PM Lee meets Singapore community in Brunei

Bandar Seri Begawan

UNDERGRADUATE Syazana Hussain awoke at dawn on Thursday, hoping for the chance to snap a photo of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah in his gold-and-black chariot in the celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of his ascension to the Bruneian throne.

She and her friends were hours early to snag a place in the front of the 60,000-strong crowd. The 24-year-old Singaporean, who is on a scholarship from the Brunei government to study at Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University where the sultan is chancellor, said: "My local friends tell me he has changed the nation a lot with all his hard work.