The Golden Warisan Volume 2

For those keeping track of the publication of my book 'The Golden Warisan Brunei Darussalam Volume 2' will be pleased to know that the book will be available from Monday. I have an advance few copies which I will make available for sale to people who has time to drop in to my office starting from this morning. The book is 1/3 thicker than last time and the price is unfortunately too $15 instead

A Time to Reflect

Apologies to the few faithful readers that I have left of this blog. I have not been able to update this blogspot and thoughts of closing it down completely have crossed my mind. Work as usual is very hectic but at the same time family commitment too.We lost a young junior colleague a couple of months back. Last week my aunty Hajah Maimunah too was called. The last I saw of her was during my

Quote of the Week

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."John Calvin Coolidge

What is SCP? Part 2

I remembered when I helped launched TAP in 1993, one wisecracker came up to me and asked me 'do you know what TAP stands for?' So I asked him and he said that 'TAP' stands for Tidak Ada Pencen. I thought to myself when I heard that SCP was announced by His Majesty that it won't be long before someone comes up with something interesting. I heard it today, the Brunei wisecracker has done it again,

What is Strata Title?

[The following entry is extracted from the Press Release issued by Ministry of Development on Thursday, 16th July 2009]Pada menjunjung titah perkenan Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam, Kementerian Pembangunan sukacita memaklumkan bahawa Baginda telah memperkenankan supaya Kanun Tanah Strata (Penggal 189), Negara Brunei Darussalam

What is the SCP?

The details of the Supplemental Contributory Pension (SCP) announced by His Majesty during His Birthday's Titah was released by Ministry of Finance yesterday. I have made available the 5 pages document scanned as jpg files in the last posting. You can click on each one and print that page out. It is not as clear as I would have liked, the original scans are clear, but this one is reduced

What is SCP?

On 15th July 2009, His Majesty says

Alhamdulillah, syukur kehadhrat Allah Subhanahu Wata'ala, diatas limpah rahmat-Nya mengizinkan kita sama-sama menyambut Hari Keputeraan Beta yang Ke-63 tahun.Walaupun semua majlis, kecuali Majlis Membaca Do'a Kesyukuran Di Masjid-Masjid, telah ditangguhkan, namun Beta dapat merasakan, semangat 15 Julai adalah tetap hangat dan segar, sebagaimana juga biasanya pada setiap tahun.Beta tidaklah lupa

His Majesty's Speech and Strata Title

As always His Majesty's Birthday Speech contained enough to satisfy everyone. His touch in knowing what the issues are and how to solve them is something which we have always admired in him. Some have asked me to comment on His Majesty's speech but I think that would be better be left to the people out there. Of the issues which concern the public the most is always financial. By the comments I

Geocentric Datum Brunei Darussalam 2009

I launched the Brunei Darussalam Geocentric Datum 2009 yesterday. My speech was about how useful it would be etc. The Surveyor General's speech outlined what Geocentric Datum Brunei Darussalam is all about (if you still don't understand it, then go down to the very last paragraph for my very short non-technical summary):-+++++The continuing development of global communication and information

Tale of an Envelope

These stamps on this cover were the first truly official Brunei stamps. In 1895, Brunei had the first private but officially sanctioned stamps. In 1906 when the British Resident first appeared in Brunei, there was a postal service but the stamps were Labuan stamps overprinted Brunei. So these stamps were the first officially used stamps in Brunei to be used by the Postal Authorities. In fact

H1N1

Yesterday, Reuters reported the following:-WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People who are obese but otherwise healthy may be at special risk of severe complications and death from the new H1N1 swine flu virus, U.S. researchers reported on Friday.They described the cases of 10 patients at a Michigan hospital who were so ill they had to be put on ventilators. Three died. Nine of the 10 were obese, seven

Brunei $25 stamp 1910

Yesterday, I was off to Gadong during lunchtime and drop into my friend who deals with antique books. I was not expecting to buy anything but normally just have a quick look around at whatever new that he has got. Maybe I shouldn't say new. Whatever old things that he managed to acquire recently.When I was there he showed me these 4 stamps:-These stamps were issued for the Brunei Postal

Brunei $5 note

Every now and then you get to see the previous paper note of Brunei's currency. This $5 paper note surprisingly is still circulated. I was quite intrigued to see Brunei's $100 notes the other day being used at HH. So there are still some old notes. But this $5 note is interesting. You look at the back and you will see this:-This water village photograph being used for the note is unusual. It is

Ancient Trading Customs of Brunei and China

[I wrote the following article for my Golden Legacy column on Brunei Times two Sundays ago:-]+++++The history of friendly exchanges of envoys and trade between China and Brunei went back a long way. According to Chinese records, the earliest recorded contact date back to more than 2,000 years. Relationship was established as early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC to 23 AD). By 669 AD during the

UK 20 pence Coin Error 2008

Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. As a civil servant, I have seen obviously my fair share of errors in policies and actions. Most are unintentional but the mistakes or the shortcomings are seen only when those policies or actions have been put into place. As a collector of things, obviously I loved it when errors or mistakes happen. This morning one of my friends holidaying in