| Hakim Hayat |
FOLLOWING his promotion to the rank of Acting Captain, His Royal Highness Prince Captain ‘Abdul Mateen said he is looking forward to his military pilot training that will begin as early as next week and expressed high hopes to further advance his career in the military upon the training’s conclusion.
His Royal Highness was presented with his Acting Captain rank insignia by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, Minister of Defence and Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) at a ceremony held at the Bolkiah Garrison Officers’ Mess yesterday.
In an interview following the ceremony’s conclusion yesterday, His Royal Highness, who completed his military training at the prestigious Royal Military Academy (RMA) Sandhurst in the UK back in April 2011 said he will return to the UK next week to pursue his military flight training and plans to advance from there gradually in order to specialise in the area.
“I’ll take it step by step, and will try and finish this flight training and will come back and specialise in (this area) and we’ll see where I can go from there,” he told reporters.
Following the footsteps of his father who is also military-trained in RMA Sandhurst and a trained pilot, His Royal Highness, now 25, attended the Commissioning Course for Regular Army Officers that lasted for 48 weeks when he was 18 years old, along with 200 other recruits, making them the 102nd intake of Sandhurst. The gruelling three-term commissioning course at Sandhurst consists of three terms that covers military training, training courses, adventurous expedition and also academic subjects.
His Royal Highness Prince Captain ‘Abdul Mateen. – AZROL AZMI
Upon completion of the training in Sandhurst, His Majesty consented for His Royal Highness’s promotion to the rank of Second Lieutenant on April 15, 2011 and he was later promoted to the rank of Substantive Lieutenant on September 15, 2012.
His Royal Highness, who enjoys playing polo and football among other various sports, received his Bachelor of Arts with Honours in International Politics, from King’s College London on July 21, 2014.
He also completed his Master of Arts in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in July this year.
When asked to comment about how he can inspire the country’s youth in taking up the exciting military career that presents vast opportunities, His Royal Highness said he would like to inspire everyone, not just the youths, and called on other officers in the RBAF to also follow.
“It’s not only me, all the officers in general should inspire the youth to come and take this as a career,” he added.
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