BERAKAS GARRISON, Monday 1 December 2014 – With the consent of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the Royal Brunei Land Forces (RBLF) welcomes a new leader today as Brigadier General Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Yussof bin Haji Abd Rahman handed over his place of duty to Colonel Pg Dato Paduka Aminan bin Pg Haji Mahmud in an historical event which took place in Berakas Garrison this morning.
The appointment of the present RBLF Commander takes effect on 1 December 2014. The ceremony was attended by Senior Officers and their spouses, Officers, and personnel of the RBLF.
On arrival, the Commander of RBLF, Brigadier General Dato Seri Pahlawan Haji Yussof bin Haji Abd Rahman received the Honourary Salute and later inspected the Guard of Honour which comprised of the RBLF personnel.
The day’s event proceeded with the Signing of the Handing over Certificate marking the official handing over of the Commander of RBLF place of duty. A thanksgiving prayer was then read to bless the ceremony.
Marking the new placement of duty, the new Commander of RBLF, Colonel Pg Dato Paduka Aminan bin Pg Haji Mahmud received the Honourary Salute and later proceeded to inspect the Guard of Honour. This was then followed by his inaugural speech as the new and 9th Commander of RBLF :
The new Royal Brunei Land Force commander has called for the strengthening of national security to counter the spread of classified information through social media.
In his appointment speech yesterday, Colonel Pg Dato Paduka Aminan said there should be a tighter grip on information that can affect national security.
“As communications technology advances, the voices of the public community are increasingly becoming heard – and a number of issues brought up touch on military affairs,” he told over 150 RBLF personnel.
He went on to say that pictures involving defence personnel are easily spread in the blink of an eye via platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
“Most of these things sent on the websites are inaccurate and some are even modified, worsening situations,” he added.
Colonel Pg Dato Aminan added that it was undeniable that those who spread information may have exposed classified information that affects national security without realising it.
“I stress here that exposing classified information is a serious crime and serious action will be taken against those found guilty of committing them.
“As an organisation entrusted by the country to protect national security, let us tighten the security in aspects of our forces, information, military assets from undesired elements,” he added.
The commander went on to advise RBLF personnel on how important it was for them to care for those under their leadership.
“If we want to get the best from our forces, we must ensure we are capable of offering the best we can in taking care of the personnel and their families’ welfare,” he said.
He urged the personnel to practise exemplary values, namely respecting one another; ‘turun padang’ (going out to the field), interacting with their subordinates to create a conducive working environment.
Beyond national borders, the RBLF commander reminded that Brunei is not immune to incidents that threaten safety, be it violence, natural disasters or global epidemics.
“Recently an untraditional threat has emerged, in the form of militants from the Islamic State group in the Middle East that cautions us to be on alert so these influences do not infiltrate into our country,” he said.
Colonel Pg Dato Paduka Aminan bin Pg Haji Mahmud was born on 9 June 1968. He began to serve with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) on 9 December 1985. Prior to assuming his post as Acting Deputy Commander of the RBLF on 7 February 2014, Colonel Pengiran Dato Paduka Aminan was the ADC to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam from 2007 until 2009. Colonel Pg Dato Paduka Aminan graduated in Bachelor of Engineering in United Kingdom in 1997. Colonel Pg Dato Paduka Aminan was conferred the Darjah Seri Paduka Mahkota Brunei Yang Amat Mulia, Darjah Kedua in 2012.
