Current bilateral ties between Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia are at their highest point following the signing of the document to conclude the border issue of both countries, said Dato' Ku Jaafar bin Ku Shaari, High Commissioner of Malaysia to Brunei Darussalam, during the 53rd Malaysia National Day celebration at the Malaysia High Commission yesterday.
The outgoing high commissioner in a speech said, "The strong ties between Malaysia and Brunei will only move forward. The award of Bintang Tertinggi Brunei, which is Darjah Kerabat Laila Utama Yang Amat Dihormati to Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the former prime minister of Malaysia by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in July, have clearly shown the importance given by the government of His Majesty to Malaysia."
The strong ties between both countries were also evident "when five Malaysian ministers visited Brunei and five Brunei ministers went to Malaysia on official matters at the same time".
"We also feel proud that Malaysia and Brunei waved their flags side by side in a foreign land when in April Brunei sent its third group of nine army officers to be embedded with the Malaysia contingent to the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon," he added.
He said both countries are also currently working in various fields of cooperation. Dato' Ku Jaafar said, "A joint committee has been set up between Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak to work together in the transportation, agriculture, energy, Halal products and tourism sectors. Brunei is interested in investing in a number of projects in Malaysia.
"Brunei's trade with Malaysia has reached RM1.79 billion. Two well-known construction companies in Malaysia - Bina Puri Holdings Berhad and UEM Builders Berhad - are involved in two huge Brunei National Housing Scheme projects." On tourism, he said, "The number of Bruneians visiting Malaysia has also shown encouraging figures. Last year, Malaysia received 1.06 million arrivals from Brunei. The total figure might have been higher if not for the H1N1 pandemic. Statistics have also shown that there are more Brunei people visiting Malaysia this year.
"Also, Malaysians are ranked among the highest to visit Brunei via air whereby last year a total of 38,198 arrivals were recorded. The figure is 24.2 per cent of total arrivals via air to Brunei," he said.
"The encouraging ties between the people from both countries have prompted airlines to increase their services between Bandar Seri Begawan and Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia Airlines has increased their services to four times a week, while AirAsia has doubled its daily flights to two times a day.
"Visitors from Brunei to Sabah and vice versa have another alternative with the opening of the vehicle ferry services this year between Serasa and Menumbok. Meanwhile, the vehicle ferry service between Brunei and Labuan is expected to start soon."
In the field of education and training, he said, "Malaysia continues to offer courses in various fields to Brunei's officers through Malaysia Technical Cooperation Programme that was introduced in 1983. Recently four Malaysian students were offered Brunei Government scholarships to further their studies in Universiti Brunei Darussalam."
The outgoing high commissioner also said that his three-year tenure in Brunei has been a memorable one in his life. He conveyed his heartfelt thanks to everyone who has helped, supported and guided him and his wife during his tenure in Brunei.
He also awarded Malaysian students who did well in their studies. They are Amirul Shafiq bin Mohd Noorsuhaimy, Muhamad Iyad bin Ramzi, Cindy Lee Shin Yii, Silvian Tan Xu Yan, Joanne Ramanair and Tiong Yin Hee.
(Borneo Bulletin : 1 Sept 2010, By James Kon)