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.

"After 2 1/2 years here, I feel it is important to know and feel what the locals feel, and this is one way of appreciating all he has done."

In the evening, she met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at a reception for the Singapore community in the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.

Mr Lee, who is in the kingdom till Saturday for the celebration, mingled with about 250 Singaporeans at the event at the Royal Brunei Polo and Riding Club, over a spread of local favourites such as rojak and chicken satay.

Ms Syazana, who took her first selfie with Mr Lee, said: "I was very touched to find out the prime minister was taking the time to meet us. Every time some of our leaders from Singapore come here, it makes me feel at home. It's like they bring Singapore to us."

In a chandelier-lit room festooned with mini Singapore flags, Mr Lee spoke warmly of the long-standing ties between Brunei and Singapore."We have many exchanges because it's a very dangerous, big world. And in a big world, small countries need to be friends with one another," he said.

The relationship between Brunei and Singapore dates back to the personal friendship between founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien, the late father of the current sultan, who knew each other even before Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia in 1963. Brunei chose not to join Malaysia, and the short-lived merger between Singapore and Malaysia ended barely two years later.

Mr Lee said that when his father and the late Sultan met after the Separation, they knew they had made different choices but "had eventually come to the same conclusion".

Since then, Singapore and Brunei have collaborated in a wide range of areas, including an agreement that enables both countries to accept each other's currencies, and having Singapore troops train in Temburong, said Mr Lee, who will visit soldiers there on Friday.

Giving the guests his assessment of Singapore, he said all is going well; the economy is stable this year, and should achieve 2.5 per cent growth.

Of the economy being restructured, he said it takes effort, "so there are people who are a bit concerned about jobs, costs of living, what the future will be, and I think that we're on the right track and we're heading in the right direction".

"And part of the right direction is we have people who are overseas, who are working, who are in the region, who have a network, and who help Singapore to know what's happening in the world and to fit in the world and be friends with the countries around us ."

Cardiologist Patrick Ang, 51, moved to Brunei in 2003, expecting to stay a few years, but 15 years on, he is raising his family there; two of his three children were born there, and he heads the Singapore Association.

The association, which has about 90 members, organises get-togethers during festivities, such as during the mid-autumn festival. "It's essential we form a community to get together and retain our Singaporean culture," he said. THE STRAITS TIMES