Information Department Calendar 2008

I never thought I will be talking about a calendar. But the new wall calendar issued by the Information Department caught my eye when it landed in my in-tray last Saturday afternoon. So okay it's 5 days after the New Year but I forgive this one.The Information Department used 'imbasan' - looking into the past - as their theme for this calendar. Every month, there are 2 or 3 old photographs of

Wanderer in Malaysian Borneo

It's Sunday. So, what do we do on Sundays other than attend weddings? Right! Off to Miri. Most people go to Miri because it is so near what with the bridge in Rasau and the bridge bypassing Baram. Most have forgotten the time when going to Miri was as bad as going to KK. There used to be a ferry at Kuala Belait and I remembered when I stayed at my grandfather's house along Jalan Singa Menteri,

Looking at Brunei's Past

At my age, I realised that many young bloggers or blog readers do not appreciate a number of Brunei books which are sold on the market. When I was much younger too, I did not appreciate these books that much. It was much later when I discovered the hidden treasures that are in them that I realised just how much I have missed all this while.This book by Haji Ahmad Arshad is one of them. Haji Ahmad

Brunei Road Scene 1930s

I was doing a bit of research on Brunei stamps and Brunei postal services by reading a book entitled 'The Postal History of British Borneo'. It's quite a useful book if you are interested in the history of the postal services.There were a number of photographs in that book. However one intrigued me. It is a scene of Brunei in 1930s but I cannot quite place this particular scene. My best guess

Brunei's Most Expensive Stamps

Sometime last week, someone bought an American 24 cent stamp which had an inverted plane for around US$825,000.00! Imagine that. But surprisingly that is still not the most expensive stamps ever. The most expensive is a Swedish 3 skilling stamp which was the wrong colour. That sold for around $2.5 million about 10 years ago. A number of other stamps could beat that if only they come onto the

Customs Import Duties & Excise Duties

The authorities announced a good news and a bad news (see article from Brunei Times below). The good news was that import duties are being abolished for cars. The bad news was that this will be replaced by an excise duty with exactly the same rate. Impact - none to you and me. Slight administration adjustment to importers but otherwise absolutely no impact.Why do this? It's the government's

What New Year?

[Note: I wrote this for 1st January 2007 blog. I updated it and submit it to Brunei Times and it was published on 1st January 2008 under the title of 'Which New Year Did You Mean?']WHAT NEW YEAR?By Rozan YunosToday is the first day of 2008 AD or to be nonreligious - 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