Artists perform during a meet-and-greet event in Bandar Seri Begawan, capital of Brunei, July 28, 2019. Brunei held a ceremony of meeting and greeting the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family at the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien here on Sunday, with the Sultan witnessing a 15-minute special display by around 500 participants, some of whom had spent two months rehearsing the performance. The meet-and-greet event is part of annual tradition during the Sultan's birthday celebration. The monarch turned 73 on July 15, 2019, and he is the world's second longest-reigning present-day monarch after Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. (Photo by Jeffrey Wong/Xinhua)
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Brunei held a ceremony of meeting and greeting the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and other members of the royal family at the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien here on Sunday, with the Sultan witnessing a 15-minute special display by around 500 participants, some of whom had spent two months rehearsing the performance.
The meet-and-greet event is part of annual tradition during the Sultan’s birthday celebration. The monarch turned 73 on July 15, 2019, and he is the world's second longest-reigning present-day monarch after Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
One of the more unique features of this event is the chance for the local people to personally hand out letters to the Sultan, without going through bureaucratic channels, often voicing their daily grievances and hardships. The meet-and-greet event was held in the Brunei-Muara District, the sultanate's main administrative district.
Prior to this, similar meet-and-greet ceremonies were held in the other three districts of Belait, Temburong and Tutong.
During the meet-and-greet event, the people were divided into several camps, comprising of mukims (administrative divisions of each district), villages, clubs and organizations, government agencies, and private sectors.
