Brunei Stamp $5 Japanese Occupation 1942

Yesterday I mentioned one of the 4 Brunei stamps which I don't own and by the looks of it can never afford to own. The other Brunei stamp which I don't own include this Brunei $5 stamp overprinted during the Japanese Occupation.This stamp is very rare and only appears every now and then. But whenever it comes it, the price tag is scary. This one is currently out on ebay at the starting price of

Brunei 6 cents stamp 1942

There are 4 stamps of Brunei which I have not owned. I owned every single stamp which has appeared in Brunei since 1895 with the exception of 4 stamps. The above is one of them.The highest value stamps of Brunei are all during the Japanese occupation of Brunei. When the Japanese arrived in Brunei, they took over all the left over stamps and overprinted them. Some of the overprints were on stamps

Sungai Kianggeh 1960s

With this postcard, we have left Jalan Chevalier. We are now on Sungai Kianggeh. But we can still see Brunei Hotel in the center of the postcard which marked the beginning of Jalan Chevalier. That landmark hotel is still visible as a modern hotel now in Brunei's capital city.In this postcard, Sungai Kianggeh and Jalan Kianggeh has yet to be modernised. There is no grand footpath of today neither

Jalan Chevalier 1960s

This is another of the old postcards which I recently acquired. This one is of Jalan Chevalier which is now renamed Jalan Pemancha. This actually is an extension of yesterday's postcard.If you look closely, you can still see the two buildings which I mentioned yesterday but now they are towards the horizon. What you can is see now on the extreme left is the Brunei Hotel. Though the building is

Jalan Pemancha 1960s

I was going to continue my series on old Brunei money but yesterday the postman delivered a few surprises. It was a bunch of postcards which I bought a couple of weeks earlier of Brunei in the 1960s and 1970s.This particular one is a little bit unrecognisable to our young Bruneians. This is Jalan Pemancha in the 1960s. It was not until the 1970s that this sight began changing. The building on the

The Forbidden Track

Yesterday was the scariest ride I have ever been on in my life in Brunei. We were accompanying our Acting Minister to visit two works currently being undertaken by the Public Works Department for the Forestry Department which was to build a helipad and a suspended bridge and for the Youth and Sports Department which was to repair the Outward Bound facilities, both at Belalong.Normally one will

Brunei $1 1935

In 1935, King George V was in reign. In fact in 1935, King George celebrated his Silver Jubilee. He was crowned King in 1910 when his father King Edward VII died.This is the first Straits Settlement dollar which had the portrait of the King. Since the money was used throughout the Straits Settlements, it was also used in Brunei as part of the 1906 law. The most interesting thing about this $1

Brunei $1 1925

People sometimes ask me whether I can do the old money series. I said why not? So, this week is the week beginning with the money that was used in Brunei after the First World War.Brunei by 1906 stopped producing its own money. It relied extensively on the Straits Settlement Dollar which was issued through the SS Office in Singapore. So if you were living in Brunei then, and if you rich enough,

Yayyyyyyyyyyy!

We don't often win much in football but not this time around. From Channelnewsasia.com:-Football: Bruneians become first foreign side to win silverware in S'poreBy A S Dwight, TODAY | Posted: 20 June 2009 0630 hrs SINGAPORE : DPMM made history on Friday night, becoming the first foreign club to win silverware in Singapore football when they beat SAFFC 4-3 on penalties in the 2009 League Cup Final

eXpensive Wedding!

I was intrigued to read of one letter to Brudirect on the cost of a wedding. The letter was written by a friend of a clerk who is getting married. His friend was worried that his parents wanted a normal wedding, all he wanted was a simple nikah ceremony. He could not afford the wedding as he is already paying for a car loan plus other loans.This one is certainly a dilemma. My sister just got

US Report on Human Trafficking in Brunei

On June 16th, USA's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the annual publication of Trafficking in Persons Report. The U.S. Department of State is required by law to submit each year to the Congress a report on foreign governments’ efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. The report, the most comprehensive of its kind, this year assesses 175 countries. Countries are

Graying Hair

The other day, while waiting for my turn to speak in a meeting, I was looking round the room to my colleagues. Although most are on average about 45 above, I realised that most are showing graying hair or in our language memutih. At this age, not surprising really.Then I came across this article on psychocentral about graying hair. According to this article, graying hair is not showing signs of

The IMF Report

My apologies for the regular readers for not posting anything lately. My sister got married over the weekend and as you know there were many functions which our family had to tend to and hence the lack of postings.My colleague at MOF informed me that the International Monetary Fund had posted a PIN (Public Information Notice) about the recent Article IV consultation with Brunei. As a member of

Brunei's Anti Corruption Bureau

I am looking through the Transparency International publication entitled the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer given to my by my colleague at Anti corruption Bureau. The report was recently highlighted in the local press about Brunei's position in the fight against corruption.The interesting bit about this report is how the report was derived. For Brunei's case, 820 Bruneians were interviewed by

Back to Business

My thanks to the espeed team yesterday. They came round for the second time, brought my new modem but unfortunately could not test it as it is not the modem but the line. Anyway, the espeed team contacted the line people and the line people came and fixed the line which apparently was broken. That got fixed and when I got home at 6, the modem and finally espeed worked. I was just wondering this

Work Smarter

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it.The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason,the woodcutter was determined to do his best.His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees."Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!"Very

British Coin in Brunei

This is the British Trade Dollar coin. It is made out of pure silver and widely circulated in the region. BUT, this is the most interesting 'but'. Did you know that this was also used in Brunei at the beginning of the 20th century? But did you know that it was banned in 1906 when the British Resident was first placed in Brunei? Did you also know that the Straits Settlement Government (the

The Environment Day

Yesterday was Environment Day. The Friday sermon at the mosque yesterday was on environment, remember? Anyway, the Ministry is celebrating the World Environment Day today. What is World Environment Day?World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.Commemorated yearly on 5 June, WED is one of

e-speed? e-slow! e-notworking!

When I first started blogging 4 years ago, I promised myself I will not use the freedom to write anything that I wouldn't have like to read myself - I will not rant. I broke that rule once when I was so angry with the espeed sometime in September 2006 when I posted this.About six weeks ago, my once reliable espeed went on the blink. Nothing I would do would stop that blinking light on the modem.

President Obama Speaks to the Muslim World

I received an email this morning from Shova Thapa, Cultural Affairs/Press/Webmaster of the Public Affairs Office of the US Embassy in Brunei with the following content:-On June 4, President Obama will travel to Egypt for a historic speech in which he will seek to strengthen U.S. relations with the Arab world and the larger Muslim world. President Obama chose Egypt as the venue for the

How to be seen

I found these ten tips from employers to employees on how to avoid getting laid off on Businessweek. The tips are not all relevant to the many Bruneians who are civil servants but they do provide tips on how to improve ourselves and how to be 'seen' or be more visible.1. Remember: It's Not About You Right NowForce yourself to focus with laser accuracy on your company's success, not your own. In

Cheer Up!

I know after a long weekend, it's a drag to get out of bed and to work this morning. Anyway, I spent the whole morning yesterday babysitting my little boy doing his homework. While he was doing it, I spent my time surfing the net. I found a couple of funny stories which I thought I will 'borrow' and placed here. They are good reads to cheer you up for this coming back to work day:-+++++ STORY 1 +