Surreal ....

Wowed! Proud! Inspired! Moved! Stirred! Some of the words to describe the reactions to today’s Titah from His Majesty. No need for me to repeat what was said. I am sure all eyes were glued to the TV and all ears tuned to the radio. Some even commented RTB got their biggest ever audience for the 8 o’clock news. It’s the hottest thing in town and will be in the foreseeable future. Some are looking forward to the Titah on 15 July.

In the cyber space, on Facebooks, Twitters, in Blogs, forums, people are talking about it. Commenting, suggesting, letting out how they feel. Some are serious, some are funny, some are sarcastic. It will not be complete without some commenting along the lines of “I told you so”; “Baru ia tau ...”; “Padan mua...”. But in all, one common message that came across clearly, visibly, undoubtedly, is the people’s awe and love to His Majesty. All in all, today’s event seemed surreal .... dreamlike.

Whatever and however we feel, we all can talk endlessly on how to react and what to do, all of us have our responsibility. To borrow from a famous phrase from a well known brand, lets JUST DO IT!

PS: Happy Birthday His Majesty ........

Weekend Ramblings .....

Not much happening this weekend. Pretty uneventful. I suppose the last few weekends had been uneventful too. Even more so now with the H1N1 scare. Only out for essential matters.

Surfing the net, checking the latest cricket score (beginning to regret not subscribing to the cricket on the only legal satellite TV provider here), Facebooking, listening to the news at the same time, suddenly overheard the newsreader saying something about “Kumpulan Belia Lasak”. Involuntarily, I burst into big laughter. Flashing through my mind is a group of “Bald Youngsters” running around. I am sure most people, if not all, local Bruneians at least, knows what “lasak” is in our local cakap Brunei. Lasak in short means bald. Other words associated with lasak are “gondol” and “botak”. “Kojak” is another, the origin I was made to understand, was from the popular American television series starring Telly Savalas (he is bald) way back in the 70s. So popular the series was, the word Kojak is synonym with being bald, especially if totally bald (botak licin). Parents, family members and friends even gave nicknames to boys with no or little hair. We ended up with many “Si-Kojak”, a few I know personally. One interesting about Kojak, he was famous for sucking on lollipops as a substitute for smoking. Smokers may follow this.. suck lollipops to stop smoking!

Talking about nicknames, another popular one is “Si-Kanon”, associated with overweight boys. Again, another popular 70s TV series was the influence. Cannon was a detective series about an overweight private detective Frank Cannon, who had resigned from the LAPD and become a private detective. He was indeed shaped like a cannon ball! I am sure a lot of us know of “Si-Kanon” here and there.

Coming back to the “Kumpulan Belia Lasak”, it is actually a group of active, all action youngsters on a mission of doing good deeds. Definitely an initiative to be given full support and backing from all of us. I just wish the people naming the group were extra careful in naming the group ........

PS: this is how boring this weekend has been... the mind even had the time to wander on such trivial things as “Si-Kojak” and “Si-Kanon” ............

Hi-tech ....

Reached the office, settled down, switched on the notebook, turn on the radio tuned to the self proclaimed No1 radio station in Brunei, few sips of water, munching the customary cucur pisang, started the day as usual browsing through the local paper.

There on the front page, a big bold headline that reads "Hi-tech battle against flu". Finally, we are fighting back. Finally, I thought, we are employing and getting the latest technology to fight this menace. My mind went off into orbit thinking what hi-tech things we are getting our hands on. Are we getting the virus zapping lasers as in the Sci Fi stories? Are employing Optimus Prime and its transformers clan to help us? On further reading, the hi-tech thingy the headline referred to was the sms advisory service. Flat feeling engulf the mind. An anti climax. Sms is hi-tech? I am sure a lot will agree sms service is nothing to shout about nowadays. It is common even companies such as banks publicise their promotions through sms.

Admittedly sms is one of the best if not the most successful communication tool ever invented. A very useful tool for mass communication and to spread the word. Even rumours spread in no time through sms. One big factor in Brunei is the booming mobile market with penetration reaching 90% The figures published in Brunei Darussalam Key Indicators showed the total number of mobile subscribers in 2007 is 397,013 from an estimated total population of 390,000. It seems even babies have their own mobile phones!

I am sure introduction of the SMS advisory will complement immensely the fight against H1N1. But to call it Hi-tech? I suppose the editor meant well and is trying to spread good news in this troubling time. But in my case, to my brain, this painted the wrong image. The expectation is wide off the mark. So distant from the actual thing. In the eagerness to have a feel good headline, it painted a not totally correct picture.

Here I go again, complaining as if I am an expert in mass communication and PR. At the rate I am going, I won’t be surprised if the editor or someone from the paper will walk up to me, throw a copy of the paper at me and bark “Mun fikir pandai, cuba tia buat nah!”

At least I mean well............

PS: Keep up the good work MOH.

Hunting ....

Since the outbreak of the swine flu here the last few weeks, groups of people can be seen hunting. Hunting high and low to quote the song by a famous 80s Norwegian band, A-ha. No, they are not hunting the swines. In fact they are hunting for protection against swine flu. Sanitisers, alcohol laced wet tissues, thermometers and the coveted face masks. Ironic, just a few weeks ago these items minus the alcohol laced wet tissues were lying about almost untouched. Wet tissues with alcohol content were very hard to get even before. I wonder if it has any relation to the alcohol ban. A more realistic explanation would be the producer of the wipes trying to meet the market demand of this muslim majority region. We are not suppose to have any alcohol contaminating things around us especially our clothings even more so the ones we use in our prayers. Some will say they still smell the branded expansive very likely containing alcohol perfume in the jemaah...... well as in most things, this particular believe is subjective depending on what we accept as the true rule......

If we do a quick survey and spend sometime in a well known pharmacy, you can bet your life 9 out of 10 of the people entering will ask, “Ada mask kah?”, “Ada hand sanitiser kah?”. These things are hot in the market and their prices are on a steep incline... naik harga berabis. Imagine a pack of 5 of those N95 masks costing more than $17! For those still in the dark about the correct type of masks, I am sure not that many, the recommended masks are the N95 type that are designed to prevent the inhalation of airborne particles such as viruses. Off course there are shops trying to make a killing in this trouble times. One particular shop tried to pass off a normal standard dust mask as N95 mask and selling it at almost $4 a piece. Saw a few gullible and desperate people fell into this trap.

Some people suggested the government to provide free masks to each and every one of us. Imagine $3 per piece, 400,000 pieces every other day. That’s almost $3.6M in a week, assuming three pieces per person per week. Imagine this whole thing lasts its two year cycle? A staggering amount of over $350M! That’s equivalent to building SIX new hospitals at current costs. I am sure everyone will agree the money is better spent on building new hospitals especially specialised one for this kind of pandemic and to improve the health service. As for the masks, most of us in our own way can provide our own.....

PS:
I suppose some form of price control can be introduced and the needs of the real needy must be looked after by the government. At the same time, the importance of good personal hygiene must be stressed again and again. A friend said, wash your hands regularly, insyallah we will be alright.

Freebie ...

“Wedding guests get energy-saving gift” front page headline in one of the local paper. It goes on to say .....“A profound energy-saving message was sent out in a novel way yesterday when around 500 guests at a wedding ceremony in Kuala Belait walked away with energy-saving bulbs given away as traditional wedding gifts to the guests..... the energy-saving light bulbs priced at $7 each were generously contributed by the Energy Division in the efforts to cut down on energy costs and also help the environment.... “

Wow! Definitely a novel idea, an excellent wedding gift, an even better way to promote energy saving mentality. It is indeed a worthy action, killing many birds with one stone (in this case 500 stones).

Energy is a critical and strategic area for our beloved country Brunei Darussalam. Being a producer and energy exporting country, we are also one of the biggest user / consumer of energy. Be it petroleum products or electricity, we are way up there among the top user. Not sure what are the actual figures, in terms of electricity usage, in the region, we are the third highest consumer of electricity after Japan. Compounded even further by one of the lowest electricity tariff in the region. May be it is our Brunei nature, doing and consuming in a big way. Big houses, big cars, even bigger number of cars, everything we want big, even hutang also we are known to have big hutangs and liabilities. Big thing is our thing. On another extreme, we Bruneians love freebies...

Coming back to the wedding gift, $7 wedding gift is in my opinion is on the pricey side. I suppose in this case the energy saving objectives made the cost more or less acceptable. Then again, not many apart from few well off group, can afford a $7 per piece wedding gift. Generally, any gift, as long it is free, people will gladly accept. Observe around us, free things will be gone in no time. Remember the near riot scene of the wang zakat applications? Time and time again we hear stories of people seeking assistance. Of course there are genuine cases, but there are also cases due to the person’s own reckless way, living outside their mean.

On a more worrying note, some may see it, now at least they have an alternative agency to apply for assistance especially weddings in particular wedding gifts.... some can now go to the Energy Division he he he .........

PS:
When you leave a room, turn off the lights. Save energy by turning off household appliances too when not in use. You can save money when you do these simple things. The money save if collected over a period of time can pay for your wedding gifts.

Prodded, Poked, Pulled ....

It used to be holding the mobile, clicking away, typing the text and whatever else you can do nowadays with your mobile. Smart phones on the hands of the addicted means Facebook, Twitter, MSN, Googling etc. But lately we can see another phenomenon.... people walking about holding their forehead. Some do that once every few minutes. Some more frequent. Not enough with the forehead, other parts will also be touched. All in the name of feeling the “hotness” level of our body. Well to the hot chicks and other hot feeling people walking about out there, it’s not a measure of how hot you are. I am sure in a scale of 1 to 10, your hotness can be specified albeit it being subjective to each individual likes, dislikes, tastes, naughtiness etc.

The hotness level we are talking here is our body temperature. Lately, due to the very unwelcome visits of the not so very friendly, in fact very very detested, H1N1 flu, body temperature has become a very big deal indeed. Everywhere you go, depends on the way they take the temperature, your forehead will be poked (skin method), your ears pulled, your armpits pushed (axillary method), your mouth prodded (oral method). Fortunately the rectal method (thermometer shoved up your behind), which is the best way to measure the body temperature according to the Wiki, is not used. Imagine if it is? Smiley happy people walking around we can see for sure. For women, the vagina can also be used. I bet a lot will volunteer for this... NOT!

Under normal conditions, our body temperature should be around 37C (98.6F). Then again this depends on the method of measurement we use. Temperature in the anus (rectum/rectal), vagina, or in the ear is about 37.6C. Temperature in the mouth (oral) is about 36.8C. Temperature under the arm (axillary) is about 36.4C. Furthermore it varies slightly from person to person.

“Temperature examination in the rectum is the traditional gold standard measurement used to estimate core temperature (oral temperature is affected by hot or cold drinks and mouth-breathing). Rectal temperature is expected to be approximately one Fahrenheit degree higher than an oral temperature taken on the same person at the same time. Ear thermometers measure eardrum temperature using infrared sensors. The blood supply to the tympanic membrane is shared with the brain. However, this method of measuring body temperature is not as accurate as rectal measurement and has a low sensitivity for fevers, missing three or four out of every ten fevers in children.[4] Ear temperature measurement may be acceptable for observing trends in body temperature but is less useful in consistently identifying fevers.” .. the Wiki says..

Confused? Let the experts worry about the detail. For us, no matter what we used minus the hand on the forehead method (style lama ni!), let’s keep it simple, anything above 37.5C (doctors and experts please correct me if I am wrong here, admittedly I am no expert nor I have any certificates even forged ones) take extra precautions, follow the Health Authorities instructions.


PS:
I do hope the guys taking the temperature in the office know what they are doing. Been hearing strange readings of as low as 31C.

Sad... Shocked... Scared....

It is a sad day. A sad day as our country suffered the first fatality due to the H1N1 flu. The details and the circumstances are in the news. Upon this news was made public, the internet was and still is full of blame game. Sad as we are about this loss, blame game is the last thing we want. Add to this news another 27 new cases, we have almost a century of cases now. Scared? Worried? Most, if not all, will be ..... Mixed emotions .....

Early in the morning, most if not all the people I came across were alarmed on the sudden rise in the number of H1N1 cases. Some people say it is inevitable. Just look at the United Kingdom where they have given up in preventing the spread. Now, they have moved into the treatment phase in managing this outbreak, treating the ever increasing numbers affected by the flu. It is projected, by August, over 100,000 cases per day will be seen. I guess any plan to go the UK will have to wait for now.

While it is very worrying to see the trend, the good news is that vaccines may be available as early as August this year. A consolation, if we can call it one, the experts acknowledged H1N1 is a mild flu and with early detection and treatment, most will recover. Follow the advice, keep good standard of personal hygiene. No more of the favourite past time of picking the noses for now. Wash our hands with the ever increasingly difficult to find hand sanitisers. Check the body temperatures twice remembering the flexible thermometers you used for the armpits not being used in the mouth. Better to get the ear digital thermometer which is running out fast like the Fun Donuts when it arrived here. Put the masks on, it is trendy now to have one on. Stay home if we are not well. Exercise self quarantine for at least seven days if you have just arrived from an affected area. I am sure many will take this offer of extended leave which I regretted not taking. Have adequate rest. Avoid crowded areas, for now, a perfect excuse not to attend weddings, functions etc. Regularly clean our work area and equipments. I must keep this in mind... should not take the mobile to the toilet. So no more Twitter and Facebook updates “live” from the BilekTermenung.

In our office, as in many other offices across the country, the various action plans or SOPs were activated. To be honest, the plans were for the Bird Flu. I suppose the action plans would be similar for H1N1, just a matter it is swine this time not the birds being the culprit. With the modern technology, it is not difficult to convert the Bird Flu action plan to Swine Flu. Just click “search and replaced” bird with H1N1, we will have an action plan for the H1N1. And do not forget to delete the part on when we find dead birds lying about.

Everyone, everybody is doing their best to counter the H1N1 threat. One thing we must not forget, is PRAY.... pray and doa so we, the whole country will be spared from H1N1. Amin .............

PS:
to those in MOH, keep up the good job.... you have done the best.....

H1N1 online ....

66, yes 66 cases of H1N1 as of this afternoon. Since the first case detected ten days ago, the numbers had shot up. Are we supposed to be alarmed? May be we should. Should we panic? May be we should not. Stories, rumours spreading like wildfire about this flu. Every media you can think off, be it official, print, electronic etc. In blogs, forums, facebook, twitters, chat lines stories are exchanged. How many of the stories are true? How many are half truths? How many are straightforward false allegations?

In Brunei, like the rest of the world, more and more people especially the younger generations are sceptical of the government media. Even when the government media is telling 100% the truth, they will not take it totally. Look what is happening in Iran. It is doubtful such voting fraud in a massive scale could have taken place. Yet despite the government effort to explain and to certain extent appease the protestors, they still believe the non government media. In the case of the H1N1 spread here, if we follow the internet chatter via Facebook, Twitter etc, you will get the sense the government media is not fully trusted. In certain extremes, we get the sense there is a perception the government is not totally transparent and trying to hide something.

Being part of the IT generation, I am all for free speech and unrestricted access to information. But at the same time, we must realise, freedom comes with responsibilities. We also must understand the role of the government. Government agencies have responsibilities to ensure the public’s well being and to maintain calm. With these responsibilities, ensuring the right and accurate information reach the public is of paramount importance. Whose reporting we rather believe? The government with its responsibilities or the people online who has no direct responsibilities, some if not all, are strangers to us?

The challenge for the government media and agencies is to provide accurate, up-to-date almost real time information to the public and to be seen as approachable and fully transparent....

PS:
The last six days was a roller coaster emotional ride. Scared, beuri, kabak-kabak, ingau, terrified and many more emotions all mixed up. Why? Coming back from an H1N1 affected areas, can’t help feeling all those with any slight changes in the body temperature and other flu like symptoms. If before, any cough, sneeze would be taken on my stride, now, have to pause and contemplate. People nearby will be staring at me like I am an outcast. Endless self checking of the body temperature, to the extent of carrying my own thermometer. Allhamdulillah, so far so good. Another day, can I say our group will be declared H1N1 free? It will be like independence day for our group .....

Money & Honesty .... Temptations

Money changes everyone, changes everything.... is it so? Well for sure Love Changes Everything according to Climie Fisher.. here I go again digressing, must be the influence of those 90s songs I am listening to now...

Back to money and honesty, a seemingly ordinary non-event incident recently made me think about the effect of money on the level of our honesty. Over the years I am sure some, many of us had come across money lying on the pavement, floor. What do we do with it? I remember when I was still a kid, came across two dollars lying on the jambatan or bridge, it felt like durian runtuh (windfall). Did I bother to ask around? No way. I just took the money and headed to the nearest KK. Not Kota Kinabalu but the nearest Indian Shop better known as Kadai Kaling. Kadai si Kadir to be exact. Two dollars worth a lot those days, even more so to a little kid. Errands such as buying “tong gas” or gas cylinders only earned little boys 50 cents, one dollar if we were lucky. That was rolling the cylinders along the bridge, not an easy feat, very tricky indeed. So two dollars was like winning a lottery. If tikam-tikaman (I wonder if any of the current generation know this game, or was it gambling?), to get 50 cents was very hard especially with low probability, let alone one or two dollars.

Recently while walking about around the third best airport in the world, contemplating to get the iPod docking alarm clock or not, a ritual whenever I am at this particular airport, I almost stepped on some money, obviously not mine, must have dropped by somebody. Upon further inspection, it was only seventeen dollars from a GST refund. First thing on my mind, what do I do with it? Take it? Run away with it? If I am a little kid, maybe I would have done that. Being a good civic minded person (angkat bakul eh), I went to the nearest information counter, reported it and left the money with the ladies there. As I walked away I was feeling happy and proud as I have done the right thing again. I remembered I did the same thing when I found a communicator handphone at one of the eating places in the same airport.

Not giving the incident much thought, boarded the plane and tried to get some sleep. Then a thought start to nag me. What if the money on that floor was a lot? What if it was hundreds of dollars? What would have I done? Would it be silly to leave it at the information counter not knowing if the money will ever get back to the rightful owner? Would I start thinking that it was rezeki for me to get the iPod Docking alarm radio? Many questions ran through my head. May be I would still do the same thing but was it a certainty I would do that? May be yes, maybe not....

Despite most, a lot of us, if not all, knowing honesty is the best policy, the right thing to do at all times, when it comes to money, it is not a certainty we will do the right thing. The amount, the situation, the scenario may lead to different outcomes. Temptations, cobaan as Bujang Lapok called it will always be there. Many cases over the years of people fallen to the lure and temptation of the dollar signs. May be we can ask Climie Fisher to rewrite the lyrics to their hit song and titled it “Money Changes Everything” .... may be...

PS:
Finally bought the iPod Docking Alarm Clock after four rounds of ritualistic pondering contemplation stretched over a period of many months. Well it was worth it. Booming bass sound from such a small box is just marvellous. Fergie of Black Eyed Peas would be shouting .... Fabulous!

Paybill Day ....

It’s Sunday, a day after payday for all Government servants. A friend joked its PAYBILL day... maybe he is right. For a lot of people, immediately after the salary dollars entered their bank accounts, big portion of it will either be withdrawn or blocked by the banks to pay for liabilities such as car loans, credit cards, all sorts of personal loans etc etc. As Bruneians call it, panas pun alum punggung....... the money is gone in no time after waiting for it for over four weeks....

After the monthly ritual of paybill, a lot of people wonder if they have anything left of their hard earned salary to be saved. It is a well known fact, everyone should try to save 10% to 30% of their salary. Do we? Can we? Chances are, many will not. Too much debt to pay, desire not balance with need, consumerism and useless stuff are among the common reasons cited for this. The following tips taken from a website may help us save a bit:

• Pay out/clear all the credit cards or any invoices. Don’t debt. Don’t pay minimum payment, it's just increasing the debt from its interest.

• Minimize the desires/wishes of things. Desire is not the same with need. Sometime, when we think that I need a car, think twice, do we REALLY need a car? Can I drive just a motorcycle to my workplace or just a bicycle?

• STOP spoiling eyes and brain for what we see, we touch. You don’t have to wear luxurious satin gown to the party if you can modify your cotton gown.

• No more than 2 credit/debit cards in wallet. Use it wisely, don’t push the limit.

• Investment, investment, investment. You can apply insurance for keeping your money, of life insurance, or any insurance that fit with your condition. OR.. you can apply for bank deposit which has annual withdrawal, which give us penalty if we withdraw before the time limit.

• CUT OFF 10-30% from salary immediately after we received and save it to your bank account. Make it as "dead account", don’t make withdrawal history from this account unless you really really really need it. Make this account without any card facility, low interest is fine, the important is it's safe.


May be then we can really earned the rich tag Bruneians tend to get overseas especially in this region.

Talking about tags and reputations, at the beginning of the week I was in a modern city state founded by Sang Nila Utama and once was saved from attacks of the swordfish by the genius of a 7 year old boy, Hang Nadim. To the people in this city state, Bruneians are well off rich people. Therefore it is understandable, whenever we are getting any service at any hotels, for the hotel staff especially the bell boys to expect big tip from us. Admittedly some deserve it. For sure all will try to please you 247. To cut a long story short, over the period of five days I was there, I have gone from being called Tuan when I arrived, to Dato, Pengiran and Pehin in the space of just five days. That must be in a world record time! The price? Only $10 of tip ......

I wonder what the bellboy will call me if I stay a day longer .......

Scarce Resource ...

Today and the last couple of days were spent listening to diverse views from diverse group of people on water. But one common understanding they all have is “water is a scarce resource”. What does it mean? In short, water is a priceless resource. Some people, in fact a lot of people, says water is life. Life needs water....

That’s the global perception. How about our own local perception? First let us all be thankful, our country is blessed with abundance (but not limitless for sure) of water. We live in a country where we have among the lowest, if not the lowest water tariff in the world (yet we still have people complaining about it and a significant number of “none paying mau free saja user”). We also have the “honour” of among the highest user of water per capita per day, 450 litres per day. That’s around 300 big bottles of those sehat water. Well, if I sound bibiran about this as this was in my earlier entry, so be it.

With the above basic facts, a question that needs to be answered is how we, as a nation, value water? To answer it, let’s look at simple and basic things in our life in Brunei. The answer lies in there somewhere. When we got up in d morning, how do we brush our teeth, how do we shower, how do we wash? A large number of us have the habit of letting the water run and run and run, throwing away water. If we value something, are we willing to throw it away? NO! Most if not all will say... In fact a lot will want to collect and keep the valuable thing. Conclusion? We do not value water... simple!

But for sure everyone realises how important water is in our lives. For people who has not realise this, do imagine that you are doing your “big business” in the toilet at night. Suddenly, the electricity and water were cut off. What do wish for? If you were asked to choose either electricity or water, which one will you choose? 100% of you will ask for water to be restored. See how important water is?

The above are the normal basic things most if not all has experienced. It points to two extremes, one where we do not value water and another where we know water is important in our lives.

Let’s look it at from another perspective. All of us, it is in Bruneians’ nature, to think to the future and do our best to secure our children’s and their children’s future especially education and harta. If water is important to us and it is not limitless, don’t we want to leave some for our children and their children? I am sure, many if not all will say YES....

The question now is HOW? Everyone has a role to play. The government, thankfully, has and will continue to invest and pour millions into new water infrastructure projects and maintaining and upgrading existing water infrastructure to meet the demand for water. But the demand will always increase with increase in population. As demand increase, more and more investment will be required. The government will always play catch up. We will never be able to stop the increase. It is a lost hope it seems but there must be something we can do to slow down and reduce the increase. How? Each of us, every day, reduce our water usage. Slowly but surely, the rate of increase in water demand will slow down ...

Let’s play our role, be thankful that we have abundant of water, and value our water MORE..... after all, our children and their children deserve to live like us...

VALUE WATER ..... SAVE WATER!

Champions....

Congratulations! Bravo! Well done! Tahniah! to DPMM FC for winning the Singapore League Cup 2009. An achievement the whole country is definitely very proud of. This is no small feat. Only admitted to the S-League two weeks before the start of the season, here we are few months on, the Champions of the League Cup, the first foreign team to win any silverware in Singapore domestic competitions. Next is the League title ............

Most TVs in Brunei were glued to RTB watching the match unfold. Full time score 1-1, the match went into extra time. Thirty minutes of torture as the Singapore Armed Forces FC (SAFFC) mounted attack after attack. Then came the penalties. Pacing around trying to keep calm. What a relief, it ended up 4-3 to DPMM FC. Phew!

Sitting there watching the match on TV, memories of one Saturday night in December 1999 came flooding back. There we were, thousands of Brunei hardcore supporters at the Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur gathered to watch an historic moment, witnessing the first and only time Brunei won the Malaysia Cup. Those days, we had Patron Akakpo, Brian Bothwell, Rosli Leman (wonder what happened to the Toyota he won), Liew, Azmanuddin, Irwan, Ibrahim and many more including Ak Sallehudin who is one of the key players of the current DPMM FC team.

At the beginning of 1999, it did not look like we will be winning anything! Being the year Brunei was hosting the 20th SEA Games, the focus of the country was on the SEA Games. Preparation for it became top priority. The M-League matches had to move to Padang Kebajikan as the Stadium was under renovation. Well over the years Brunei had played their matches in lesser padangs. It started at Padang Besar (now Taman SOAS) in 1979, then the KBRC (I remembered this fondly, the match against Sarawak where Pg Tajuddin scored through a thunderbolt freekick), the Police Stadium in Gadong and the Padang Puaka aka Padang JKR at Airport Lama (Brunei remained undefeated in one season here!). So what’s wrong with Padang Kebajikan? May be it was bad luck, Brunei fared badly in almost every match there. Not until after Brunei had done with the hosting of the SEA Games (a memorable sporting event we hosted brilliantly with the most gold medal haul ever for Brunei), the matches moved back to the National Stadium, the Brunei Team aka the Wasps got into gear and started winning match after match.

After failing at the semi final and quarter final stages the previous years, Brunei was not going to be denied. The couple of weeks before the final got thousands scrambling for air tickets. By hook or by crook, a lot of people wanted to be at the Final. Luckily extra flights were arranged. Kuala Lumpur was flooded with thousands of Bruneians. Some even arrived on the day of the final and immediately returned after the match.

On that Saturday night, 4 December 1999, as soon as the final whistle blew, thousands of us were ecstatic. Tears flowing. Hugging. Shouting “Brunei Yakin!”. Jumping up and down! Who cares how silly we all looked like. All we care was after 20 years, we finally won the Cup! Few of us managed to celebrate with the players at the team hotel (after soup ekor session to regain some energy drained during the match). What a night! Hairs on the back of my neck stood and tears in my eyes every time I recalled that night!

Now, 10 years on, we won the League Cup. Hopefully this will be a good sign for the future of football in Brunei. Better things to come unlike the downhill spiral the local football scene took after winning the Malaysia Cup in 1999. First thing first, the most important step is to sort out the BAFA/FFBD quandary ...

Brunei Yakin!

the Internet 247 .....

Internet is part and parcel of most people’s lives now. Being online and connected 247 is a very big deal to a lot of people. Loss of internet connection is treated the same way as loss of water or electricity supply. More and more ways to stay in contact with family and friends are available. E-mails, internet messengers, Facebook, Windows Space, Twitter to name a few.

As in all things in this world, internet has its positives and negatives. Focussing on the positives, advancement in the internet means we now can get real time news. A good example was a few days ago there was some disturbances at the Malaysian Parliament. Faster than TV news can do it, we can read real time hot from the oven reports direct from the Parliament. Guess who the reporters were? The members of parliament themselves through the Twitter service.

Not just through the computers, we now have access through our mobile phones. Even the not so smart models come with internet access as a standard. Facebook users, twitter subscribers and even the MSN users can now use their mobile phones and update their status, made comments and the most useless of all ... poked their friends. If we observe carefully people around us, we can see more than 50% will be holding and staring at their mobile phones. More and more of these people are actually accessing the internet. Some even take their phones everywhere ... I know a few who updates their status while doing their business in the toilet. Lucky for us, internet so far only comes with sight and sound effect. Imagine if it comes with smell effect!

One aspect of the internet world is E-Govt. Everyone has heard of e-govt and many understands it provides access to government services online, from the comfort of our homes or offices, in fact from anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We in Brunei are also not left behind on this development. Recently, we had the e-govt expo at the Mall. Admittedly I did not go to see it. Not so much for lack of interest, but more because of the hassle of finding a parking spot which is almost impossible in the area at weekends. How I wish I could have parked online and go on a cyber tour of the exhibition.

Today I came across a very interesting speech from a Senior Minister of our neighbour. He is of the opinion good governance is the foundation for successful e-government which in turn enables us to improve the effectiveness of Government. He stated three features of good governance that are critical to successful e-Government: Transparency, Accountability and Incorruptibility; Continuous Regulatory Review and Working together as One Government. You can read the full text here.

What is interesting in the text is the focus on good governance. I am no expert, but from what I know good governance is basically conducting public affairs, managing public resources in a manner essentially free of abuse and corruption, and with due regard for the rule of law. Participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law are among the characteristics of good governance. Based on this, may be, as we go down the e-govt road, we as a country will improve in this aspect. It is well known some procedures are convoluted and confusing. Even the “Ease of Doing Business Report 2009” painted a not too good picture. Ranked 88 out of 181 economies.

Well there is always hope. We must always have hope. May be, just maybe, the current e-govt initiatives will bring about positive changes, making our processes and procedures less complicated, more straight forward and most importantly not open to abuse.

With access from anywhere to government services online and other services from private providers locally and internationally 247, we will be a truly well connected people.... even beyond the imagination of the “connecting people“ at Nokia.............

El-Nino ... La-Nina

The driest we will experience in 30 years.. one paper said yesterday. Various agencies here and in the neighbouring countries released numerous warning. Yes.. these agencies announced, ladies and gentlemen ... El-Nino is here.

All and behold... it was pouring rain yesterday afternoon. And last night too! Not just light rain.. but heavy one! Is it really El-Nino? Or is the brother, La-Nina here? It made some of the agencies looked silly.....

If there is anything we can learn from this is how unpredictable the weather is nowadays. Is this the effect of the so called Climate Change everyone fears? May be ... no one can tell for sure...

No matter if it rains or if it is hot and dry, we all have a responsibility.. responsibility to reduce or even stop activities that is harming the environment... open burning, wasting energy, wasting water, uncontrolled development, cutting down the forest, high volume of rubbish, and many more ..... together we can do it ... no need to think too much, no need to ponder a lot, no need to talk too much... as Nike says it ... JUST DO IT!

Exam fever....

A fever hit Brunei the last few days. But no need to worry, no need to report to the WHO or the health authorities. No health screening, no scary injections required. It was just the exam fever ....

Over the last few days, over a thousand Government officers sat for the compulsory if you want to be promoted exams. The subjects should not be something new, strange or even alien to the officers. It should be basic knowledge for the officers to be a government servant. After all, to do your job you must know what are your responsibilities, your authority, what you can do and cannot do... all the basic rules and regulations. General Orders better known as GO and Financial Regulations known as FR are these. So should be peanuts to all of them.

Is it really kacang? No, many will say. Yes, some will say as in any other tests or exams. To most government officers, taking the exams is to get promoted. It is true, for those who fail, the chance of being promoted are slim (I do not believe it is nil as many does). May be this is where the fault is. Learning something just for the sake of passing the exams ( I have plenty of experience in this). It is nothing compared to learning something to be a good civil servant. We will end up with the situation of “masuk telinga kiri, keluar telinga kanan”, not much difference in the level of knowledge before and after the exam (during the exams, off course it is high). Surely there are those with the right attitude, learning the GO & FR so they will be better civil servants. May be, I do hope, the numbers for this group is increasing. (may be we can do on the spot surprise tests he he he) Realising that we need to know, understand, get a feeling, appreciate these rules in order to be a good civil servant must be the ultimate goal... not just to get promotion.....

Talking about exams, in the news yesterday, some cheats were caught using concealed electronic devices (transmitters) in university entrance exams in China. Most people know you can get cheap electronic gadgets in China, I am sure these people have easy access to these devices. I wonder if this will catch on here as more and more careers relied on them passing the exams. The market is there. Over one thousand people sitting for the exams. Wherever there is a market, I am sure there will be ready suppliers. May be some are already writing up their business plans for this. May be the day will come where thorough checks will have to be made on all the candidates. I do hope NOT....

As I have said before in my earlier entries, trust is very important. Even more so in being a civil servant. We trust, all our civil servants are trustworthy and will not resort to what they are up to in the Chinese university entrance exams...... Good luck guys....


PS:
I wonder if there any tuition classes opened for the GO & FR exams? Any online help available? Very good business opportunities but do not forget to apply for permission to set up a business .....

1000th .... a thousand apologies

A milestone reached, a threshold passed, a target accomplished. Sometime today, this blog got its 1000th hit. This is based on the low tech counter put up on the sidebar. Being a not computer savvy person, with almost zero knowledge of how to design a website, putting a more sophisticated counter or a tracker is not possible right now. Not that no effort had been put to learn, the learning process is very slow. The Kids’ Guide to HTML is the current lesson level. Its lower then beginners or even the famous range of guides better known as the Idiot’s Guide. Definitely regretting missing those extra IT classes I was supposed to be in many years ago. HTML was on the lesson list for sure. Who knows those lessons would have changed the layout, instead of polka dots blue based page, may be the layout would have evolved to a multicoloured full of graphics belingkaran here and there. Well, keeping things simple is my motto. May be it’s for the best that I missed those classes hehehe.... (sekadar kan menyamankan hati...)

To the person who clicked the 1000th hit on this blog, as the character in Mind Your Language, Ranjeet, famously says, A THOUSAND APOLOGIES! No prizes for being the 1000th hit. There is no way of telling who you are. Being, or trying to be an anonymous no comment allowed blog made it even harder! On this, once again, A THOUSAND APOLOGIES, this status quo will remain for the foreseeable future.

The 1000 figure, to me, is a bit misleading. Sure, it is a significant number but the counter does not differentiate on where or from whom the hits came from. In fact if someone was to sit in front of the computer with this blog opened and click refresh or reload nonstop, I am sure 1000 hit can be reached in no time. Quite why someone would do that is beyond me. Using logic and simple deduction, almost half of the hits must have come from the author. A significant portion may be from the closest person to me, checking if I am saying anything bad (I am definitly going to be in trouble for this!). One thing for sure, the 1000th hit is not the author’s.

Whatever it is, this is indeed a good marker to pause and look back. In fact, it would have been a double milestone, double celebration of 1000th hit and 50 posts or entries. But sadly, 7 of those entries did not count, there were unpublished drafts. Pity ....

My “Minister of Home Affairs” cums “the finance minister” cums “the Lord of the Dominion” remarked recently this blog has no particular theme. Well known, more popular and more advanced blogs have certain angles. From helping to foster a better informed Brunei Society (A thousand apologies sir!), to the Brunei’s No1 Social News to photography, food, hobbies, all categories are covered. As I have mentioned in the earlier entry, this is my way to let out what I think of some of the things I see, hear, touch, smell and taste . So no restrictions on subjects, categories and angles. But will always remain responsible albeit sometimes panyaluru.

Coming back to the 1000th hit, I recalled fondly a wall sticker about statistics I put up in my previous offices, at the back of the door so my boss would not notice it. On it, a tall voluptuous beautiful lady in yellow bikini, with the caption “Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” How very true ......

Mahal... Kita ..

Lately, more and more people are complaining how things are getting more and more expansive. Our purchasing power seemed to have dropped. Is it really that expansive?

If you follow the news, in a recent survey done by human resources firm ECA International on the most expensive city in the world for foreign workers, you cannot see Bandar Seri Begawan. But to my surprise, I am sure to a lot of other people too, the most expansive city in the world is Luanda in Angola. According to the report, a meal in Luanda can cost over US$100 and a "decent" apartment can cost as much as US$15,000 a month, despite the fact that most Angolans live in poverty, with over 60% of the Angolan population live on less than $2 a day.
The cheapest place? Maseru, the capital of the African state of Lesotho! To put things into perspective, Tokyo, the most expansive city in Asia is the world’s second most expansive city. Singapore, our neighbour, in the top 10 of the most expansive cities in Asia, is ranked 72. Kuala Lumpur is ranked 38 in Asia, 210 in the world.

Personally, one way for me to compare cities is the price of meal per person. Surf the net you can get a very good picture. In Bangkok, US$1 can buy you a good meal. Other countries and cities? In South Korea, US$5 to US$10; Tokyo similar to South Korea, Hong Kong is around US$5; in India about US$1; in Shanghai between US$1 to US$5; Jakarta around US$2 and Manila about US$5..... No need to say much about Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Most Bruneians know the prices. Just be careful not to end up like the Americans in Singapore charged S$30 per prawn!

Coming back to Brunei, a meal can cost as low as B$1 ... nasi katok or roti kosong with aing sajuk. Pay a bit more, you can have the delicious Roti Talor Bawang. Go to the pasar malam, you can get lots of B$1 food. Is that expansive? I don’t think so.... No wonder Bandar Seri Begawan in ranked 13th in Asia as the best place to live in ..........


PS: you can use the cost of a meal as a guide when giving tips in a foreign country!

El-Nino ........

El-Nino is coming! Liverpool fans, do not rush to the airport, to the hotels or even the stadium. We are not talking about El-Nino, the Kid, Fernando Torres, the No.9 prolific Liverpool striker. The El-Nino we are talking here is the global climatic phenomenon we experienced a few years back.

Scientifically, El-Nino is .... “El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO; commonly referred to as simply El Niño) is a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon. The Pacific Ocean signatures, El Niño and La Niña are important temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño and La Niña are officially defined as sustained sea surface temperature anomalies of magnitude greater than 0.5°C across the central tropical Pacific Ocean. When the condition is met for a period of less than five months, it is classified as El Niño or La Niña conditions; if the anomaly persists for five months or longer, it is classified as an El Niño or La Niña episode. Historically, it has occurred at irregular intervals of 2-7 years and has usually lasted one or two years.” ... so says the Wikipedia.

Basically, El-Nino will bring in hotter and drier weather. The current episode is estimated to last until September at least. Hotter and drier weather means possible increase in the number of hot spots. Do not be too happy and start to take out your notebooks thinking and hoping for increase access to the cyber world. The kind of hotspots here will more likely burn your notebooks! These hotspots are actually occurrences of forest fires. More hotspots mean higher chance of the dreaded haze (jerebu) coming up.

What can we do to help? Stop open burning! That simple..........


PS:
Apple unveiled it’s new iPhone, so called the iPHONE 3G S, with the S standing for speed. It’s the same phone as the current iPhone 3G but faster... twice as fast. Very likely will be available in Singapore in July or early August. In Brunei? I am willing to bet it will be available here as early as June 20...a day after it is available in the US Market!

Dikir .....

It’s been a long and tiring day. Lately, by the end of the day, feeling drained, exhausted, tired, you name it, it’s all there. Today is no exception. May be I should start taking those multivitamins especially Vitamin B complex again. Don’t dare to take any other energy boosting supplements. Excessive energy has its own problems too.

Despite being a long day, today brought back a lot of childhood memories. Sitting and listening to Dikir Brunei brought those memories back. Years ago, when I was still a kid, alum besunat as my nini always referred to me and my cousins those days, bedikir sessions were common, almost nightly. Led by my late great grandfather, a group of us, young and old gathered at his house and practice the dikir. It was fun. Those days we did not have much else to do, no distractions, no video games, no computers let alone internet, no mobile phones and only limited TV channels.

As I grow older, some say wiser but I may beg to differ in this particular case, the ability to do Dikir Brunei just disappeared like that. Only a few phrases remained in this head now full of other supposed to be more interesting things in life. Then one day, in London, a group of us, the so called Surau Boys, were told by Ustaz we will be performing the dikir at one of prominent Bruneians’ house. We thought we had a few days to practice but in reality we had only one night to practice. There we were this group of “dikir rookies” at the centre of the majlis looking like the real deal. Lucky there were dikir pros amongst us and the whole thing went well, at least the dikir sounded alright to us, the rookies, despite some of us were clearly miming ala Milli Vanilli.

Nowadays, many people, many organisations, either in the Government or privately, put a lot of efforts to keep Dikir Brunei alive not just among the older generations but also the young. Well done to these people. They have done a great job and I am sure they will continue to do so.

But one thing still puzzled me, among the various names given to the “lagus” they used, there is one or two titled with the word kopi in it. An example is “Badat Kopi”. Why kopi? What is the significance of kopi here? I jokingly theorised that may be it took a cup of kopi for the whole thing to be completed, which is shorter than normal dikir. When I asked a friend, a veteran of Dikir Brunei, he replied may be because “teh abis” he he he. Anybody who knows the real answer, please help me out of this misery, and make it one less question running around my head....

Fever Free ....

Fever Free....

Since H1N1 made the headlines, everyone seems to take extra care and be extra aware of their body temperature. A trip to any health premises, be ready with your forehead, at least your ears. Previously, during normal times, only the person seeking treatment will be checked for their body temperature. Nowadays, no one is spared. Lucky they just use the ears and the nose. Imagine if they resort to other areas where they can measure your body temperature.

Fortunately, as mentioned in the news today, they are introducing thermal scanners the kind they uses at the airports at some health premises. At least it will speed things up and make it a bit more comfortable for the visitors.

At the end of the temperature check, everyone will get a “Fever Free” sticker. Sounds like you have won a prize. You are now certified free from fever. Lucky the sticker does not say “Free Fever”. On one particular visit, the kids seemed to be so excited to get those stickers. The adults just went through the motion. On another visit, a foreign man who just arrived from outside Brunei had a body temperature of 39C. A few of us there were suddenly terrified. What if the guy got the swine flu? Allhamdulillah, things turned out ok.

Returning from overseas trips, especially from affected countries brings along some worries. Kept checking the body temperature. I bet the thermometer at home got tired of checking. Any fever signs, the mind suddenly went overdrive. What will I do if I am going to be quarantined?

We must be thankful that our beloved country, so far, is free from H1N1. Some of our neighbours are not that lucky. To this, we must besyukur and laud the efforts of the Health authorities here. We hope and pray our country will remain H1N1 free.

P.S.
In my last entry I put out some ideas for song titles, CINCAU and CENDOL. Well for those who wants to use this title, CINCAU can be Cinta Ini Cinta Akhirku; CENDOL can be Cinta Engkau Dan Orang Lain .... Just make sure you attribute these titles to me. I will not ask for any royalties he he he .....