| Rokiah Mahmud |
THE Mitsubishi Public Affairs Committee, Asian Pacific Federation of UNESCO Clubs and Associations (AFUCA) National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ), and the Co-Curriculum Education Department at the Ministry of Education held an award presentation ceremony for the international winners of the Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa 2015 – 2016.
Present at the ceremony to hand over the awards and souvenirs to the winners was the guest of honour Haji Abdul Rahim bin Derus, Director General of Education.
In a speech, Roslin bin Suhailee, the Acting Assistant Director of Co-Curriculum Education, explained that the Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa is for children to create ‘enikki’ (illustrated diaries) that portray daily events and thoughts in the form of a picture and a short essay.
“The goal of the festa is to use enikki as a very effective means to promote cross-cultural understanding of each other’s lives and cultures, and eventually share them by having cultural exchanges among themselves,” he said.
For this year’s participation, he added that the department received more than 2,500 entries from 182 primary schools in Brunei Darussalam to participate in the competition. Out of the number only 700 entries from 70 schools were eligible to be screened in which finally only eight entries were selected to proceed to the international screening in Tokyo.
“The screening committee will look at how the enikki portrays the participants’ culture, their daily lives as well as their impressions and thoughts,” he added.
The enikki shall show the features, unique to the country such as culture, national characters, local customs, life, nature and the environment. The enikki shall also demonstrate the sensitivity or viewpoints unique to the child such as the workmanship of concept, construction, carefulness and coverage of varieties of topics.
A group photo of the guest of honour Haji Abdul Rahim bin Derus, Director General of Education, and other officials with the winners of the Mitsubishi Asian Children’s Enikki Festa 2015 – 2016. – PHOTOS: ROKIAH MAHMUD
Awangku Muhammad Isa Daniel Muqri bin Pengiran Kamarul Zaman, winner for the Grand Prix Award, with his mother Mardiana binti Haji Hashim.
“The award winning artworks will be exhibited in Japan and overseas and will also be displayed at the head office or branch offices of member companies of the Mitsubishi Public Affairs Committee where people will have the opportunity to see the children’s works. The prize-winning artworks will also be used as literacy education materials as an effort to contribute in raising the level of literacy of each participating country,” he added.
Awangku Muhammad Isa Daniel Muqri bin Pengiran Kamarul Zaman from Seri Mulia Sarjana School was named as the winner for the Grand Prix Award. While Hebe Liaw Wen Hui from Chung Hwa Middle School was named as the winner for the AFUCA Award, Kamalia Ayusofea binti Rani Aswandy from St Andrew’s School won the NFUAJ Award and Cely Jelita Cristy from St George’s School received the Mitsubishi Pac Award.
Meanwhile, the Excellence Awards went to Faathia Aaisha, Faadhilah Shiraz both from St Andrew’s School and Khairunnisa Balqis Hidayah binti Ahmad from Arabic Preparatory School.
The National Federation of UNESCO Association of Japan (NFUAJ) has invited children from 24 countries in Asia to draw illustrations diaries with the theme ‘This is My Way of Life’. Among participating countries were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, China, China Taipei, Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.
In an interview, Mardiana binti Haji Hashim, mother of Awangku Muhammad Isa Daniel Muqri expressed her gratitude for her son’s achievement. She explained to the Bulletin that her son has the passion for drawing since he was in kindergarten. Since knowing that her son has the potential to be an artist, Mardiana hoped that her son’s talent can be polished further and she will always support his passions.
Meanwhile Hebe’s mom, Lim Guat Fong expressed her happiness and excitements for her daughter’s success and winning the AFUCA award. According to Mrs Lim, her daughter has participated in various colouring and drawing competitions. In learning her passion and talents, the school’s art teacher also encouraged Hebe to further polish her talent in drawing and colouring.
“As a mother, I hope Hebe will further succeed in her hobby and hopes she will participate in many international competitions like this,” she said.
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