Seventy members of the Brunei-Muara District Scouts Association participated in a mass procession to mark Maulidur Rasul at the Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien in the capital on Thursday.
The group, led by President of the Brunei Darussalam Scouts Association Dato Paduka Ar Haji Idris bin Haji Abas, joined the walk around the capital. – Lyna Mohamad
Since I became a father two years ago, I’ve been more and more concerned about plastic pollution and what it means for the next generation. With microplastics now found in humans, I wonder if we are doing enough to stop it from worsening.
Every trip to the supermarket leaves me both helpless and angry. When did we grow so dependent on plastic? Now, every produce is wrapped in cling film, sometimes even individually. Then there are all the bottled drinks that we can’t seem to get enough of.
Whenever I read about volunteers picking up trash at beaches, a part of me applauds them for their dedication to cleaning up the environment, but another part wonders if the problem stems from us not realising we now live in a throw-away society, where disposable everything is the only way to attract interest.
Following the announcement of an increase in plastic tax, a lot of restaurants started charging customers for takeaway containers. While the majority was up in arms about putting more strain on their already strained pockets, a fair few began showing up at eateries with lunch boxes. It was a good sign; it showed that people could adapt to any situation.
A few weeks ago, a popular global coffeehouse chain announced that they would do away with disposable cups to make customers think harder about sustainability. It’s a step in the right direction. But can we do the same here? Some local businesses may feel that without the clutch of convenience, customers would not come. But I believe that if the authorities ordered plastic to be phased out at cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and retail stores, the public would not like it at first but they would soon accept, much like how it was with the ‘No Plastic Bag Everyday’ campaign in 2018.
We are now at a crossroads, with pockets around the world reporting that they are drowning in plastics; and it is only going to be direr.
What keeps me up at night is thinking that my little girl may have to pay for our passivity, unless we collectively confront our plastic addiction as a society and find a way out of the mess we have gotten ourselves into.
Fatherly Love
When I arrived in Brunei a few weeks ago, I was struck by how beautiful the country is. There is so much greenery and the weather is beautiful. There are the occasional sightings of wild animals, such as monkeys and squirrels, which never fail to put a smile on my face.
However, I have noticed that the country has a littering problem, which I suspect is due to not having enough bins in public areas. The bins that I have come across tend to be overflowing with rubbish, so I now have a habit of putting it in my pocket and dispose of it at home.
Growing up in Eastern Europe, we too battled with the issue for a long time. But in the 90s, our government decided enough was enough and set out to clear the streets of rubbish by putting a bin at every other lamppost in the city centre. And it worked.
Perhaps the authority here could consider doing the same, especially in pedestrian-heavy areas such as parks and beaches. The public needs to learn that it is convenient to dispose of rubbish properly, and it can only work if the authority helps them along.
New In Town
I recently visited a public clinic in Sengkurong regarding my skin problem. The waiting area was quite busy at the time, so I had a hard time hearing the receptionist. But when I asked her to repeat herself, she looked offended and almost threw the queue ticket at me. Same thing happened at the payment counter, where the staffer practically yelled at me to pay up.
The doctors and nurses at the clinic were great, so I’m not sure why those working at the counters were severely lacking patience with the public. Surely, they must know that the plastic barrier can make it hard to hear, especially when it is a packed room.
I hope the authority could consider providing these clinic staffers with customer service training. They are dealing with people with medical issues, and a little patience goes a long way.
Disappointed
PARIS (AFP) – The French government said yesterday it was launching a concerted effort to fight bed bugs that have appeared in numbers in public transport, cinemas and hospitals.
The blood-sucking insects have been spotted in the Paris metro, high-speed trains and at Paris’ Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, with disgusted travellers posting videos on social media.
Transport Minister Clement Beaune said he was convening representatives from public transport operators next week “to inform them about counter-measures and how to do more for the protection of travellers”. Posting on X, Beaune said the aim was to “reassure
and protect”.
Bed bugs, which had largely disappeared from daily life by the 1950s, have made a resurgence in recent decades, mostly due to high population densities and more mass transit.
One-tenth of all French households are believed to have had a bedbug problem over the past few years, usually requiring a pest control operation costing several hundreds of euros (dollars) that often needs to be repeated.
Paris city hall on Thursday urged President Emmanuel Macron’s government to help with the infestation, including by creating a dedicated task force.
Bed bugs get their name from their habit of nesting in mattresses, although they can also hide in clothes and in luggage.
They come out at night to feed on human blood. France’s national health agency recommended that people check their hotel beds when travelling and be cautious about bringing second-hand furniture or pre-owned mattresses into their homes.
Once bed bugs are sighted in a home, affected rooms must be treated quickly, it said. Bed bug bites leave red areas, blisters or large rashes on the skin, and can cause intense itching or allergic reactions.
They also often cause psychological distress, sleeping issues, anxiety and depression. The appearance of the insects, which can grow up to around seven millimetres long, is unrelated to hygiene levels, according to authorities.
Explore the Brunei Content Festival’s impact on the local broadcasting landscape.
The Brunei Content Festival (BCF) returned this year, bigger and brighter than ever, illuminating the talents of Bruneian content creators, producers, directors, and filmmakers.
Hosted annually by the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry of Brunei Darussalam (AITI), the BCF serves as a catalyst for innovation and creativity, as one of the initiatives under AITI’s role in developing the broadcasting industry.
The event not only celebrates the achievements of content creators but also strives to foster the development of high-quality digital content with commercial viability, suitable for distribution on television, Over-the-Top (OTT) providers such as RTBGo, Progresif Media, as well as social media and other digital platforms.
BCF: A PLATFORM FOR PROGRESS
The participation in the BCF 2023 Awards spanned from May 15 to June 23, attracting a substantial pool of 131 entries. Following rigorous evaluation, a total of 96 submissions were deemed to meet the competition’s qualifications and criteria.
The BCF 2023 Screening and Exhibition took place from September 8 to 10, offering public screenings of short films, dramas, advertisements, and music videos produced by local production companies, students and individuals vying for recognition in the BCF 2023 Awards.
Over these three days, industry experts and representatives shared their valuable knowledge and experiences cultivated throughout their careers.
The much-anticipated BCF 2023 Awards Night unfolded on September 12, marking a celebratory conclusion to this grand event.
Senior Manager at AITI, Rosnani Hj Md Yussof said that the overall response for this year’s BCF has been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging, noting the significant increase in participants compared to last year.
“This alone shows there is a demand in recognising and promoting local content in which majority of the local content creators look forward for next year’s content festival event.”
She shared how the Screening and Exhibition was an eye opener for the public both local and international who were surprised with the good quality of Brunei’s locally produced content and the capabilities of its production companies.
“Public viewership remains a vital role to support the local content industry for it to flourish locally and also to venture internationally.”
For this reason, she continued, AITI introduced the KontenKitani.bn portal, a dedicated online platform designed to serve as a space for local content creators to exhibit their portfolios and expertise.
“Brunei boasts a wealth of untapped talent and creative minds, which can be harnessed to create high-quality content of great value.
“Additionally, our country offers a plethora of captivating filming locations that local content creators can leverage.”
The senior manager went on to reaffirm AITI’s commitment to bolstering the local content industry.
This commitment involves enhancing exposure to international film festivals, elevating talent through capacity-building programmes, and fostering avenues for co-production with international platforms and channels.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND UNDERSTANDING
During the BCF 2023 Screening and Exhibition, content, services and talents from a variety of production companies and institutions of higher learning were showcased.
One of the exhibitors included Oddbox Media and Communications, a versatile creative agency and production house, which promoted its capabilities through various activities.
These included portfolio presentations, casting calls, and portfolio reviews for creatives. Participants received goodies when they explored Oddbox’s AR/VR game, flipbook project, and a creative knowledge quiz.
Dean of The Mahakarya Institute of the Arts Asia, Dr Alex Fischer together with Dr Yong Liu of University Brunei Darussalam were also present at the event to deliver a talk on the first data-driven study that investigates the economic and social effectiveness of feature film production over the past decade.
“Long form film productions, such as feature films, are “economic engines” of most motion picture industries due to large production budgets, sizable employment opportunities and highly developed exhibition infrastructures.”
He added that despite the considerable increase in feature film production in Brunei, there is very little evidence to suggest locally-made, long form productions are performing as “economic engines as 95 per cent of all locally made feature films, in Brunei’s film history, were between 2013 – 2023.”
A STELLAR SELECTION AND RISING POTENTIAL
The BCF 2023 jury consisted of representatives from Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS), Radio Televisyen Brunei (RTB), Progresif Media, National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and local industry experts.
Media Team Lead of Progresif Media and member of the jury, Olivia Ong said that the submissions for this year’s festival were proof of a growing content creation industry in Brunei, with fresh new faces and talents both on and off screen.
Senior Principal Assistant Director, Creative and Technical Department of FINAS, Kamaruza’ain Abdul Kadir, another jury member said that the entries this year had its own narrative appeal. However, there are still some aspects that need improvement.
He explained that to foster the growth of the local content creation industry, it is crucial for the local scene to focus on the development of human capital.
This, he said, can be achieved through exposure to the latest production technology, offering skills training, and establishing strategic collaborations with foreign nations to promote and introduce Brunei’s creative content.
Head of the jury, Film and TV Producer Nurain Abdullah believed that in order to further develop the industry, the Sultanate needs more and consistent platforms for constructive exchange of ideas, experience and knowledge transfer.
“As content creators, we need to watch contents made by other creators too, be it local, regional and international. So that we can evaluate our own contents, where we are standing right now and how we can improve.”
A NEW CONSTELLATION OF STARS
Winners of the BCF 2023 conveyed their heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to AITI for hosting the event and providing an essential platform for local content creators to shine.
Wardah Hakimah binti Haji Gulihana, who won Best Short Film with her first ever short film, ‘Cinta dan Harapan’, credited her start in the genre and medium to AITI, having joined the Young Content Maker Short Video Competition in September 2020.
“After the competition, AITI gave me an opportunity to make my own film, and it was initiative from AITI to make a 30-minute short drama. I was able to learn and create my own drama.”
Meanwhile, Muhammad Adam Chong, who won Best Music Video for the song ‘Leka’ by Fauzan and Fathin AMJ, shared that his motivation to create content was mainly to educate and to leave a lasting impact that is imbued with Islamic values.
Best Actor winner, Shafiee Mostar felt deeply moved from receiving the award, proceeding to extend his gratitude to not only AITI but also the friends and mentors that have provided the actor guidance in the field of performance art.
For Best Actress, Nabilah Hamid, she admitted to having more room for growth in her journey as an actress. This recognition, she added, is more of indication of how far she has come as an actress.
“It is a nice motivation to keep going and growing.”
Sharing his advice to aspiring local content creators, the winner for Best Drama, Iskandar Karim who won with ‘I want to be #FEMES’ urged local creators to “keep telling stories you are passionate about.”
“Keep learning. Be kind to each other. It’s not a race. Focus on quality, not quantity. Work hard. Be patient. Invest in yourself and in time to grow.”
Washington (AFP) – A paralysed Swiss man has become the first person to test a new technology that reads his thoughts using AI and then transmits signals through his own nervous system to his arms, hands and fingers in order to restore movement.
The treatment, a combination of a brain-computer interface and a spinal implant, had previously allow a paraplegic patient to walk again, a breakthrough that was published in the scientific journal Nature in May.
But this is the first time it’s being used for “upper extremity function”, Onward, the Dutch company behind it, said on Wednesday.
“The mobility of the arm is more complex,” surgeon Jocelyne Bloch, who carried out the implantation procedures, told AFP.
Though walking comes with its own challenges – notably balance – “the musculature of the hand is quite fine, with many different small muscles activated at the same time for certain movements,” she said.
The patient, who wishes to remain anonymous, is a 46-year-old who lost the use of his arms after a fall. Two operations were carried out last month at the Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland.
The first involved removing a small piece of cranial bone and inserting in its place the brain implant, which was developed by the French group CEA-Clinatec and measures a few centimeters in diameter.
In the second, surgeons placed a stimulator roughly the size of a credit card developed by Onward inside the patient’s abdomen, and connected it through electrodes to the top of his spinal column.
The brain-computer interface (BCI) records brain signals and decodes them using artificial intelligence to make sense of the patient’s intentions, acting as a “digital bridge” to send these instructions on to the spinal cord stimulator.
“It’s going well so far,” said Bloch, who co-founded Onward and is a consultant for the company. “We are able to record brain activity, and we know that the stimulation works,” she said.
“But it is too early to talk about what progress he has made.”
The patient is still in the training phase, teaching his brain implant to recognize the different desired movements.
The movements will then have to be practiced many times before they can become natural. The process will take a few months, according to Dr Bloch.
Two more patients are scheduled to participate in this clinical trial, and the full results will be published later.
Spinal cord stimulation has already been used in the past to successfully move paralysed patients’ arms, but without reading their thoughts by pairing it with a brain implant.
And brain implants have already been used so that a patient can control an exoskeleton. The Battelle research organisation used a brain implant to restore movement in a patient’s arm – through a sleeve of electrodes placed on the forearm, stimulating the muscles required from above.
“Onward is unique in our focus on restoring movement in people who have paralysis by stimulating the spinal cord,” the company’s CEO Dave Marver told AFP, adding the technology could be commercialized by the end of the decade.
Brain implants were long trapped in the realm of science fiction, but the field is now rapidly growing thanks to firms like Synchron and Elon Musk’s Neuralink.
They are working on having paralysed patients to control computers through thought, restoring for example the ability to write.
Millions take to China’s railways, roads, air for holiday since end of zero-COVID.
HONG KONG (AP) – Many millions of Chinese tourists are expected to travel within their country, splurging on hotels, tours, attractions and meals in a boost to the economy during the eight-day holiday period that began on Friday.
This year’s holiday began with the Mid-Autumn Festival yesterday and also includes the October 1 National Day. The public holidays end on October 6.
Typically hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and overseas during such holidays. The eight-day-long holiday is the longest week of public holidays since COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted in December. Outbound tourism has lagged domestic travel, with flight capacities lagging behind pre-pandemic levels.
Big cities like the capital, Beijing, Shanghai, and southern cities like Shenzhen and Guangzhou are favored destinations. Smaller cities, such as Chengdu and Chongqing in southwest China also are popular.
All that travel is a boon for the world’s number two economy: During the week-long May holiday this year, 274 million tourists spent CNY148 billion (USD20.3 billion).
“Over the last few years with the pandemic, there’s been really strong pent-up demand,” said managing director at the online travel booking platform Trip.com Group Boon Sian Chai. Both domestic and outbound travel have “recovered significantly,” but travel within China accounted for nearly three-quarters of total bookings, Chai said.
China Railway said it was expecting about 190 million passenger trips during the September 27-October 8 travel rush, more than double the number of trips last year and an increase from 2019, before the pandemic started.
In Guangzhou and Shenzhen, extra overnight high-speed trains will operate for 11 days to cope with a travel surge during the long holiday, according to the China Railway Guangzhou Group Co, Ltd.
Another 21 million passengers are expected to travel by air during the holiday, with an average of about 17,000 flights per day, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. More than 80 per cent of those flights are domestic routes.
CEO of Liurenyou International Travel Agency Jia Jianqiang said Chinese are splurging on more luxurious travel.
“Many people are now also inclined towards more customised, high-end tours compared to the large group tours that were popular (before the pandemic),” Jia said.
For many Chinese, long public holidays such as Golden Week are the best time to travel, since paid vacation can be as few as five days a year.
“Most Chinese don’t have long holidays, so this time of the year is when everyone can take the longest break and the only time to travel for fun,” said Fu Zhengshuai, an IT engineer and photography enthusiast who often travels alone to remote areas in China such as far western Qinghai and Xinjiang.
The downside of travelling during such big holidays is that everyone else is out there, too, and prices of tickets to attractions, food, and accommodations are high, Fu said.
For student Ma Yongle, travelling during big holidays means long waiting times, huge crowds, and heavy traffic. Train tickets often are sold out.
“I saw more people than scenery. I spent longer time waiting than eating. Train tickets were sold out quickly and traffic was heavy,” Ma said. “More time was wasted and little was left for enjoying the scenery, which spoiled my mood.”
She has since adopted what is referred in China as a “special forces travel trend” where tourists don’t stay overnight at a destination, but only take day trips to save money.
JAKARTA (ANN/THE JAKARTA POST) – In a remarkable achievement, Indonesian-grown vocal sensation Putri Ariani, whose standout audition for America’s Got Talent (AGT) captured international attention in June, securing her fourth place in the fiercely competitive talent extravaganza.
The culmination of Season 18 of this widely acclaimed reality show unfolded on Wednesday night in the United States, revealing the top five contestants who had won the hearts of American viewers.
Emerging as the victor was Italian dog trainer Adrian Stoica, accompanied by his talented canine companion, Hurricane, surpassing the second-place magician Anna DeGuzman in a thrilling finale.
They were followed by dance group Murmuration in third, Putri in fourth, and then head-balancing duo the Ramadhani Brothers in fifth place.
Putri’s fourth-place win was met with resounding disappointment from the live audience. Though she appeared devastated, Putri received words of encouragement from AGT judge and creator Simon Cowell, who gave her the highly coveted Golden Buzzer during her audition.
“Nobody can take away the fact that you are an amazing, amazing singer […] and performer and person,” Cowell told Putri on Wednesday, as quoted by the show’s broadcaster NBC.
Putri expressed her gratitude on social media after the show, saying that AGT had been a “wonderful journey” and marked a “new beginning” for her.
“Thank you so much for your amazing support. Please keep supporting me throughout my career,” she wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
Hailing from Yogyakarta, the 17-year-old vocalist has won acclaim from judges and viewers alike. A clip of her AGT audition went viral around the world for her singing chops in a cover of Elton John’s “Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word” and her original song, “Loneliness”.
Putri automatically advanced to the live shows on receiving Cowell’s Golden Buzzer in June. This also catapulted her to celebrity status back home, and she and her family received an invitation from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to visit the State Palace that same month.
Compliments kept pouring in for Putri in the semifinals earlier this month when she covered U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, receiving high praise from the Irish rock band’s frontman Bono.
During the final on Tuesday night, Putri sang her rendition of another Elton John song, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, backed by a choir for the first time in her appearance on the show.
“I have no doubt in my mind [that] if this was just a singing competition, I think you just won it, hands down,” said AGT judge Howie Mandel, commenting on Putri’s final performance.
Putri was diagnosed with retinopathy and has been blind since her premature birth in Riau. She has been singing and writing songs from a young age and previously competed in The Voice Kids Indonesia, from which she was eliminated. She won Indonesia’s Got Talent in 2014 when she was only 8 years old.
This year’s AGT champion Stoica has won a USD1 million cash prize and headlines the “America’s Got Talent Presents Superstars Live” show next month at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring the show’s past winners and fan favourites.
