeo, the Chairperson for General Insurance Association of Brunei; Hjh Fa'azah binti Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Awg Hj Abidin, the Acting Managing Director of Syarikat Takaful Am Brunei Sdn Bhd; Hjh Suzana binti Hj Mirasan, the Acting Managing Director of Insurans Islam TAIB Sdn Bhd; Datin Hjh Siti Hajar binti Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Setia Dato Paduka Hj Mohd Yussof, the President of Brunei Darussalam Red Crescent Society; Hazizah Osman, the Deputy General Manager of Brunei Press Sdn Bhd, and Rano Iskandar of Ranoadidas.com.

Pierre Imhof thanked all the partners for their support and said, "At Baiduri Bank, we always believe in giving back to society. As the leader in automobile financing in Brunei, we have taken the challenge to lead this campaign and spread the message of the importance of road safety."

Hj Haliluddin, in his capacity as chairman of the organising committee, said: "We are in the midst of finalising the programme. It will be an exciting series of activities spanning over one month and targetted at various age groups.

"There will be messages posted on buses, in cinemas, over the radio, in the papers and on websites as well as all over the social media. There will also be drawing and colouring competitions related to the campaign's theme, as well as a debating contest among tertiary education institutions.

"I believe this is the first time in Brunei that a road safety campaign involving various stakeholders from both the public and private sectors working together on a common agenda, and I am thankful to all our partners for the support given."

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin