The New Year?

Today is the first day of 2007 AD or to be areligious - 2007 CE (Common Era) as AD stands for the latin word Anno Domini - the year of our lord or as the Oxford Dictionary pointed out AD refers to 'of the Christian Era'. So, why were you singing the old Scottish song Auld Lang Syne (written by poet Robert Burns and published in 1796) to celebrate the 'new year' last night?In the middle ages, even

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

Today is Hari Raya Aidil Adha or Hari Raya Haji as we Bruneians call it. Some also called it Hari Raya Korban which is predominantly used also in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. According to Wiki, it is Eid el-Kbir in Morocco, Egypt and Libya; Tfaska Tamoqqart (see if you can pronounce that) in the Berber language of Jerba; and Tabaski or Tobaski in some parts of Africa;

The Brunei Haj

Alhamdulillah, by the time you read this, Brunei haj pilgrims this year would have done the ukuf yesterday at the Arafah and should be in Mina today after spending the night at Muzalifah. By now, a number would have taken off their ihram as they have either completed the first throwing of the Jumratul Aqabah stone pillar at Mina or for the more adventurous one, they would have done the tawaf and

More Brunei Words

Another example of the Brunei nationality test. As usual fill in the blanks in the sentences with the words given below. Have fun.Words:a. jahat ujudb. kayu manahc. indadad. katupange. indanganf. rambatg. sulaph. kulimambangi. lampuhj. kalakatiSentences:1. Setelah diperah santan secukupnya, ................ dibuang ke dalam tong sampah.2. Dia membersihkan ............... untuk pergi menangkap

Brunei's New $500 and $10,000 Banknotes

Starting today, Brunei will have two new currency notes replacing the old $500 and $10,000 notes. When I mentioned this to some people, they laughed. Most of them have not even seen the old $10,000 note, so it does not matter whether there is a new note replacing it or not. While it is true that not many of us will be using those but should you come across one of them, you would realise that

Sabah and Sarawak

I thought I will turn my attention towards our neighbouring states, Sabah and Sarawak, favourite holiday destinations for Bruneians especially in this month of December. I have written once about Sabah in passing when I was talking about how the name Istana Manggalela in Kuala Belait came about. I was going through my collection of books in the hope of finding something to write about today. In

Bunga Telur

Someone asked what is the origin of the bunga telur - the token gift that is given to guests who come to wedding ceremonies. The giving of bunga telur was actually originally a throwback to the Hindu culture which influenced the cultures in Southeast Asia. The egg represent or symbolise a fertile union between the couple as the egg is the symbol of fertility. In some sense, by giving away eggs,

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah the First

Merry Christmas to readers who are celebrating it out there. I remembered when I was studying in UK and USA, the Christmas/New Year holidays mean that no shops are open for about a week and that one better stock up for that week if one wants to eat something else other than Christmas puddings. For today I thought I will write something about how Christmas cards led me to discover something about

Questions to ask before saying yes

Today is Sunday. I am rushing off this entry as my wife, my little boy and I have to rush later today to Sungai Liang for my cousin's wedding. Sundays are the Brunei wedding days and with many marriages especially in December, I thought I will share an article on the New York Times entitled 'Marriage is not built on surprises'. For those thinking about marriage, you might want to ponder and see

Hooked on Credit Cards

The other day I received one of those 'if you don't pay, we will take you to court and by the way your card is now cancelled' letter from a local bank. What I did not realise was that a credit card, which I signed up more than a year ago with the bank because the MD practically shoved the application form under my nose when I was their guest of honour for launching one of their products, had an

Brunei Words

Sometimes Brunei words are so obscure or we hardly used them that other than our elders, most younger Bruneians would be stumped. My friend showed me an example of a Brunei nationality test which I thought I will reproduce here for everyone to have a look. It looks hard at first, but it isn't really. You take a look.Question (loosely translated) - use the following words to complete the sentences

Exam Day!

It's exam day for quite a number of government officers. The last time the figure exceeded more than 1,000 civil servants with the majority coming from Division 2 and a few holdovers from Division 1. For those not in the civil service yet, you must have heard about the dreaded 'exam' word that most civil servants have to undergo nowadays. What makes this one harder is that you don't have classes

The Tutong Language

Last night I was reading a 1993 Beriga - a publication of Dewan Bahasa Pustaka Brunei - which contained an article about the folks in Tutong or better known as Orang Tutong. Most Bruneians recognise that among all the various Malay groups in Brunei, Orang Melayu Tutong has an interesting language only known to Tutongians. I used to know a little bit of the language when I was staying in Tutong

The Boats of Brunei

When I was a young boy in the 1970s, my father was the District Officer in Temburong. Unlike today where you can drive easily to Bangar through Limbang, in those days, the road was not as accessible and there are two rivers that one has to cross using ferries. Today you still have to cross one of the river using a ferry but it is not as bad as the road has improved tremendously. We went back by

Wedding Costs Again

The smell of marriage is in the air. I attended a wedding for a daughter of a senior colleague yesterday at the Rizqun which must have cost a fair bit. After that I rushed off to my uncle's for my cousin's nikah and menghantar berian ceremony. The marriage ceremony will be next Sunday. And there one of my aunties told me that her daughter, another cousin, will be having a besuruh ceremony at the

December Blues

This is the month of December. Two years ago when I was the head honcho of the retirement agency fund, this is the month that would see the most number of fund members coming to see me appealing if their long term retirement fund can be taken out - if not the whole amount but just a little to cover their children's school expenses and other odds and ends. I would have to explain that their

The Colours of Brunei Money

Without looking into your wallet or your purse, tell me what are the colours of the Brunei money? We see the notes so often that sometimes we forget the colours but instinctively we know what the colours are. It's blue for $1, green for $5, red for $10, light green for $50 and I am not sure how to describe the $100. There are of course $500, $1,000 and $10,000 notes as well but of the latter,

The Brunei Haversack

Sometimes we take things for granted. Take 'takiding' which is the basket that were used to carry things in Brunei Darussalam. It is not used very much or at all nowadays but everyone knows what it looks like and what it is. It was previously used mostly in farms when farm produce or fruits are picked, they are kept in the 'takiding' carried all the time at the farmer's back.We all know that it

A Thousand Year Old Brunei Town at Limau Manis

Sometime in July when I wrote about the Antiquities and Teasure Trove (Ancient Monuments and Historical Sites) Order that listed all the protected places in Brunei, one of the places was the Limau Manis River Site. At that time, I didn't know why it was included and one Indiana Jones commented that there is a book about it. I was too busy then to look for the book but yesterday I met with the

The Traditional Kuehs of Brunei

According to my gym instructor friend, one of the questions that he had to study for the Brunei nationality exam was - 'what is the difference between the wet cakes (kueh basah) and dry cakes (kueh kering)?' - and - 'name the two types'. This former is a rather tough question to answer and to find the definitive list of Brunei kuehs without knowing where to look is also equally tough. I wrote a

The Origin of Burong Pingai

The early Bruneians used to live on the water and most Bruneians can trace their origins there. For instance, my great grandfather used to live in Kampung Saba but when he married my great grandmother, they stayed at her village in Kampung Pandai Besi. Ask many Bruneians and their story would be more or less the same. How did I get to dry land? In my case it was my grandfather who joined the

The Marathon

Just got back to work this morning and found that my in-tray is not only full but overflowing and my diary is pepppered with appointments and meetings. I am also covering for my colleague who is on leave for the next 2 weeks and with the reshuffling of our directors, I also have to cover for one of them until we find his replacement - so altogether, with mine, that's 3 persons' work that I had to

A Bruneian in Kuala Lumpur

Spend a long enough time in any one place, you will always see something interesting. One of the interesting shops I saw along Jalan Pudu (or was it the Jalan before that?) in Kuala Lumpur was this shop selling coffins. That's pretty unusual - of course when compared to Brunei - but what interest me more is not that shop but the shop next to it. It was a fastfood restaurant. My uncle was zooming

The 2006 IMF Report on Brunei

In my entry on Brunei and the IMF, I promised that I will inform readers when the 2006 IMF report on Brunei will be released - yesterday IMF has finally released the summary report and it is now available on their website on this link. The 2006 statistical data for Brunei is available on the same website on this link.I will not say much about the IMF report but suffice for readers to click on the

Airconditioning System in Government Buildings

On Monday morning at our international airport, my better half and I went to get two baggage trolleys - there were only two left - and we found out why there were these two left. There was something wrong with the braking system with both and we had great difficulty pushing the trolleys towards the check in area. These trolleys are relatively new. The older ones have been kept aside and you can

Are we in recession?

In a previous entry about Kedai Tutup, a number of commentators, especially those in the private sector argued that there is an economic problem. I argued that problems in one particular sector does not mean that the overall economy is in trouble. But then again after sitting immersed in the jacuzzi in the Times Square swimming pool, my mind starts wondering again and I have to rethink my earlier

Brunei's New Export

I read in the New Straits Times (December 5, 2006) the report of one parliamentary debate on the situation of Bukit Bintang in KL. According to the paper, last week, one Malaysian MP described the place as becoming like the infamous Patpong area in Bangkok. Yesterday, Bukit Bintang was described as a vice den. One MP said pimps ruled in Bukit Bitang and were blatantly offering p* to passers by.

Where are we heading?

A couple of people asked me to comment on John Perry's resignation. In fact I have already heard about it a couple of months back and I started composing something which I thought I may want to post one day should the announcement came. So I prepared a long entry about it and about the economy etc. Last night, I started to think - put us in his position, would we have done any better? Would we

Brunei and the International Monetary Fund

I was reading the BB (again!) about two recent articles - one appeared sometime during the week when I was away in Korea and the other one on Saturday about the IMF report. I was in the office about 20 minutes after arriving at the airport and I imed (instant messaged) my officer for not informing me about the release of the 2006 IMF report as I had left instructions for me to be informed when it

Origins of Place Names in Brunei (Part 3)

Today we look at some more place names in Brunei to look at the origin of the names of those places. The following are derived from the Brunei Museum Journal 1996/1997.Two rivers in Temburong named Sungai Nagalang and Sungai Peliunan are two place names which come under descriptive names in a Brunei toponym (toponomy is the study of place names). Both come from Murut words. Nagalang comes from

Kedai Tutup

The change in temperature from -5 celsius in Seoul at 6 am and at 3 pm, it is 35 celsius in Singapore was something I could do without. But it is something we have to go through in conducting our official businesses. Here I am typing this in sunny Singapore and by the time most of you read this, I would have been back in my office scrambling trying to finish my work as I will be away on leave