{brunei yakin}

Hello everyone! Thought I'd give this blog an update and write a new post given all that I've got to talk about. Let's see: Hari Raya Aidilfitri is the day after tomorrow (Monday) and I'm flying off to the U and K on Friday the 25th! I haven't been packing much although I have been occasionally throwing stuff into my suitcase. I hope to finish tidying up my room tomorrow after which I can actually focus on packing. 8pm flight in 6 days!

I'm not one to too my horn but in case you didn't catch the news, I've been awarded the "Sultan's Scholar" Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB) personally by His Majesty. Alhamdulillah.. It's been over a year since I was first called to Yayasan's office opposite the Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Mosque for the initial screening. The two of us went there, my mother and I, driven by an STL driver whose name if I correctly remember was Khairul. The place gave me the creeps - I've never been comfortable in large, cold, stone offices/homes although I've began to warm to them recently.

There were 3 interviewers - Hj Mat Zahri, Assistant Managing Director of YSHHB; along with 2 others: ladies from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Health respectively. It was a semi-formal interview.. I guess they just wanted to gauge our potential for the scholarship before we sat for our A Levels. I remember walking away feeling kind of dazed - long periods in offices do that to you, as I learned during my attachment with BSP earlier this year - especially when you're being interviewed by people you've just met!

Come March, some time after our results were released, I was invited again for another interview - this time for real. I remember I was on holiday in Kuala Lumpur then, along with my brother Shu'aib and two of my mates, Nabih and Hadi (shouts out!). I just saw Hadi some minutes ago. Another girl and myself who weren't able to attend our interviews on the initial scheduled day were moved a day later. This time there were 5 interviewers, plus the always-present scribe Junaidi (who I'm sure I'll get to know very well in months to come) - the Managing Director himself Dato Hj Ali Hashim, Assistant Director of Scholarships Cikgu Hj Azis, plus 3 more: I believe there was a lady from UBD, a man from the Ministry of Religious Affairs and another lady who would be from the Ministry of Health.

The gruelling (and grilling) process took the most part of the hour. Though I felt I sailed through the interview, it would not have been if not for the experience from the initial screening interview I attended and my whole day doing the BSP Assessment Centre, which, by the way, can really differentiate the doers from the people who say they do. The questions this time round put a lot of focus on 'self' - how I view things, how I would do things given the chance, how I would lead in a position of responsibility. Heavy scrutiny. I was probed as well into the possible reasons why I had failed to gain admission into Oxford (which was my 1st choice above Imperial College). For that, I admit that I have long been a 'jack of all trades, master of none' which didn't help.

I heard occasionally afterwards from the guys at Pendidikan Yayasan though they were careful never to tell much despite the repeated (informal) enquiries. About half a year after that 2nd interview at Kumbang Pasang, and only days before the awarding ceremony itself was it all confirmed - I, along with 4 others, all but one whom I knew, were going to be Sultan's Scholars! My prayers for the past year had been answered.

On the big day itself, just before the ceremony began, the Minister of Religious Affairs, and the Minister of Industry and Primary Resources both came, at separate instances, to where my parents and I were standing in wait for His Majesty. They extended their congratulations in their own different ways, one in his calm and almost father-like tone, while the other in an upbeat manner, telling me to go and be like my dad. But, above all, I will not forget what His Majesty told me, and told us Scholars, repeatedly. Short and simple.. yet so full of meaning, inspiring us forward.

Some photos were taken from Borneo Bulletin's online page.