Brunei’s cybersecurity gets a boost with Progresif-STE Infosec partnership

National

September 28, 2024

Progresif Sdn Bhd, a leading telecommunications company in Brunei recently signed a Collaboration Agreement with ST Engineering Info-Security Pte. Ltd. (STE Infosec), a renowned cybersecurity solutions and service provider based in Singapore.

The strategic partnership was formalised at the sidelines of Brunei Cyber Security (CySec) Conference 2024 held at the Empire Hotel Brunei from 18th to 19th September themed “Cyber Vigilance and Data Sovereignty: Shielding the Digital Horizon.”

In attendance as witnesses during the signing were Singapore High Commissioner Laurence Bay, along with Deputy High Commissioner, Mr. Shaun Grosse.

Chief Executive Officer of Progresif Sdn Bhd Hjh Nurul Haniah Binti Haji Jaafar (3L) during the partnership signing. PHOTOS: PROGRESIF

Singapore High Commissioner Laurence Bay and Chief Executive Officer of Progresif Sdn Bhd Hjh Nurul Haniah Binti Haji Jaafar with senior representatives from ST Engineering and Progresif during the signing ceremony.

Progresif in a press release said that the collaboration marks a significant milestone in Brunei’s journey towards enhanced digital security.

By combining Progresif’s local expertise and telecommunications infrastructure
with STE Infosec’s advanced cybersecurity solutions and services, this partnership aims to
elevate Brunei’s cyber defense capabilities.

The initiative focuses on the joint development and operation of advanced cybersecurity
solutions, including Security Operation Centre (SOC) services. This collaboration aims to
leverage global expertise while fostering domestic talent, ensuring round-the-clock threat
monitoring, and implementing cutting-edge defense mechanisms. Progresif is taking proactive steps to safeguard its business interests and customer data in the rapidly evolving digital landscape by fortifying its digital resilience and cultivating a skilled cybersecurity workforce.

Chief Executive Officer of Progresif Sdn Bhd Hjh Nurul Haniah Binti Haji Jaafar commented
on the partnership. “Our collaboration with STE Infosec aligns perfectly with Brunei’s vision
for a secure digital future. By joining forces, we are strengthening our nation’s cyber defenses and fostering innovation and growth in the local technology sector.”

Meanwhile, President, Cyber for ST Engineering Mr. Goh Eng Choon said, “’Robust
cybersecurity is essential for safeguarding sensitive data and building trust in our digital age. By proactively establishing a Security Operation Centre and ensuring 24/7 threat monitoring, we empower our cyber defenders with the advanced solutions necessary to protect what matters most to our customers. Our collaboration with Progresif will position Progresif and ST Engineering to jointly bring advanced cybersecurity capabilities to various sectors in Brunei.”

ST Engineering is a global technology, defence, and engineering group with offices across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the US, serving customers in more than 100 countries.

Progresif said that Tthe Cyber Security Conference served as the perfect platform to introduce the partnership, where attendees had the opportunity to learn about the latest cybersecurity trends and how the Progresif-STE Infosec collaboration will contribute to Brunei’s digital resilience.

Myanmar junta bombs opposition-held town hours after talks offer

Southeast Asia

September 28, 2024

File photo of people cleaning up the debris of destroyed and damaged buildings in the aftermath of bombardments in Lashio in Myanmar's northern Shan State. PHOTO: AFP

YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta carried out fresh air strikes on an opposition-held town yesterday, hours after issuing an unprecedented invitation to its enemies for talks on the country’s civil war.

Thursday’s surprise call for discussions is a nudge towards controversial fresh elections, analysts said, and two prominent armed groups swiftly dismissed it.

The offer came with the junta reeling from battlefield reverses to ethnic minority armed groups and pro-democracy ‘People’s Defence Forces’ that rose up to oppose the military’s seizure of power in 2021.

The groups have seized several lucrative border crossings and last month took Lashio, a city of 150,000 people – the biggest urban centre to fall to rebels since 1962. The call was “the first time that the regime has expressed a willingness to have a dialogue with the post-coup resistance forces”, said Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has long spoken of “annihilating” the groups, he pointed out.

Hours after the offer, military jets bombed Lashio, in northern Shan state, now in the hands of fighters from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

“I heard two explosions,” a resident told AFP, asking for anonymity for security reasons.

“I heard five people were killed and a lot of people were wounded.”

One Yangon-based diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of the junta’s offer, “So far I haven’t seen the inclination towards serious reconciliation.”

AFP has contacted for comment the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), ethnic armed groups that hold territory in the north. The MNDAA could not be reached.

The Karen National Union, which has fought for decades for autonomy along the Thai border, said talks were only possible if the military agreed to “common political objectives”.

That included the military staying out of politics, accepting a new, federal constitution, and being held accountable for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”, spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee said.

15 dead, dozens missing after landslide at Indonesia mine

Southeast Asia

September 28, 2024

JAKARTA (AFP) – A landslide at an illegal gold mine in western Indonesia has killed at least 15 people and buried dozens of others in the abandoned pit with rescue workers struggling to locate the missing, officials said yesterday.

The landslide hit a remote site in West Sumatra province on Sumatra island on Thursday evening after heavy rains in the area, provincial disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Ilham Wahab told AFP.

“The information we can provide was that a landslide occurred at a gold mine last night, causing several people to be buried. Efforts to search for the victims are ongoing,” he said.

Ilham added that three people were injured and 25 were still missing. Unlicensed mines are common across the mineral-rich Southeast Asian archipelago, where abandoned sites attract locals who hunt for leftover gold ore without proper safety equipment.

Ilham could not confirm if the mine in question was illegal but said all activities at the site had been halted as search efforts for the missing were ongoing.

Search efforts were being hindered by the remote location, with rescuers including police officers, soldiers and civilians having to walk for hours from the nearest village to reach the area, he said.

“The location is quite far, the terrain is tough. This has hampered evacuation effort but people are helping so that this evacuation process can be carried out quickly,” he said.

Malaysia Customs foil 240 smuggling attempts, seize MYR28M goods

Southeast Asia

September 28, 2024

Director of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JDKM) Penang Datuk Roselan Ramli and officers show the smuggled liquor during a press conference at the Bagan Jermal Enforcement Store. PHOTO: BERNAMA

BUTTERWORTH (BERNAMA) – The Royal Malaysian Customs Department in Penang successfully foiled 240 smuggling and Customs duty evasion attempts between January and August, resulting in seizures valued at over MYR28 million, including duties.

State director Datuk Roselan Ramli stated that cigarettes topped the list with 107 cases, amounting to MYR2.7 million in goods and MYR9.28 million in duties.

There were 81 cases involving liquor amounting to MYR1.739 million, with MYR6.64 million in duties, he added. “We also seized MYR1.013 million worth of drugs in four cases and uncovered 39 vehicle-related cases, with seizures valued at MYR1.664 million and MYR2.56 million in taxes,” he said during a press conference yesterday at the Enforcement Storage Facility in Bagan Jermal.

Roselan noted that four currency smuggling cases were also intercepted valued at MYR473,971.69, and other cases involving tobacco and soft drinks, valued at MYR1.68 million, including MYR704,992.73 in taxes.

Subbuteo fever

Features

September 28, 2024

ABOVE & BELOW: A close-up of the table-top football game of Subbuteo; and junior players representing Italy and Belgium play a game during the Subbuteo World Cup in Tunbridge Wells in south east England. PHOTO: AFP

TUNBRIDGE WELLS (AFP) – With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration.

In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love.

“I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event.

Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo which was invented here in 1946 before being copied around the world.

The game of skill and strategy fell out of fashion with the advent of computer games, but is enjoying a renaissance among nostalgists and also the younger generation, with this year’s tournament the largest ever.

Around 5,000 people visited the three-day tournament’s various events, according to Stewart Grant, press officer with organiser The English Subbuteo Association, as the town embraced the unusual honour.

ABOVE & BELOW: A Subbuteo player; and competitors’ medals. PHOTO: AFP

ABOVE & BELOW: A referee tries to settle a dispute during a game between Italy and Greece; and a carrying case of Subbuteo players. PHOTO: AFP

“Everybody you speak to, they say it’s the home. It’s a pilgrimage for some people,” he added.

The game’s collectability has always been part of its allure, with many people accumulating the finely-painted teams, stands, supporters, floodlights, replica trophies and scoreboards without actually playing.

“It’s quite cool, you can control the ball and the amount of power with your own hands,” said spectator and part-time player Harry Brown, 12.

“I like how you can paint the players and change the teams,” he added.

England youth player Alex Scott told AFP that he didn’t play video games because Subbuteo is “a lot more fun”.

“Its the competitiveness and going around different places meeting new people,” he added.

His father, Justin, runs a club in Wolverhampton and was one of many at the event who said they had noticed an increase in members.

“A lot of people went into their loft and found their Subbuteo” during COVID lockdowns, and “then looked if there was a club when everything reopened”, he explained. The aim of the game is the same as football, to score more goals then your opponent.

This is achieved by flicking the tiny players, who either have a flat or semi-circular base, into the ball and manoeuvring it into goalscoring positions.

The team event knockouts (U12s, U16s, U20s, veterans, women and open) at the climax of the tournament took place around the same time as Sunday’s Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal.

But all eyes in the Tunbridge Wells Sports centre were on the 50 bright green 90 by 50 centimetre cloth tables.

Before the games, the combatants took their star players out of their ornate wooden boxes, lubricated their bases and set them up in precise formations. After a 10-second countdown, the flick-off began 30 minutes of action.

The team games consist of four simultaneous individual matches, with huge roars punctuating the general buzz of the spectators, indicating where goals were being scored.

Tensions came close to spilling over on occasion, including when England players took off on a victory dash after scoring a goal against the mighty Italians, only to have it controversially ruled out.

Motorcycle, car crash in Philippines kills two, injures one

Southeast Asia

September 28, 2024

MANILA (XINHUA) – Two people were killed and another critically injured after a sedan crashed into a motorcycle in Palawan province, Philippine police said yesterday.

According to the police, the accident happened on Thursday at 11.25pm local time along a highway in Puerto Princesa City.

Police who rushed to the scene said that the 19-year-old male sedan driver lost control of the speeding vehicle, swerved to the opposite side of the road, and collided with the motorcycle.

The motorcycle riders were thrown onto the road, resulting in the deaths of the 21-year-old male motorcycle driver and one of his two passengers, a 68-year-old female.

The driver’s 20-year-old partner was also critically injured.

Police did not say if the sedan driver escaped the accident unscathed. A police investigation is underway.

Indonesia sentences drug dealer to death

Southeast Asia

September 28, 2024

JAKARTA (XINHUA) – The Medan District Court in Indonesia sentenced a drug dealer, identified as FRL, to death on Thursday for possessing 28 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine and 14,431 ecstasy pills.

Chief Judge Lenny Megawaty Napitupulu stated that the death sentence was in line with the prosecutor’s demands and in accordance with the Narcotics Law.

FRL was arrested on January 29 after police received a tip-off about drug transactions in Medan. An undercover officer, posing as a buyer, arranged a meeting with the dealer on Jalan Flamboyan Raya in Medan.

FRL was apprehended during the transaction, and a subsequent search of his residence led to the discovery of the meth and ecstasy pills.

One for the ages

Features

September 28, 2024

ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show works on display at the official unveiling of Christie’s new Asia Pacific headquarters at the Henderson Centre in Hong Kong. PHOTO: AFP

HONG KONG (AFP) – A Vincent van Gogh painting displaying the artist’s shift from dark realism to vibrant impressionism could become the most expensive Western painting sold in Asia if it fetches its top estimated value of USD50 million at a Hong Kong auction on Thursday.

Les canots amarres – or the moored boats – will be the centrepiece of an inaugural evening sale held to celebrate the opening of auction house Christie’s new Asia Pacific headquarters.

According to Christie’s, it could fetch between HKD230-380 million (USD30-50 million) on the auction floor. To date, the most expensive Western painting sold in the region is Warrior by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the auction house said.

It had the Christie’s gavel dropped at HKD323.6 million – roughly USD41.9 million at the time – in Hong Kong in 2021.

Owned by the Italian royal family of Bourbon Two Sicilies, the Van Gogh painting is “the most important painting by the artist ever to be offered in Asia”, Christie’s said in its introduction.

“Les canots amarres marks a vital stepping stone in his career,” it said. The painting is one of about 40 works Van Gogh developed around the scenic French town of Asnieres, a boating hub on the outskirts of Paris, during the summer of 1887.

With those paintings, “he left behind for good the dark, earthy tones of his realist pictures of old. He now adopted a vibrant palette and loose expressive brush instead”, said Christie’s.

In a letter to his sister Willemien in October 1887, the artist wrote, “When I painted landscape in Asnieres this summer, I saw more colour… than ever before.”

Princess Camilla of the House of Bourbon Two Sicilies called it a painting “of incredible history in the very particular moment of the artist’s (career)”, according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.

She said she chose the Chinese city for the sale to tap into the Asian market’s “strong and expanding base of collectors who are increasingly interested in Western art”.

Born in the Netherlands in 1853, Vincent van Gogh was among the most famous and influential figures in Western art. He created around 2,100 pieces, including about 860 oil paintings, in a career that lasted only a decade before his death in 1890.

Christie’s high-profile auction on Thursday will also feature 45 other masterpieces from the 20th and 21st Centuries – ranging from the French impressionist painter Claude Monet to the England-based street artist Banksy.

A hat to remember

World

September 28, 2024

Joshua Kiser broke the world record for the tallest hat. PHOTO: GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS

UPI – A man in the United States (US) fulfilled his ambition of crafting the world’s tallest hat, proudly walking with a cap measuring 17 feet, 9.5 inches.

“I was browsing the Guinness World Records website for inspiration when I came across a photo of a man with a massive top hat – the world’s tallest,” Kiser told Guinness World Records.

The ‘eccentric man’, Odilon Ozare, had set the record in 2018 with a 15-foot, nine-inch hat.

“For no one single reason, the image of a ridiculously tall hat stuck with me. I shut my laptop and went off to search for materials to make a tall hat. I was convinced I’d be able to set the record and have my name in the history books in no time,” Kiser said.

His design was inspired when he came across some lightweight gutters at Home Depot, as well as a Philadelphia Eagles trash can.

The hat was reinforced with expanding foam and covered it with Santa-style red fabric to give it the appearance of a hat.

‘Please don’t eat my cat’: Trump parody song goes viral

World

September 28, 2024

PARIS (AFP) – A pet-loving part-time musician is fast becoming a global star by gently poking fun at Donald Trump for suggesting that Haitian immigrants are making a meal of America’s cats and dogs.

Eating the cats, a parody song by The Kiffness which sets to music Trump’s extraordinary claims during the United States (US) presidential debate that migrants in Ohio “are eating the dogs, eating the cats”, has been viewed more than 8.7 million times on YouTube alone in 12 days.

“People of Springfield please don’t eat my cat,” pleads the South African singer, whose real name is David Scott. “Why would you do that?/ Eat something else.”

He then helpfully holds up a card suggesting a range of other mostly veggie options, including broccoli, avocados and poached eggs.

The singer, who has been slowly building a following for his feel-good songs about pets and children – because “they tend to unite people” – has seen his popularity soar since he got his singing claws into Trump.

Although he insists he is not attacking anybody, just giving some cat and dog-friendly dietary advice.

“I think music has a powerful way of taking away negative energy and polarising feelings, especially with someone like Donald Trump, who is such a polarising figure,” he told AFP before his band gave a concert in Paris.

“I want my music to unite people. And I think that’s why I moved towards music that included animals. Because animals unite people,” said the 36-year-old from Cape Town.

The video, which has been watched by millions more on social media, shows Trump’s rival Kamala Harris reacting to his widely-derided claims during their debate earlier this month. A couple of cats and dogs also chip in with vocals, and equally incredulous looks.

Scott said all the earnings from the song are going to help pets and stray cats and dogs in Springfield, with more than USD20,000 already raised.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he told AFP. “The interest has been overwhelming from both sides, from Democrats, from Republicans.”

He said the song was not “laughing at the situation, it’s saying that you can rise above it… and just see the humour in things”, said the musician, who describes himself on X as a “husband, father (and) part-time musician”.

Springfield’s mayor, police and Ohio’s Republican governor have all said there is no evidence to back up Trump’s claims that Haitian migrants were eating the city’s pets.

But that has not stopped his running mate JD Vance – an Ohio senator – from doubling down on the claims, despite being widely mocked.

“My constituents are telling me firsthand that they’re seeing these things,” an unapologetic Vance told CNN.

Borneo Bulletin OnlineThe Independent Newspaper in Brunei Darussalam, Sabah and Sarawak

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