| Azlan Othman |

RESPONSE to the Brunei Darussalam Mosque Construction Fund has been overwhelming, with a total of BND7,908,599 gathered through various sources as of December 31 last year.

An additional BND2,500.60 was collected for the fund yesterday by Minister of Religious Affairs Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, who is also the Chairperson of the Collection and Issuance Committee for the Brunei Darussalam Mosque Construction Fund in a handover ceremony at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The donation, contributed by officers and staff of the Prime Minister’s Office, was handed over by Senior Administrative Officer at the Prime Minister’s Office Haji Rahman bin Haji Jumat.

A total of BND69,947 was also received via the fund’s short message service (SMS), which ran from November 13 until December 27, 2018.

Of this figure, BND59,100 was collected from the public via DST Communications Sdn Bhd.

Presenting this sum to the Minister of Religious Affairs on behalf of DST Acting CEO was DST’s Assistant General Manager for Customer Services Datin Hajah Umi Kaltum binti Haji Mat Daud.

DST itself donated BND10,000.

Progresif Cellular Sdn Bhd (PCSB) contributed BND10,847 collected from the public through its SMS service. This was handed over by PCSB’s Head of Administrative Officers Hajah Nurul Haniah binti Haji Jaafar, representing PCSB’s CEO.

A total of BND3,000 was donated by PCSB to the fund.

The first mosque to be constructed using money from the fund was Ar-Rahman Mosque in Kampong Tanjung Bunut in the Brunei-Muara District at a cost of BND3.56 million. The second mosque built was the Bukit Panggal Mosque in Tutong, worth BND3 million.

Chief Syar’ie Judge Pehin Orang Kaya Paduka Seri Utama Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Salim bin Haji Besar, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Pengiran Dato Seri Paduka Haji Bahrom bin Pengiran Haji Bahar, Syariah Court of Appeal Judge Pehin Orang Kaya Paduka Setia Raja Dato Paduka Seri Setia Haji Awang Suhaili bin Haji Mohiddin, and members of the Collection and Issuance Committee for the Brunei Darussalam Mosque Construction Fund were also present.