When A Locked Door is Just Not Enough

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Nothing can come between me and my lunch break siesta. Absolutely nothing. It has become my ritual, known to those who know me so well, every work day for the past so many years, the moment I stepped out of office for lunch break, destination one would be my bed.  It may not be much, even just for a 10 minute-nap, is completely enough as a push for me to go back to office and continue with the afternoon half of the work day.

24 Nov 2022 started off just like any other ordinary work day. Arriving home at 1250H for lunch break that day, I excitedly flailed open my door gate, unlocked the door, came in, locking the door behind me, said a quick hi to my cats, took off my shoes, dropped my work bag on the floor, took off my work dress, put my phone on silent mode, set my alarm, then with a big, long sigh, put my head on my pillow, then I was out.

My gentle-sounding Samsung phone alarm was supposed to wake me up at 1315H. But, that day, my precious nap was interrupted by a loud crashing sound. This was louder than loud. The likes of a crashed elevator sound, or the sound of a shipping container trailer that fell on its side. I was awakened immediately as my cats scrambled away in shock. At that moment, I had a critical decision to make – whether to brush it off and continue napping or to check out what was the origin of that loud sound.

Well…there was nothing to decide between actually, as it was a no brainer. Are you kidding me? Definitely I sprung out of bed to check out what had crashed, what had created that loud sound. Judging from the WTF level of loudness, I was certain that the “thing” was happening super super near to where I was. First, I quickly scanned out the window down to the road area. Nothing was out of normal, no shipping container trailer on its side. Hmmm… So I moved on to my second theory, our building’s elevator had crashed. I hope there was no one inside the elevator, that must be a gruesome sight…, I said to myself. I grabbed my phone, just in case, and made my way from my bedroom to the main door just to take a peek from the peephole to see if the elevator’s LCD display went haywire or if there were some signs of dust or debris billowing up.

As I turned the corner into the living room and approached the corner to the front door, my vision suddenly came in contact with THE origin of the loud crashing sound. I was right, it was indeed near, but I totally didn’t expect it to be that near, as in happening in my apartment unit. I was completely gobsmacked. Someone had Muay-Thai kicked open my front door, yup, hence the loud crashing sound, and the man who did that was already stepping into my apartment.  He was oblivious of my presence even though I was just standing a few feet away to his left.

Now, what have my years of obsessing on true crime and investigation stories prepared me on what to do in situation like this?

Ok, first thing first, never neverrr take things for granted. I have been a strong believer that home invasion cases whether by burglars, thugs, zombies and other unwanted intruders could be totally avoided by installing door gates and window grilles. But, even though I had installed iron gates at my front and back doors, I didn’t shut and lock the front door gate during my lunch breaks. I got careless, and thought that since it was just less than an hour, nothing could possibly happen. Well, I thought wrong, and I learned my lesson there and then.

The not-taking-things-for-granted mantra also applies to when hearing any unusual sounds in your surroundings regardless of during what time of the day. Never ever dismiss them as nothing. Always investigate. Had I not gotten up and just continued napping, I would definitely be in a vulnerable position to any crimes of opportunity when discovered by the intruder.

Now, back to the elephant in the room. Since the guy didn’t see me yet, it gave me a few seconds head start to assess the threat before deciding on how to react to the situation. He was alone, skinny, average height and I didn’t see any weapon in his person. So, I thought to myself, hmm…if a have a long weapon with me, like a broomstick, I could catch him off guard, charge towards him with my broomstick, and beat the crap out of him. It needed to be a long weapon so that I could still keep a distance when attacking the threat. Good plan!

But, unfortunately my broom was not nearby. I knew I must act immediately and deliver the element of surprise before he sees me. So, I used my fake man voice (for real!) and shouted “Oi!! Keluar!!! (Get out of here!!!)” He was startled alright, backed up and in a split second he was out the door. I ran to shut and lock the door gate, since my door lock was busted.

It wasn’t long after I saw him entering the elevator that I heard another crashing sound, followed by another one. You got to be kidding me! I said. Instead of fleeing the building, he went to other floors of the building and from the sound of it, kicked open two more doors. This guy is really psycho. At that point, I could just let the tenants of the affected doors deal with him, go back to work and fix my busted door lock later. But….the thought crossed my mind…what if the guy enters someone else’s home, attacks the occupants, senior citizens or little children, severely injuring or killing them. Then I would feel guilty for just moving on and not doing anything. So I dialled 993 (the police hotline).

I got a question for my fellow Bruneians. Have you ever heard or experienced yourself what will go down when the police are called while the crime is still going on / the criminals are in action. For example, if someone dialing 993 while hiding in the closet, whispering, telling the dispatcher that there is an intruder in the house at that very moment or if someone called the police saying that he saw from his car someone trying to break into someone’s home. If your answer is no, then let me tell you about it and get ready for a wild ride.

So there I was, adrenaline pumping, waiting for the police to come, anticipating some police actions. There is a police station just nearby, less than a mile away from my place, and so I thought they should be here any second now. I was looking down to the road from my balcony, but seconds and minutes passed by, there was no police car at sight. Then I saw the intruder walking out to the main road, approached a guy in a car that parked at the roadside in front of our building. It seemed like they know each other. The other guy gave him a cigarette, and they smoked together while having a chitchat, with no care that the police might be coming. But was the police coming though??

It was a good 30 minutes after I made that call to the police, but not a single policeman come. I can see the police station from my balcony, by the way. After their long chitchat, the other guy left in his car, and the intruder walked down the road leaving our building area. He wasn’t rushing or anything. In hindsight, perhaps the intruder knew well that the Brunei police would not scramble, jump into their vehicles and rush to the scene upon getting a distress call from a crime victim.

To be continued….

From Mansion to Burger Stand

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Born in 1966, Hady was born into a quite known family. Back in the 1950s-60s, Hady’s grandfather was a well-known figure, a formidable kuntau (martial art) champion.

In 1981, aged 15, Hady joined the Boys Wing, following the footsteps of his older brother who had joined the Boys Wing a couple of years earlier. The Boys Wing was a scheme where Form 3 students who were interested to serve in the military could continue their academic education (Form 4 to O Level) at the armed forces training institute. Hady’s brother went on to serve as a military officer while Hady served as a military technical personnel (non-officer), although they just served for just a few short years, before deciding that the military was not for them.

After quitting the military, Hady’s brother tried his hands at business. Hady followed suit, dabbling into various business ventures. Some were promising and successful at first, but none was sustainable. Perhaps because of their young age and inexperience.

Somewhere down the line, Hady’s brother hit a jackpot. He married into a prominent family. The daughter of a big kahuna, filthy rich and very influential local figure. Soon enough he ditched his Nissan for a Porsche, moved into a mansion, embracing the elite life.

Meanwhile, for Hady, as much as he wanted to continue following his brother’s footsteps, he didn’t have a filthy rich girlfriend to marry. He did get married too though, but to a regular middle-class girl. If it was any consolation, his wife got a stable job as a government officer thus able to bring some income to cover the couple’s financial needs while giving way for Hady to get his business ventures off the ground and sustain.

As a government servant, Hady’s wife was also eligible for various benefits that the couple could enjoy – subsidised housing, interest free loans, the sorts. Thus, taking out a bank loan she did. The money from the loan was to fund her husband’s new business idea. Despite her vote of confidence, weeks and months after she handed over the loan money to her husband, nothing happened. When asked where did all the money go, Hady was nonchalant about it, telling her that the business just tanked. Not only that the wife remained as the breadwinner, she had to part with a large chunk of her salary for monthly payments of the bank loan. In the end, the marriage didn’t survive and ended in divorce. Hady went back living with his parents while his ex-wife got a full custody of the bank loan debt.

It wasn’t long until Hady got another business idea. Despite his past failures, he felt good about this one. It was something different from what he ventured into in the past – real estate business. Real estate is no monkey business which requires a large sum of capital and Hady knew exactly who could help him with that – his uncle.

Hady’s uncle is a local millionaire (allegedly), a well-known successful businessman in the engineering and construction fields. After pitching his idea, the uncle agreed to be a guarantor for Hady’s 2 million dollars bank loan. It is not known whether his agreement was out of kindness to a blood relative or he was really impressed and convinced with Hady’s business idea. Had he (or his men) done some background check or spoken to Hady’s ex-wife, surely the uncle wouldn’t have taken the bait.

The bank loan was approved and as soon as Hady got his hands on the money, all bets were off. Hady splurged the money on luxury vacations, expensive cars, buying a boat and building a hilltop mansion at Kg Jangsak.

Hady used part of the S2 million dollars to pay for the monthly loan payment for a while until the money ran out. When the monthly payment stopped, the bank took legal action. Hady was declared bankrupt and he had to surrender all his assets. [Side thought: After bankruptcy, Hady would have to pay some amount monthly to the Court’s Bankruptcy Office – meaning he handed the payment to a thief, Ramzidah, who was the official receiver at that time].

The hilltop mansion in Kg Jangsak was only about 60% completed when the property was seized. Sitting right on the edge of a hill overlooking pretty much the whole of Kg Jangsak, the mansion, despite not yet completed, had already taken its full shape and already captivating, grabbing the attention of passersby. It is not known if the mansion was even put up for auction or if it did, it had no takers. There was never any work done to complete it and it just sat there as it was to this day. It’s access road and compound have been engulfed by wild vegetations, but the front face of the mansion remains clearly visible, like it refuses to be forgotten, longing to be owned, longing to have human occupants.

Bankrupt, Hady went on to marry a widow with 6 kids. The bankruptcy didn’t hinder his love for business though. With his wife, he sold nasi katok. However, that business too, together with his marriage didn’t last long. Both ended when Hady was arrested and thrown in jail (for a non-money related crime).

After his stint in the slammer, Hady met and married a Thai lady. Of course, his passion for business remained intact. With his Thai wife, he started a food truck. This was at the height of the food truck fad in Brunei. In-trend and low startup cost, Hady thought this would be the one that would last. However, the hype was short-lived, and like the rest, the endeavour faltered.

Now in his 50s, Hady runs a burger stand in front of his parents’ house. It turned out that this could be the one as the burger stand lasts longer than his very many other past business ideas. Hady had found his true calling.

Not the Typical Bump in the Night

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Hailing from Kg Ayer, Haji Nawi recognised the big opportunity to run a petrol filling station on water, serving boaters in Kg Ayer / Brunei River area which there was none at that time. So, he saved up some money and jumped right into it. Thus, in 1975, the Seri Chermin filling station came into being.

Located at the uninhabited Pulau Chermin at the mouth of the Brunei River, the filling station took off right away. The Seri Chermin filling station went on to monopolise the riverine market for decades. Haji Nawi couldn’t be more content. The filling station became his pride and joy.

Pulau Chermin where the filling station was located was the site of the civil war back in the 17th century. Due to its historical past and the presence of a Royal grave there, the island became a protected site and inaccessible to the public, meaning nobody is residing there. Haji Nawi applied for and was given the permit to stay for overnights in the island. So, together with his wife, Haji Nawi made the filling station his home making the couple the only inhabitants of the island. Later on, Haji Nawi would employ a foreign worker to help around at the filling station, a Thai national named Mani, who then also stayed there at the island with them, making Mani the 3rd inhabitant.

View of Pulau Chermin from the SHOAS Bridge

Due to the strategic location of the island right at the entranceway of the Brunei River, the sounds of boats gliding quietly after midnight till the wee hours of the morning are normal to Hj Nawi, his wife and Mani. They are smugglers either passing through into Kg Ayer or making drops of contrabands at the waters off the island. After years living in the island and hearing the sounds every single night, they got so used to them and with time, learned to ignore them. Despite being the only three people living in the island, the thought of those “night crawlers” to mess with them, in any way, didn’t even cross their minds. That was until…

One fateful night in 2014, sometimes around 1am, Haji Nawi was awakened by a thump coming from outside. He didn’t get up right away, thinking it was nothing. As he was about to dismiss the bump in the night and get back to sleep, he heard what sounded like men talking. Haji Nawi got up to inspect and his motion had awakened his wife who decided to join him. Perhaps they thought that there were people in distress outside who needed assistance or it could be their worker Mani bringing some friends over or something, but nothing of the malicious nature crossed their minds at all. They couldn’t be more wrong. Nothing would prepare the couple for what would come next.  

Haji Nawi opened their bedroom’s door, stepped out of the room to the shock that the talking men who he heard were not outside the building as he thought, but they were inside, three of them, just a few feet away from him. Like Haji Nawi, the men were also startled, perhaps thinking that there was no one staying in the filling station. Since it was dark, Haji Nawi didn’t catch on right away that the men who were wearing all black, were in the middle of ransacking his place, and that they have guns. Yes guns! Robbers with guns in Brunei are completely rare and those familiar with this fact would know right away that these gun-slinging punks are definitely not locals.  

One of the men yelled at Haji Nawi, “Money! Money! Money!” Haji Nawi, still trying to process what was going on, responded with “Huh? Mani?” The guy yelled again, “Money! Money! Money!”, while slinging and pointing his gun at Haji Nawi and his wife. Poor Haji Nawi, still not noticing the gun, again responded with “Kau mau si Mani?” (You want Mani?), thinking that the men were looking for his worker Mani (his Thai foreign worker). The gunman was annoyed. He thought that Haji Nawi was being defiant and mocking him. Then, Bang!

Hj Nawi fell to the floor. He was shot on the chest. The three men ran out, hopped on their motorboat and left into the darkness. The sound of the gunshot had awakened Mani (deep sleeper or complicit?) who rushed out of his shack towards the wailing sound emitted by Hj Nawi’s wife who was completely hysterical.  

Hj Nawi was rushed to the hospital. This is Brunei we are talking about where the chances of the paramedics and hospital emergency staff to be faced with a gunshot-wound-to-the-chest patient are zero to none. Understandably, Hj Nawi’s family was preparing for the worst.

After the incident, the filling station closed for a while then moved its location to Kg Sungai Besar at the mainland located along Jalan Kota Batu opposite Pulau Chermin where there are more people around thus a less vulnerable location.    

Apart from the obvious clue that they were not locals, the identity of the perpetrators was never known, no arrest was ever made. With this incident escaping the public’s attention, it is not known if there was any active police investigation on the case to begin with.

Haji Nawi would survive the gunshot wound and make a full recovery. He continued to operate the filling station until he passed away of old age in 2018. Certainly, no other Bruneian had experienced being shot on the chest and lived to tell the story, and that made Haji Nawi a local legend. It’s just too bad that the incident was not spotted in the public’s radar and that Haji Nawi didn’t get to share his amazing survival story….

Sorry That It Didn’t Work Out…

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Let’s take a moment of silence to remember Kristal Astro which has just left us on 01 April 2022. For years I thought they were gonna lower their monthly fees but alas they held their ground to the grave.

It was when I stayed in Singapore for a year that I realised how outrageous were our Astro fees and service here in Brunei. That was back in 2003. While in Singapore, I paid about $60+ monthly for uninterrupted TV cable service plus internet, be there rain or storm.

If there is one fond memory I have of Astro, it is the movie channels, watching movies after movies on HBO and Cinemax and during Ramadhan, having movie marathon to kill time before Sungkai.

A friend would recommend and helped me set a wireless transmitter and receiver thingy which allowed me to watch from my TV right in front of my bed.

I remember getting excited every week to watch the Walking Dead episodes on Fox HD which aired just a few hours after they aired in the US, feeling anxious everytime bad weather came in the hours running up to the airing time. There were a number of times when I missed part or all of the episode telecast due to stormy weather. Even a few drops of rain would kill the signal, clenching my teeth, withholding my anger to only catching the closing credits when the signal came back. In the end, I had to google for the episode recaps just to get the updates, who died, who survived. Yes, I do love watching zombie shows that much.

I was so bummed when one day Fox HD turned up blank. I didn’t get the memo that I needed to switch to Astro Byond in order to continue getting the Fox HD, meaning buying the Byond receiver set. But I was too lazy to drag my ass to Kristal Astro which at that time was notorious for its long queues and waiting time. So, no thanks. I improvised and purchased the Walking Dead episodes from iTunes and got to watch each episode hours before Astro airing time.

Despite not having Fox HD anymore, I maintained my Astro subscription despite questioning the fee because of the Crime & Investigation (CI) Channel. Other than zombies, I love watching true crime shows (obviously). Forensic Files, Medical Detectives, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Passport to Murder, Dead Silence, and many more. I would fall asleep with my CI channel still on all night long till morning when I woke up.

So that was how my relationship with Astro went for years until three things happened that led us to grow apart and parted ways. It started when one day I switched on the TV in my bedroom and nothing showed up but it was all fine on my TV in the living room. So, I thought something must be wrong with the wireless transmitter and receiver thingy. After trying and failed to McGyver it to work, I went out to buy a new set. But when I switched to the new set, still nothing showed up. Daym, nothing actually was wrong with the existing set and I wasted money buying the new set. It could be my TV then, but I was so lazy to go buy a new TV, and that was it, no more watching from the TV in front of my bed.

Then I realised that I needed to watch TV to help me fall asleep. So I took my ipad and thus began my fascination and later addiction to watching YouTube videos. Boy oh boy! I uncovered a wealth of true crime videos on the internet including on Facebook and Instagram. At that point, I didn’t need the Astro’s CI channel anymore for my dose of true crime stories. But still I continued paying the monthly subscription fee so that guests would have something to watch during Hari Raya at my place.

Then Covid happened, affecting my routine of going to DST monthly to pay my Astro bills. I was too lazy to make an effort to try to figure out how to make online payments. Besides, I’m old school, so not too online transaction-savvy. In the end, after not paying my bills for months, Kristal Astro broke up with me.

R.I.P Kristal Astro….

2021’s WTFs – Part II

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Is it a whale? Is it a dolphin? No, it’s a Land Rover Defender! In May 2021, photos of a car close to completely getting submerged at Pantai Meragang were making rounds on WhatsApp. Here’s a scene that we never expect to see here in Brunei. Well, yeah back in the old days, before there were proper roads, people from Belait would travel to Bandar along the shoreline. Yup, the cars drove on the beach. But drivers back then could tell and knew only to drive on sand hardened by seawater. That was back then. These days, why would anyone drive a car on the soft sand so close to the shoreline. Well, the poor Land Rover Defender was a demo car and the person on the wheel was taking the car for a test drive. And since it is a 4WD, why not test it on the beach. Genius! But, even a car illiterate like me would know well the difference between a 4WD and an amphibious vehicle. The public’s reaction when seeing the photos that went viral was that of amusement, especially seeing the priceless it-was-at-this-moment-he-knew-he-fucked-up look on the driver’s face. But, the incident is certainly no joke. Things could get so ugly so fast. The people in the car were lucky to be able to get out to safety before the car got deeply submerged or even worse, got washed away by the tides towards the sea joining Wilson the Cast Away volleyball.

Source: Circulated on WhatsApp

There have been a number Bruneians who got into trouble with the law over what they posted on the internet or social media. The first known such case was way back in 2004 when 3 people were detained under the ISA for posting sensitive information on the Bruclass.com internet chat.  And who would forget the local man who was convicted on a sedition charge and sentenced to 18-months imprisonment (in absentia) for criticising MORA and calling on Bruneians to “dissent” in his FB post back in 2017. In 2020, a 22-year-old local man ranting on his Instagram video about the government’s Covid-19 advisories was charged under Section 19 of the Minor Offences Act, Chapter 30 (using indecent or abusive words etc with intent to provoke a breach of the peace) and ordered to settle a $450 fine.  In 2021, another local joined this list. But this case is slightly unique from the rest thus worthy to be among the 2021 WTFs.

For one thing, we got a female this time and involving TikTok for the first time. Different from the other afore-mentioned cases, the social media post in question did not involve divulgence of sensitive information or calling out on government officials or policies. The short clip she uploaded was captioned with a statement saying that on 31 August 2021 at 1645H, ABC Eats (a restaurant at Mabohai) was raided by the police where 4 of its employees working that day were found to have the BRUHEALTH Red code thus violating the Quarantine Order. Well, we get this kind of unverified information all the time, whether circulating on WhatsApp or posted on FB, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, Reddit, and the sorts. In some cases, the government would come out with a statement saying that the information or rumours are not true and the public would just move on to the next viral messages/posts.

The shock factor for this particular case is that the lady posted the “false statement” in her personal Tik Tok account, thus allowing the restaurant owner to make a police report against her leading to her being charged under Section 34 of the Public Order Act, Chapter 148, (Dissemination of false report). She is facing the penalty of a maximum fine of $3,000 and 3 years’ imprisonment. 09 May 2022 has been fixed for a pre-trial conference in the case. She denied the charges and if she gets a good lawyer, she may still get out of this shit-uation, although she would still suffer some financial loss having to pay the lawyer’s fee. If found guilty or if she pleaded guilty, I don’t think she would get the jail term though, due to the “first time offender” reason and our prison already being overcrowded and all. I just have two words for her – Fake Account.

There you go. My special picks for the WTF happenings in 2021. So, was 2021 uneventful? Hell No.

2021’s WTFs -Part 1

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It has been 3 months since 2021 left us. With people’s lives pretty much occupied with Covid-19 throughout 2021, it is easy for people to overlook or even completely forget about other, what otherwise should be unforgettable happenings throughout that year.

Pengiran Narudin bin Pengiran Haji Nor Abidin is the 43-year-old man who in August 2020, at 1030pm, ran over a foreign (presumably Bangladeshi) road maintenance worker at the Temburong Bridge. The incident was caught on CCTV and Pengiran Narudin’s urine sample showed that he was high on meth. Despite the clear-as-day evidence, Pengiran Narudin still has the audacity to deny the charges brought upon him. He should get nothing less than a disqualification from driving for life. His trial date has been fixed for June 2022. Why the process dragged on this long is beyond me, but then again…welcome to Brunei.

Anyways, what does this have to do with 2021 events? Well, eerily exactly one year after this incident, in August 2021, another life would again be lost by reckless driver on the same bridge. But this time, it was in broad daylight at 0900am, a female driver who was sober, not high on meth. So, what was her excuse? Everyone without vision impairment would certainly be able to see the safety cones in the middle of a straight road, let alone a human! But not this driver, who mowed down a row of safety cones that were laid out on the bridge and struck a road maintenance worker head on, sending the victim plunging into the river. The victim, 20-year-old local woman was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Nothing can prepare parents for the untimely death of their child in such a tragic way. At just 20 year old, the deceased had a big future ahead of her. She was about to enroll at a religious college, hoping to one day become a religious teacher. She took a part time job at the local construction company to help her parents make ends meet, a noble act that would cost her her life.  As for the driver, 7 months later, charges are yet to be brought against her. Whatever her excuse would be, she shouldn’t be allowed to ever drive again.

Being the main crime type in the country, theft cases have been making the headlines on a daily basis for the past years and it was no different throughout 2021. But something was different about a theft case covered in the press on 16 September 2021. The news coverage talked about 30-year-old Mohammad Rafi Ezamdie bin Muhammad Daud (a career thief) being sentenced to 16 months jail for “misappropriation of property from the body of a 43-year-old woman and for failing to report her death”. At this point I thought to myself perhaps the dead woman was someone he knew or something or an occupant of a house he had broken into, who died of natural causes, then he helped himself with her things and left without reporting the death. As I read further, it was mentioned that the dead body was in a car by the Jalan Mumong roadside in Kuala Balai and the thief just so happened to drive by on his way to get (steal) some fruits at the nearby fruit orchard. He stopped to inspect (check if there was something to steal) the car and saw the woman “sleeping” inside. Ok fine, maybe the woman had a heart attack while driving and managed to stop by the roadside before she died. But then the story took an outrageous turn. Instead of moving on, the thief opened the car’s door to then discovered that the sleeping woman was actually dead. He then grabbed a gold necklace, bracelet and ring from the dead woman and left. He sold the items and spent the money including to buy drugs.

There’s nothing strange about Mohammad Rafi, being a career thief, kleptomaniac drug addict to steal from the dead body and to not report the death, no thief would. But, the outrageous part is that why would he, according to his version of events, proceed to open the door of the car despite seeing a woman “sleeping” inside. Was he planning to steal something in the car while the car owner was inside? I don’t think so. Looking at his previous cases, that is clearly not his MO. The action is only logical if he already knew that the woman inside the car was dead or perhaps, he had a part in her death. He said that only when he opened the car’s door that he found out that the woman was dead. But how though? Did he check her pulse? I don’t think so, him being high on drugs and all would be thoughtful enough to check for pulses. This makes me believe that, despite not being mentioned in the news coverage, the body exhibited signs of foul play like stab wounds or strangulation.  

The news coverage ended with a bombshell – “The prosecution also informed the court that investigations into the murder of the woman are still ongoing”. Wait…what?? Murder? I knew it! But, to this day, there is no press, nothing on social media, no conversation on this murder at all. As for Mohammad Rafi, once he is out of jail, he will steal again, of course.

In June 2021, an audio recording was going around on WhatsApp. People’s jaws dropped to the floor upon hearing what was in the recording. 11+ minutes of what sounds like coming out of the exorcist movie, rants from a woman, cursing, yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs, nothing that anyone (at least not me) has ever heard before. This is like Karens on steroids. It was a phone call conversation between the angry woman and her son’s teacher.

The day before the phone call, when the madmom was picking up her son from the Perpindahan Bukit Beruang School, the son entered the car crying, telling his mom that his teacher scolded him in front of the class and had angrily thrown his book onto the floor. Poor boy. I would be mad too at the teacher. But this mom didn’t snap there and then because as she claimed in the phone call, she is the type who would investigate things first before jumping to conclusions.

Upon getting home she went straight to “investigating” the matter by, as she claimed, contacting (presumably through WhatsApp) all his son’s classmates and their respective parents, each and every one of them, to get their “testimonies” about the conduct and demeanor of the said teacher. I’m amazed that she got all their contact details. From there she got confirmation that the teacher did indeed throw her son’s book. She was also told that the teacher had “ampas” (spanked) the students and called them “bodoh” (stupid) and “pemalas” (lazy). This was normal during my primary schooling years, but I thought that this breed of teachers already extinct. At that point, the madmom became all riled up. She was particularly fuming about the teacher calling her students including his son bodoh. To her, uttering the word bodoh to someone is like menyumpah (putting a curse on) that person to, by some supernatural power, become legit a bodoh person. This would become the main theme or her rants during the epic phone call.

The next day, the madmom left the teacher a message to give her a call. She was restless waiting for that call to come, anxious to unleash the wrath that has already been built up to the brim about to explode. The teacher finally called and right from hello, all hell broke lose. The teacher was hit with a barrage of high-pitched verbal daggers. It took a moment to catch what she actually wanted to come out from the phone call. She wanted the teacher to admit that she had “menyumpah” the kids to be bodoh by calling them bodoh, then apologise to the kids, or else she would bring the issue to the attention of the higher authority. 98% of the whole 11+ minutes conversation was the madmom talking and only 2% the teacher. The teacher said she never cursed on any of her students, but she did admit of saying bodoh. To the teacher these are two different things. But the madmom was not having any of that. She assumed that the teacher didn’t want to admit calling the kids bodoh and only did so when she threatened to bring the matter to the higher authority. This pissed her off even more and the decibel level of her yelling became off the chart. She said “kajar-kajar ku ni” (im shaking now) and that her migraine just gotten worse to describe how she was feeling at that moment. She unleashed a string of expletives on the teacher, the very action (swearing) that triggered her anger in the first place. Its ironic that she got so angry over the teacher’s use of the word bodoh, when during the phone call she also used the word calling the teacher bodoh. She also called the teacher “kurang ajar” (uncivilised) and sort of putting a curse on the teacher. Yup, she asked for God to befall misfortunes on irresponsible people (the teacher), saying it at the top of her lungs in the tone like putting a spell on someone. To top it all, she got an issue with the teacher being “pemarah” (bad tempered) but then again, she admitted that she herself is a bad tempered person and that the teacher is yet to meet her match (referring to herself as THE match). Although the madmom has every right to get angry at the teacher, at this point the madmom had completely gone out of line.

The more she ranted, the more it became obvious that it was not about the teacher using bad words and mistreating the students, but more about the teacher having the audacity to call her son bodoh when the son is a genius who came top 3 in class. She just couldn’t wrap her head around it, and it was driving her mental. According to her, she never before had to deal with such antics from the teachers of her other kids (who are also geniuses). She said “Not trying to be arrogant” before proudly reciting her other kids’ achievements – “9O! 6A! 5A!” Who are you to say that my son is bodoh?? Did you give birth to them??, she asked rhetorically. Then BOOM! She said Carik kah bur17 mu melahirkan dorang?? (Did you tear your vajayjay giving birth to them??). Cringe! Now, not only she had gone out of line, to escalate to lewd insults is way too much. Not cool maam.  

The madmom must have shared the recording that went viral thinking that the public would join her in condemning the teacher. Yep, the teacher shouldn’t mistreat her students like that but this misstep was dwarfed by the madmom’s outlandish yelling, barrage of insults and cringe remarks in the recording which left the public with mass PTSD. The madmom ended up being seen as the villain, a joke and subjected to memes and parodies on social media. 3 days after the recording went viral, the MOE released a media statement urging the public to use proper platforms to convey concerns or complaints on teachers. It reiterated that “The authority will take action against any threat, violence, discrimination, verbal abuse or obstruction of any public servant in the discharge of his/her public duties” The things that the madmom said in the phone call could pass as verbal abuse meaning that action could be taken against the madmom. Her intention to punish the teacher had completely backfired. It was alleged that a law firm had offered pro bono service for the teacher to sue the madmom. But so far no one got fired, charged or sued yet. One thing for sure, the recording is etched in Brunei’s history as the most epic rant ever.  

Workplace affairs are nothing bizarre here in Brunei. In fact, they are incredibly common. It is also not uncommon for these affairs to turn ugly, but to get ugly enough with one of them being sent to jail is completely rare or even unheard of. That is not until 2021 when a senior p0l1c€ officer was handed a jail sentence and whipping for “sexually harassing a colleague”. The “colleague” in question is a female subordinate who made a report that on 14 Sep 2019, the senior officer was making sexual gestures on her. On handing down the sentence, the Senior Magistrate remarked that “her vivid description and demonstration made it clear that she had not consented to the act and that the defendant had committed the act intentionally”. Now, what man would intentionally grab the crotch of a non-consenting woman colleague? Exactly no man (with a sound mind) would. This logic should be enough to not take the allegation at face value in the first place. Clearly, there should be more to this case than meets the eye. Allegedly, behind the façade of a “sexual harassment” case is actually a manifestation of the wrath of a scorned office 5lu7. And for the woman to win, that is certainly unprecedented and bizarre indeed. 

 

Silenced

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You are everyone’s best friend until you are not.

In 1990, amendment to the Customs (Prohibition and Restriction on Imports and Exports) Order added “Alcoholic Liquor” into the list of Prohibited items. Henceforth, Brunei officially went dry. Thus arose bootlegging as a lucrative activity for locals to make big bucks, really really big bucks. Demand was high and urgent. Smuggling in the supplies from Limbang was easy.

Tiong was one of the locals who couldn’t resist the temptation for the big bucks and dived right into it. By mid-1990s, Tiong established quite a significant client base, who had his number on their speed dial. He operated out of his home in Kg Sumbiling Lama. Business was good. Demand remained high coming in from left and right. These were not just from tourists and foreign visitors but also and largely from locals, non-muslims and muslims alike, who couldn’t let go of their favorite pastime. Yep, including bobbies too.

In the lucrative contraband business, the profits of getting away with it certainly outweighed the penalties if they get caught. So, Tiong was unfazed when he was, in March 1996, caught for having large quantities of contraband alcoholic liquor in his possession where he just had to pay a fine. In August 1996, Tiong was caught again, this time he was fined and sentenced to a one month imprisonment. Still no biggie. Intoxicated (no pun intended) by the big money and the lots of “friends” he was making, Tiong continued his bootlegging operation even after he got jailed.

What Tiong failed to catch on, however, was that once you sank deep in the underbelly of the illegal trade world, you are everyone’s best friend until you are not. Rub them the wrong way, the Al Capones of contraband trafficking from across the border could hunt and “terminate” any local alcohol peddlers within a snap of a finger. Peddlers who had been caught like Tiong could easily turn from being their clients’ best friend to be seen as a liability for knowing too much.

On 07 January 2001, around 0930PM, two men driving along the stretch of dark, desolate road towards Tungku beach came upon a Suzuki Vitara sitting on the road with the headlights on but no driver at sight. They stopped to inspect and found that the car was left unlocked and the engine running. From the corner of their eyes, despite the darkness, they could see faint smoke from the bush a few meters away. There laid Tiong’s burned body. He was murdered. 

Police and pathologists immediately congregated at the scene, but as promising as it might look and sound, we all know how it is here, where grave crime cases start and end with – “Police is still investigating…”

PEAK-a-Boo

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“Likely to increase until the end of the month before going down” : Minister of Health, 12 Feb 2022 (on the number of Covid-19 cases).

Such a bold prediction, which I must say, exudes a certain former US President vibes. But, arrogance aside, and despite the adamant rejection of tougher restrictions, if we stick to the fu€k3d-up theme of the country’s Covid-19 measures, surely this projection could and will be achieved. Just reduce the number of laboratory tests and hope that no one will catch on. 

Downplay, Dismiss, Deny, Deflect

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Growing up, my parents were a bit on the strict side. I didn’t understand it back then, and I was so upset, at times embarrassed for having strict parents, not being able to do certain things. But looking back, I am so glad for the rules and restrictions, as they definitely have some impact on the adult me that I turned out to be. If my parents weren’t so strict, I would probably drop out of school and be doing a less paying job right now, unemployed even. 

At the other end of the spectrum, there are non-strict parents, like Hashim and Surina, a married couple who has 4 children – 2 sons, 17 and 14 year olds, and 2 daughters, 19 and 16 year olds. There were no rules and restrictions. Instead the couple trusted their kids and confident that they would do the right things and not get themselves into trouble. The kids don’t have to ask for permissions to do anything. Go to parties, hang out with friends, sleepover at a friend’s house, having boyfriends / girlfriends over in their rooms, no problem at all. Friends of their kids, particularly those with strict parents like mine, were definitely envious and wished that they have “cool” parents like that. Well, somewhere down the line, their two daughters got pregnant by their boyfriends and one son got hooked on drugs and alcohol. 

Only when one became an adult that he or she would be able to catch on that the non-strict parents are actually selfish because they only cared about themselves being adored by their children and seen as “cool” parents. Whereas, the strict parents were willing to sacrifice some degree of adoration from their kids for the sake of the wellbeing of their children’s future adult selves.

Reading through the comment section on the MOH IG, many are voicing concerns on the increasing number of Covid-19 cases linking the increase to the “endemic” phase, whereby the lifting of restrictions (for the sake of “living with covid”) conveniently opened up many “platforms of physical interactions” for the highly transmissible Omicron to spread – restaurants, markets, supermarkets, schools, bandarku ceria, samima crazy promotion, etc. On top of this, enforcement on the SOP (scanning bruhealth, wearing masks, physical distancing, % allowed capacity) seems to have become MIA. The commenters called for some kind of intervention (bringing back the 8pm curfew, reducing the % allowed capacity, enforcement of the SOP). Then there are a number of commenters who lamented that those people who are voicing concerns and called for the stated interventions inda paham-paham (still don’t get it) that we are in the “endemic” phase, that we are living with covid, hence to just suck it up and not to make demands from the authorities to do something about the increasing number of cases. These commenters instead blamed the individuals for the spreading of the virus and that it is up to the individuals themselves to stop the virus from spreading (not by asking the authorities to intervene).

Now….which of these two conflicting narratives is most justified? Lets go back to Hashim and Surina. Who is to blame for their children’s life blunders? The children’s naive judgement or the laid-back parenting?

“What You Don’t Know Won’t Hurt You”

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There you go! Just when I thought the on-the-fly responses couldn’t get any more WTF-er, the QnA session during the 19 January 2022 press conference delivered the most WTF-est response ever.

Some years down the road, and some jabs later, the world would eventually move on from the Covid-19 crisis. For the people who lived through it, survived it, the experience would be some epic story to be told to their children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren. Those born after the pandemic or who were too young to recall anything, they will hear about it, read about it in the internet and libraries. It will be talked about and examined in history classes, case studies, research papers, theses and dissertations. Future policy makers and managers will look at and assess the responses and measures that had been taken, and draw on the lessons learned from them.

Memories will fade. So, for the benefits of future reference, let me immortalise the WTF-est response here.

19 January 2022, Covid-19 Press Conference

Reporter: Yesterday we have seen a surge in new Covid-19 cases of 55 new cases including 41 local cases. Can you share with us what is contributing to the increasing number of cases?

Response: “Jadi dalam beberapa harı ani kes tempatan agak tinggi lah terutama sekali semalam. Walaubagaimana pun, orang ramai inda perlu cemas. Ani adalah hasil daripada contact tracing jadi 41 orang ani didapati contact daripada positive. Atu yang baiknya dorang ani dikenalpasti awal bah. Kalau misalan bayangkan kitani 10 saja kes tempatan tapi yang lebih ani nada kitani mendapati atu lagi merbahaya. Jadi orang ramai inda perlu cemas dengan nombor tempatan yang meningkat. Kebanyakannya adalah hasil daripada contact tracing ah. Asal saja tani tau dari mana ya punya link ataupun contact tracing atu dan InsyaAllah. Jadi di dalam beberapa harı yang akan datang, mungkin angka tempatan ani masih dalam 20an atau ke atas disebabkan oleh contact tracing ah. So….InsyaAllah”

Translate: So in these few days, local cases are quite high especially yesterday. However, the public don’t need to panic. This is the result from contact tracing, so the 41 people are discovered from being in contact with positive cases. Thats the good thing that these people are identified early. If say there are only 10 local cases but the additional people are not discovered, that would be more dangerous. So, the public don’t need to panic with the increasing number of local cases. Most of them are the result of contact tracing. As long as we know where the link is or the contact tracing, then God willing. So in these coming days, maybe local cases would still be in the 20s or above due to contact tracing. So….God willing.

Ba dum tss!