CAPTAIN HAJI MOHAMAD SARIF PUDIN BIN MATSERUDIN, RBN
ACTING COMMANDER OF ROYAL BRUNEI NAVY
Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin bin Matserudin, RBN was born on 26 December 1972. He joined as a recruit on 26 June 1990 as part of the 11th Intake of the Boys Company. He received his degree in July 1996 from the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom and subsequently attended the Naval Young Officer Course in Royal Britannia Naval College, Dartmouth, United Kingdom in the year after. Initially he joined the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) as a Weapon Engineer and became an Officer Cadet in February 1997 and was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade in the same year.
Throughout his career, Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin attended various professional courses abroad such as the Weapon System Engineering Management Course (1998), Engineering Organization T.Q. Workshop (2000) and Bridge Resource Management (2005). He also holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and a Degree of Master in Military (2010). Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin also attended the 3rd Series of the Lee Kuan Yew Senior Fellowship in Public Service Programme (2021).
Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin has held several command and staff appointments throughout his career including as Weapon Engineering Officer (1998), Fleet Engineering Officer (2005), Officer Commanding Naval Technical Training School (2006), Senior Engineering Officer (2008), Commanding Officer Logistic and Base Commander (2010 and 2011 respectively). Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin was appointed as the Staff Officer Grade 1 Logistic at MINDEF Headquarters (2013) and as the Staff Officer Grade 1 Admin (2018). Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin was then posted back to RBN as the Commandant Support Services in 2019. He then held the appointment of Deputy Commander RBN from January 2021 until January 2023 when he has taken over as Acting Commander RBN.
Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin also served as a Defence Attaché to Brunei Darussalam at the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2014 until 2017, where he contributed in strengthening defence diplomacy between Brunei and PRC through his active involvement in the establishment of the Beijing Military Attache Corps (BMAC), which features membership of various Defence Attachés and Defence Advisers from 113 countries. Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin was appointed as Asia Pacific Chairman and subsequently appointed as BMAC Social Coordinator and was highly committed in strengthening good relations between Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) and other countries' Armed Forces especially with People Liberation Army (PLA). In recognition of his accomplishments, he was awarded the Commemorative Medal from the People's Republic of China in December 2017, prior to the end of his tour in PRC.
Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin was awarded the Golden Jubilee Medal in 2011, Long Service Medal in 2013 (PKL), Medal for Service to State in 2018 (PIKB), the Honorable Order of the Crown of Brunei , Third Class (SMB).
Captain Haji Mohamad Sarif Pudin, as a big believer of work-life balance, is keen on ensuring welfare of all personnel, and enjoys reading and hiking in his free time. He is married to Dr Hajah Dayang Suzana binti Haji Awang Adenan and is blessed with two daughters.
