SQU student group holds Brunei Cultural Week

MUSCAT: The Brunei Cultural Week, organised by the English and Translation Society at Sultan Qaboos University opened on Tuesday at SQU under the patronage of Rozanani binti Yahya, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Brunei Darussalam in Muscat.

The Cultural Week is the main event organised by the English Language and Translation Society during the first semester of each academic year. During the event, a country is chosen to highlight its most important cultural and social features.

Through different sections, the Society members provide information on Brunei, its history, language, traditions and customs, culinary traditions, art and music, tourism and economy. The backbone of Brunei’s economy is oil and gas. Brunei’s small, wealthy economy is a mixture of foreign and domestic entrepreneurship, government regulation, welfare measures, and village tradition.

The students explained that Brunei is officially an Islamic state, with hundreds of large beautiful mosques across the country. The bulk of the population is Malay and there is also a significant Chinese minority as well as a number of indigenous people. The culture of Brunei is predominantly Malay (reflecting its ethnicity), with heavy influences from Islam. Fish and rice are staple foods of Brunei and the dishes from Brunei are often spicy, and are commonly eaten with either rice or noodles, they said. As part of the Cultural Week, the Society will organise Bruneian Night that includes a musical show, a sketch and competition for participants.