We learnt that success is even sweeter when we face hardships head-on.

“Of friendships - and a chance we almost lost”

Hallan Hashim was the one who got us into Asia's Got Talent (AGT). He saw some hope in Malaysia's traditional music and wanted to share them to the whole world.

When we received the call that we made it to the semi-finals, we were over the moon. This is a dream come true for us. But what followed the two weeks after was all bad news, one after another. It was a huge headache for everyone and a near-miss for us.

The episode of misfortunes began when we found out that our percussionist, Allister might not be able to attend AGT's boot camp, as the camp clashed with his Pasukan Latihan Pegawai Simpanan (PALAPES) annual camp, which spelt trouble as AGT rules require contestants to participate in the boot camp - otherwise, it'll be the end of the road for them. Our bassist Nick, who had complications with his identification card, faced some problems travelling to Singapore. If that happens, Sada Borneo will be incomplete, putting us at risk for disqualification. The night before we flew to Singapore for the semi-final, Julian was hospitalized. At the very last minute before boarding our flight for the final episode, Hilmi received a call from home, only to find out that his pregnant wife was admitted in the hospital, which meant he had to go home. As for Bob, he didn't feel confident enough to perform for an international television show and wanted to quit. Can you imagine all of this happening in such crucial moments?

As tensions rise during the competition, we had disagreements on little things. Even silly matters, such as grammatical errors on our band's Facebook page could trigger conflict, as we recall. We also didn’t have enough musical instruments to perform, which has been one of our biggest problems since the beginning of the competition.

Despite all that, things turned out great for us, despite not making it to the finals. The responses we received from the public were very positive and overwhelming, even until today. In the midst of this chaos, we learnt valuable lessons about life.

Truth be told, what Bob went through reminded us about the promise we've made before the competition: once we agreed to join AGT, there's no turning back. This, after all, was the defining moment of our career - and most importantly, our FRIENDSHIP.

The key to overcoming these problems is to talk things out, learn more about ourselves and others, and accept and tolerate differences among members. The people around us were very understanding of our problems and very willing to help us out. In the end, we got Bob back in the band.

At the end of the day, we understood each other better. These predicaments, which might be a blessing in disguise, have taught us to be berdikari (independent). We learnt that success is even sweeter when we face hardships head-on. We learned to thank our true friends, especially those who have supported us since our pre-AGT days.

Now that SADA BORNEO has become a huge part of our lives, whenever a member is missing from practices or gigs, we would go.....

"I wish he was here." :)