Brunei Schools' Houses by Hajah Yati

Each year, schools across Brunei organise annual sports meet among their students. The students and teachers are divided into four houses. These houses are assigned a colour and a name. The colours are usually red, blue, yellow and orange. So I guess that makes Jerudong Arabic School and MD (Maktab Duli Al-Muhtadee Billah) unusual, as they have colours other than the usual four. Whats really interesting is the names itself.

The houses of St. Andrew's School are Hollis (red), Cornwall (blue), Danson (yellow) and McDougall (green). I represented Hollis and am proud to have contributed a few golds and silvers for my house. *smiles*

Then in MS ie. Maktab Sains Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan, the houses are Hulubalang (yellow), Panglima (red), Pahlawan (green) and Laksamana (blue). These are the different ranks of malay warriors. I was a Hulubalang. Not to carry basket, but again, I collected a few medals for my house. If I remember correctly, Hulubalang was the champion house for two years or maybe more then.

When I left school life, I thought I had said farewell to sports competitions as well. Tsk-tsk. At the agency where I worked (note past tense), the houses were Deuchmark (yellow), Sterling (blue), Yen (red) and US Dollars (green). Coincidentally I was in the yellow house again. Did I also make my house proud? Maybe. Haha. I have since left the agency, and Deuchmark is no more. Just as the Euro dollar has replaced the european currencies, the forex houses too, has been replaced by names of fruits instead.

For your reading pleasure, after much prodding and whining, I have gathered names of houses for several schools and institutions in Brunei from the people around me (thank you all!).

Schools & Institutions

Red House

Yellow House

Blue House

Green House

BES

Berakas English School

Seri Laila

Seri Setia

Seri Ratna

Seri Utama

ITB

Institut Teknologi Brunei

Maju

Membangun

Bersatu

Mufakat

MSPSBS

Panglima

Hulubalang

Laksamana

Pahlawan

PDS

Red Dragon

Yellow Flame

Blue Eagle

Greencredible

SM Rimba

Pemuras

Sinaga

Sinipit

Tampilan

SOAS

Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin College

Bendahara

Maharajalela

Pemancha

Kerma Indera

St. Andrew’s School

Hollis

Danson

Cornwall

McDougall

STPRI

Sekolah Tinggi Perempuan Raja Isteri

Ruby

Amber

Sapphire

Jade


P/S: As always I have managed to stray away from the topic, writing instead of anecdotes in my personal life. So I have had to delete the first three paragraphs. Boo-Hoo.

[Today's entry is written by guest blogger, Hajah Yati HMA]

Comments

Anonymous said…
Interesting :)

hehe yeah MD ada warna hitam and putih and apa kah lagi.. I forgot.. sigh.. I missed MD

I think you meant green instead of orange Mr BR (1st paragraph)

keep the interesting posts coming

xoxo
Zul-Fadly said…
It was only after I finished MD that the Admin decided to resurrect the Houses... We didnt have any annual sports event... =/

I finished my A's in 98. Nice post by guest blogger - Hjh Yati. Have a nice day. *smiles*
Anonymous said…
To anonymous:
Yes! Thanks for correcting me. Now how did green become orange? Hehe

To kediaku:
My colleague also went to BES when the houses were names of birds. Like you, he couldn't remember all four. He thinks there was kenyalang, punai, tekukur and merbuk. But there's a high chance he's not 100% right, as he's not 100% sure. " )

I actually have more input, but they're not complete as my "sources" have low memory! *laughs*
Anonymous said…
ITB's Maju is supposedly blue coloured
Marhinha said…
Yeah, it's true MD got different school houses. I went to MD 4 years ago so I can't really remember the names. But as I was told it represents the Brunei's flag. So it's Black (Setia Negara), White (Putera Negara), Red and Yellow (I can't really remember the names. Hehe). But I find it really interesting ;)
rose said…
Pejuang - Blue
Pahlawan - Merah
Perwira - hijau
Satria - yellow

thats for Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina Hasan... ;)

di MD..

ok i cant remember haha.. and i taught there for two years! aiyaa... i know i was in the 'Putera Negara' group hihi warna merah!

will update once i can find the handbook...
Anonymous said…
I was in sapphire!!! hahaha.
Anonymous said…
MD has houses now? Wow.. I was there in 97/98 :)

I was Amber back in STRPI..huhuhu...
Anonymous said…
Oppps.. STPRI. Typo ;)
Anonymous said…
For Sm Rimba it is Kampilan, not tampilan
rose said…
s@s - eh 97/98? same intake with me yo!!.. BOH jejak kasih kitani.. *lol*
Anonymous said…
As for SMSAB@ Sayyidina Abu Bakar Lambak we have : SIMBAN (blue)
TINTING (Yellow)
CONGKAK (Red)
PASANG (Green)
Anonymous said…
When i was younger, i used to wonder why it was called 'house' or 'rumah' as there weren't any actual houses. I was in Panglima House in school, and was very disappointed when i found out no physical or tangible 'house' existed.

Then, when i was in the UK i found out that schools equivalent to our secondary schools have boarding houses for boarders and day houses for day boys and the boarders/dayboys of these houses would often compete with each other in sports, debates, etc.

Thats when i assumed that when the British system of education was implemented in Brunei many years back, they must have brought over this concept to have such competitions

I could be wrong, as I have never checked with anyone else.
Tina D said…
I was Amber back in STPRI, Kesuma (if I remember correctly) in MD, and Membangun now in ITB. They're all yellow. And I'm not a big fan of the colour. Lol.
Tina D said…
And yea, in ITB, Maju is blue and Bersatu is red.
Anonymous said…
i was in burnaby house :D
Nonnie King said…
I miss my old school days in ITB.. *Sob Sob*

I'm in Bersatu but I never took part in anything :p
Anonymous said…
Back in early 90's, i was at SMPIHM Serasa Muara, and i remembered during the school sports day, i can`t remember the colour, but what i remember was the name used, each team was named after local fish, Pila-pila, Sumpit-sumpit and couldn`t remember the rest two.
FlyBoy said…
Back in my days at MS, Pahlawan was the dominant force in the school's sports meet and all the other sporting events.

Yes, i was in the Pahlawan house but unfortunately i only contributed two medals back in 93 when i was number 3 in the men's marathon in my age group and number 7 overall.They took the Top Ten back then. Alas, now i am not as fit as i was back then.

In 95, i was also in charge of the Pahlawan's sports marching team during the sports meet and we won a gold medal in 'berbaris'(kononnya paling disiplin lah tu). I don't know how we won. Maybe at that time my voice at it's purer virginal state hadn't matured as it has now and my high-pitched voice was easier to comprehend than the other deep-voiced marching leaders.

Not to sound like we were kings back then, i can say in no uncertain terms that PAHLAWAN RULES!
Oh and Panglima, Laksmana and Hulubalang didn't do too bad either.
Anonymous said…
*Agrees with Flyboy*

In all my years at MS, PAHLAWAN RULED!!! Still Rules? hahahhah.. The whole five years I was there Pahlawan was the reigning champion. Unfortunately though my contributions were mostly academic hahaha
Anonymous said…
S.R Pulaie has funnier house names. I don't know if they are based on colours but if my memory serves me correctly, they are:
Ultraman, Spiderman, Superman & Batman!

Too bad there's no Barbies. I pity the little girls...kwang3x
IngSiang said…
In CHMS, BSB, we have Red, Yellow, Blue and Green House, and I am happy to be in the Yellow House. =)

Name of houses are Red Lion, Yellow Horse, Blue Eagle and Green Dragon. =) Somehow I think they're some odd combination, but who cares, what's important is the time we enjoy the games. =)

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