| Aziz Idris |
HIS Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Wakeel and Her Royal Highness Princess Ameerah Wardatul Bolkiah graced the Gala Night for the 5th ASEAN Children’s Forum (ACF) held at Serambi Suluh, Tarindak D’Seni last night.
On hand to welcome Their Royal Highnesses were Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Awang Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin along with senior officials from the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and representatives from the Senior Officials on Social Welfare and Development (SOSWD) Brunei Darussalam.
Following the arrival, Their Royal Highnesses consented to take a group photo with all members of the delegation of the recently concluded 5th ASEAN Children’s Forum and signed the guestbook in commemoration of the event.
Their Royal Highnesses then witnessed a traditional performance entitled Senandung Budaya from MCYS in-collaboration with Yippie Music School to begin the gala night.
In his opening remarks, Acting Permanent Secretary at the MCYS Haji Amer Hamzah bin Pehin Orang Kaya Amar Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Zakaria, who is also a representative from SOSWD Brunei, congratulated all delegates for a fruitful forum.
“For the past three days, our young delegates have shared their experiences on issues relating to their country, identifying root causes as well as the national initiatives that have been done in their respective countries,” he explained.
Haji Amer Hamzah also lauded delegates for raising recommendations that contained action plans which can benefit all sectors in each member state.
“I’m proud to say that our children have done very well in sharing their knowledge, they have shown enthusiasm and they came up with excellent initiatives and ideas that we can forward to our leaders and all sectoral bodies under ASEAN so that we can come up with better programmes towards securing our children and ASEAN’s future,” he added.
The night also saw a summary of the deliberation presented by ACF participant from Malaysia, Nurul Farah Nabilah binti Kamarudin followed by a video presentation showcasing the activities conducted by the delegation through the forum. The gala night was enlivened with cultural performances from the delegation of each member state.
Prior to the conclusion of the event, Their Royal Highnesses consented to receive a pesambah in the form of a painting from the ACF delegation.
Some 70 youth delegates from across the region were invited to debate on current issues at the 5th ACF which carried the theme ‘Our Children, Our future, Our ASEAN’.
The 5th ACF is a project under the ASEAN Strategic Framework on Social Welfare and Development 2016-2020. The forum is held every two years since 2010 by an ASEAN member state being the host country.