YBhg. Datin Dr. Musrifah Sapardi, wife of the Ambassador of Malaysia to Oman was appointed the President of the ASEAN Ladies Circle or ALC of Muscat for the year 2014. The handing over ceremony was hosted by YBhg. Datin Hajjah Nor Baiyura Hj Lamit, wife of the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam, on the 10th February 2014 at the official residence of the Ambassador of Brunei Darussalam. The event was well attended by representatives from all the 6 member countries of ASEAN in Muscat; Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
YBhg. Datin Hajjah Norbaiyura in her speech thanked all members for their great support and active participation in the activities organized by ALC Muscat under her one and a half year tenure as President of ALC Muscat since the inception of ALC in mid 2012. She strongly believe that the same support would also be given to YBhg. Datin Dr. Musrifah which will bring ALC Muscat to greater height. With the exchange of the handover notes between YBhg. Datin Hajjah Norbaiyura and YBhg. Datin Dr. Musrifah, the presidency of ALC Muscat is now officially handed over to Malaysia for a one year term.
In her maiden speech as President of ALC Muscat, YBhg. Datin Dr. Musrifah emphasized on the importance of working together in the spirit of ASEAN and for ALC Muscat to continue to be actively involved in the local scene to promote the presence of ASEAN in the Sultanate of Oman. During the first meeting, Singapore was appointed treasure for the term while the bureaus were also rotated among the member countries with Brunei (Sports), Indonesia (Visits), Philippines (Publication) and Thailand (Social). The planned activities for the year includes visits, sports activities, charitable events and educational programmes for members of ALC.
At the end of the fruitful meeting, a sumptuous home cooked lunch prepared by YBhg. Datin Hajjah Norbaiyura was served much to the delight of all whom attended the meeting. Among the dishes prepared were sweet sour grouper, mixed vegetable, daging dendeng, butter prawn and mango salad as well as an array of tasty and beautiful desserts. A traditional Brunei signature dish called ambuyat (a transparent sago paste) was also introduced to the ASEAN group, which is also known in Sabah and Sarawak by the same name, as Iinut in the Federal Territory of Labuan and papeda in eastern Indonesia.
EMBASSY OF MALAYSIA, MUSCAT
