Photo courtesy of Hard Break kid

AnakBrunei wrote a heart warming post on ensuring that these special citizens are given opportunity to participate in sport activities and to compete in global events. The intention is not only to ensure participation but to be part of a global community.

People with an intellectual disability are often misunderstood or ignored, yet when they are given a fair chance they can, and do, participate as valuable members of the community. For this belief, Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam endeavors to provide sport for all people with an intellectual disability, regardless of their skill level. Through sport, Special Olympics Brunei Darussalam  (SOBD) aims to give our special athletes the opportunity to get fit, develop skills, make friends and be part of a community.

Let us be together and united in supporting our nation’s special athletes. Let us be together and united in helping them to be part of the community, to achieve their potentials and most importantly, to fulfill their dreams. Let us be together and united in supporting their mission:

Let me win, But if I cannot win, Let me be brave at the attempt…”

Ultimate Foodie Bloggers' Challenge

It was a coincidence that some bloggers got together over dinner and decided to do a charity event to raise funds for SOBD.  Within a few days after discussions over emails, invitations were made to to get bloggers and non-bloggers alike for the first Ultimate Foodie Bloggers’ Challenge,  held on 26th April 2009. Support was also provided by Blogging Nation. As reported in one of the local papers:

“In an interview with Senor Pablo, a representative from the organising committee, he said, “The competition is one of the meaningful ways to contribute to the society. As part of bloggers community, food is a common theme that binds people, so I thought why not organise a foodie challenge, which invites not only food bloggers but also food enthusiasts.

“The event was organised by well-known local bloggers in Brunei with support from food contributors. Bloggers and contributors had contributed 49 good recipes and the recipes will be collected and compiled into a book made available for everyone. The recipe book will be sold during the Special Olympic Brunei on May 3, and all the proceeds will go to charity. — Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin”

One of the dishes from the recipe book

Much work took place within a week to get the book ready for the Special Olympics Bazaar on 3rd May 2009. Efforts in producing the recipe book were made through recipe contributions from local bloggers and others, with editing, lay-out design and cover design done by local bloggers. Since we didn’t have any funds to pay for the printing cost, we managed to get a local printer to sponsor the cost of producing the book.

The bazaar was the event to start the sales of the Recipe book. For the whole day, we managed to sell 100 copies of the book. With the price of $10 per book and all 100 percent sales donated, we raised B$1,000, which was handed over to the SOBD Committee on the same day.

Turquoise and Roses got a booth set up at the bazaar with special emphasis on selling the recipe book.

“We sold exactly 100 copies of the Foodie Bloggers’ Recipe Book with the help of Pablo, Muaz, and our wonderful volunteers!!! Thanks boys and girls!…I am very glad that the spirit of voluntarism and activism is alive in our youth. They make volunteering seem cool! Keep it up!”

AnakBrunei reported on the bazaar, whereby a special copy of the My favourite Recipe book, signed by Her Royal Highness Princess Azemah was auctioned, to raise more funds for the SOBD.

Ranoadidas organised a first local blog auction.

“There’s one limited edition “My Recipe Book” which was personally signed by Her Royal Highness ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah during the Charity Bazaar and this signed recipe book will be going for auction and the starting bid will be BND50.00. Oh yeah, the special book will be framed with the picture of HRH signing the book. So that’s a pretty good buy indeed. The deadline will be on Saturday midnight.

A special thanks to Her Royal Highness Princess ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah for signing the Recipe Book as well as giving the consent for the Recipe Book to be auction for the Special Olympics Brunei Fundraiser campaign. A big thanks also to those involved in the making the auction possible and Mr. Reeds has kindly sponsored the frame for the limited edition book. A shout also for Pilihan FM and Kristal FM for plugging the auction.

As of now, the 500 copies of the books have been sold out with less than a week. Now that I have say is a great achievement and it’s comparable to achieving a platinum status on CD sales. So what’s next? Bloggers’ Singles compilation album? *lol* Well, you’ll never know but there are just thousand of ideas that we can come up with. All I can say is if we bloggers do something, it always start with a BANG.”

The progress of the auction

$100 –> $200 –> $250 –> $300 —–> $386 —-> $400 —-> $486 —-> $500 —> $1,000 —-> $1,086 —-> $2,000 —-> $2,086 —–> $3,000 —–> $3,386 —-> $4,000 —> $4,186 —-> $5,000 —-> $5,586 as of press time (11:20pm 9th May). Bid ends at BND 5,586.00. Thank you to the two bidders who made the bid very, very interesting and your kind gestures are very much appreciated.

Emmagoodegg bought the book and in her post, listed out the recipe contributors and  wrote:

“I feel most guilty at not being able to partake, but hopefully there'll be a next time. I've read that the recipe book gathered some vitriolic discussion over on RA's tagboard over some missing ingredients in some recipes, well-intentioned people simply using the book for fame and glory, the usual defeatist comments that seems all too common in our country. All I can say is My Favourite Recipes is a commendable and worthwhile effort and that at least these folks stepped up to the plate and gave their time for charity.”

Brunei Lifestyle reported on the outcome of the auction bid:

“The successful bidder of the My favourite recipe limited edition signed by HRH Princess ‘Azemah Ni’matul Bolkiah is Sheikh Khalid of the Arab families. Sheikh Khalid placed the highest bid of $5,586 almost 40 minutes before the stroke of midnight last Saturday night, the deadline to bid, to get a copy of the edition.

What I can say about the whole project is that the book has managed to collect $10,586 with all of its 500 copies sold in two weeks time. Thats an amazing feat. Bravo! Bravo! bravo! and take a bow Pablo! Also Rano…oh they both end with an ‘o’. Whats next Senor? To Alin, the Kurapak man for designing the front cover . Thank you too to the Arab families for your kind gesture. May God repay you and family for your kindness. Amin. I myself, look forward to contribute in the near future.”

The recipe book project earned $10,586. The funds collected will be passed to the Brunei Special Olympic Team. The project has a quick turn-over: from conceptualizing the project, to the production and selling of all 500 copies within a month. As part of the organising team, I feel honored to be part of this charity drive, an effort organised by local bloggers with no fund to start with. This also shows that bloggers can contribute and support local causes. I also hope that this will be a start of various initiatives organised by bloggers to support local charity and to contribute their spare time on good causes. On behalf of the  event organisers, we now wish the Brunei Special Olympic Team much success in their training and participation in the 2011 World Event.

One of the local papers, Brudirect, reported on the last minute attempt to get people involved in the Earth Hour event. Although several corporations such as car dealers, hotels and individuals participated, they feel too little was made in educating the public about the event.

“While the initiatives made by these admirable few are commendable and exemplary, Brunei's efforts have been far overshadowed by the vast efforts in the neighbouring countries leaving Brunei, a country that makes up one third of the Heart of Borneo, far behind in eliminating complacency and ignorance of climate change and its devastating effects on the Earth.”

“A 19-year-old local student studying at Maktab Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah admitted to being ignorant of Earth Hour. When told of the efforts of schools in neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, she said: “They never mentioned anything about Earth Hour in school let alone what it is about.” The absence of local public service announcements has also left much of the public “in the dark” on the significance and importance of Earth Hour 2009.”

Interesting enough, the University of Brunei Darussalam supported Earth Hour.

“Staff members of UBD spoke of how the awareness of energy conservation in students should be embedded as part of their curriculum as it was important for the next generation”. Assistant Registrar for the Chancellory, Kenny Liew said that with this cause, it would put UBD on the level of a world-class university. “This is a good step forward for us, not just on the education side but also to create awareness amongst the university's community as well as the public,” he said. “I don't think Earth Hour is transparent in Brunei because some people still do not know the rationale behind it. Someone needs to highlight the main purpose behind it and we hope that UBD can advocate it,” he said.

Another local paper, Brunei Times, reported that

Many Bruneians are still in the dark on the procedures and objectives of participating in Earth Hour 2009 to battle global warming.”The concept to take action against global warming is interesting and has potential, but its feasibility has to be questioned, said Frankie Tong, a sales executive working in the private sector.”I have seen an advertisement about it on Astro but to be honest I have no idea what it is about or what it is for,” said the 25-year-old. “I think it is kind of stupid to urge the public to switch off their lights because most of us will not pay attention to it. It might be a better idea to have the government shut down the power for us instead,” he added.

Blogger Hard Break Kid mentions the places where Earth Hour was observed while Nurture Nature uploads a video about Brunei's participation during Earth Hour.

Blogger Scripted Destiny believes that joining Earth Hour is a vote to save the environment:

People of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.

DenCorp observes that Earth Hour was a failure in Brunei.

All and all, Earth Hour was a total failure in Brunei. There was no support. The senior citizens didn't understand the whole point. The younger couldn't care less.”

Slay3rzz points out what Earth Hour is all about

“The main objective of this campaign is to continue to be energy efficient beyond Earth Hour, making small actions everyday to achieve our goal in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”

Z-Fame is surprised to learn that Brunei joined the Earth Hour. Simplisti thinks that Brunei's participation in the event would improve its global image

We can show the world that we can do something. Then, maybe the perception that people of Brunei live on pokok (trees) will be banished.”

Green Campaign provides information on how to help reduce the negative impact on the environment by using reusable bags instead of plastic bags. Some of the green initiatives are already proposed before but not many are supporting them. In most restaurants and food stalls, styrofoams containers are used instead of reusable containers. The same goes for the reusable shopping bags. Although many initiatives were introduced to the public, the lack of incentives in using them made customers to leave them at home.

Personally, I use them but not all supermarkets welcome them. For instance, I was stopped by a security guard at a big supermarket for trying to bring in bags into the store. The lack of coordination amongst the staff organisation in the supermarkets created this set back. Also many supermakets do not want to stop providing plastic bags to customers for fear of losing customers.

The Earth Hour event highlighted the need for continued awareness on the need to preserve the fragile environment. There are many initiatives that can be taken up by ordinary citizens rather than waiting for government authorities or NGOs to highlight them.

Brunei's participation during Earth Hour

A public fund to help the victims from the recent flood and landslide was set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 3rd February 2009. The intention is to help ease some of the difficulties faced by the victims in getting back to their normal life. As part of the efforts to collect donation to this fund, charity drives have been organized in recent weeks for the benefit of the National Fund for the Flood and Landslide Victims. This is an example of how resilient the local community in helping one another. Masyarakat Perihatin is a Malay phrase which means a caring society.

For example, the Orchid Garden Hotel spearheaded a cupcake charity. The hotel succeeded in selling more than 2,000 cupcakes. It proudly displayed a 25-tiered cake made up of 250 kg of cupcakes. The whole structure measured seven feet by seven feet wide and 16 feet tall.

Photo by Strictly Beautiful

Ranoadidas reported about the cupcake charity event and another fund drive which sold 900 coupons of Nasi Lemak, a popular local dish:

The Cupcake charity at The Orchid Garden Hotel managed to sell 2,000 cupcakes. That’s amazing numbers. Another charity event was held at D’ Other Office Cafe and Bistro, where almost 900 coupons of Nasi Lemak ( local rice dish cooked in coconut milk) and Egg Tart combined was sold to the public.

Photos courtesy of Ranoadidas

AnakBrunei reported on the charity football event which gathered at least B$100,000:

Match between DPMM FC and FFBD XI. The match was organized by the Football Federation of Brunei Darussalam . All proceeds (nearly B$100k from what I gather) will be donated to the Fund for Flood and Landslide Victims

The picture above shows His Royal Highness the Crown Prince , chairman of DPMM Football club handing over the money collected from the football charity drive to the chairman of the Flood and Landslide Victims Fund.

Brunei Darussalam celebrated it's twenty-five years of independence on 23rd February 2009. To celebrate the Silver Jubilee, a grand parade was held at the National Stadium, which according to BruneiLifestyle:

• 25 selected leaders from various organizations and communities read the National Day oath led by Dr Mohd Munir Faridz bin Haji Metassan.
• Nearly 25,000 participated in the celebration at the National Stadium. This is about 6 percent of the country’s population.
• 2,500 alone welcomed His Majesty where 2,000 were flag-bearers and 500 hadrah players lined the route leading to the National stadium.
• 108 teams took part in the march past totaling some 18,554 people.

Ranoadidas reported that  the application for media passes from the Brunei's Information Department ” have escalated in terms of numbers and it almost reached an impressive 500 photographers excluding the foreign delegation”. The Department also “created a new segment for the new media such as bloggers”. This is a significant recognition of local bloggers as mainstream journalists in the country.

Brunei blogs are buzzing with colourful photos of the historic occasion and many bloggers are sharing their aspirations for the nation. Turquoise and Roses sees herself as more patriotic than ever through “travelling, meeting people, learning new things about our culture”. But she is also concerned on the uncertain future:

In the midst of music and dance, celebrations and jubilations, what really are we celebrating? A number. Focus our attention to the sunset, and the impending darkness, and please celebrate what our freedom has enabled us to receive.

Free high quality education, nearly free high quality healthcare, a high standard of living, and freedom to achieve dreams that our forefathers have never even dreamed of.

If darkness is to come, pray for a bright, shiny, beacon of hope, that is the moon. When we are hopeful, we are not afraid.

Peace, Love and Kindness shares his aspirations for the country:

It is going to be much more meaningfully significant since this year’s National Day is being celebrated amidst national concerns on tragedies caused by nature’s heavy rains for the past couple of months. A few hundred Bruneians have been affected by big floods and landslides across the nation. Internationally, too, our oil/natural gas-rich nation would be directly or indirectly affected by the worsening global economic and financial woes. Prudent spending would be the buzzword nowadays. On the other hand, Government spending and Foreign Direct Investments would have to be pushed through in robust passion, if only to stimulate the national economy.

KB Happening aspires for Brunei to

achieve greater levels of future economic growths and social progress.. Insya-Allah. And let’s continue living in unprecedented peace and unity.. I’m proud to be a Bruneian! :)

The Scripted Destiny says :

It's been 25 years since our Independence in 1984. Brunei Darussalam has developed massively and changes between now and 25 years ago can be seen. Congratulation Brunei!

zysazy wrote :

People sometimes complain that there are limited entertainment, shopping malls, places to go to in Brunei, but one thing for sure, there is no place like home and I am proud to be called a Bruneian.

Mudahan Brunei will remain peaceful and diberkati. Amin.

May Brunei remain peaceful and blessed.”

Muizo blogs about his feelings on this important day:

Personally, being in an independent country to me means a lot. It reflects the virtues of freedom, pride, dignity and honour, all roll up into one. I feel more blessed that Brunei, despite her size, is still the envy of other countries for her prosperity, the wealth of the ‘black gold' and for the peace and tranquility we tend to have. Its just few of those things that makes us stand out from others.

Usually, National Day promotes the feeling of love to the country which are orchestrated and displayed patriotically in the mass media and along the roads where lights illuminate the surroundings with its colourful spectrum. But memorably, the culmination of the National Day celebration is usually the vivid performances done by the students and volunteers during the day itself.

In my opinion, performances done during the National Day speaks volume of how patriotic Bruneians are in the sense that people from all over the districts would tirelessly come together and participate the Day where the country remembers her autonomy from Britain on 1st January 1984. I, myself have a particular account of my own participation in National Day events. Unforgettably, it was held at the evening, where the colours and lights appeal more. Months of practice came about to perfect our movements for the celebration. We had exposed to endless hours of fatigue, sunburnt as well as sleep deprivation (since it was done at night, practices too were held until late night) But more importantly, what was unearthed to us was the feeling of love and the desire to do it as well the joy to commit for our beloved country.

I would like to recount the words of my former English teacher, a South-African-Indian, who personally told me that,” You don't know what you have, until you lose it…”, in his views of how fond he is with Brunei, for her constant tranquility and serenity, yet most young people he met never seemed to be grateful of and took it for granted. He told me that although South Africa is a modern nation, it is unfortunately fueled with all sorts of social problems, which became known to us in news and movies. And his coming to Brunei was much of a shock as he did not expect Brunei to be so laid back.

Moments like these make you to look up and see the world in a bigger picture, that you are grateful of how the country has turned up to be in comparison other countries.

Perhaps that's the kind of Maturity that the country is achieving and I hope to maintain. The Sultan has envisaged the 2035 vision, which is a generalised description of Brunei's long-term vision. Let us gather and participate to realise the vision. Last but not least, Happy National Day!

The following are some of the photograph posts: G-FerRo, AnakBrunei, Kurapak, Jimmy Johari, Sky Raven, Karyawan, Metallichick, and Arabfamilies

Photographs by Senor Pablo

1. The Polar Girls

The blogger with the Polar Girls. Photo courtesy of Ranoadidas

Ranoadidas reported on the fund raising walkathon for the two ladies known as the Polar Girls, to raise funds for their trip to Norway for training, where only one of them will be selected to join participants from seven other countries for the Commonwealth Women’s Antarctic Expedition. The women from Brunei, Cyprus, Ghana and Jamaica will be the first person from their nation to ski to the South Pole. They will brave blizzards, crevasses and temperatures below -30C as they ski over 800 kilometres across Antarctica to the Geographic South Pole.  The formal launch of the expedition will take place on 10th March 2009.

Dk Aniza is currently taking time off from her studies in Bedford High School for the event. The student who aims to be the “Asian lady version of Indiana Jones” said that she wanted to participate in the event not only glorify Brunei, but also make history and make the most of the opportunity to participate in the worldwide event.

Dk Najibah Eradah, 25, is a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Previously a secondary school mathematics teacher for three years, Era hopes that her involvement in the expedition would be able to raise Brunei’s awareness on global warming and climate change.

2. Over the Horizon

As part of their efforts to commemorate 25 years of Brunei Independence, a husband and wife team, Harun and Norhayati and husband will undertake an epic expedition  from March 2009 to October 2010, traversing Siberia/Russia/Mongolia and Kazakhstan/Iran/Syria on their way to Europe, reaching England after 25,000 km.  They will continue southbound via France and Spain to Morocco and along the African West coast until Cape Town, South Africa. From there , they will ship the expedition vehicle to Buenos Aires Argentina; drive down to Ushuaia the last town before the Antarctica and cross the  Americas on the long haul until Alaska,  before returning to Brunei in October 2010.

Photos courtesy of Over the Horizon

Norhayati and Harun are no strangers to global expeditions as they undertook  a Trans Africa Journey  from South Africa to  Austria in 2007. Norhayati was the first Bruneian to travel across 13 countries or 21,000km from Europe, Middle East to North Africa in a four-wheel drive in 1999. She also led a team of five local women to conquer Africa's Mt Kilimanjaro, the first Asian team to climb the world's highest volcanic mountain in 2001, to mark ‘Visit Brunei Year.'

Good luck  and make your country proud!

launched in August 2008, offers the largest cash prize awards of its kind in Brunei Darussalam. The main aim is to motivate local entrepreneurs to realise their ideas in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) with the opportunity to develop their business ideas and enhance their creativity; as well as to provide a platform for identifying, nurturing and showcasing entrepreneurial talents in Brunei. This competition also provides the participants access to global resources and the entrepreneurial process through workshops and mentoring programme.

39 ICT enthusiasts including 7 iCentre incubatees with background ranging from online games and shops, online malls and schools, portal, social networking, mobile applications to enterprise solutions. RanoAdidas, one of the well-known local blogger and finalist in the competition, sees

the judges are pretty tough as well and it’s like a simulated pitch to real investors and venture capitalists (VC). This exercise has given me more experience and also the confidence to pitch to potential investors one day. I hope iCentre will continue this competition to encourage more participants and of course, encouraging more entrepreneurs.

As reported by  AnakBrunei, the winners are:

• Winning the ICT Business Plan category was Brumesh by Rafiqun WDSI with cash prize of $20,000;
• YouGotSnapped by Expansys Technology in the second place with cash prize of $10,000;
• Outsource Contact Centre by 24-7 Assist in the third place with cash prize of $5,000.
• the Special Islamic Merit Award for Islamic Application was given to Mimit e-Technology with a cash prize of $2,000.

Interesting enough, three of the winners have also recently  inked separate deals with Philippine-based Crestar Communications, which will provide the platform for the iCentre firms to tap into the Philippine ICT market, as reported by the Brunei Times.

Antonio Peralta, Crestar chief executive, said the collaboration with the iCentre companies is a defining step towards the realisation of Brunei's goal of becoming a hub for ICT in the Bimp-Eaga region.

Expansys Technologies aims to launch its text or short messaging system gateway technology as the preferred platform in delivering the integrated systems of Mesh, IPTV and GPS technology in the Philippines.

Mimit e-Technology intends to launch its V-track system, a global positioning system tracking system for fleets as well as e-ilmu, an Islamic mobile content application developed for the Muslim communities in the Philippines.

Rafiqun WDSI plans to deliver its Wireless Mesh Device and IPTV to serve the Philippines market.

They will also be bringing in their expertise in wireless design, e-commerce and e-government consultancy services to the country.

Congratulations to those  winning IT companies that are going regional! Hope this will serve an inspiration for other new IT companies or SMEs that are thinking of venturing regionally!

Many local blogs including BruneiMotors have continued to monitor the affected areas as well as come up with early warning mechanisms to warm motorists of areas with impending dangers of land slide and traffic jams. Using google maps, they were able to show the affected areas clearly. Tips were also provided on how to drive on rainy conditions and save the cars from flood waters.

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Compilations of videos by those affected by the flood were also shown.

Born to be Pisces documented the flood in her village, Tanjung Maya.

Just look at the pictures above. These were taken yesterday before turun keraja(  going to work). Hopefully the authority could provide boat or apakah  ( something) for them to cross the rapid flooded area. I read the newspaper today di Ukong ada ( there is a ) villager was bitten by croc kah… didnt quite read it though. Imagine that crocodiles bersantai dapan  rumah kami. ( relax in front of the house) .. have to be ready if hujan lagi turun today.

KB Happening also documented the flood in her district which caused damage to cars and homes.

Jidule provided photos of landslide in Penanjong, which cut off road communication.

It seems residents have to bear more rains in the coming days. The National Disaster Management  Center (NDMC) has set up a 24/7 monitoring and has collaborated with a local communication service provider, DST, to start an SMS campaign to alert local residents on impending rainfall and weather disturbances.

It was only ten days ago  Iskandar World reported on the flood that has affected another district in the country, whereby his own home was affected by rising water levels.

I was anticipating for a heavy down pour once I reach home…but nothing no rain and not even a drizzle..asked myself mana tia ujan nya ani!…baik tah ujan labat2..heheeh…Oh! boy..my wish sure comes true. Woke up in the middle and found my room nearly flooded (carpets & all the cushions soaked wet), hiya! apparently, the water seep in from the balcony..From midnite till 3am..I was buzy cleaning….damn!!!!!

KB Happening wrote that the rain is possibly, the impact from global warming.

A perfect day that KB and Seria got flooded - on the first day I return to work. Funny that we never seem to encounter these problem a decade ago. Either we are sinking or that global warming is taking its toll.

However, last night's rain has caused much stand still to parts of the country. A main highway underpass tunnel in the capital and some schools were closed due to floods. It has caused diversion in traffic.

AnakBrunei, who was out on an errand trip, was caught in the rain downpour and  stuck in traffic for a few hours.

Finally after another hour or so, traffic started moving again, thanks to the traffic cops on duty. All in all, what should have been a quick 30 minute trip became a 3 hour adventure!

BruneiMotors, a blog that focus on car enthusiasts played good samaritans in informing the public on the state of the rain and areas that are affected by the floods.

]The flash flood occured around 11.00pm to 3.00am on the night of 20/1/2009 and the Royal Brunei Police has block all the road that is unsafe for a motorist to pass through. They have done amazing job containing the serious area to avoid the road user from ruining their cars. Fire rescue and Ambulance are dispatch all around Brunei to monitor the safety of the public.

BruneiLifestyle calls for a live traffic reports on radio to inform listeners on the current flood situation.

I think its high time for the authority to set up a ‘live' traffic report especially during the current wet spell and air them over all radio channels in every half an hour or so. Or why not make use of the Internet - after all Bruneians are IT-savvy lots. Video reports live through the handphones to your hands.

The blogger also believes that the current rain and flood is due to the effect of  La Niña, with more thunderstorms expected until the end of this week:

Translated, La Niña means, “The Little Girl” , but sometimes she is called “El Viejo”, “anti-El Niño”, or even just “a cold event”. La Niña is characterized by cooling of waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and stronger than usual trade winds. It occurs almost as often as El Niño and also affects the normal weather patterns in some parts of the world, such as higher than normal rainfall in Southeast Asia.

No doubt bloggers become good samaritans in providing another medium to inform the public. Just like last year, Turqoise and Roses blogged about a flood in one of the districts in the country. Although reported in the local paper, she updated her blog live from the affected area several times in a day.

The recent event in Brunei do explain the regional phenemenon currently experienced, as reported by others bloggers on GVO on floods in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Fiji,

Photos: courtesy of AnakBrunei, Iskandar World and BruneiMotors.

According to BPY 2008, a blog dedicated to participants of last year's 35th SSEAYP, it is an annual youth programme that seeks:

“to promote friendship and mutual understanding among the youths of Japan and Southeast Asian countries to broaden their perspective on the world, as well as to strengthen their motivation and abilities in international cooperation by participating in discussions, introductions of each country, and various exchange activities both on board and in the countries to be visited”.

Youths on board take part in activities such as: discussion programs, solidarity group activities, club activities, giving of introductions about home countries, delivering and listening to lectures, and socialization activities. They act as mini ambassadors of their home countries as the ship stops at every Southeast Asian nation to give courtesy calls, attend receptions and participate in institutional visits. Some would get immersed into other cultures through homestays and interaction with local youths.

Turqoise and Roses, one of the participants from Brunei shared her experience on the whole 52 days journey on the ship and the ports of calls. According to her, the experience was rewarding:

‘We are indeed very lucky to be selected for the program and there is great emphasis on selecting the best of the best, as the real purpose of the ship is to learn. After participating, I definitely felt that friendship was very much enhanced, and many bonds were created.

The impact of the whole trip has been profound according to the blogger, that has allowed her to visit her fellow participants recently in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was able to make many official visits and courtesy calls  through the programme  that led to many chances of networking.

I would certainly never have spoken to the owner of the Vietnamese factories if I was not in the programme. Who knows…. one day I want some investors, I know just who to contact. My friends, who were young entrepreneurs were very excited for this aspect of the programme.

Also the homestay was phenomenal. In Indonesia, she stayed with an inspiring politician who raised her kids alone after her husband died. In Bangkok, it was this really rich man who manages a Thai bank who really taught her a lot!

I could never imagine that kind of friendship without the programme. It is difficult for us to part. Memang payah kan becarai!!!!!! Kalau bulih kami ani mesti tah bejumpa setiap hari. Cerita nda pandai habis eventhough we've been spending the last 6-7 months together???

M.S Nippon Maru sets sail for the last time before making way for a new ship next year.

Brunei's involvement started in the early 1980s first as an observer, then as actual participant. Every country is given a quota of 28 participating youths (PYs) consisting of 14 girls and 14 boys, and 1 national leader (NL). To join the program, each country has different criteria. For Brunei, you need to be single, between 18-30 years of age, preferably active in any youth based activities/organizations, and has talent in the performing arts.

This resulted in setting up of an alumni network, as in the case of Brunei, ‘BERSATU' which means in English, together. Bersatu, is one of the local NGOs or youth organisations that:

greatly signifies the dynamic spirit of Brunei Darussalam ex-participating youth (ex-PYs) in their true aim of fulfilling the SSEAYP Objective of strengthening existing friendships with their young contemporaries in the other nine ASEAN countries and Japan.

I found reading her experience to be a truly

AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!! Nippon maru is the ship of dreams!

Stories like this no doubt bond youths and most importantly create a greater understanding between different cultures, religion and societies as well as the future leaders of ASEAN and Japan together!

Photos in this post courtesy of BPY 2008

Brunei Lifestyle attended a briefing on the new education system and shared with the readers on what it is all about:

- As from this year, secondary classes is now known as Year instead of Form, so Form 1 is Year 7;
- PMB, the Penilaian Menengah Bawah - the public exam for Form 3 will be scrapped as from 2011;
- At the end of Year 8, students who achieved an overall result (academic and extra-curricular activities and projects) of 70% and above will have an option to do their ‘O’-level in four instead of five years;
- Gifted students have the chance to be sent to Singapore to go to specialized schools there to do their ‘O’-levels.
- After Year 10 or 11, students can go to a specialized stream such as Art & Design, Nursing or Vocational;
- Students will be encouraged to develop their creativity and interest;
- Reading will be emphasized as from Year 1.
- There will be no repeaters, subject to the students achieving an 80% and above for their school attendance.

The blogger is of the view that

Some are confident about the system while others said they are not ready as some of the subjects offered in the new system are specialized such as music and design. Others said that promoting the students to proceed to the following year will make the students lazier as they know they will still be promoted.

A local teacher, Cigu Maisarah posted her views on SPN 21: it is either a challenge or a burden.

SPN21 ini memang menyusahkan guru. Sebahagian daripada jumlah peratus daripada jumlah markah yang terkumpul daripada kerja rumah, projek, ujian bagi setiap subjek akan disatukan dengan peratus markah dari peperiksaan akhir tahun.

However, she is also of the view that

Dengan adanya sistem sedemikian, anak-anak yang cenderung dalam bidang akademik dapat meneruskan ke tahap yang lebih tinggi.

Cheng Ho sees the SPN21 as an important milestone for Brunei education system and

is confident that the 21st Century National Education System (SPN21) is the answer for ensuring a better future for the students of Brunei Darussalam as the SPN21 has all the ingredients for preparing the students to meet the new global challenges.

I tend to agree with Cheng Ho as the SPN 21 marks the dawn of a new  era for education in Brunei that allows students to specialise their education after Year 10.  It will also provide the students with a global edge especially in entering the global labour market.

I was looking at ICT statistics of Brunei Darussalam. With a population of 381,371 (according to 2008 census) and a literacy rate of 94.6 percent (UNDP 2006), the IT penetration must be high. According to local ICT indicators of 2007, there were 199,532 internet subscribers. These figures are expected to increase in current times, due to the presence of various Internet Service Providers and more due to the popularity of blogs in the country.

Simpur Blogging Nation ( SBN), a DST web portal (one of the several ICT service providers in the country) that houses almost 1,000 registered blogs. Realising the growth of blogging a year back or so ago, Simpur created a community of bloggers. A portal where all of these Bruneian blogs are listed in one place with their appropriate categories. It's also a good resource for new bloggers to learn and see what they can blog about. Everyday SBN receives at least 3 emails from bloggers, requesting their blogs to be listed in the blogging directory. The growth is so fast and being the custodian of the directory, SBN has noticed that the Bruneian bloggers are getting better.

The creativity in writing or design and the entrepreneurship of small business and individuals is so heart-warming. From teachers setting up unofficial blogs for their students so that they can share what they teach beyond the classroom, to families sharing their lives with their other relatives outside the country. It's amazing to see how blogs have kept people to be a close-knit community.

Blogging Nation also made blogging the in-thing . Some people realize there's quite a number of things that you can achieve from blogging, it just needs some good planning to get something positive out of it. For example, resources such as Y.E.S. Programme is known in helping young people discover their own potentials.

With promoting blogs in mind, SBN also created The Bloggies Award in 2008, to acknowledge those bloggers who has made an impact in the Brunei blogging community. It was divided into Best Personal, Best Local Content, Best Photo, Best Lifestyle, Best Specialty, Wild-Card Blog, and ultimately winners of each categories are automatically eligible to be the Bruneian Blog of The Year! Through the 8 months of competition, the public was free to nominate which blogger/blogs they think should be in the running. From there on, the top 5 was up for voting again to find the winner of the category. Nominators who gave the best reasons for their blog choices were given prizes.

So, what does local bloggers think of SNB? Brunei Geek mentioned how Blogging Nation promotes local blogs:

The launching of Simpur's BN (Blogging Nation) is a proof of the fast development of Brunei's blogosphere.

Jepun 15 wrote on the impact of Blogging Nation on the locals:

The blogosphere has taken over the web, and it has certainly made an impact on Bruneians. Find out why blogging is now the craze in Brunei by checking out our featured bloggers & the ever-growing Bruneian Blogs Directory.So sit back, relax and enjoy what our local bloggers have to say..

Ipod Halo Effect wrote on how Blogging Nation provides a platform for Bruneian voices on the Internet:

Simpur has become somewhat of an Internet craze as of late, and it deserves to be. With the introduction of it’s Blogging Nation, it shows that Bruneians are ready to show the world what they think of it. The amount of blogs in the ‘Personal’ Category proves that Bruneians are no longer scared (well at least, not as scared as they were) to share their feelings and thoughts with people they don’t know. All the other (food, photoblogs, local scene, etc) categories show just creative we can be, provided we’re given easy access to the right tools, e.g. the Internet & Blogging software. Website design was cool for a moment, but it was limited to those who knew how to design. Blogging i think is the future of personal websites.

For a small nation, blogs have created netcitizens. This promotes community building. I myself have made friends whom I have never been acquainted before.

Kurapak literally means 'speak' in Bruneian Malay. Mr. Kurapak amuses his 3,000 daily readers with his daily doses of humour appealing to Bruneian readers. Some of these stories are old local jokes that has been shared by his dad many years ago but Kurapak has made a twist to these stories, making them appealing to the current young generation.

A talented website designer who started blogging per chance when he set up his father's blog, finally decided to set up his own blog based on jokes and humour. Although the jokes may be universal, Kurapak made them palatable to the Brunei audiences by using words and phrases that Bruneian readers can relate to.. such as ‘maniss' which means .. that is sweet! Or ‘buleeh' which means.. sure can do!

A reader described Kurapak's blog as a Bruneian blog in Brunei language that we all can love and laugh at. Rano Iskandar,founder of Ranoadidas.com , Brunei's Number 1 Social News describes Kurapak's blog as:

A good mixture of English and Malay language. I think there are not many blogs that are written in Malay. His posts are hilarious at times and I don’t know where he find his sources. Good work! This friend of mine also runs Brukiosk but Kurapak is the in-thing now. It’s probably the best layout/design among the nominees and he’s very talented as well!!

AnaBanana, Graphic Design, Lim Kok Wing University College of Creative Technology , Cyberjaya:

I have to admit that Kurapak is an excellent blog. I am not a big fan of blogs but Kurapak certainly caught my attention. Its not like any other blogs that I've come across. It is very entertaining and certainly has a very good sense of humour. Very, very funny! Excellent work, Alin! You deserve all the winning votes.

Azlan AKA Mr.JetLag, an observer and blog reader:

Kurapak and the author of the blog must be congratulated and celebrated. It is one of the few blogs that I have encountered which has captured the hearts and minds of its readers, including mine…it's very ticklish and addictive. The jokes are cunningly improvised and reflects the “naughtiness” (in every sense of the word..a positive one that is) of the author himself. Without this blog the world will be dull and boring. The punchlines are excellent and brilliantly executed. It certainly brightens your day. I am certainly a proud reader of this hilarious blog. You have my support. Your sense of humour is unrivaled. Keep it up! Long Live Kurapak!!

Random Clicker:

its so damn funny!. It is basically a collection of random silly funny stories about random things…..Reading this blog takes me back to the days when i was a kid.

Spiritual Garden impression of Mr. Kurapak

Spiritual Garden, one of the nominees for Best Brunei Blog 2008,

he only blog that which makes me scratch my head because of my poor Malay. A very popular blog loves by public when a stress-free moment is needed.

Alin was my ex-classmate back in the ITB days for only 3 months. He was already a very funny and chirpy person that made us laughed like orang gila ( a crazy guy). Kudos to his creativity in story telling to perk up those jokes that we might have heard it hundreds of time.

He brings sexy funny back.

All his posts are spontaneous, being written as he goes along. His style of slang language familiar with the Bruneian readers made his jokes fresh and easy to relate to the readers. It does not matter if the grammar to his posts are inaccurate. Talking to him, he stated that:

all i know is becakap with my own way, my own slang, just be my self saja, thats why masa awal-awal me takut nada orang terima bahasa yang me gunakan, tambah-tambah lagi both my english n malay are broken. apanya orang tua-tua? speaking kapal yow!

Is he funny in person? Kurapak does not claim himself to be funny but friends see him rather animated like cartoon. One of his favourite posts is Asmara pohon Piasau which literally means love at the coconut tree.

Haji Osman, 57 tahun baru saja 2 tahun pincin dari jabatan kerajaan and masa ani begiat mejual piasau since ia tedapat dusun piasau turun temurun dari datok moyangnya. So routinenya hari-hari, as you know macam biasalah, manjat piasau di dusunnya atu yang behampiran rumahnya. *macam tida kali ah ia manjat, spiderman pun minta ampun*

Iatah ada this satu patang, cuaca cerah-cerah mandung, ia ke dusunnya kan manjat ngambil piasau yang kan di delivernya isuk. Sudahnya memanjat sampai keatas, tangah-tangahnya bepayuk ke puhun atu, ada berita gumbira. Liatnya di bawah pukuk atu ada couple buipren girlpren beasmara, so ia pun meliat free show dari atas pokok. So iski lah ia tapi inda ia bunyi-bunyi sal takut ia kanapatan skodeng dari atas.*kalau me pun diam-diam tu*.

Tick tock tick tock, habis selasai babak asmara, iatah yang girlpren orang atu becakap arah boiprennya atu sambil kana dangarkan olih Hj Osman yang masih bepayuk kepuhun.

Girlpren : Baby, macam menyasal jua me tadi atu, takut me karang me pregnant wah. sapa tah kan betanggung jawap?

Boipren : Ishh.. you ani ih.. tadi you jua yang mau, jangan tah beuri wah, tani serahkan saja arah yang diatas.

ppppphhhuuuukkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!

belungsur Haji Osman, dari atas pukuk ke bawah ala ala bomba emergency and tarus di taingnya boipren that girl.

Hj Osman : Hoiii manisss, kau nyaman-nyaman di bawah, aku ko suruh betanggung jawap!!

Boipren & Girlpren dalam hati : M.P.B.(mun paham biskal ih salah mun paham bisai)

No wonder Mr. Kurapak is the overall winner for best blog in Simpur Blogging Nation Blog Award 2008.

AnakBrunei reports on the recent unveiling of the Brunei-Australia Memorial at Muara beach, just 13 km outside the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan by dignitaries from Brunei and Australia, witnessed by Australian war veterans.  This is in commemoration of the Australian landings at Muara or ‘Green beach'  in June 1945, during the Second World War and the cooperation between the people of Brunei Darussalam and Australia. The site of the memorial is where the Australians landed during Operation OBOE 6. The memorial is accompanied by an interpretive panel detailing the story of the Brunei operation.

According to AnakBrunei,

The black Australian granite especially honours the 114 Australians who were killed and 221 who were wounded during Operation OBOE 6. The inscription on the plaque reads «1945 in memory», surrounded by the words «Brunei-Australia Memorial» in English, Malay and Jawi.

Other Australian war memorials in Borneo include those in Labuan and Sandakan.

The following are some of the bloggers that showcases their products on their respective blogs. Too bad, many are only serving customers in Brunei due to the perishable products.

Pavlova by Bunny

Many of the bakers like Breadstop promote better healthy choices in usage of products for their cakes.  Bunny's Yummies also promotes healthy cooking:

I am into healthy cooking. I do not use any kind of preservatives, artificial flavourings and colourings in my cakes. I use natural flavours and taste from fresh fruits, real vanilla bean, chocolate, coffee and varieties of nuts. I also use less eggs in my cakes, making them healthy alternatives. All products are freshly baked accordingly at times of order and picking-up.

Cupcakes made by Candy

The popular trend of cup cakes around the globe has not escaped Brunei and it has become a favourite among bloggers and their customers. The following bloggers specialise in cupcakes amongst others and provide different creations for their respective customers: Kitchen of Jasmine, Cupcake Paradise, Candy, Sinah Bakery, Sugarush, Taste on Tray, and Warisan Ummi.

Cit's Cupcakes describes her business products:

I do basic decorations on all my products, but i can do decorations according to your preference at an extra cost. I can do novelty cakes, 3-D cakes etc

Sugarush's baker, Underserenity wrote

A few nights ago, after a four hour sleep I woke up from a very vivid dream and was unable to get back to sleep. At 430am what else is there to do? BAKE! Insane, yes probably but anyway I ended up baking a batch of Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and a batch of Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing.

Feedback from customers like AnakBrunei wrote:

These cakes are all absolutely scrumptious.. the ones with white ‘grassy' topping are red velvets with cream cheese on the top and the choc ones are made with dark chocolate I think - not too sweet at all. Let me know if you'd like the contact details of the talented young lady who makes ‘em.

“What a finale!!! Dayat was one of the favourites coming into the finals and it needed seven concerts to determine the champion and Dayat fully deserved it. He even had the biggest ovation of the night after AJ who didn’t make it to the final cut. He belted the finale song - This is the moment - and emerged the champion after receiving the majority of the votes among the top three contestants.”

Dayat is no stranger to the blog world as he is a blogger too. You can read his blog here. His blog posted in English and Malay accounts his journey in the competition.

No competition will go easily without controversies. Thanks to the blog:  My Skeptical Views of Zayn Sabri who is also the compere for this season's competition. He was able to share with P2F fans and his readers on updates on the competitions and controvesies on judges and criticism on the contestants by viewers.

“I have heard and read a lot of comments and criticism about the management and the juries of the p2f show. Some say that the juries are biased and inexperienced when giving marks to the contestants. If we look in depth of the personalities of each juries, we cannot deny that each of them are of different individuals compared to the rest of our population in Brunei. the four of them having different likes and dislikes, them having different professional backgrounds and them having different musical backgrounds even.”

Zayn, also a radio DJ at the Pelangi Network uses his shows to highlight the contestants. Check the YouTube video below: