Pre-marital sex (zina) is against the tenets of Islam and committing such an act would be enormously sinful. Therefore, many still believe that zina does not happen in the country, or at least not to a significant level. The commonplace idea is that, those who are not married typically abstain from having sexual relations.

However, that is not necessarily so. Jack from the Old Man's blog pointed out that we are “deluding” our naive selves if we believe that no one in Brunei practices pre-marital sex.

I find it sad that in Brunei, we still delude ourselves in thinking that Bruneians don't do these things. That only married couples have sex. We find it hard to accept that sex among teenagers are commonplace.

Jack argues that instead of just being blind to this fact, we should act upon it by educating the teenagers and equipping them with enough knowledge so that they could hopefully make real educated decisions about their own sex life rather than acting upon their instincts and curiosities without knowing of the consequences of their actions.

Of course, it is difficult to actually carry out sex education in schools because the Ministry, as fellow Muslims, they would not want to be seen endorsing and encouraging teens to experiment with sex. However, on the other hand, they are very concerned of the steep rise in babies born outside of marriage, which is also closely linked to another social problem - unwanted babies found in random thrash cans.

Allydee presented the argument eloquently in her blog:

On one hand, we're in a Muslim country and talking abt sex is a bit taboo. On the other hand, we can't ignore it given the fact that pre-marital sex is an ongoing issue in Brunei which leads to teen pregnancies which may lead to abortion or abandoned babies - it's a cause-and-effect. So in order to reduce the effects (teen pregnancies, abortion, abandoned babies) we need to address the cause (pre-marital sex).

LSM from Our Local Style understands the dilemma associated with this,

From SoulJah's Flickr Photos under CC attribution license

On Sunday, the 10th of December, 2006, some very excited Bruneians and non-Bruneians gathered in Bandar Seri Begawan, the sleepy capital city of Brunei Darussalam to participate in the Second Brunei Marathon. The route was expansive, the official website explained,

Starting from Jalan Sultan, next to Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddin, runners will speed out of town towards Jalan Tutong passing number of Brunei Landmarks, the Royal Regalia Building, the Edinburgh Bridge, the High Court Building and eventually passing by the Royal Palace, Istana Nurul Iman. The 1st ‘U-turn’ will be at 6 km point, going back to the Edinburgh Bridge, before turning towards Kiulap. Runners will than have to make a 2nd ‘U-turn’ at the 13 km point at Jalan Kiulap….

For those not familiar with Brunei, the route was cleverly been designed by the organizers so that it will pass by some of Brunei’s significant historic landmarks, such as the Taman Sir Muda Omar Ali Saifuddin, where the late His Majesty Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien had loudly proclaimed Brunei’s independence in the early 80s, the Royal Regalia Building, where predictably all the gold and glittery Regalia of the Royals is put on proud display for the public, and the Royal Palace, Istana “Nurul Iman”, Arabic for “Light of Faith”, the magnificent residence of His Royal Highness Sultan Haji Hassanal Bokiah the Sultan of Brunei.
Not surprising. Considering how the event was jointly organised by the Tourism Board of Brunei, and endorsed by the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports, they would naturally try to squeeze in as much Bruneian ‘beauty’ as possible.

And so, people started pouring in with their applications and those like Jewelle waited with bated breath as the Marathon neared. Some had practice runs, again not surprisingly, with the first prize being a big lump sum of BND$25, 000.

But one thing is for sure, the Marathon is a major event. Indeed, some of the national dignitaries dressed down from their black suits and air conditioned offices to take part in the run, some captured on camera by Emma the Good Egg who participated in the Fun Run.

Come Sunday, the weather greeted participants with rain. It was a soaking wet affair but Bruneians and non-Bruneians alike had ran the entire route. Some noted bloggers also took part, such as Nonnie King.

The shutterbugs came out specially to capture the emotions of the day with their expensive cameras, including Ahim Rani, who donated some to my own blog, Turquoise and Roses. However, the run had not been controversy-free.

Only a few hours later, the first blog post giving a review of the Marathon churned out bad publicity for the Organisers. Rano, in his blog had reported that the marathon experience left scars on runners.

Brunei Marathon left a big scar among many especially the foreigners. There was a major controversy that put the 21km results in doubt. Most runners had either shorter routes or longer route. Pol had the run a few extra kilometres to finish off his supposedly 21 km. An Indonesian runner cried foul as she eventually ran the whole 42 km but she registered for a 21 km and amazingly she still finished top 30 for her efforts. One runner had his top 6 finish disqualified because he didn’t use the “chip” for the electronic timing.

Evidently, it was a badly organised event.

Brunei Marathon 2006: The Day After

The day after the Marathon, those who had participated, as organising committee or as runners, started rolling in with angry blog posts.

The Borneo Bulletin reported “the much-touted Brunei Marathon ran into stormy weather”and said what Rano had reported earlier.

While other runners in the 21 km (half-marathon) were also frustrated by the lack of proper signage, race marshals, muddle over the importance of electronic chips or. face disqualification, face in their route, some participants ended up running more than 21 km because they strayed from their route which resulted in their times being off mark.

In his interview, the organiser of the event, Pg Sharifuddin Pg Hj Bakar, manager of Excellence Event Management denied any knowledge of these claims, as reported by The Brunei Times

Pg. Sharifuddin bin Pg. Haji Bakar, manager of Excellence Event Management the race's organisers denied the runners' claims.

There were motorcycle escorts leading the pack of runners,” refuted Pg. Sharifuddin.Visible markers were placed at strategic points over the route, and we had race officials posted at critical points throughout the route. These officials were supposed to ensure the runners in the different categories Marathon (42 km), Half-Marathon (21 km), 10 km, and Fun Run (six km) followed their respective routes.

Jack of Old Man’s Blog writes that the controversies surrounding this Marathon reminded him of last years

Its almost the same stupid happenings of last year happening again this year. The event organiser is still the same inept group of people, led by the same bloke who oversaw last years mess, and I heard this year he outdid himself.

Jack also said that the Tourism Board made a big mistake by allowing the management of Pg Shariffudin to overlook the event, considering what happened last year. He commented also on the lack of publicity the event had attracted and expressed concern that international events such as this Marathon will reflect what Bruneians are as a people and as a country.

LSM too commented on the event, albeit rather breifly, noted that the Tourism Board’s Director, Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohammad, was unhappy with the way the Marathon was organised and the event does not bode well for the nation's tourism effort.

The Brunei Resources Blogger, wasn’t in Brunei at the time of the Marathon, however, after reading everyone else’s blog posts, he was rather surprised at the outcome of the event because firstly, this is not the first time that the event is being held, and secondly, organising events is a Bruneian ‘specialty;. His question was “what happened?”.

Indeed, what did happen?

The Forum was a star studded event, attended by a number of major figures, ministers, deputy ministers, and most notably His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, and his brother, His Majesty Prince Sufri Bolkiah, His Majesty Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and a special guest of the Sultan, Raja Nazrin, the Crown Prince of Perak, who was there to act as the keynote speaker.

For those new to the concept of MIB, it stands for the three fundamental elements in Bruneian governance and way of life. M: Melayu, which stands for the majority of the Bruneian population, the Bruneian Malay, and all cultural connotations that comes with the word, I: Islam, which stands for the official religion of Brunei, a religion that affects every single working of the Bruneian governance in all kinds of ways, and B:Beraja, which stands for the power of the Sultan. Together Melayu Islam Beraja, brings the loose translation of “Malay Islamic Monarchy”.

Thus the event was a normal forum, which outlined and rexamined the well known philosophy of Melayu Islam Beraja that Brunei employs in the daily running of the country, and how it can be taken further to advance Bruneian governance. I wrote on my blog, Turquoise and Roses, as a person watching the live feed on the national television station, RTB, thought it should be called the MIB Talk,. rather than a forum due to its one-way exchange.

However, of course my own trivial comments are nought compared to the reaction Raja Nazrin's keynote speech (available here - in Malay) received from the Bruneian public. Obviously he had struck a chord with most Bruneians, for example Brunei Resources, who actually used the word “fantastic”, and that it “outclassed” all the other speakers,

The other papers admittedly were run of the mill and very straight to the point as they have been said in the past. They were actually interesting but after more than an hour of listening to the fantastic keynote address by Raja Nazrin, they were really outclassed.

Another speaker who had done exceedingly well is, someone most Bruneian women hold in high regard, Brunei's very own first woman judge, Judge Norhayati, a wonderful modern feminist by right. She, in an MIB Forum, full of sexist and most probably unimpressed males, created an uproar among the ladies present when in an emotional call, clearly stated that it is high time to include women in the presently only male dominated Legislative Council.

Brunei Resources recalled the event clearly,

Judge Hayati gave the normal run of the Constitution and how the royalty was part of that Constitution. However, she was able to attract everyone's attention when she talked, or rather she called out (loudly and clearly), that the time is right for women to be included in the Legislative Council and not just the present 29 all-men LegCo. All the ladies present and men too clapped very loudly.

Emma Good Egg added in her own blog,

I think to not have a woman on the Legislative Council is tantamount to disregarding the views of close to half the population of Brunei Darussalam.

That is obviously a good point as currently, the population of Brunei is, as Emma Good Egg has also mentioned as the following,

…women represent 46.6% of the work force and hold important positions in both government and private sectors. You see more women involved in NGOs and entering the business arena. We have HRH Princess Masna, who is Ambassador-at-Large for the country. Plus, the life expectancy of women is 77.59 years, outliving men (at 72.57 years) by about 5 years.

However, only a few days after her speech, negative backlash has been detected. An annonymous comment on Brunei Resources's blog has said the following:

Its always been a struggle for women to be included in the Boys Only Club. I dont know why. Why do they want to join the Boys Only Club? Men dont want to join Women Only Club as far as I know. Whats her intention?
I remember last time our Mufti said something about women in the judging business should adhere to Islamic Values including to wear a hijab. Anyone remember about that? I wish she turn a corner and wear a hijab all the time and not only during official function.

Naturally, anti-feminist sentiments, however personal, will always be present in times like these, as shown above. The donning of a hijab, (or not donning of the hijab, in this case) is seen as an indicator of an ulterior motive.
Other negative feedbacks from the public appear also in comment form rather than blog form, such as the following, made by Phantom on my blog, Turquoise and Roses. He/she claimed the MIB Forum is a “propaganda session” and implied that it is a waste of time as there are “hundred better channels to watch”.

Personally, I am amazed by the commotion brought about by the MIB Forum. However, very important issues were brought forward especially by Judge Norhayati and I applaud her for taking the bold stand and speaking up when no one else would.

AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD boy, mauled by a pack of stray dogs, told of the attack in an exclusive interview yesterday and demanded that strays be cleared off the streets.

- Brunei Times, 30th August, 2006

Will the Government policy makers succumb to the wishes of this little boy? It seems quite draconian should we kill off these strays one by one. Perhaps even cruel.

These dogs are helpless and homeless, they are strays, loved by no one, hated by the society. In other countries, they will populate animal shelters but in Brunei, none are to be found. Setting up an animal shelter, which will definitely be filled with stray dogs, goes, first and foremost, against the principles of Islam for it is haram.

A second reason why there are no animal shelter is that, there is no one, no high up bureaucratic figure, no specific member of the royal family will be impressed by it. As far as the Government is concerned, it is a waste of money with no benefits.

LSM, in his post today, driven by the dog attacks, had said,

The current inaction after the attack betrays the truth: we lack any credible solution and all we can do is “monitor the situation”. Now more than ever we need a candidate to act as a buffer, something that will help stay the problem even momentarilly and thereby act as a hinderance to those who would call for a quick fix, cruel or otherwise. The boy’s attack has not gone unnoticed by the public whose insistence leaves no room for misinterpretation: something needs to be done immediately for the safety of our children. This demand for urgency and expedience may influence those in charge to disregard their humanity in search for a solution. The public wants a solution now but should we once again offer a cruel one? Wouldn’t the safety of our own children warrant that any means be employed?

His fears are not unfounded. In a society where dogs are seen as taboo objects, confused parents all over the country are willing to risk ethical treatment of animals to the safety of their children.

- The Brunei Times (22nd August, 2006)

Some very lucky bloggers got a mention in the new English newspaper, The Brunei Times, in an article written by Amirul Azuan. The few blogs mentioned came from a myriad of genres ranging from the serious to the more trivial.

The more important thing is that the newspaper is sending an important message, in the words of a friend: “the Times (correctly) considers local bloggers to be friendly allies in their competition with the BB.”

The BB, or the Borneo Bulletin, which until recently has been the sole English newspaper in Brunei, has, in the past voiced out open contempt towards the Bruneian blogging scene.

I do think there is an ‘unofficial’ glass ceiling for female officers. The whole upper echelon of Brunei society is dominated by males. Could it be that since it is these same people who determine who gets the top jobs, the disparity exists?

MedLeo

Has sexism in the country gone corporate? Such are the comments arising from this post at The Daily Brunei Resources seem to be more interesting than the post itself. Do a “glass ceiling” really exist in the Brunei workforce amongst women despite the fact that women perform better than males? Hear the stories from the common folk.

The launch marks the end of Borneo Bulletin's long time monopoly being the sole English newspaper and months of vague rumours and speculations in the blogosphere. For example, the following extract is written earlier in May where Naz from Absolute Nothingness had said:

“A new website has popped up from out of nowhere: BruneiTimesOnline. Don’t be fooled by the name, it doesn’t seem to be the official site of the upcoming English-language newspaper..”

Rano had witnessed the official launching of the newspaper and recorded the moment on his blog, RA.com.

The launching happened this morning at The Mall where all the Board of Directors were present as well as invited guests. The Minister of Home Affairs officiated the opening and he gave a brief speech.

He had adopted a heavilly positive attitude towards the newspaper, saying:

Brunei Times is a totally new concept, similar to Strait Times in terms of layout and it looked more professional and lesser of a tabloid. With a strong team and a powerful BODs on board, I can see a good future for Brunei Times.

The paper has been receiving some fairly good reviews from Bruneian Bloggers.

K had said in his/her blog that it, “looks good and hopefully it'll give the Borneo Bulletin a run for its money.”
David Cheok, on the other hand, had said that the newspaper “seems much better than that of Brunei Press with better colours and a finer resolution.” except that it needs “to be streamlined and fine tuned”. He too is very glad that Bruneians have broken away from the monopoly of Brunei Press.

LSM, had two sides to his reviews, the pessimistic:

Big words from (…) The Brunei Times (…), let’s see if they can deliver. With their official launch on Saturday 1^st July 2006, I wish them all the best.

And the optimistic, he gave raving reviews for Sunday's editorial:

I read Sunday’s editorial - ‘Novel Approach to Brunei’ - putting forward the notion of translating local literature into English and have to say I was rather impressed. An editorial that’s timely, relevant (to Brunei) and interesting. Nice catch, guys.

The newspaper had gained a lot of trust it seemed, from the Bruneian Bloggers. My hope is that the two medium of sharing information will one day collaborate to facilitate the availability of less censorship, more transparency and more freedom of speech.

We can blame it on the education system or even our own culture for this 'sydrome'. The idea of voicing out ideas, concerns and criticisms are some what not part of our 'operating system'.
  

 "We (the government) require pressure from outside and this is where blog readers can come in to help spread the knowledge."

and my subsequent call for more Bruneian Bloggers to help aid progress in the country;

"If only there are more of us!" 

LSM churned out a post in OurLocalStyle that digged much deeper and said that the issue is not in number - it is in substance. 

Brunei bloggers can pressure a change be it in the education system or in the larger setting of society. I don’t think the problem lies in getting people to blog or even to get them to leave comments. Rather, it’s in encouraging thought-provoking posts and discussions relevant to the Brunei paradigm.

This was then followed by a comment cum blogpost by One Way Down The Highway which highlights the possibilities that the lack of substance is connected to the nature of the Bruneian Education System which does not really encourage "thinking outside the box".

Your assertion “Brunei bloggers can pressure a change be it in the education system…” is a chicken and egg situation. Brunei’s education system does not sufficiently provide us with the necessary skills to articulate such tasks. And majority of the minority naturally endowed with such gifts run as fast as they can, anywhere, to get away from the system that once stifled, and still does, their ability to think and belief that they can change the nation for better.

"The O Level English exam seems to have been designed for academic, native speakers of English, not for Brunei students, who start learning English in primary school and whose use of the language outside the classroom is limited."

Liguist had termed the GCE O'Level English exams as "a relic of colonial times" and should be replaced with something "with an attainable goal which our students will enjoy reaching for".

The issue of the low passing rates of English O' Levels in Brunei is an extremely much debated about issue within the Ministry of Education. Pehin Dato Haji Awang Abdul Rahman, the Minister of Education has voiced out his concerns in a speech he delivered at the National English Language Teaching Conference saying that so called improvements in English language competence in the country are "not reflected in GCE `O' level results" (Borneo Bulletin: August 2005).

LSM, responded to Liguist in his blog OurLocalStyle by saying that, "accusing teachers of designing examinations solely to encourage students into an academic career is a claim that needs to be taken seriously". He agreed that the O'Level examination is indeed "a holdover from colonial times" and pointed out the fact that Britain, the originator of the exam has "moved to the GCSE". However, he spews his concerns that by "locally designing" the O'Level exam, might "set the bar lower" for Brunei students.

"An easier O-Level English paper is not going to do students any favours."

Turquoise and Roses had also responded by saying that the O'Levels is an "old-fashioned way to test language competence" and "its replacement to something more suitable and logical is long overdue" and asserted that it is designed to "encourage an academic career". She echoes Liguist's sentiments that it is a paper for first language speakers of English and Bruneians are by right speakers of English as a second language who "start being formally introduced to a limited amount of English at Primary Four and who do not have any absolute reason or obligation to speak the language outside of the school environment.

LSM's reply was that,

"If there is a need to re-tool the current O’Level exams then by all means. But if re-tooling means making it easier then I hope it is because the current standard of English assessed by the O’Levels is too high."

He again voices out his scepticism that it might "dumb down" the examination yet he is not against the idea of reformatting the exam.

Justin on the other hand does not believe in scraping of the O' Levels. He argues that "the whole point of the English-medium system of education in Brunei to require students to be able to speak, read and write both Malay and English as a well as a first language speaker of both those languages". He had said:

"Surely to dumb down - and don’t doubt this, a locally designed English language paper would be dumbed down - is to defeat this purpose."

He draws examples from Singapore, a country also using the GCE O' Levels,  to illustrate his point. His views are agreed with in another comment by nottoshabby.

However, it must be remembered that Singapore and Brunei have vastly different educational system where English is technically a first language in Singapore, in Brunei it is very much a second and inferior language to the very dominant Malay and drawing comparisons on the two countries will prove to be unfair and one sided.

What will eventually happen to the GCE O' Levels? Should this examination, introduced in 1951, still be utilised in this day and age?

"Policies are made by politicians. Not academicians."

For the past few years, the blogging scene in this oil-rich country has not really delved into current affairs beyond their personal sphere. This may be caused by a lot of factors, perhaps it is the fear of displeasing possible readers by accidentally asking taboo questions, or the fear of making a bad impression on outsiders towards Brunei, or perhaps simply, a general disinterest in writing about anything serious. Whatever the reason, the general consensus is that, blogs are seen as an avenue for public rants about one's personal love/school/family life, not a place to have rife discussions about the country's progress, politics, education and economy.

Few outside the Bruneian blogosphere is aware that there is a certain tension between the bloggers and the local newspapers. Several, more up-front bloggers are known to openly criticise the sole local English newspaper, the Borneo Bulletin.

Ourlocalstyle.com, one of the more serious blogs maintained by a Mr. LSM, has a whole category dedicated to the paper's various forms of faux pas such as grammar and ridiculous headlines to name a few. However, he makes it clear to readers the following,

Contrary to what some might infer, I don’t hate the BB with a passion that leads me to pray that someday mutant rats will chew the building’s foundation until it collapses into the Earth’s magma. I am, however, dismayed when I see mistakes that my secondary school teacher had to correct. No publication, certainly not the national newspaper, should be making these mistakes.

The tension between bloggers and the local newspaper is not unfounded. A few months ago, the paper had published a front page article (available here) that had threatened local bloggers about the possibility of lawsuits unless the blog is properly registered with the Government Newspaper Act.

Blogging can be considered as publishing and this similarity shows that it is susceptible under the nation's Newspaper Act, authoritative sources said.

(Borneo Bulletin, 25/02/06)

The actual article itself was vague and based on unfounded theories by unquoted "relevant authorities" and "legal experts" rather than facts but it sparked an uproar with the local bloggers.

The issue was in the end resolved by a personal letter to a correspondent in the Prime Minister's Office (available here), and a thorough analysis of the Newspaper Act, Broadcasting Act and the Internet Code of Practice by local bloggers such as LSM assuring other bloggers that everything was alright and no authorisation by the government is needed in order to maintain a blog.

Following the incident, the Borneo Bulletin never issued an apology. However, the incident had considerably weakened their position as a credible source of information and has gained the reputation of being a tabloid rather than a proper newspaper among bloggers.

Ches had a post that addressed the matter and concluded with,

This (…) is an agreement with another blogger’s sentiment against lackadaisical journalism and overall reporter sloppiness.

Sheesh. Tabloid, indeed.

And most bloggers in Brunei agreed.