Day: November 9, 2022

Every job carried out need to be accompanied with sincere intentions to gain blessings from Allah Subahanahu Wataala. The Minister of Religious Affairs, stated the matter at the Presentation of Service Appreciation Certificates ceremony for officers and staff of the Ministry of Religious Affairs who retired in 2020 and 2021. According to Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, whatever the position held while in service at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the retirees have certainly carried out a very useful service. The ceremony took place yesterday morning at a hotel in Gadong.

194 officers and staff of the Ministry of Religious Affairs who retired in 2020 and 2021 were feted at the function. Also present was Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Mohammad Tashim bin Pengiran Haji Hassan, Deputy Minister of religious Affairs.

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

 

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, arrived in Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia yesterday afternoon. Upon arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, His Majesty was welcomed by Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Awang Haji Mohd. Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister of Finance and Economy; Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Erywan bin Pehin Datu Pekerma Jaya Haji Mohd. Yusof, Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and His Excellency Pengiran Kasmirhan bin Pengiran Haji Tahir, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Brunei Darussalam to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

His Majesty’s was welcomed on arrival by His Excellency Okhna Datuk Dr. Othsman Hassan, Senior Minister in charge of Special Mission. Cambodia, as ASEAN Chair for the year 2022, will host the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits, where ASEAN Leaders and Dialogue Partners will gather to advance discussions on agendas and priorities under the three ASEAN Community pillars, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community as well as strengthen ASEAN’s cooperation with its Dialogue Partners.

His Majesty’s second State Visit to Cambodia reaffirms Brunei Darussalam’s close bilateral relations with Cambodia, and further emphasises the need to continue to expand cooperation for greater benefits of the peoples of both countries, including cooperation in the fields of trade, education, youth, sports and culture. This year, Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations that were established on 9th June 1992.

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

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, yesterday afternoon, left for Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia to attend the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and Related Summits that will be held on 10th to 13th November 2022 and make a State Visit to the Kingdom of Cambodia on 14th November 2022. Accompanying His Majesty was His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen.

Prior to leaving Istana Nurul Iman, Doa Selamat was recited by Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Seri Maharaja Dato Paduka Seri Setia Doctor Ustaz Haji Awang Abdul Aziz bin Juned, the State Mufti.

Present at His Majesty the Sultan’s Flight Hangar in Rimba to bid farewell were, His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office; His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Malik; His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Wakeel; His Royal Highness Prince Mohamed Bolkiah; His Royal Highness Prince Haji Sufri Bolkiah and Her Royal Highness Princess Hajah Masna, Ambassador at Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also present were Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran-Pengiran Cheteria; Special Advisor to His Majesty; the Speaker of the Legislative Council; Members of the Privy Council; Cabinet Ministers; Deputy Ministers; the Commissioner of the Royal Brunei Police Force and the Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces.

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

Southeast Asian leaders convene in the Cambodian capital Thursday, faced with the challenge of trying to curtail escalating violence in Myanmar while the country’s military-led government shows no signs of complying with the group’s peace plan.

U.S. President Joe Biden will be on hand for the Phnom Penh summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which comes as Washington and Beijing are increasingly jockeying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region. It sets the stage for the Group of 20 meetings in Bali, Indonesia, that immediately follow and are expected to include Chinese President Xi Jinping and possibly Russian President Vladimir Putin, then the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok.

In addition to Myanmar, the four-day meetings are expected to focus on ongoing disputes in the South China Sea, pandemic recovery issues, regional trade and climate change.

Neither Xi nor Putin is expected to attend the ASEAN talks or the parallel East Asia Summit, though both China and Russia are thought to be sending high-level delegations headed by Prime Minister Li Keqiang and possibly Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Looming large over ASEAN, the G-20 and APEC are the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Russia’s consequent search for new markets for its energy resources, as well as resulting supply chain and food security issues, China’s increasingly aggressive saber-rattling over Taiwan, and rising tension in the Korean Peninsula.

By attending the ASEAN summit in person, Biden will be able to push American interests and also visibly demonstrate Washington’s renewed commitment to the region, said Thomas Daniel, an expert with Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump skipped the summits after 2017 and left the 2017 meetings early, before the plenary session of the East Asia Summit, a key regional strategic dialogue, leaving then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to stand in for him.

“For Southeast Asia it’s really important to physically show up, and I think the Americans are very aware of this,” Daniel said. “I cannot emphasize how much damage was done by the Trump administration not showing up — and it’s not just not showing up, it’s sending representatives that are seen as just further downgrades.”

ASEAN this year is elevating the U.S. to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” status — a largely symbolic enhancement of their relationship but one that puts Washington on the same level as China, which was granted the distinction last year.

Ahead of the summit, Daniel Kritenbrink, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said the talks would be an opportunity to work on a “broad range of diplomatic priorities across the region” and to focus on “carrying out everything we’ve promised rather than coming forward with another long list of new initiatives.”

“A high-level U.S. presence at these summits will demonstrate our strong and enduring commitment to the region,” he said at a late October roundtable hosted by Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“From the president to the secretary of state, throughout the entire U.S. government, we know that America’s future security and prosperity are entirely dependent on what happens in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

China’s Foreign Ministry did not mention the U.S. when outlining details of Li Keqiang’s upcoming appearance, saying only that the country is “committed to its foreign policy of maintaining world peace and promoting common developments.”

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose country has the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN, has invited Ukraine to participate in the summit and the country’s foreign minister met with Hun Sen ahead of the event on Wednesday.

Hun Sen’s office said he spoke with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone at the start of the month, and that the Ukrainian leader had requested to address the summit by video, but it was not immediately clear if that had been approved.

Kritenbrink applauded the inclusion of Ukraine, and said the U.S. was working with its ASEAN friends to “ensure that Ukraine meaningfully participates and that the (East Asia Summit) partners send a strong message that big countries cannot simply take what they want from smaller neighbors.”

He added that the U.S. would talk with ASEAN nations about additional steps to put pressure on Myanmar’s regime to push it to stop the killings and move toward a democratic path.

“We are not going to sit idly by while this violence continues,” Kritenbrink said.

ASEAN, which includes Myanmar, has tried to play a peacemaking role since shortly after the country’s military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in February 2021.

At a special meeting at the end of October, the foreign ministers of ASEAN’s other members — Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei — acknowledged their efforts to bring peace hadn’t succeeded and called for “concrete, practical and time-bound actions” to support the implementation of its five-point peace plan.

It calls for the immediate cessation of violence, a dialogue among all parties, mediation by an ASEAN special envoy, provision of humanitarian aid and a visit to Myanmar by the special envoy to meet all sides.

Myanmar’s government initially agreed to it but has made little effort to implement it, aside from seeking humanitarian aid and allowing ASEAN’s envoy, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, to visit. But it refused to allow him to meet with Suu Kyi, who was arrested and is being tried on a variety of charges that critics say are meant to sideline her from politics.

In response, ASEAN has not allowed Myanmar’s leaders to participate in its official meetings, and Myanmar has rejected the idea of sending non-political representation to the summit, though working-level officials have joined some pre-summit meetings.

ASEAN foreign ministers in August concluded a meeting with a joint statement criticizing Myanmar for its lack of progress, but little more, deciding to instead leave the issue for the leaders to decide in Phnom Penh.

It could be, however, that the leaders also choose to wait until Indonesia, which has taken a tougher stand on Myanmar, takes the chair of the bloc in 2023, before taking more decisive action.

“There is every chance that they might choose to delay and kick this down the road again,” Daniel, the analyst, said.

 

 

Source: Voice of America