The Golden Legacy Book

My talented artistic sister wrote about my books which I asked her to produce for me.

I finally got round to compiling everything I published in my 'The Golden Legacy' column every Sunday on Brunei Times for the year of 2007 - around 40 articles (I started in March 2007). I did miss a couple of weeks as well I think. One time I remembered the editors did not receive my email and another time was when I was too busy to produce an article. It is sometimes not easy juggling time as I only do my writing and my research after office hours. I sometime spent my lunch time at Dewan Bahasa in Bandar as well as they have a nice Bruneiana section.

Anyway, I wanted the first edition to be really exclusive - so I only made 3 copies. One each to my parents and I kept one. We gave the books to them during the birthday party last month. Both my parents were born in February, my father on Valentine's Day and my mom a few days before. My sister used my younger brother's left over wedding materials for the book cover. So hence, the kain tenunan for the book covers. You can't get the kain tenunan easily and used them for book covers. But then this ones were really exclusive.

I didn't realise my aunties etc all wanted one. They read the book during the birthday party and I asked my sister to produce another 10. The next 10 won't be as good as the first one as the first ones were bound in kain tenunan. After this 10, then hopefully I will have found a printer and do a proper commercial printing if there is enough demand out there. Maybe, just maybe, perhaps a Volume 2 for the entire 2008 articles and a Volume 3 at the end of 2009.

Here is a list of the articles that I wrote for 2007:-

1. Bersunat Then and Now
2. The Tale of the Unfillial Son
3. Mysterious Grave in the City Centre
4. Before the Oil, it was Coal
5. A History of Bruneian Flight
6. Two Brunei Bay Legend Islands
7. The Mosque in the Capital
8. The Padians, Women Vendors of Kampong Ayer
9. Musabaqah Tilawatil Al-Quran
10. The Pengalu in Brunei History
11. The Uniquely Brunei Memukun Tradition
12. Brunei Darussalam’s History Through Stamps
13. The Origin of the name Brunei Darussalam
14. Brunei’s Currency Notes Before 1967
15. Brunei Darussalam’s National Flag
16. A Short History of Brunei’s Newspapers
17. Bedil, the Traditional Brunei Cannon
18. Bandar Seri Begawan, 21st Century City, An Ancient Capital
19. Bubungan Duabelas, Twelve Roofed Mansion
20. Brunei History seen through its Coinage
21. The Historic Role of Bandar Seri Begawan Wharf
22. The History of Brunei’s National Anthem
23. A Brief History of Brunei’s Road Netwaork
24. Fasting, Ramadhan Yesterday and Today
25. The Origins of Jawi in Brunei
26. The Origin of the Songkok or Kopiah
27. Sharing and Caring, the Fasting Ideals
28. A Time when Good Deeds are Special
29. Of Aidil Fitri, Gratitude and Happiness
30. Brunei’s Education System, One of the Best
31. A History of Teacher Education in Brunei
32. A Brief History of Brunei’s Health Services
33. The Development of Brunei’s Civil Service
34. Kuala Belait, the Oil District Capital
35. The Brunei Pilgrim’s Road to Mekah
36. Royal Brunei Customs and Excise Historic Role
37. In Faith, Bruneians practise Haj Rituals
38. Names are the Heritage of Kampong Ayer
39. Istana Manggalela and the Sabah Link
40. Brunei’s Many Tell Tale Place Names