Honourable guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning and welcome.

    Another year has gone past, leaving some of us aghast at the speed at which the 365 days have become part of history. This is the usual comment one hears at the beginning of a new year.

    But that is not all. Wisdom and sagacity lies not in celebrating on the pretext of welcoming a New Legal Year, rather it should remind us that it is time we took stock of ourselves, our profession and what we have achieved and what has been carried forward to this New Year.

   Your Royal Highness Paduka Seri Pengiran Anak Puteri Hajah Muta-Wakkilah Hayatul Bolkiah, the Honourable Dato Attorney General, President of the Law Society of Brunei Darussalam, your Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps, members of the legal profession, ladies and gentlemen.

    Welcome to this annual function, which marks the close of the past legal year and heralds in the new legal year.  Very many hold special joyful functions and sumptuous feasts for bidding good bye to the previous year and welcoming the arrival of the new year with rich fruits for their labours; others are more constrained due perhaps to their faiths; nevertheless they too join in the prayers that the incoming new year will bring an era of peace and happiness for the mankind.  We, in the judiciary, too have this tradition that, as you just saw, starting with our prayer.

Tuesday, 1^st March 2005 

   Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

   Honourable  Pehin Isa, Mr. Attorney, Your Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps, members of the legal profession, ladies and gentlemen.

   Before I start I should like to express my sincere thanks for the excellent Guard of Honour parade mounted by the Police contingent. As usual they performed immaculately and professionally. To all of them and to the Commissioner I say thank you very much.

Thursday, 27^th May 2004

   Honourable Pehin Isa, Mr. Attorney, Your Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps, distinguished guests, members of the legal profession, ladies and gentlemen.

   It is a pleasure for us in the Judiciary to welcome you all again to this rather belated Opening of the Legal Year 2004. This annual event is of importance not only to the courts but also to the profession and the community at large.  I should like to think of it as a venue at which we are able to exchange views, make suggestions some of which some times are beneficial and happily carried through!

Thursday 6^th March 2003

   Pehin Isa, Mr. Attorney, Your Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps, distinguished guests, members of the legal profession, ladies and gentlemen.

   On behalf of the Judiciary I am pleased to welcome you all here this morning at the inauguration of the Opening of the Legal Year 2003.

Thursday, 30^th May 2002

   Mr. Attorney, Honourable Pehin Isa, members of the Bar of Brunei Darussalam, ladies and gentlemen.

   On behalf of the Judiciary I am pleased to welcome you all here this morning in an atmosphere which is, I am glad to say, infinitely more comfortable than what you experienced at the last occasion.