Brunei, a World Cup free country?

On uk.MSN travel, I found this article written by Owen Adams, an MSN Travel Contributor and posted on 24 June 2010. The original article is here.+++++World Cup-free countriesBRUNEIThis oil-rich rainforest sultanate on the island of Borneo is not widely regarded as a sporting nation - basketball and rugby union associations were formed only in the past decade and the soccer league drawn up in 2002

100 Years of Modern Land Administration

1906 was the beginning of Brunei's modern administration brought about the first British Resident, Mr. MSH McArthur. With the modern administration, many old institutions were broken up. One national institution was the administration of land ownership. Up to 1906, land belonged under one of the three types of administration, the kuripan, kerajaan and tulin. You either had to be one of the

IMF's Views on Brunei 2010

On May 5 2010, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation with Brunei Darussalam.1BackgroundThe oil and gas sector continued to dominate Brunei’s economy, accounting for about 50 percent of real GDP, 95 percent of total exports, and 90 percent of government revenue. GDP per capita (US$36,225) remains one of the highest in the world. Oil

Tales of Brunei

Ever wonder what Brunei looked like in the 1850s? Most times, you would have to spend a fortune buying classic books. It's fine if you want to be a collector of those first print edition books. I buy them every now and then but not for my collection but because of the contents inside those books.However of late, many of those books are now available in reprints. Some are reprints as high class

Much Ado About License Plates

Over the last couple of weeks, the issue in the minds of the public was the license plate. I was wondering what exactly is the issue. (Just so that readers don't think I am biased, the Director of Land Transport Department is my brother.) The interesting bit is that this knocks the other, which I thought, is a much bigger public issue - the phasing out of credit cars - out of the picture. And not

What to do with the Afterbirth?

My sister, Rozi gave birth to a baby girl last Saturday giving my parents their 10th grandchild and Rozi's parents' in laws their 1st grandchild. When we visited her, one of the topic was the placenta or the afterbirth which my sister said I have never written about. I told her I wrote about it at least twice, once around 4 years ago and another about 2 years ago. So I checked and retrieved the

Nuclear Energy for Brunei

For the last two days, we have been been spending our time at the Empire attending the Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency Seminar conducted by the Brunei Think-Tank Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS). Many people are confused. If we are an energy exporter, why are tinkering around with energy efficiency or alternative energy. The idea of the seminar is to disseminate further

United Nations FDC 1989 Brunei

On 22nd September 1989, the United Nations issued this first day cover. I am not sure whether the UN only issued one first day cover for Brunei only on this day or whether the UN issued many other first day cover on the same day - all based on the nations' flags. This flag design is surprisingly the only flag design that any stamp, Brunei or otherwise has depicted. Not a single stamp issued by

Brunei's Unissued Stamps

We had a couple of hours to ourselves after our official visits before flying off back to Brunei. As usual I dropped into my usual philatelic shop at Peninsula in Singapore. I always asked him what he had managed to acquire recently. He smiled and he showed me these 4 stamps!!!! (Produced but never issued.)These 4 stamps were produced to commemorate Muara Port's Official Opening in 1970. On the

The Face of Public Housing

Greetings from the Lion City. I was at this building yesterday, the Pinnacle@Duxton, Singapore Housing Development Board's latest public housing. You would not believe this is public housing but of course the price of the apartment is nothing to laugh at.To borrow the words of their brochure "The Pinnacle@Duxton is an iconic housing project in Singapore's public housing history, with many unique

The Capitol Cinema

Remember I ask about this postcard sometime last month?I bought this postcard from ebay and it was described as a cinema somewhere in Borneo. The owner of the postcard did not know where the cinema was located and thought that it was in Borneo, which could mean, Brunei, Sabah or Sarawak and possibly the Indonesian Kalimantan states. I knew there used to be a Capitol in Kuala Belait and up to now

Brunei Administrative Service

[I published this article on Monday calling it to Serve the Government. The Brunei Times editors changed it to the History of the Administrative Service which is what it really is. Actually I started out writing about the modern post 1906 Brunei government but in the end the BAS angle was more interesting. I was a member of the Brunei Administrative Service joining it in 1987. My father was in

Sabah and Sarawak stamps used in Brunei

These stamps ended their ebay auctions last night. Even though I put a bid, I don't think my bid is high enough and I am still smarting from the postcard purchases. Anyway, it ended somewhere around midnight and the winning bid was in the US$150+ range about twice the amount of my highest bid.Why did I try to get these stamps? These stamps are fairly unusual, well at least one of them is unusual.

Pantai 5P

I was invited to this beach yesterday to officially launch it. This beach is relatively unknown and over the last few years had to undergo a face lift. Most of the beach had eroded away and our public works department had been busy putting up wave breakers. Now, you can find a nice pristine beach.The beach is now officially known as Pantai Persiaran Pengkalan Pinang Penanjong or Pantai 5P or the

Hari Raya in Brunei in 1920

I have to admit that it is interesting that the World's Local Bank CEO has been keeping a vigil at this blogsite. But with all good things, I have to let him rest and post a new posting. It is interesting to know that that all my calls to my bank apparently is rerouted thousands of miles to my mother's home country. If I had known that, I would have used my other accent every time I called in,

The World's Local Bank - If it can locate where Kilanas is.

The other day, my wife's card was swallowed by the World's Local Bank ATM machine, no reasons given. We called up and was assured that a new card will be on the way and we were asked where do you want the new card to be picked up. We said since its branch was at Seri Complex, Jalan Tutong, we want to pick it up there. And so we waited.A few days ago, came the reminder note. Please pick it up at

Brunei Celebrations 1920

This postcard showing Brunei in 1920s is indeed one of the most rare postcards I have ever seen about Brunei. When it came out on ebay, there were more interests and I had to fight off many challengers on ebay. But I really wanted this postcard and was willing more or less to pay the earth for it which I almost did. The final bid price for the card is US$828.08 completely wiped out my budget for