Sorry for the delay in posting up this blogpost as I am still trying to swallow the bitter ‘pill of reality’ of me being rejected by all 3 Singapore unis that I had applied to.
As I had said earlier, this posting would be about the Charity Gala Nite which was held on Saturday, 12th June at the magnificent Indra Samudra Grand Hall, Empire. The guest of honour was HRH Princess Hajah Masna.
Apparently, the event was a sold-out with more than 1700 people (my own calculation) attending which exceeds the organizers expectations. Some spectators had to stand for a while as the organisers had to take out more chairs to be arranged. According to the Sunday Bulletin, about 2000 people attended the event which was sold out two weeks before the event, however The Sunday Times put the numbers at more than 1500 as quoted from the opening speech of Peter Chin, MD PJC Virtuoso Music School (organiser). From my observation, there are a lot of international school students attending the event, perhaps to support their performing friends. The emcees for the nite were Kartini Knox & David Chin.
Before the arrival of the VIPs, the audiences were shown the video of Pusat Ehsan Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam. It is a non-profit NGO committed to provide quality education & rehab services for physically & intellectually challenged individuals. Its monthly expenditure comes up to an amount of about $40,000 which is financed by donations, fundraising drive like this event & grants from the government. I remembered once my Biology teacher, Miss Maria told us the story when she had a trip to Pusat Ehsan.
After the VIPs arrived, the event commences with the singing of the National Anthem by PJC musical choir. Then a speech by Mr Peter Chin. In his speech he states that the performers had started training in March. PJC Virtuoso started 3 years ago & this event is a way for its students to give back to the society. After that, Dato Paduka Alimin Haji Abd Wahab, Acting Chairperson of Trustee Board Pusat Ehsan gave his opening remarks. He called donations & contributions as the ‘life-blood’ of the centre as without these funding the centre would not be able to carry on with its activities. This was followed by presentation of cheques totaling $22,000 from the profit of the nite event as well as contribution from 3 companies namely PJC Virtuoso $10,000, AFC Bhd $10,000 & Charles & Keith Brunei $2000. Lastly, a token of appreciation was presented to HRH Princess Masna.
The performance started soon after that. Audiences were mesmerized over 2 hours by 17 performances comprising of various genres performed by 205 performers consisting of vocalists, musicians & dancers as well as a 70-member PJC children choir. One of the performer at that nite was Maria Grace Koh one of Brunei’s national swimmer who belted out the song On My Own on that nite with a powerful voice. The headmaster of PJC, Ysmael Felipe also contributed his voice in a rock song Black Betty to the cheers of the audiences. Cindai was a special performance by one of Pusat Ehsan member, Nor Lila bte Hj Jamaluddin who is a disabled person. In another performance, the sounds of Taylor Swift meet Coldplay in a medley of Love Story & Viva La Vida. The last performance of the nite was performed by the winners of the previous years Pilihan AKIRA Talentime & Kristal Kids Idol. Terlalu Istimewa which is a perfect ending song to a perfect nite was sung by Bridget Ang, Tarusha Naidoo, Andre Joyce Santos & Elaine M Valencia. 
In my opinion, it was a $10 well spend with 100% of it goes to charity with added-value of more than 2 hr of musical extravaganza performed by local Bruneian as well as foreigners.
(The left hand side picture is the ending performance 'Terlalu Istimewa' with the appearance of Pusat Ehsan members)
Picture below shows HRH Princess Masna shaking hands with the performers at the end of the show
P.S. Sharing is caring, reach our hands out to people who are in need of our help.
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