A knocked on the door to his brother’s house, but there was no answer. He had not heard from his brother, B, for days. B’s phone had been unreachable. It was not unusual for B to ghost his family, but never this long. Still knocking on the door, he scanned around and noticed that B’s car was not there. A sense of dread went through him as he realised that no one would answer the door. He saw an ashtray on the patio table, a half smoked cigarette resting on its edge. His fear became more real that something bad had happened to his brother. B had been living alone in his own place. His family knew that he got a steady job at a bank, but other than that they knew nothing much about B’s private life. Besides, as a grown man, B could live his life in whatever way he pleased. There was one thing that A was sure about, that B would always smoke the entire cigarette to the butt, never half way. Something must have interrupted him while he was smoking.

Did someone pay him a surprise visit and grab him. Did he catch wind of danger coming and flee. Did he have to rush to go somewhere to deal with something urgent. These were among the questions that were playing through A’s mind. He reminisced the last time they met, he didn’t notice anything amiss with B then, they shared jokes, puffing away as they enjoyed their cigarettes. Never did he expect that sometime down the line he would be so desperate to know B’s whereabouts, to hear his voice, to see him again and give him a hug.

A was certain that B would not just take off from their lives, let alone done so without calling their parents to assure that he is ok. A dialled B’s number again for the umpteenth time hoping that it would ring this time, but it was still unreachable. He was overwhelmed with despair, holding back his tears, picturing every single scenario that could be preventing his brother from contacting them. B could be in a ditch somewhere or somewhere in the woods, hurt, or in a room somewhere being held against his will. As a military personnel, A is trained to be fearless and heroic, but at that point of time, he felt helpless, not knowing where his brother was, let alone saving him from whatever trouble he was in.

The year was 1993. Brunei was a safe country then and still is now. Crime rate has always been low. Violent felonies like murders and armed robberies were and still are rare. But something about the early 1990s Brunei that shattered every parents peace of mind about the safety of their children – i.e., the growing problem of drugs abuse. It was a period when drug syndicates were having a field day, drugs were easily accessible, every youth could either be doing drugs, dealing drugs or know someone involved in drugs. So, could B’s disappearance got something to do with drugs??

The police had been notified about B’s disappearance early on. But, no one goes missing in Brunei, so at the initial stage, the possibility that B being voluntarily missing was considered. It was only after the visit to B’s home that alarm bells went off, that there could be foul play involved. So began the active search. But where would one begin to look for a missing person in Brunei, where every single second is critical. For the local police force, anxiety was high. Not only that they’ve not encountered such a missing person case before, the anguish hit home when the endangered missing person in question is the sibling of one of their own. As a senior police officer, B’s sister is well trained to sniff out vice. But she is also trained to not let emotions get in the way of any investigation. One could only imagine how sticky the situation she was in.

The investigation began at B’s home. Nothing seemed to be out of place, no signs of a struggle. Other than his car, his cellphone and wallet were also not there, making it less likely for him to be abducted from home. They found photos which provided clues about the crowd he hanged out with. They were not his work colleagues. A recognised a number of them but he had no idea until then that his brother was socialising with those people. One by one they were called for interrogation, but the police were no closer to finding out what happened to B and whether B had any enemies who might harbour the intention to do him any harm.

Days passed by and there were no leads. The police and B’s family members were also on a look out for B’s car, in the hope that if they find the car they would find B. B was among the first owners of the Nissan Nx which just made its debut in the country. There were still not many of them on the road at that time and his was yellow, so it shouldn’t be too hard to miss.

They did find the car in the end, and sure enough, B was in it, but he was not alive. The car was found dumped in a swampy field somewhere by the Lumapas road. In it was B’s decomposing, mutilated body. There is no doubt that he was murdered.

Soon, news about a discovery of a badly mutilated body started to reach the public. People told about the gruesome extent of the mutilation. No one knew exactly the true state of the body except for the people who were there when the body was found, but just hearing that the body was badly mutilated was enough to send chills up people’s spines. Speculations were rife that it was the work of gangsters. Given the violent nature of the killing, it surely wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill murder. Such a violent overkill indicated a lot of rage, hatred or resentment, an act of revenge or punishment. This was not a stranger-to-stranger killing. B must’ve known his killer. To mutilate the victim, the killer or killers must be sadistic psychopaths, who have no issue with torturing and taking people’s life, and most likely had done it before. Gangsters would surely fit this bill.

Sadly, this case was never solved. There should be a lot of evidence that could be collected from the victim’s body, the car and the crime scene – fingerprints, DNA, tyre tracks, shoe imprints, etc. But, I doubt that any of those were preserved. As years passed by, some other gruesome murders joined in the list of unsolved crimes in the country. Its scary to think that those murderers are somewhere out there walking free, living among us.

One morning, as I was about to leave for work, I accidentally knocked over my air fragrance canister, it rolled down the table it was on, flew a distance and landed on my mopping pail knocking it down spilling all its filthy contents on the floor. Just great! I said to myself. I spent 30 minutes cleaning the mess and ended up arriving to work late. I just told my staff that my car was acting up. They wouldn’t believe me if I told them the truth anyway and I would come across as lying and coming up with a lame excuse for being late. I could imagine how ridiculous it would sound if I told them what actually happened.

Recently, I came across such ridiculous excuse, not for being late for work, but for murder. A 34-year-old man was on trial for stabbing death his 42-year-old brother-in-law on the chest. His defence was that it was an accident. He gave the most ridiculous account on how the “accidental” stabbing happened.

The fatal stabbing took place in front of a house at RPN Kg Pandan B, Kuala Belait around midnight on 27 April 2018. The defendant who is unemployed is staying in his parents’ house along with his siblings including his younger sister who is married to a police Lance Corporal.

Here is how the outrageous defence went down. That midnight, the brother-in-law got furious upon seeing the defendant’s car not parked properly in front of the house. Even after the defendant moved his car, the brother-in-law refused to let it go and continued ranting. One of the rants included how the defendant is just a guest in the house.

The defendant’s mother came out and tried to diffuse the ruckus by pulling her son-in-law’s hand urging him to get inside the house. Refusing to go in, her son-in-law pushed her and she fell. Seeing this, the defendant got angry and thus the quarrelling escalated.

The bother-in-law then charged forward, leaped onto a chair, launching himself at the defendant, swinging his right arm for the hit. As the brother-in-law came plunging towards him, the defendant took a knife out (which he happened to have with him that he used earlier to repair a TV), raised his hands with the knife in his right hand. The brother-in-law landed on the knife which impaled his chest.

The defendant, his sister and mother then carried the wounded victim to the car. The victim’s wife drove him to the hospital while the defendant fled. The victim died shortly after his arrival at the hospital. The defendant was arrested at noon the same day.

Now, lets analyse this. Vouching this story were his mother and sister, the alleged witnesses to the stabbing. Even at the get go, we all know that family members would not throw their own flesh and blood under the bus. So, the whole account of what happened as they told it must be taken with a pinch of salt.

The trigger was the defendant’s car which he parked “improperly”. Im guessing the defendant either took the brother-in-law’s regular parking spot or his car blocked the access to the parking spot. Still, this is no reason to be all psycho about. He could just text the defendant and ask him to move his car. His overreaction indicated that there should already be bad blood between those two.

When the brother-in-law said that the defendant is “just a guest” despite the house belonging to the defendant’s parents indicated that the defendant could just be staying the night or just for a few days which may explain why the defendant was ignorant about the parking “rule”. Despite being the “outsider” one, the brother-in-law could be the main bread winner and considered himself the alpha male in the household and the defendant, who is unemployed, he considered a nuisance, a free rider. The defendant could be subjected to prolonged criticisms and belittling by the brother-in-law which contributed to the bad blood.

When the brother-in-law launched at him, the defendant could choose to either run away or embrace the blow and engage in punches instead of taking out his knife. And why would he even have a knife with him. Who fixes a TV with a knife. Who, other than TV repair shop workers, knows how to fix a TV even. We also don’t know whether the victim really pushed his mother-in-law when she fell. He could just was pulling away his hand and the recoil force made his mother-in-law fell. It was like, the part is added to the plot to justify the necessity for the defendant to use his knife. Also, why would the brother-in-law even jump onto a chair first unless that part was added to the plot to explain how the knife “accidentally” plunged into the victim’s chest when the victim landed and that the defendant didnt make any stabbing movement with the knife.

On 12 March 2020, the defendant was convicted for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and sentenced to 4 years jail. Given the time already served since his arrest in 2018, he would be out in less than 2 years. On handing down the sentence, the Chief Justice considered the defendant’s clear record and that “there is no suggestion the defendant is of violent disposition and poses a risk to public safety”. I mean, he carried a knife and did not hesitate to use it that night. Which part of that is not posing a risk to public safety?

The preexisting bad blood between the two gave the defendant the intent to kill and by having a knife with him is an indication of premeditation. Thus, I don’t see any accidental aspect of the crime. Nobody has the right to take someone’s life even if the deceased did terrible things. And to get just 4 years, its like he got away with it. Just saying…

On 21 July 1984, a dead body of a man was found at the Serasa beach. The dead man was later identified as 68 year old Ponniah Rajaratnam, a Singaporean retired ex-CIFB (Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) Director, who at the time was heading Brunei’s newly established Anti Corruption Agency. A post mortem report said that the man died of asphyxiation.

Even at the get-go, the death was shrouded with suspicions. For one thing, someone who knew Mr Rajaratnam said that he was a non-swimmer, neither was he a sea sport enthusiast. So what was Mr Rajaratnam doing anywhere near the water, let alone going for a swim.

Although it was never outrightly revealed that it was a murder, one foreign newspaper article went on to say that Mr Rajaratnam “was found strangled in a small boat” and that “sources said Mr Rajaratnam was apparently kidnapped before being murdered”.

Due to his post, it was rather obvious that Mr Rajaratnam had no short of haters or people who wanted him off their backs, with sources saying that he had received a number of threatening telephone calls because of his investigative work. But which one of them hated him so much to the extent of wanting him dead?? And this is Brunei we are talking about, no one at that time, not even Mr Rajaratnam himself, would expect that there could be someone lurking among its timid population harbouring a murderous intent against another human being.

Mr Rajaratnam was not the regular Tom, Dick and Harry. He had a long career in the Singapore Police Force which he joined in 1940, where he rose up the rank to become the Deputy Commissioner of Police before being posted to the CIFB as its Director in 1971, then retiring in 1982. Certainly, he had been through so many dangerous situations and dealt with so many criminals (blue and white collars). So, don’t expect him to be deterred by threats and intimidations.

His overflowing passion for the thing that he did was probably the reason why Mr Rajaratnam accepted the job in Brunei. But whether he realised it or not, the circumstances of that post-retirement endevour were different. For one thing, he was in a foreign land, not yet familiar with the psyche and “terrain” of the constituency he was dealing with. Secondly, he was already in his late 60s, therefore presumably not as agile as he used to be. He let his guard down which unfortunately costed him his life.

If the allegation that it was a murder is to be believed, who then killed Mr Rajaratnam?? Well, for a segment of the country’s population, they claimed that they knew exactly who did it, or at least had a hand in it. Find anyone who was old enough to remember the case, the person would say M did it, the white collar assassin. Even after M was acquitted, those who pointed their fingers at him are still confident to this day that M did it. To get some clues as to why this is so, one needs to go back to the early 1980s.

In the early 1980s, the country’s population was around half of its population today. Life was simple. Some people owned cars, some didn’t. People were driving with their windows down, no biggie, 1980s Brunei was not as scorching hot as it is today. Those with no car, no problem, they happily took the bus to work.

There were not many local smartypants around, only a small fraction of locals lucky enough to have the opportunity to further their studies overseas, and upon returning, they became hot items, scouted to take up spearheading roles in the government service. M was one of these hotshots.

The government service prior to independence was organised by functional departments – Welfare, Youths and Sports Department; Education Department; Agriculture Department; Public Works Department; Marine Department; Municipal Department; Establishment Department; Health and Medicine Department; Treasury Department and so on. These departments were led by Directors who called all the shots. M would eventually become one of these Directors.

The oil boom in the 1980s has done a lot of favours to the country’s development efforts as money were pouring in from oil and gas export revenues. This couldn’t have come at a more perfect time as the country was gearing up to become an independent state in 1984. The budget allocation for the national development plan, the fourth at that time covering 1980 to 1984, leaped from the previous $500+ millions to a whooping $2.2 billions. A frenzy of development projects ensued with the constructions of roads, bridges, government buildings, schools, hospitals, you name it. Inevitably, this has created a fertile ground for the greed bacteria to grow and take hold.

A new menace began to take shape, that of corruption. Realising this, the government had, in 1982, enforced the Emergency (Prevention of Corruption) Act. Together with this, an Anti Corruption Agency was established. A foreign expert, in the form of Mr Ponniah Rajaratnam was brought in to become its Director, to help the agency get on its feet. And so began the headhunting.

As a result, a number of “big fishes” found themselves in uh-oh moments, in hot waters, in snafu, in deep shit, upon realising that some of their past moves, made in their moments of ignorance, could actually be corrupt practices. M was one of them. Among the allegations was that M had awarded a tender to a company owned by his wife, a decision which had raised some eyebrows. Also raising eyebrows were his disproportionate assets. Described as abrasive and narcissistic, M was at the top of his game, and would surely not allow an anti-corruption sleuth to burst his bubble. 

It was alleged that one of the threatening phonecalls received by Mr Rajaratratnam before his mysterious death was about his probing into M’s dealings. But, no one could prove this. There were no caller IDs back in the early 1980s. In fact, apart from having a motive, the arguments pointing to M as having a hand in the Mr Rajaratnam’s death were all circumstantial, but nonetheless very incriminating. One example is the allegation that J, a local thug, had told an acquaintance that M had socilited his assistance in silencing Mr Rajaratnam. J was later shot dead by the police in August 1984 following a high speed chase. He was pursued by the police for an unrelated crime. Another example is the allegation that Z, a government official who was sticking his nose into M’s dirt, told a relative that M had threatened to get him. Z was later found dead.

Other than thefts, smuggling activities also remained rampant in the country in 2019. And these are just talking about smugglers who got caught. Given the relative “ease of doing business” for the smugglers, the magnitude of the problem could be much bigger than one would think.

Drugs, cigarettes and alcohol are the most popular contraband being smuggled into Brunei commonly over land through mousetrails. There were also a number of arrests for smuggling raw meat into the country. Yes, there were idiots who tried their luck in smuggling the items through immigration checkpoints, but the smugglers got a better chance of being undetected when using mousetrails. Kg Junjungan, Bebuloh and Lumapas are littered with these mousetrails, some of which can even accommodate cars.

Other than over land, smugglers also operate using boats through the interconnecting rivers. When everyone is sound asleep, the smugglers using boats from the neighbouring Limbang, Lawas even Labuan can stealthily boat in the contrabands into Kg Ayer and basically any Kampung along the bank of the connecting river. The villagers often see their boats painted in black and the smugglers wearing all black to blend in with the pitch blackness of the night. Most common landing points are Kg Sungai Bunga, Kg Sungai Besar, Kg Menunggol and Kg Riong. The islands such as Pulau Chermin are also used as transaction points for the smugglers. Yes, the marine police conducted operations to catch these smugglers in action, but oftentimes the smugglers are way ahead of the enforcement officers. They use informants and high speed boats that can outrun the police boats.

All roads to smuggling activities lead back to demands, especially cigarette. Ever since the country’s war against all things tobacco, the volume of cigarette smuggling has skyrocketed. I am yet to hear personally a testimony from any cigarette smoker in Brunei who says that he quit smoking when all the shops stopped selling them. Due to the high demand, the profits of any successful cigarette smuggling operation are massive. They just need to get away with it once, and they can reap thousands in profits overnight. And if they are greedy, they would do it again and again. If they are unlucky, they may be spotted by patrollers and made the run for it abandoning the contraband. That would be totally fine to them given the profits they already made from previous successful smuggling. This was exactly what happened in June 2019 at the Lumapas area, when a smuggler bailed upon spotting patrollers leaving behind 1,250 cartons of cigarettes. In the same month, another smuggler trying to haul in some contraband by boat in Kg Putat, also in Lumapas, made a split for it when spotted by patrollers abandoning his boat with 537 cartons of cigarettes and some alcohol inside. In Feb 2019, upon realising that their boat was spotted by the Marine Police, the smugglers quickly dumped their loads into the water before escaping into Limbang. The dumped loads turned out to be 620 cartons of cigarettes.

It is heartbreaking to see a 72 year old man succumbing to the temptation of profiting from smuggling activities. But he wasn’t so lucky. He was caught in Jul 2019 whilst trying to smuggle in 227 cartons of cigarettes via boat at the Kg Menunggol Laut area. The poor old man definitely wont be able to pay the hefty fine for smuggling that could run up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. so he would have to do some jail time for a period not exceeding 2 years. If you ask me, for a 72 year old, I think his life in jail would be more amusing and less boring than at the outside.

The same month, an Indonesian foreign worker also tried his hand in smuggling. He too got busted by patrollers when trying to smuggle in 15 cartons of cigarette via the mouse trail at Kg Junjungan. Off to the slammer for him too.

Diagnosis: The porous border between Brunei and its neighbouring Malaysia has long become the enabler for smuggling activities to thrive. If you ask Donald Trump, he would ask for us to build a wall. As ideal as it may sound, it is not feasible for Brunei especially at the Lumapas area where the border is not clearly defined. And how do we build a wall to stop smuggling activities through the connecting rivers? For as long as the border remains porous, and for as long as we still hear about drugs abuse in Brunei, we all know well that it would mean smuggling activities are still unabated. Of course, a number of times their operations have been foiled by the police, but those are just the tip of the tip of the smuggling iceberg. So, expect this crime to stick around for more years to come.

The year was 2007. The new school term just started. Miss S, a teacher at the Telisai Primary School was just finishing tidying up her desk before heading out for lunch break. Miss S lives in Kg Telamba, her home is just a few minutes drive from the school where she spent her lunch break every work day. Driving home, she noticed that traffic was slower than usual. She remembered thinking that it was a bit unusual, but she didn’t put much thought to it. As she was getting closer to her home, the traffic became slower and slower. Right then, a number of scenarios came to her mind – a road accident, a house fire, a police road block, among others.

A few yards from reaching her home, she could see a number of police cars in front of her house and there was quite a crowd. It was then clear to her that cars were slowing down because the drivers were rubbernecking. Panic set in, but was quickly replaced with a sense of relief when she saw her in-laws who are living next-door and all her kids were alright. She quickly parked her car and walked hurriedly to them. Whats going on?? she asked. The next-door couple was murdered! her mother in law informed. She pointed at the bungalow right behind Miss S house. The area was taped off. Everyone at the scene was distraught, crying, hugging each other. Everyone knows everyone in the Kampong including the murdered couple, they are all relatives or friends to each other. Who could have done such a heinous thing. Unbeknownst to them, the murderer(s) could be there among them at the scene that day.

Miss S entered her house, overwhelmed with curiousity, she peered through their back window, an action that she later regretted doing. She quickly went out of the house and ordered her kids to stay outside and not to enter the house. She could never forget what she saw and until today, 19 years on, she could not get the image out of her head. From the back window, she could see the woman’s lifeless body on the sand just feet away from the couple’s house, lying in a pool of blood that seemed to be coming from the gaping wound on the neck. It was apparent that her throat was slashed.

In the bungalow, the police found the husband’s body, also lying in a pool of blood. His throat was also slashed. According to the villagers, although the couple owned the bungalow, they didn’t stay there on a daily basis. They actually lived with the husband’s parents at Kg Penanjong. It so happened that during the fateful day when the crime happened, the couple was visiting the bungalow and sleeping over, just the two of them without the kids. It is horrifying to imagine the kids suffering the same fate had they joined their parents there.

Police was seen taking statements from J, a mentally disabled teenager from the Kampong. It was believed that J was the one who raised the alert about the crime. He even directed the police to the location of a bloody knife, believed to be used in the murder, buried behind a house just feet away from the woman’s body. Upon further questioning, J then claimed that he actually witnessed the attack. At this point, it was thought that the police had their work cut out for them. They had the murder weapon and a witness. It looked like a slam dunk case. Or so they thought.

Miss S and a number other villagers including J were later taken in a police van to the station to continue to provide information to help the investigation. In the van, the ladies especially, were all crying, asking why why why the couple were murdered in such a gruesome manner. They were all overwhelmed with shock and grief. At that point, no one in the van knew that J had admitted to the police that he had witnessed the murder. Now, looking back at the moment in the van, it began to come back to her that while everyone was crying and wailing, J was sitting quietly with his head down.

In the police station, Miss S tried to provide as much information as she could. Despite their house being the closest and just feet away from the crime scene, Miss S and her husband didn’t hear anything at all the night before. Neither did the other neighbours. After all their statements were taken, the police took everyone back home, in the same van, except J. J was not in the van, he didn’t go home that night. Words started to go around about J being held at the police station. The villagers started to speculate and put two and two together.

Days later, information began to spread that at the police station, J had actually confessed to the murder and was being detained. People were immediately expecting to see more arrests in the days following J’s confession because it was rather obvious that there was no way J acted alone. But, no further arrests were made.

J is a familiar face in the Kampong. Everyday he would roam the Kampong, on foot, to wherever his feet took him. But he was considered harmless. It had become normal and not a strange thing for the villagers to see J in their backyards or at the foot of their stairs. There was never any moment that the villagers feared for their safety when J was around them. However, in the months leading up to the murder, J had started to hang out with a group of rowdy juveniles.

Those rowdy juveniles were youngsters from the Kampong as well who have “trouble” written all over their faces. They have been creating nuisance in the Kampong, making lots of noises even during late night hours. Boisterous, they looked intoxicated or high on something and had no regard for the peace of mind of the villagers. Perhaps J followed them around because they befriended him, and perhaps he just wanted to have friends, a sense of belonging. Interestingly, one of them lives in the house behind which the murder weapon was buried. The villagers were confident that those teens got something to do with the murder and that J might have been there as well with them when it all happened. People thought that J would eventually out them, but he never did.

The murdered couple’s bungalow remained taped off which at first gave the villagers hope that the police would come back with some forensic team to collect evidence that would lead to the arrests of the murderers. But, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into years, there were never any leads or updates, the case seemed to be not just turning cold, but dead altogether, as dead as a doornail. The villagers were heartbroken to see the bungalow being slowly engulfed by thick vegetation. Adding insult to injury, after 2 years of “interrogation”, J was freed. No charges were ever brought against him, nor were there any other suspects pursued by the police. After being freed, J was seldom seen outdoor anymore, he just stayed indoor and kept to himself. Even the rowdy teens, suddenly their pack dispersed. Well, well, well…

Theft has topped the list of reported crimes in the country in 2019. Surprising? Not so much. It is also not surprising that almost all of the perpetrators are unemployed locals. With no means of income, stealing is one available option for them to get easy bucks. So, the old saying “Crime Doesn’t Pay” may not mean much to thieves because the thefts they committed became the source of money they needed to pay out their debts, to buy mobile phone credits, to pay for drugs, to pay for online game tokens and online gambling, and other needs.

Stealing cars and car rims and tyres, looting metals and cables, and house break-ins have been the most committed types of theft and they still were in 2019. For the house break-ins, the most common entry mode is through the back kitchen or back toilet window. So get them grilled people. Once they gained entry to your home, the most targeted items would be your laptops, mobile phones, jewelleries and money, of course, including those in your coin banks. If you have safe box, they will swipe that too. If the house is empty, no CCTV would deter the thieves from getting on with their business. Stealing from houses where no one is home also gave thieves the opportunity to wheel in their cars and steal bigger items such as gas tanks, washing machines, TVs, vacuum cleaners and air conditioner units. So, your neighbours that you greeted with just eyebrow flashes, they are actually the ones who you could count on to watch your homes when you are away.

Other random items that were snatched by thieves in 2019 include a scooter, a perahu, a grass cutter machine, a drill machine, a water jet, fishing rods, a game console from JIS, a pipe valve from a garden, welding machines and a truck battery unit from a construction site, fire hydrants, and the most outlandish of them all – an excavator.

Stealing items at shops and supermarkets is something that could be happening everyday, even as we speak. It is a risk that shop owners have to live with. Interestingly however, from the admission of the shoplifters that were caught in 2019 in Brunei, the items that they stole are not for thrills or personal consumption, but to be sold for money. Talk about heeding the calls to have a “business mindset”. Among the items shoplifted in 2019 include perfumes, deodorants, wet and dry food, supplements and a mobile phone.

2019 saw fruits too being subjected to theft, with one case involving the theft of durians and the other involving the theft of mangoes. While the fate of the stolen durians is not known, the stolen mangoes ended up being sold at the market for $76. Imagine an icebreaking session in jail, when asked “What were you in for?” Errr….stealing fruits.

There was also an attempt to siphon fuel from a car’s tank. The guy, who worked as a security guard, must be really broke that he couldn’t afford to buy fuel.

Probably trying to reduce the risks of getting caught, thieves in 2019 also targeted unmanned infrastructure as in the case of an unemployed couple who broke into telecom towers and water tank area and made a loot of batteries, steel fence parts and cables. They nearly got away with it if it had not been for the instant karma they were served with when their car got stuck in the mud while trying to flee the scene.

There were three people who might have woken up that day with no plans to steal but succumbed to temptations when the opportunities were presented to them. A 22-year-old unemployed local was innocently riding his bicycle along Jalan Bengkurong area when he came upon an unattended road assistance vehicle with the engine running and key in the ignition. He wasted not time, ditched his bicycle and zoomed away with the car taking the one way street to a 2 year imprisonment at Maraburong Prison. Another man, 42-year-old local who earned a living by selling discarded cans, saw an unlocked bicycle just lying there unattended. Instead of just focusing on discarded cans, he also picked the bicycle and cycle his way to a 16 month imprisonment at Maraburong Prison. Meanwhile, a 67-year-old man who just got out of jail for theft, faced his demons again when while walking randomly in Mentiri, he noticed a man leaving his car with the  window down and the door unlocked, and a luscious looking backpack sitting inside the car. Well, we all know what happened next.

When laundromats made their debut in the country sometimes in 2017, it would be about time that the laundromats would be targeted by thieves. And in 2019, it eventually happened. Especially the 24-hour laundromats, those with no walls, are like whispering harmony to the thieves ears…come…steal something from me…. Again in this case, CCTVs wont do much deterrence as the thieves can just hide their looks by wearing hats or disguise, unless of course, you are the two thieves who stole from the Speed Queen Laundromat in Kg Lambak Kiri who didnt get to enjoy the $180 loot from the laundromat’s token machine as they were quickly identified from the CCTV footage and arrested.

A snatch theft was also committed, which is a more daring and perhaps desperate act of stealing. A man snatched a gold necklace worn by a one-year-old child while the child’s mother was distracted nearby.

2019 also saw 3 cases of mugging. Mugging is not good to be included in the list of crimes in Brunei because it scares tourists away. People want to feel save whether hitching a ride, walking alone at the back alley, just driving along the road or even praying in the public prayer room. In the first case, the poor victim trusted these two men who offered him a ride for $1. Instead of taking him to the intended destination, the two goons stopped at Mentiri Golf Club area and using a knife, mugged the guy of his money. In the second case, two men using a machete mugged a garbage disposal worker, and stole the guy’s handphone and some cash. In the third case, a man entered the female prayer room at the Athirah building in Batu Satu and armed with a knife, he grabbed a woman by the neck, covered her mouth, threatening her to stay quiet as he tried to steal the woman’s handbag.

Together with mugging, also shaking the core of our peace loving society are armed robberies which are still committed. Unlike cat burglars, these armed robbers have no plans to be discreet, they don’t need the darkness of the night and they used weapons to threaten and hurt the victims who are in their way from their loot. One case in 2019 was in Kg Kiudang in Tutong when an elderly woman who was home alone at that time was attacked in broad daylight by 2 intruders before they ran away with her jewelleries and other items. Those two men are still at large. In another case, a man at his home at Kg Kupang in Tutong was awoken at 3am by 2 intruders with one of them putting a machete against his throat. The robbers made away with the victim’s car which they later set on fire and ditched at Kg Kuala Lurah. Police managed to hunt and arrest the two robbers 12 hours after the incident.

All in all, among the lessons learnt from the 2019 theft incidents are:

1. Get your windows and doors grilled [no not barbecued, not scolded, get them fixed with steel barriers].
2. Safe boxes that are carryable are pointless.
3. Anything you put outside of your home is as good as gone.
4. Be friendly to your neighbours.
5. Don’t take your fruits for granted.
6. Your car’s fuel are vulnerable.
7. Telco towers are vulnerable.
8. Never leave your car with the engine still running.
9. Always lock your bicycle.
10. Laundromat owners to always empty their token machines.
11. Never get your eyes off your kids.
12. Never take rides from strangers.
13. Always keep your doors locked during the day even when you’re home.
14. Be aware of your surroundings when doing outdoor activities.

Diagnosis: The theft menace will not go away anytime soon. It has a positive correlation with unemployment and drugs abuse. If those two are still not mitigated, then no matter how many theft cases are solved, and how many thieves thrown into jail, there will still be thefts reported almost everyday. Drug addicts who are desperate to buy drugs will not think twice about committing thefts, even if they have to use violence, as long as they get the money. There are also thieves who are in and out of jail, even up to 7 times!, which only goes to show that the gain from stealing again had to be worth the risk of being caught again. It also goes to show that the Maraburong Prison is a place that they can survive without any psychological or emotional scar, no fear or phobia of being sent back in there. So, steal again they will.

Next: Smuggling activities

Saw this on paper. Last Tuesday, a 26 year old man was charged with criminal intimidation and sentenced to two months imprisonment after he was found guilty of pointing a knife at another motorist during a road rage situation. The incident happened on 02 January 2019 at the traffic light of the Jalan Utama Berakas junction. I don’t know if this case qualifies as a “road rage” though, given that (unverified) words on the street said that those two knew each other and have pre-existing tiffs unrelated to how any of them was driving on the road that time. Both were said to have gotten out of their respective cars at the traffic light stop, going at each other with verbal barbs at first, until one of them went back to his car to get his knife and tried to gut the other man. There was no road rage there, only two airheads fighting on the road with a weapon involved.

There are certainly angry drivers on a daily basis. Civilised people just use their car honkers. One honk means a tad angry. Long honk means angrier. Sometimes the honks come with some mouth movements and angry looks. Once in a while, they come with finger and hand gestures. Occasionally they would give chase, tailgate, overtake, parallel the other car very closely and cutting in dangerously. These are not road rage. They are just drama queen drivers who lose their cool. After a few seconds, everything would be over, and the drivers get on with their lives with something to talk about to their friends and families that day.

If you’ve seen the movie Carrie, now that is rage. According to the US DMV website, the term Road Rage is “often used to refer to the more extreme acts of aggression, such as a physical assault, that occur as a direct result of a disagreement between drivers.” Just on Thursday in the US, 3 teens beat the crap out of a 73 year old grandfather for driving too slow. Still, this was nothing compared to what happened to other road rage victims in developed countries who weren’t so lucky, getting shot or stabbed to death.

Road rage of the physical assault kind do happen in Brunei, although in this smart phones and social media era, less and less is heard about them happening. Today, recording the road-rager in action is the best defence to put them off from any intention to physically assault people. However, back in the days, local drivers have unleashed a number of appalling road rage attacks, unbecoming of the country’s sleepy population.

Let me start with personal experience. In 1992, my brother was driving along the backroad from Bandar to Tutong. His wife was in the car with him. Then, somewhere in Kilanas, he noticed this car tailgating him. From the rear view mirror, he could see that the driver of the car looked angry and making hand gestures as if asking him to stop. Confused and not knowing what he did wrong, my brother accelerated which seemed to make the driver more angry. The man dangerously tried to overtake my brother’s car  in an obvious attempt to run my brother’s car off the road. At that point my brother hit the accelerator pedal harder. A high-speed chase ensued. My sister in law was wailing in terror. There was no police station nearby and no mobile phone. My brother decided to go to his friend’s house at Kg Sinaut. As they reached the friend’s house, they made a dash for the house door. The man got out of his car and gave chase wielding what appeared to be a samurai. Realising that my brother would call the police, the man went back to his car and left. Until today, my brother still wonders what the man’s issue was.

Sometimes in 2006, my other brother was driving through this single track road. It was just a short stretch where cars going the opposing direction would have to wait until the oncoming cars pass through. But, before my brother’s car reach the end of the narrow road, the driver of the oncoming car didn’t stop and wait, instead proceeded to drive through. Obviously, both cars ended up having to halt, blocking each other’s way head-to-head. Eventhough my brother drove into the road first, the driver of the other car gestured as if asking my brother to reverse his car. When my brother refused to budge, the man got out of his car and went over to my brother’s car. Not expecting what to happen next, my brother innocently kept his window down. Without warning, the man’s hands reached through the window and put a chokehold on my brother’s neck.

None of my brothers got seriously hurt. Im sure there have been many other such cases that went unreported. But, the country has seen some worser road rage attacks. Two outrageous ones are particularly jawdropping. In 2001, a woman and her 4 children were on their way to Kiulap when a car rammed into theirs. The man in the other car, who was speeding, was allegedly angry because he had to slow down when the woman got out of a junction into the road where he was driving through. The woman’s 15 year-old-son got out of the car to ask what the man’s problem was. The man then grabbed the teen’s neck and lifted him into the air. Seeing her brother choking and gasping for air, his sister got out of the car and ran to the nearest house to call for help. The man eventually let go of the boy. The boy was taken to the hospital with his neck badly bruised and bleeding from deep incision made by the man’s fingernails. What a psycho. He should pick somebody his own size.

The same year, a woman accidentally ran into a vehicle in front of her. The first thing anyone would do is to stop, get out of the car, apologise to the other driver, assess the damage and negotiate a way to settle the compensation. Right? Not in this case though. As the woman got out of her car, she was served with a big fat slap on the face by the man whose car she just hit. Wow! Talk about gender equality. Ironically, there was actually no visible damage to the man’s car. What a jerk.

Choking a 15 year-old-boy, slapping a woman, it seems like our local road-ragers have shown some talent in idiotism and dormant dexterity in violence. Add some weapons and throw in a box of matches in the cocktail, then we have the most psychotic road rage attack ever in the country. It happened in 1998 at around 11am. A man (the victim) was driving along Jalan Gadong when a car overtook and stopped in front of his car forcing him to stop as well. Then the driver of the other car went out and approached the victim’s car. He had with him a baton, a knife and a parang. Why the victim didn’t split right there and then, I don’t even know. The man then jumped on top of the victim’s car and smashed the front windscreen with his boots. He then instructed the victim to get out, smashed the windscreen on the driver’s side with a baton and took the key from the ignition. As the victim stepped out of his car, the man hit him with the baton and kicked him on the chest. It was only then that the victim decided to run. Yelling that he would kill the victim, the man took a match and light the car on fire. The man later took off just when the police arrived at the scene. As there were many witnesses, the man was easily identified and quickly arrested. He informed that he was angry because the victim damaged his car while overtaking and he just lost it. He got 6 years jail sentence and 10 strokes of the rattan for the attack.

For Brunei, the laws against alcohol consumption and guns possessions have been the saving grace that have kept these psycho road-ragers from unleashing their maximum potential. Lets just hope the situation stays that way indefinitely.

Oops! you just killed someone. Whats next? When someone killed another person (whether deliberately or accidentally), the person has three options – to immediately come clean and go to the police, leave the crime scene and figure out an alibi or to hide the murder by getting rid of the dead body. Well, theres a fourth option actually – to make it look like a suicide. If the killer chooses the third option, then there are many options on how to get rid of the body, depending on how resourceful the person is.

I’ve watched a Forensic Files episode where a man put his dead wife’s body through a wood chipper. In Canada, a man purchased an animal incinerator for $15,000 which he later used to incinerate the bodies of his victims. In the famous murder case of Laci Peterson, her husband weighted her dead body down with 4 concrete anchors and threw her body in the San Francisco Bay. There were also killers who used acid or lye to dispose of their victims bodies. The body of the murdered journalist, Jamal Kashoggi was believed to be dissolved in acid.

We all know that the mentioned implements – wood chipper, incinerator, concrete anchors, acid and lye are not the typical items one would conveniently find in the home’s garage or toolshed, at least not in Brunei. But, one item, well two actually, I can confidently say, can be found in every household – a shovel and a torch light, hence why burial is the most convenient option for killers to hide their crimes. Body concealment by burying is very unforgiving given that unless the killer finally confessed and revealed the location or somebody stumbled upon the shallow grave, then the victims will remain missing without anyone knowing whatever happened to them (except the killer, of course).

So, are there any bodies of murdered victims secretly buried by their killers here in Brunei? We cannot be 100% sure to say that there isn’t any. Brunei has vast swatches of forest even near the capital. The building where I stay is right in the middle of Bandar and it is overlooking a large forested hill. One night, close to 1am, I saw lights from torches, like 3 of them, flickering through the trees high on that hill. My imagination went wild and imagined that those were people out burying a dead body there. While there are not many (known) cases of missing locals in the country, there have been a significant number of missing foreign workers. These missing foreign workers were recorded to have entered Brunei but no record of them leaving after their work visas expired. They remained unaccounted for, later presumed to have illegally crossed the border to Malaysia. For all we know, they could be murdered and buried under the ground somewhere.

So, have there ever been any buried dead body uncovered in Brunei? The answer is Yes and this has already been checked off the list of Bizarre Firsts. On 30 July 2000, some children chasing a kite saw a hand protruding from the ground (yikes!) and discovered a decomposing body of a female buried in a shallow grave in a jungle area in Tungku, not far from JIS and DST Complex. The police quickly checked their missing persons file and informed that they have not received any missing person report of late and that many of those who have been reported missing have been found.

Like other bizarre cases in the country, the public was not informed about any updates to the investigations and would only hear about the cases again when they were solved, when arrests were made. My gut feeling tells me that they never really get to identify who jane doe was. RIP shallow grave girl.

The year 1999 was a big year for Brunei as it became host to a big multinational sporting event for the first time, the SEA Games. Despite its limited manpower and facilities, the country gave its 110% and delivered a successful and memorable event, true to its mantra “Brunei Yakin”. The year ended with a bang with an elevated sense of confidence among the country’s population that Brunei can take on anything despite its size. With a spirit at level high, the country didnt let the Y2K scare hamper its preparation to successfully host yet another major multinational event, the APEC 2000 Leaders’ Summit which saw the country’s first US Presidential visit. 2001 was announced as the Visit Brunei Year as the country was working at full steam to showcase to the world what it has to offer and boost its international standing.

What an eventful three years it was. In all the excitement, the population was all the time oblivious of the fire that burned a large hole in the country’s wallet, the moles that burrowed an enormous tunnel through the country’s money vault. $15B of the country’s money vanished like a fart in the wind, even a million tourists coming to Brunei could not come close to replenishing 1% of that amount. Even with the legal action taken against the Chairman of the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) responsible for emptying the country’s coffers, life for most Bruneians seemed to still be business as usual. This was simply because what $15 billions mean did not register in the minds of most Bruneians, who have never even handled hundreds of thousands, millions, let alone, billions. As long as no money was missing from their personal wallets and bank accounts, the scandal has no impact on them, so they thought. Besides, the Chairman of BIA in question, after a lengthy and costly trial, agreed to return all his assets to the state. As far as the public was concerned, everything was water under the bridge, and life went on as usual.

19 years on, my niece, who was born in 2000, showed me her selfie with the individual. She, and perhaps pretty much most of the generation Z’ers, have no idea about the backstory. Even if they stumbled upon the story on the net, they could not relate much to it. Their parents and grandparents have moved on, have not talked about it, so why should they dwell on it.

It is really not uncommon for white-collar crimes to be forgiven and forgotten, for the lack of violence and bloodshed involved. Murders and gruesome crime scenes will stick more in people’s minds, but siphoning money..not so much. You also won’t see white-collar criminals sobbing or looking remorseful during trial. They are only sorry for being caught. Just look at Ramzidah, who is currently on trial, she still held her head up high, even smirking at times. I don’t think there is an iota of regret in her. Since its a “victimless crime”, there are no victims’ faces to haunt their days and nights. Well, there are victims actually, their image. Sure, Ramzidah and her sidekick may be able to wiggle their way out from lengthy prison terms, but having to part with her hundreds of Chanel and Dior handbags should be punishment enough for her. Just saying…

For those who are currently following the trial of Ramzidah and are appalled by what she had done, what if I say that there was a local thief who stole 6 times the amount that Ramzidah took, like 15m x 6 = 90 millions and made a run for it by leaving the country. Yes, I am talking about Haji Awang bin Kassim. Haji Awang was BIA Deputy Managing Director, as well as the Private Secretary and right hand man of the BIA Chairman. Before he got such cool sounding posts, Haji Awang, hailing from Kg Ayer and the son of a kacang kuda (chickpeas) vendor, was just a clerk at the Ministry of Finance. To think that his humble beginnings will shine through and make him a modest person, one couldn’t be more wrong.

Then 51 year old Haji Awang had been on the run since 1998 and remained at large for quite sometime until he was nabbed by the Philippines police in October 2000 and got his ass sent back to Brunei. In the midnight operation, Haji Awang was driving home after having dinner at a Manila restaurant when his car was stopped gangster style. He was grabbed out of his car, got blindfolded and taken to a police facility, before being put on a plane back to Brunei 3 days later. He didnt get to pack his toothbrush. After arriving in Brunei he was produced before the court the next day. I wonder if they let him shower. Back in the Philippines, his Filipino wife was wondering what took him so long to get home and later thought that something bad had happened to him. Yes lady, bad things happen to bad people too.

At the Jerudong Prison, donning prison clothes and sleeping on a rock-hard pillow, no ladies, no sports cars, no bling-bling, Haji Awang was undeterred, still maintaining his “millionaire” persona. Perhaps he was confident that, regardless of a potential jail time, he would eventually walk out of prison still a millionaire, with the many millions waiting for him, in some suitcases somewhere. In prison, the government, who he stole the millions from, still provided him with meals and medication (he was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure). How ironic….

In November 2000, Haji Awang was released from remand on his own bond for a staggering sum of $50m. One of the bail conditions was for him to report to the Anti Corruption Bureau main office twice a week (which his lawyer later negotiated down to just once a week). Obviously the money he used to pay out the bail was the BIA missing money. Knowing how arrogant Haji Awang was, he wanted to show that $50m was nothing to him. But in doing so, he actually took the money out of hiding.

Haji Awang kept a larger chunk of the misappropriated money, so he got the most media coverage. But, lest not forget, there were other BIA officers who, like Haji Awang, became instant millionaires. They made themselves believe that they can keep the money because the millions were given to them as gifts. So they too lived like kings, built large mansions, without any sense of guilt at all.  Had it not been for the government’s campaign writing to each one of them urging them to return the money, they perhaps couldn’t have been bothered to come forward.