The 25th National Day (Silver Jubilee)

In just a matter of minutes, the clock will strike 12  and the 23rd of February of 2009 will mark the celebratory date of Brunei's 25th year of independence. So tomorrow, from early morning until late in the morning or by noon, the celebrations of the 25th National Day will be held at the National Stadium.

Just like every year, the agenda includes field performances, marches, prayers and so on. In attendance will be His Majesty the Sultan, the Royal Family, the nobility, government officers and also invited guests along with all the participants. So premuably there would be thousands taking part in the proceedings of the celebrations and thousands would be spectating.

25 years of independence is quite the landmark. Witnessing it would be fantastic but being part of it would be even better. So I duly confess that I regret not joining in the Youth Programme set up by the Youth, Culture and Sports Ministry. However I realised that if I had joined the programme, I wouldn't be able to attend the SOAS Memorial Lecture. So you know what they say right: the grass is always greener on the other side (or something like that).

Ok. Now for the History lesson. Did you know tomorrow Brunei would not be celebrating exactly 25 years of independence? Actually it would be 25 years and 54 days. This is because (ok for some of you who didn't pay attention in history class please pay attention now) Brunei actually achieved it's independence on the 1st of January 1984 led by SOAS III. I don't know exactly why Brunei chose to celebrate the National Day on the 23rd of February. I've asked around (in history class and even BR) and still did not get any definitive answer. But I assume that if we were to celebrate the National Day on the 1st of January every year, it would clash with the New Years Day celebration meaning we'd have 1 day less of a holiday (hahahaha).