The Darussalam Aikido Club had its beginnings at the British Loan Service Club of the Royal Brunei Arm Forces in Berakas sometimes in 2003, and was initiated by Mr. Andrew Nisbett, who holds a 2nd Dan Black Belt Aikikai. This was awarded to him by the Tokushima Budo Council of Europe. At that time there were only a few students attending the classes and most of them were the British Loan Services family members and their close circle of friends and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces personnel. Sensei Nisbeth, incidentaly, named the club: Darussalam Aikido Club.
The stage in the development of Aikido in Brunei Darussalam was in July 2004 when two dedicated local Brunieans, Hj Shahrum Hj Kadir and Pg M Alexander Pg Hj M Don, joined the group of about 5 practitioners namely James H. Hagerty (Scottish), Denis (Filipino), Annabel (English), Don Abd Rahman (now a member of BAF) and a few others. At that time there was no official Aikido Club or organisation in Brunei Darussalam and the club was not registered with the Registrar of Societies but was only as a part of British Loan Services activities. We were taught the basic techniques of Aikido by Mr. Andrew Nisbett. according to the Tokushima Budo Council of Europe syllabus.
"Training at that time was considered fun with round-robin training routines and a lot of non- Aikido techniques which were also taught and demonstrated by our sensei, such as ground fighting, strangling, disarming etc. We were lucky to have him as our teacher as he is also an expert in Jujutsu 1st dan, Wado Ryu karate (2nd dan) and Judo (1st dan). He was considered to be an all-rounder in Japanese martial art." recalled Hj Shahrum.
However, because their training mattresses were not really suitable for aikido, their break fall techniques were considered not very good and lack the desired flexibility. Among all the members according to sensei Andy, Hj Shahrum was the most difficult to teach due to his background in the hard martial art of a Shotokan Karate (1st dan). Meanwhile Pg M Alex was not flexible due to his weight lifting, karate and Thai boxing training.
Meanwhile in order to master some of the basic techniques both of them trained privately every week for about 1 hour at the back of the Indoor Stadium at Berakas. Their mattress was the cement floor!. But with this dedicated training, they were able to maintain their progress and caught up with the rest of the group. The fee for attending the 10 weeks of training (2 hours per session) was $120 and at the end of 10 weeks, an upgrading test was conducted. Through their dedicated training, both Hj Shahrum and Pg Alexander were awarded the 5th kyu in September and then the 4th kyu in December 2004 by Sensei Andy.
However, due to the expiry of his contract with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, Sensei Andy left for England in December 2004 and four of the group (Hj Shahrum. Pg Alex, James & Dennis) were left without an Aikido teacher. Hj Shahrum and Pg Alex were very upset but were very determined to continue their aikido training, even without a qualified teacher.
Prior to Sensei Andy's departure Hj. Shahrum & Pg Alex organized a small seminar in order to attract their close friends to attend their 2 hrs twice a week training sessions. The seminar attracted about 10 recruits including current member Pg Sufian and Hj Sabtu. James and Denis, who were both 3rd kyu at that time were skeptical with this idea of conducting training without a proper instructor but because of their sound martial arts background they (Hj Shahrum & Pg Alex) managed to bulldoze through with the training. Even though they were both 4th kyu they became the Daraussalam Aikido dojo instructors. Nonetheless, the search for a sensei has begun in earnest.
Through their network of contacts and the internet, the search was on lor an accredited aikikai style Aikido instructor in the region to teach this group. As a result, sometime in November 2004, Hj Shahrum requested Pg Alexander to meet Shihan Jun Yamada who was based in KL, to get his assistance to open an aikido club in Brunei but was unable to help them in providing a qualified instructor.
Meanwhile in December of that same year, Hj Shahrum went to Jakarta and had a meeting with Peiter Taihutu. President of Indonesia Aikido Federation and requested his assistance to provide an aikido instructor to be assigned to Brunei. This meeting also failed secure a teacher for the now increasingly desperate Hj Shahrum. It was during this visit, however, that Hj Shahrum volunteered with his own money to buy 20 pieces of mattresses for about B$600. Through his contacts in Toyota Astra Motor Indonesia, he managed to arrange the mattress to be shipped to Brunei, for free. Nonetheless, Hj Shahrum and Pg Alex became increasing!) frustrated because none of the organizations in the region were able to assist them.
Finally, their persistence paid off when Hj Shahrum located Sensei Hj Haneef who is based in Kuching. He made a phone call immediately...and it was answered personally by Hj Haneef ...the rest was history. Hj Shahrum and Pg Alex were very fortunate to have gotten in touch with Sensei Haji Muhammad Haneef, a 5th Dan Black Belt and President of the Aikikai Malaysia. They requested Sensei Hj Muhammad Haneef to accept them as his students explaining to him that they have approached other Shihans but they were unable to assist.
Sensei Hj  Muhammad Haneef who  lives  in the neighbouring  State  of Sarawak,   Malaysia,   then kindly agreed to assist in the training of the group by providing one of his Aikikai  Malaysia's  senior instructors, Sensei Zainuddin Abd Khalic, 3rd Dan Black Belt, who lives in Sabah, who now comes every month to conduct the training.
Sensei Zainuddin first came to Brunei on  16th January 2005 to conduct aikido classes for about 13 members. This group organized themselves and made a collection $50 per person/month to ensure that Sensei Zainuddin was able to come to Brunei regularly.   Pg   Sufian  was   also   appointed   as treasurer. To make ends meet, during his monthly visits from January to September 2004, and due to the financial constraints faced by this group Hj Shahrum continued to provide Sensei Zainuddin with free accommodation at his residence, food and transportation.
It was during this period that the decision was made by the group to make Darussalam Aikido Club official in Brunei Darussalam. To facilitate its members to set up their own club in the near future, Hj Shahrum proposed that the Brunei Darussalam Karate Federation constitution be used as a guideline to draft the Aikido Federation's constitution. Hj Sabtu who has joined the group by then, helped to type the draft which was finalized for discussion with the pro-tem committee and submitted to the Registrar of Societies sometime in April 2005.
Subsequent to that initiative, club begin to flourish sometime in July when Hj Mohd Jamil, Hj Abd Hamid and Erwan joined in to train regularly with the group.
Finally, on 15th August 2005 the AIKIDO FEDERATION OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM (BAF) was officially approved by the Registrar of Societies. With the help of Hj Shahrum, Pg Alex and Pg Sufian. it was collectively agreed to use their own personal money to purchase 20 pieces of mattresses. In September 17-18th the Federation invited Sensei Zainuddin and Sensei Razi Phalvi to conduct training and held a press release to announce the formation of BAF.
As expected, response from the public in Brunei Darussalam to learn Aikido was very good. With the news in Borneo Bulletin entitled: "Aikido now in Brunei", over 70 enquiries were received from members of the public. At that time only three members in the Federation had been graded to 2nd kyu (Hj Shahrum, Pg Alex and James, who has meanwhile left Brunei in December due to the expiry of his contract), one 3rd kyu (Pg Sufian). three 4th kyu(Denis, Aziemah and Muiz), five 5th kyu (Hj Sabtu who left and rejoined in September) and the rest (Hj Abd Hamid, Erwan and Hj Jamil) were still 6th kyu grade.
Due to the very good public response a meeting was held on 29th October 2005 with the pro-tem committee and it was agreed that in order to make Aikido public as part of the requirements in the constitution of BAF Darussalam Aikido Club (Dojo), a club was officially registered under BAF. During the initial stage there were only 13 official members registered under the club/BAF and funds were insufficient to purchase extra mattresses to conduct training for the public. Hj Shahrum who is the General Sales Manager of NBT agreed to generously sponsor $4000.00 to purchase another 20 mattresses and also to bear initial costs in funding the Darussalam Aikido Club.
Finally,   in  order  to   move  their  dojo   from Berakas to the National Stadium, Hj Shahrum and  Pg  Alex  made  a  courtesy  visit  to  the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and the Director of Culture, Youth and Sport. Through this visit they were able to secure a place in the National Stadium as their new Dojo. With the assistance of Sensei Hj Muhammad Haneef Aikikai Malaysia's President, an official opening and public demonstration was held on 4th - 6th December 2005.
About 150 members of the public attended to watch the demonstration. Today, with over 60 students registered with the Darussalam Aikido Club of the BAF, it is the aim of the club to introduce the art to Universiti Brunei Darussalam, the schools, the Royal Brunei Police Force and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, in the future.