The Daily Brunei Resources

I saw this on Borneo Bulletin the other day but unfortunately it was not in colour. As usual only Cuboiart can capture the essence of the subject with just one cartoon. I saw the cartoon and I wanted to do the same. Laugh my head loud while rolling on the floor. Sometimes I think that Ours must be the most expensive and least fast of all nations in ASEAN for broadband. I could be wrong but it feels like that sometimes.

I was at the landscape and flower show at the Centrepoint yesterday. Her Majesty graced the occasion and I have to admit the flowers and orchids on display was way out of my league. I did not the flowers could grow to such height and beauty especially the orchids. I was told that once an orchid started to flower, the flowers can last for months under the right weather and conditions. Anyway, the Philatelic Unit at our Postal Services Department had issued two sets of commemorative stamps on the Wild Orchids of Borneo. The first came out sometime September last year and the first day cover look like this: According to the leaflet in the first day cover, orchids form one of the most diverse families of flowering plant in the world. They occur all over the globe except at the poles, and are the most abundant in the tropics. Estimates of the size of the family range from 17,500 to some 25,000 species. In the South East Asian region alone specialists think there may be 4,000 to 8,000 specie...

In the midst of His Majesty's Birthday, a new set of commemorative stamps were issued on 7th July 2010. This set of stamps was to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of our Brunei LNG. It has been with us for so long that many have forgotten when it was first commissioned. Brunei LNG was formed on 9 December 1969 and the first cargo to Japan was on 9 December 1972. The plant was officially opened by His Majesty on 4 April 1973. When the plant was open, it was the largest facility in the world. Today it is one of the world's oldest but it has established a reputation of uninterrupted delivery of cargoes to Korea and Japan. The stamps issued were: The first day cover: The technical specifications for the collectors: Official: Commemorative stamps issued to commemorate the 40th Year of Brunei LNG 1969-2009 Issued: 7 July 2010 Value: 40 cents x 3 Designer: Abdul Rahman Ahmad Printer: Joh Encede Security Print, Netherlands Size: 30mm x 40mm Process Printing: Offset and Screen Paper: 1...

Congratulations to those who were awarded during His Majesty's Birthday on 15th July 2010. For those interested in the whole list and I tried to keep up with their job titles, the list is as follows (and do let me know where I got it wrong or inaccurate):- Darjah Kerabat Laila Utama Yang Amat Dihormati (The Most Esteemed Family Order Laila Utama) 1st. Class, DK - carries the title Dato/Datin Laila Utama - YAM Pengiran Bini Hajah Faizah Dato Haji Nasir - Tun Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi Darjah Paduka Keberanian Laila Gemilang (The Most Esteemed Order of Paduka Keberanian Laila Terbilang) 1st. Class, DPKT - carries the title of Dato Paduka Seri - General Djoko Santoso, Commander of the Indonesia National Armed Forces - General Tan Sri Dato Azizan Ariffin - Commander or the Malaysian National Armed Forces - Major General Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin, Commander of the Brunei Armed Forces Darjah Paduka Seri Laila Jasa (The Most Distin...

I wrote an article about medals and awards and honours and this was published on my column on Brunei Times on Monday. All this while, awards and honours have not featured in my life compared to my colleagues who have been gathering them by the handful. Ironically on that Monday morning, I received a letter from the Grand Chamberlain telling me that His Majesty had kindly consented to give me the award of Darjah Seri Setia Brunei Darjah Ketiga SNB. This was my first big award after about 23 years in the service of His Majesty. The last time I received an award was a medal, the PIKB (the Pingat Indah Kerja Baik or Meritorious Service Medal) in 2001. I have two other medals, both commemorative, one is the Pingat Jubli Perak, this was handed out for work done during the 25th Anniversary of His Majesty's ascencion to the throne in 1992 and the other medal is the 25th Anniversary of the National Day in 2009 and this was because I was in the National Committee. Here is a photograph of th...

Daulat Kebawah Duli Tuan Patik. Dirgahayu Kebawah Duli Tuan Patik. Happy 64th Birthday to His Majesty The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam. What is the right way of greeting His Majesty on his birthday? I wrote about this 3 years ago and I thought I will repost it here:- I was watching the news on RTB last night, partly because where my wife and I sat during the banquet for uniformed personnel the night before, we were smack in the direction of the camera and there was no way the camera could have missed us so I just wanted to see what I looked like on tv (not very pretty, I tell you) but partly because what I really wanted to watch was the segment where RTB news focused on a number of Bruneians giving greetings to His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam on the occassion of His Majesty's birthday. All the viewers that were shown on tv all wanted to wish His Majesty's a Happy Birthday. But a lot of them sounded as if they did not know what ...

The other day I was surprised when I saw two more postcards said to come from the 1920s. I have managed to acquire six of these postcards and I had to have these other two postcards. Luckily I did not have to pay as high a price as I paid for the others. This one cost around US$200. You have to pay for the rarity of the postcard. This one is entitled "Copper and Blacksmiths River Brunei" which means it is somewhere in Kampong Pandai Besi (Blacksmiths). Though copper smithing was also done in Sungai Kedayan, if I am not mistaken. I don't know the Kampong Ayer well enough but if someone could hazard a guess where the exact location of this photo, it would be great. The bakut in the background certainly gives a clue.

I celebrated my 47th birthday at the airport. I just arrived from Jakarta via Singapore and waited for my bags to come out. When it did, it was past 12 midnight and it was time to celebrate my birthday. It was on Saturday and I was tired. I just wanted to go home knowing that I have to attend the Israk Mikraj function at the ICC in the morning and then a farewell dinner in the evening. Celebrating my birthday was the last thing in my mind. I was really surprised and touched when my colleagues and friends at MOD surprised me with a cake at the end of the farewell ceremony for our former minister. There was a cake and both my wife and I blew the candles. Thank you guys. In fact it has been years since I last really celebrated my birthday. A couple of birthday dinners with the family here and there but not real celebrations. Certainly not with a cake and with lots of people singing Happy Birthday. My wife and I with our 10 year old son, would generally celebrate it somewhere quiet. Both m...

[My friend, the Deputy Accountant General asked me what did the Sarawakians think of my article trying to link the Santubong legends to Brunei? I told him that I did not start it. I was researching about Sarawak when I came across a few blogs on the origins of the Mount Santubong in Sarawak written by Sarawakians. They were arguing about where the origins of the Santubong legends. If you add in a little history, suddenly the connection of the Santubong princesses linked to the Sultanate of Brunei became very clear and clearly not impossible. Here is the article that I wrote for Brunei Times and published on 28 June 2010.] THE GOLDEN LEGACY Mount Santubong and the Brunei Legend In Kuching, one of the popular tourist attractions is Mount Santubong. On a clear day, the mount can be seen from Kuching. Some say that Mount Santubong resembles a woman lying on her back. ‘Santubong’ is derived from the Iban words ‘Si-antu-ubong’ which means ‘spirit boat.’ These are boat-like coffins ca...