So, the shit finally hit the fan. Anyone who didn’t see this coming must be living under a rock all this while.

Well, at least, now, I don’t have to see this headline again in BB – “Brunei records no new Covid-19 cases” stating no local transmissions have been recorded for certain certain hundred and so days. It was beyond deja vu, borderline annoying seeing this same headline every single day in the paper since last year. Flipping the pages of the newspaper, we also see every other day smuggling cases – alcohol and cigarettes especially. Where do all these contrabands come from? We could see people smoking in Brunei despite there being NOWHERE selling cigarette here. Where do the smokers get their supplies? Of course from across the border. Now, there was no point flaunting that zero case when there are holes in our so called “shield”. Was MOH aware about these holes? Was PMO aware about these holes? I don’t know. The wider public didn’t seem to be aware of it. They are content to hear that the border with Malaysia remains closed and that EVERY individual who enters our country through air and sea would undergo the full 2-week quarantine period. Did we use the “grace period” to cover these holes? I don’t know. But, it looked like more holes were poked instead, in the form of “special permits” and “essential travel” and allegedly complacency in the quarantine SOP.

…

For the past 2-3 weeks, I’ve been adamant and kept on mentioning to my colleagues and siblings that I noticed seeing more foreign plate cars here. It made me so curious especially with the current suspension of cross-border activities. This was before the issue about jalan tikus blew up. What are they doing here and importantly how the heck do they get here?? Well yeah…there are exceptions for transport operators, runners and “transitors”, but the increase in the number of these foreign plate cars is unsettling to me and I’m not ready to just assume that these are all people with cross-border permits.

Even the transport operators and runners who are “granted approval” to enter the country “strictly” to just deliver the things they need to deliver then go back, no one can assure for sure that none of them made any detour for the toilet, the market, the side gerai or the kedai runcit. The same goes to the transitors. That blue and red foreign vehicle pass sticker thingy not only look like they are easily replicable, but also won’t do much to ensure that they make no stops while being here. Recently, the JPD informed about the issuance of 16 compound fines for offences related to the stickers, stopping short of specifying what the offences are.

In 2017, photos and videos of a rotting corpse of a giant sea creature got viral on social media. Measuring 23.2 meters in length and 6.5 meters wide, the horrifying-looking huge carcass got washed up on the shores of Seram Island in Maluku, Indonesia. How fitting. Adding to the horror, red liquid which appeared to be blood seeping from the carcass had turned the water near the coastline a bright red. It was later confirmed that the giant carcass belonged to that of a whale.

The ocean indeed holds many wonders, mysteries and secrets, from spooky deep sea creatures to sunken ships and cities, to floating waste and debris, to dead bodies. The ocean also hosts lots of vessels doing various seaborne activities – military vessels and submarines, cargo and cruise ships, oil tankers, fishing vessels, sea adventurers, smugglers and yep pirates too.

Like the carcass of Seram Island, some of these ocean roamers would unexpectedly land or wash up on some shores including ours. Here are the top 3 unexpected things to have washed up on the Brunei shores.

3. Whales. While there have been quite a number of sightings and some strandings of dugongs and dolphins here, more interesting would be that of whales. Whales are very rare in this region and Bruneians got to be very lucky to get the opportunity to encounter one here. In 1996, 2 young pygmy sperm whales were found stranded on the beach near the Anduki air strip. Rescuers managed to guide one back out into deeper water while the other one was unable to be saved and died. The same year, a Blainville’s Beaked Whale was found stranded on a beach at Panaga. It was badly injured and later died. Its skeletal remains are now on display at the Maritime Museum.

In 2003, a 20-foot-long Bryde’s whale got caught in a fish farm structure near Pulau Pelumpong. It was badly injured but managed to be saved and pushed back to the sea. The same year, the carcass of the same species whale was found at Tanjung Pelumpong. Its skeletal remains are now on display at the Maritime Museum.

In 2020, a baby short-finned pilot whale stranded at Telisai Beach was able to be pushed back to the sea. Two previous live-strandings of the same species whale have also been recorded in 2006 at Panaga Beach and 2010 at a beach in KB.

2. A 71-year-old Sea Adventurer in a Tiny Houseboat. In 2017, maintenance staff of the Empire Hotel couldn’t believe their eyes when they came across an old, white bearded caucasian man by what appeared to be a badly smashed makeshift houseboat at the shore of the beach at the hotel compound. Photos of the find went viral. Instead of panicking to the fact that any foreign element could just land on our shores undetected, the locals found the situation amusing and more amazed with how buff the old man’s body is for his age and how cool the houseboat looked. The man is Jonathan Selby, a former mechanical engineer, originally from Philadelphia, US who got inspired by the people living in boats in the Philippines and decided to do the same, thus he built a houseboat and why not then use it to sail around the world. He was sailing from Kota Kinabalu to Kuching when his houseboat was disabled by the storm and got washed up here. Basically, he entered Brunei illegally and by right should be quickly detained and deported. Perhaps, due to our culture of respecting the elderly that the locals reacted differently to Mr Selby’s “visit”.

1. A Shipload of Refugees. In 1978, a 200ft-long ship laden with Vietnamese anchored about half a mile near Muara. There were about 2,000 Vietnamese in the ship including many women and children. A tug pulled it 30 miles out to the open sea. About 50 men who jumped into the sea apparently in an attempt to be picked up and brought ashore, were returned to the ship.

Borneo Bulletin, Dec 2001

This is interesting.

In 2001, during a Titah in conjunction with the country’s 17th National Day Anniversary, His Majesty announced a special scheme to tackle unemployment in the country, particularly among graduates and HND holders, a trend that had become more apparent since mid 1990s. “A solution to this worrying problem must be found as soon as possible”, His Majesty said in the Titah.

Under the special scheme that was announced by His Majesty, the unemployed graduates and HND holders will be offered apprenticeships in government departments and private firms. The government would provide allowances to apprentices participating in the scheme. They will have to undergo the apprenticeship for a certain period of time and the participating employers have the option to employ the apprentices as permanent employees if they perform well.

Wait, hold on. This sounds exactly like the I-Ready Apprenticeship Program. His Majesty had thought about this concept and announced it in 2001, 19 years ago. Back then, the unemployment rate was around 5.75% where about 6,000 were without jobs, and the urgency to find a solution had already been recognised. Then, how come only in 2017, when unemployment rate had reached a whopping 9.32%, with more than 18k unemployed, that the initiative saw the light of day.

So, what happened following the announcement of the special scheme in 2001? The Labour Department began by announcing the implementation of a new database system and called for unemployed university graduates and HND holders who wished to participate in the scheme to register themselves with the department beginning 10 March 2001.

A Steering Committee on Apprenticeship was formed Chaired by the Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office. The Committee conducted a series of meetings with private firms to brief them and seek their cooperation for the apprenticeship program.

It was later announced in March 2001 that $2.2 millions/year were allocated for the allowances of the apprentices in the scheme which would be $700/month for degree holders and $500/month for HND holders. In the scheme, an apprentice would work with a company on a probationary basis for a period of 3-6 months.  A number of regulations were also outlined: [1] The employer cannot terminate the employee before the completion of the apprenticeship term; [2] The employer must to first refer to the Labour Department before taking any decision to terminate an employee; [3] Every employee will get only one chance; [4] Prior to placement of work, an agreement must first be signed between an employee and the employer and an induction course will also be given; and [5] The employer must give a regular report to the Labour Department on the employee’s work performance. The authorities would also monitor the performance of participating firms to ensure that they do not abuse the scheme by using it as a source for cheap labour.

As at April 2001, around 300 applications had been received by the Labour Department and 29 companies had registered to participate in the scheme. Despite the optimism to start the scheme, I see problem here. 29 is quite a small number of companies to absorb the 300 applicants, a ratio of about 1 company : 10 apprentices. Surely it shouldn’t be a problem during the 6 month apprenticeship period, since the government would be paying their monthly allowances, meaning practically free manpower. But what would happen after 6 months. Many of the 29 companies who volunteered were SMEs, each might only have the capacity to offer permanent positions to just one or two of the apprentices.

What could possibly be the reason behind the lack of buy-ins from the private sector. My take on this is that, the reason is the same as to why not many people today know or are aware of this 2001 special scheme – something to do with effective change communication strategy, or lack thereof. Just saying…

The special scheme did get launched but didn’t get the traction it needed. It eventually retreated to the back burner then went into hibernation. It was a shame that what was supposed to be a timely special scheme didn’t get the profile it deserved.

It felt just like yesterday that our family had an 80s theme new year party. Before we know it, we are already in the third week of July. Where did the time go?? Apart from the obvious Covid-19 pandemonium, I would say, there are two other issues that smacked us in the face this 2020. Is it me or there have been a lot of cars bursting in flames this year?  I will talk about this in another post. What I want to talk about now is the other issue – the hiking craze.

Why hike? I’ve done a fair share of hiking and camping too. I guess what stuck in my mind the most from those outings are the fresh air and the beautiful sceneries. But, one thing I learned from my first hiking experience is that the sight of trees everywhere you turn can mess with your head. Combine that with complete darkness then the beautiful sceneries that you just enjoyed would turn to your worst nightmare as you couldn’t find the way out.

I was about 13 years old when I had my first hiking experience. There were about 30 of us, girl guides from different schools. We were hiking Bukit Patoi in Temburong. We were divided into 5 groups and sure enough, on our way down, one of the groups got separated. But, being girl guides that we were, we came prepared. Each one of us had a whistle with us and we were told that if we got lost we just stay put and blow the whistle. The lost girls were located and reunited with the rest in a matter of minutes. All of us got our hiking badge that day. Happy ending for everyone.

It was during my second hiking experience I discovered that hiking is a perfect activity to spend with the opposite sex especially for teenagers / youths who are at the flirting / wooing stage or trying to get the attention of someone they have a secret crush on. I remember I was in Form 4 at that time. We had a school trip to Labi. We had to do some hiking then rest and did fun activities at a waterfall. I remember it was really a big deal. Everyone was dressed to kill. I bought my first hiking shoes. Yep, brand new and new backpack as well. [Bless my dad]. Yea yea the sceneries were beautiful, whatever. But, it was the socialising and puppy love flirting that we remember and cherish the most from the trip. No one got lost during that hike, but as always, someone did pengsan [fainted]. The worst time to be pengsan or injured is during a hike because I saw how challenging it was to get the “patient” down which means that longer time to get medical help.

My third hiking trip, I was in my early 20s, super fit, climbing the set of stairs [700+ steps] for the Ulu Temburong Canopy Walk was a complete breeze. Once on the Canopy Walk structure, the view was gorgeous. But, would I make an effort to go there, torture my ankles by climbing the hundreds of steps just to see that view? I don’t think so. I could just search Google image or YouTube, you’ll see the same thing. I just had to go to that Ulu Temburong trip because it was part of my environmental studies module.

Apart from the canopy walk, we also spent the night in the Temburong jungle. It was that part of the trip that gave me the most important lesson about the jungle that I still carry with me to this day – that there are other “things” that hang out in the jungle apart from animals and those things could mess with our bearings and make people lost their way in the jungle.

Here is what happened. That late afternoon, we were dropped off by boat at the area where we would sleep the night. The instruction was that from the riverbank we just simply take the raised wooden walkway about 600 meters into the jungle where there would be two wooden cabins, one for boys and one for girls. So, we imagined about five minutes walk, no problem. We were confident that we could get to the cabins before dark. With the backdrop of the eerie sound of the forest, we walked along the narrow wooden walkway, everyone was quiet, mindful not to anger any inhabitant of the jungle, both natural and supernatural kinds. Just a few steps into the walk, one of the girls saw something on a tree and said Whats that?? Hearing that, the rest of us were cringing. There was an unspoken agreement not to make any remarks if we see something strange. Obviously, the girl didn’t get the memo.

We continued walking until we realised that it had been more than five minutes. As darkness set in, the wooden walkway seemed to be endless and the cabins were still nowhere to be seen. After what felt like an hour of walking, we knew that something was not right. One of the boys did the Azan (prayer call) at the top of his lungs, then puff there they were, the two cabins right in front of us.

The cabins have no electricity and water. There was nothing much to do, and we were all so tired, so we decided to just turn in for the night. We had requested for one of the boys to sleepover at our cabin as protection. Little did we know that the nightmare was not over. Sometimes after midnight, we heard knocking on the cabin’s door. Then the knocking turned into loud banging. From the door, the banging moved to the window, then all around the walls. Everyone was awaken by the noise but kept on lying down, horrified to move or do anything, just waiting for the haunting to pass.

As soon as the sun was coming up, we were already waiting at the riverbank for our ride out of there. The facility’s staff later assured us that the bangings were by monkeys just monkeying around, but they couldn’t explain why the supposedly 600 meters walk took us way longer than five minutes.

For nature lovers, their fascination of jungle trekking / hiking are quite understandable, let alone in Brunei where more than 70% of its land area still covered in forest. The stunning views of the lush flora and fauna are not only good for the soul, but would always make for good Instagram photos.

It was around after 2010 that I noticed a surge in healthy lifestyle and fitness awareness in the country. More guys started to go to the gym. More people took up cycling (more cyclists endangering their lives cycling by the highway). Jungle trekking / hiking became increasingly popular. When Bukit Shahbandar and Bukit Tasek Lama became overrun by people, the trekking junkies began to explore new trails – Bukit Sipatir, Bukit Sarang Helang, Bukit Markucing, Bukit Silat, Bukit Dadap and more recently Bukit Sum Sum, and these are just at the Brunei Muara District. It is no surprise that the number of people reported lost during these supposedly jungle adventure has significantly increased. Eventhough (almost) all of them have safely been found, things could easily take a turn for the worse. I said almost because two of them had fallen victims to foul play and one alleged to have committed suicide. But for the majority of the lost people, the reason was simply that they were not familiar with the area. Who would anyway?

One important tip which is 100% effective in avoiding getting lost in the jungle is to not go in the first place. But of course there is no stopping those with the it-wont-happen-to-me attitude. If the enthusiasm to go into the jungle is too overwhelming, make it a point to not go alone. At least, in any ghostly encounter situation, there will be someone there to share the misery with. Other than that, just stay put and let the FRD and the highly trained GRU sniffer dogs find you.

Borneo Bulletin, 28 May 2020

Just when I was beginning to get bored looking at pictures of MOH officials receiving donations (which have been plastered all over BB since March), I saw this piece. At last, my kind of news. But I was quickly disappointed with the lack of information on the potentially interesting incident. The five tiny para write-up was excruciatingly bo-ring and a complete buzzkill.

Sunday morning. The year was 2011. Kg Junjungan was bustling with life. Cars parked by the roadside stretching hundreds of meters. The environment was filled with music blasting from loud speakers and the sounds of people cheering coming from the direction where everyone was congregating towards. K was having a big lucky draw event at his front yard and everyone was welcomed. The prizes up for grabs were jawdropping – top range household appliances, mobile phones, air tickets, and the grand prize, a car, yep! a Nissan Z360!

The public has never been treated to anything like this before, and who doesn’t like freebies! with no catch! It seemed like K was contented just to make people happy and see the smiles on their faces. K’s generosity didn’t stop there. He would assist anyone whose financial predicament came to his attention, in a heartbeat. He would sponsor sporting events, provide funding for local sporting teams to participate in tournaments overseas, donate money to schools, among others. There were even individuals who went to see K outrightly asking for cash handouts and K didn’t disappoint. Cheques after cheques were flying out left and right. A lot of love and admiration began to pour in for K.

It wasn’t long before K became the talk of the town. For those who were graced by his generosity, they got nothing but praises for K, some even saying “Why cant the others (wealthy people) be more like K?”. They became obsessed with K, gravitated around him, revered him as a hero, a champion of the financially weak. These included his family and relatives; his friends and their families and relatives; as well as his homies and their families and relatives. Those who were lucky, he employed to work in his fitness gym and as his bodyguards slash entourage slash posse, with outrageous salaries. It was heard through the grapevine (WhatsApp was not a thing yet that time) that each bodyguard got paid in the ballpark of four to five thousand dollars per month. There were people who were willing to quit their jobs just to get a piece of the action.

Whether or not this was what K had intended all along or whether he even realised it was happening or not, an unspoken patron-client relationship began to be established between K and the beneficiaries of his financial largesse. Before the dust of his charitable works had a chance to settle, K upped the ante by offering people the opportunity to grow their savings by helping them invest their money in the Singapore’s stock market. Soon enough, news about people getting lucrative returns from their investments started to swirl around. What began as a favour to just his family and inner circles, had expanded to include complete strangers, even senior government and military officials with already good incomes, who begged K to wave his magic wand on their savings. Thousands and thousands of dollars of their savings were handed over to K, no documentation, no hesitation, just a lot of excitements of a wealthier future.

To be fair, before K came into the scene, there were already local philanthropists in the country, but none was ever as visible and as present as K. The public also had some idea about the backstories behind their wealth, which could either be successful businessmen, pehins or royalties. But for K, he came out of nowhere. One minute he was just an everyday Joe trying to make ends meet, the next he was burning money like it was no one’s business. K’s entrance into the public eye as a wealthy man also came with a spectacle, making it impossible not to notice especially in a small country like Brunei. Much of the spectacle was from the sights of his bodyguards who surrounded him with their buff bodies, tight clothing showing every inch of their muscles and thick gold necklaces and bracelets. Those musclemen would also be seen in the entourage that dropped and picked up K’s kids at their schools. Surely nothing that one would expect to ever see in peaceful Brunei.

For the first couple of years since his debut into society, K was riding high on his popularity, continuing helping people financially, made donations after donations to the needy people and organisations, got covered in the local newspaper a few times for his charity works, while continuing to deliver the promised profits to the people whose money he helped invest at the stock market. Everyone was happy and they lived happily ever after. NOT!

Here comes the plot twist. While K was out helping improve the quality of life of as many people as he could, a big question mark had been hovering over the horizon – Where did he get all the millions?? No one knew except himself and those closest to him. What the public knew were that K was not born in a filthy rich family and that he didn’t own any big business that anyone knew of. Even the gym he only opened after he came out as a millionaire. This left the curious people to go with the only possible explanation there was – that K had won the lottery.

Lottery is haram and is illegal in Brunei but it is no secret that there have been locals who tried their hands on lottery schemes in neighbouring countries. If they win overseas, they would not be breaking any Brunei laws, thus they could keep their winnings (I suppose). So if K really did win the lottery, then its shouldn’t be that big of a deal as there could well be other local lottery winners before him. However, since lottery is haram, the lottery winning became haram money and should K really win the lottery then the people and organisations who received his donations were actually receiving haram money. This was where it became an issue. Eventhough K’s heart might be at the right place, there were people who later, due to the lottery win theory, had declined his donations.

K had never confirmed or denied winning the lottery. He did admit that he owned an investment portfolio worth millions. Still, earning lots of money from investment is not breaking any local laws. It was when the authorities caught wind of K taking people’s money to be invested that K troubles began. Eventhough the public could do whatever they want with their own money, the authorities had been inclined to intervene upon suspicions that the public was exposed to illegal deposit-taking activities of shady investment schemes like the get-rich-quick schemes, pyramid schemes and ponzi schemes. This happened in 2001 with the ProMail multilevel marketing scheme and in 2010 with the Pan Phoenix Dina get-rich-quick scheme. By intervening, it means freezing their funds which would also mean the investors would most likely not see their money again. This was exactly what happened to K. His accounts in Singapore were frozen, thus ending the premium payments to the investors.

Now the investors just wanted their money back, chasing K left and right, knocking on his door, calling him, texting him day and night. K felt harassed and went into hiding. Some alleged that he went hiding in Singapore to get away from the angry investors. There was nothing much that the investors could do given that there was no documentation or official record of them handing over their money to K. Even in hiding, K was adamant that he had no intention to cheat them of their money and promised to return their money and pay the backdated premium once his accounts are unfrozen. Perhaps deep inside, K knew that this was just wishful thinking.

So ended the short-lived advent of K, the popular local millionaire. No one ever knew where actually he invested the money that he took from the investors. Given that K never offered any detailed information about it, some people were certain that the money were channelled to a Singapore-based pyramid scheme or some kind of ponzi scheme. Despite his accounts being frozen, it is believed that K is still a millionaire to this day, albeit a low profile one. The speculation that K didn’t do banks and instead had cash stashed away in some suitcases all over his house could be true after all.

It has been 28 days since Brunei reported its first Covid-19 positive case. By now, the daily press conference has become boring and I have stopped watching them days ago. No one knows when the pandemic will end and when life will return to normal. Now the world revolves around Covid-19. All the headlines in the local newspaper, from national to regional to sports section are about Covid-19. The government has spent millions to fight the pandemic and mitigate its impact, businesses are suffering loss of revenues, employees at the private sector are worried about their job security. Beyond the financial impact, this new, out-of-normal way of living forced upon the population by the Covid-19 crisis has also created some what I would call non-financial winners and losers.

Here are my take on the top 5 Brunei’s non-financial winners and losers of the Covid-19 crisis.  Losers first.

Top 5 Losers:

5. Grandparents – Before Covid-19, grandparents would look forward to the weekends when their children and grandchildren would come over for the weekly get-together. Their quiet homes would be filled with the sounds of kids running, playing, laughing, fighting, crying, creating chaos. Grannies would prepare hearty meals for everyone to enjoy. Now during the Covid-19 crisis, all that came to a halt. All left are just phonecalls and video calls. Poor gramps and grannies.

4. Marrying couples – With the current ban on mass gathering, marrying couples would have to postpone their weddings. Well, yea they could just wait until the ban is lifted, but while waiting for that, anything could happen to the relationship. One or both of them could have second thoughts, could change their minds, could find somebody new.

3. Golfers – Golfers were left sulking when, much to their dismay, the closures also included golf courses. Well, there are of course golfers who do the “sport” for fitness, the walking, the swinging, all to stay fit. In this case, nothing that a treadmill or backyard badminton couldn’t fix. The golfers who are losers here are those whose lives revolve around golf. They eat, sleep, dream and breathe golf, spend all their free time playing golf, talking about golf, watching golf on TV, going to golf shops. Without golf, they are numb and feel lost in space.

2. Gym-Goers – People rightfully go to the gym to work out and stay fit and healthy. Some men go to the gym to make themselves buff, to socialise, to get the ladies’ attention and to hook up with no pick-up lines or thick wallets needed. Well, they can lift weights at home too but who’s gonna admire and drool over that shredded body at home? And yep, there are ladies who go to the gym to get men. I guess they are losers too during this Covid-19 crisis.

1. Husbands who use sports and other excuses to get out of the house – This needs no further elaboration. Whether going out to play football, go cycling, go jogging, go to the gym, play golf, work late, official luncheon or dinner and so on, all those excuses do not fly during this social distancing period.  Wak wak waakk…

Now the Top 5 Winners:

5. Kids who hate school – kids who hate school must’ve thought they suddenly woke up in a parallel universe where schools don’t exist. They are really loving not having to wake up early for school. When will school re-open? That’s a question no kid is asking right now.

4. Hoarders – Amidst all the panic buying, hoarders were left smiling knowing that they already got all the stuff they need at home.

3. Anti social people – Anti social people already hated crowds, events, sports and other social activities. So, this pandemic-response way of living is like utopia to them.

2. Attention deficit frontliners – Some frontliners are really milking the situation, basking in the limelight, forget about the infected and sick, everything is all about them as they made sure that everyone is acknowledging their superhuman existence and that they are the heroic warriors in this crisis that deserve praise after praise.

1. Lazy employees – The activation of the BCP which allows employees to work from home is godsend for lazy employees. That’s why lazy employees are the no. 1 winner in the Covid-19 crisis.

There you go. Congrats to lazy employees. Enjoy the bliss of the pandemic crisis while it lasts.

19 March 2020. It was a Thursday. Maria woke up the usual time, 5.45 am. She has the same routine every morning on a workday, Monday through Friday – wake up, clean the cats’ pen, take a shower, get dressed, make tea, feed her cats, feed the strays and off to work. But that day was different. Maria didn’t have to go to the office. Her office has activated the Business Continuity Plan. She and her other officemates in Team A were instructed to work from home as part of the social distancing response to the Covid-19 spread in the country. On 9 March 2020, Covid-19 made its debut in Brunei. Now just 10 days later, the country reported 73 cases with 2 in critical condition.

When news about the deadly virus took the world by storm back in December last year, Maria knew that it was going to eventually come to Brunei. But never in her wildest imagination that the situation could come to this. She remembered well the experience when the region was dealing with the SARS outbreak back in 2002-2003, wearing mask to work, getting body temperature taken, filling up medical form at the airport, and those were pretty much it. Other than that, the pandemic had negligible effect on her daily routine. So when the bird flu, swine flu and MERS made their rounds, the same drill took effect, nothing that anyone was not familiar with. 

Even with the images of the Wuhan lockdown plastered all over the news and passed around on social media in late January 2020, life in Brunei still went on as normal. There was no let down in the preparations for the mass parade and field performance as the country was gearing up for its 36^th national day celebration. Maria was involved in the mass parade, so as thousands of the country’s population. In the back of her mind, Maria did question why such a big congregation of people was allowed to proceed at the time when a dark shadow of pandemic anxiety was hovering at the horizon.

But, for the majority of the country’s population, there was not a speck of worry in their minds. Who would anyway, when the MOH’s Director of Environmental Services at a press conference on 12 February 2020 very boldly assured that “at the moment, the risk is zero” and that “there are no restrictions on mass gatherings unless there have been confirmed cases of the coronavirus.” What might contribute to this confidence, which was borderline arrogant, was that the government had already put in place a ban on the entry of people coming from China’s Hubei, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

What they might have failed to catch on was that when China was about to enforce the lockdown, some 5 million people had rushed to flee the province, some carrying with them the virus. They fled to other provinces, some went to Shanghai, some went to Hongkong, some tourists and non-Chinese nationals went back to their home countries, inadvertantly exporting the virus all over the world. In other words, by January 2020, the worms had already been out of the can, the poop had already hit the fan. Had the infected people turned to zombies like in the World War Z, the global community would have jumped off their seats instantly. So, by January 2020, the risk level should already be high and the two weeks isolation for people coming into the country should already be imposed.

In no time, the virus had landed close to home when Singapore and Malaysia reported their first cases in late January 2020. These two countries are Brunei’s closest neighbours with high Brunei visitors traffic. Yet, at that point, still no travel restrictions or self isolation upon returning was imposed. Bruneians, for their part, were relentless, still travelling to these countries with the it-wont-happen-to-me attitude. This was despite the full knowledge of how deadly the virus is. It was a ticking timebomb. Any of those Brunei travellers might well be Brunei’s first case. The MOH acknowledged this in their briefing that Maria attended on 04 March 2020 saying “It is not a matter of if, but when Brunei will get its first case” and “when that happened, the MOH is ready”. Its like sitting on a couch in front of an open window with a gun ready to shoot any intruder. But, don’t you want to at least close the window, Maria thought to herself.

Fate had chosen the Bruneians who attended the Tabligh gathering in Malaysia on 28 Feb-03 March 2020 to be the ones who brought the virus home. 80+ Bruneians attended the gathering and upon returning, 19 of them were tested positive. In Brunei, they had some headstart to spread the virus before one of them, Case 1 fell ill and checked himself to the hospital and eventually found positive of having the virus. Nothing that the MOH can’t handle. But what they didn’t realise at that point was that the virus entered Brunei not in one case at a time but in a wave of 19 people.

The public was informed about the first case on 09 March 2020. The situation seemed calm for a while until some people started to realise something out of the ordinary that very night. The people queueing in front of them at the supermarkets were paying for bottles and bottles of hand sanitisers, packages of face masks and yep you heard it right, toilet rolls! This didn’t just occur at the supermarket. That night close to 10pm, in her family WhatsApp group, Maria’s sister reported seeing a strange happening. They were at a Kampong kedai runcit, just a small shop, when a group of people, clearly not from that Kampong, ransacked the shop and wiped clean all the hand sanitisers. The same occurings were also reported at other kedai runcits. By the next day, all the hand sanitisers were gone completely.

While the urge to hoard on hand sanitisers and face masks is completely understandable, but toilet rolls? Maria recalled having a good laugh just the week before about the Covid-19-triggered toilet roll buying frenzy in the US, Canada, Australia and other countries. Never did she expect that Bruneians would do the same too. But, analysing it deeper, the extreme reaction to the first case only gone to show the lack of confidence that a segment of the public have on the MOH’s capabilty in containing the situation, and believing that a lockdown is imminent. But, then again, toilet rolls? Seriously? In a lockdown situation I would be more worried about food supplies, both human’s and pet’s. 

10 March 2020, Day 1. Maria started her day trying not to think too much about the panic buyers. But, as evidenced from the numerous viralled WhatsApp messages that day, the public couldn’t help but worry, expecially of not knowing the extent to which Case 1 had spread the virus in the period since he returned to Brunei on 03 March 2020 up to the day he checked himself to the hospital on 07 March 2020. The messages which included stating that the man’s wife is a teacher, that the man went to an exhibition at Bridex, that the man’s children went to school, all added fuel to the panic.

At the supermarket the panic buying worsened with long queues at the cashiers and the sight of trolleys full of maggi, rice, all dettol products and wet wipes, among other stuff. Suddenly, everyone was wearing masks, a stark difference from just 24 hours before. Alas, in the late afternoon, it was announced that 5 of the man’s close contact were tested positive bringing the total cases to 6. It was also announced that school holidays was brought forward from 16 March to 11 March 2020, much to the relief of the public. Then came the bombshell – it was informed that about 90 Bruneians attended the Tabligh gathering in Malaysia together with Case 1 and almost all of them had made their way back to Brunei. Things started to go downhill from then on.

11 March 2020, Day 2. 5 more people were tested positive bringing the total to 11. Daily press conference was initiated where the Minister of Health and a panel of other Ministers began to provide updates on the developments relating to the health crisis. It was revealed that the Tabligh gathering that Case 1 and the other Bruneians had attended was participated by 16,000 participants from all over the world. Photos started to circulate of the gathering showing a sea of people sitting in extreme close proximity to each other. This has created outrage among many of the public for the portrayal of ignorance on the part of the attendees. Despite the high publicity of Case 1 getting the virus from the gathering, the ignorance continued when only 29 of the Bruneian attendees came forward to be tested.

There was also some level of disappointment regarding the lack of urgency and inability to immediately track and round up all of the attendees and isolate them. The wider public went to bed that night horrified to the thought that the remaining 60 or so attendees who were still at large had another 24 hours to freely do things, go places, spreading the virus to other people. They could well be among the panic buyers at the supermarkets that day. At the press conference, the Health Minister stated that mass gatherings are “discouraged”, stopping short of banning them altogether.

12 March 2020. Day 3. Maria sat observing the MMN (Parliament) Session wondering why it has not quickly wrapped up yet in light of the Covid-19 situation. She chose a seat by the corner where the surrounding seats were empty. She looked around, the hall was full of people listening in to the budget deliberations. Any one of them could have it, she thought to herself. In the afternoon, a directive came out allowing only 3 officers from each Ministry to attend the MMN Session and that the Session would wrap up on 14 March 2020. It was about time.

The total number of cases that day jumped to 25 as 14 more people were tested positive. It was revealed for the first time that 81 locals attended the Tabligh gathering in Malaysia with 70 of them having returned, while 11 were still in Malaysia. Of the 70, 4 of them were still at large. At this point, police assistance was sought to hunt down the 4 people. The Infectious Diseases (Amendment of Schedule) Notification, 2020 and the Infectious Diseases (Quarantine) (Amendment) Regulations, 2020 that were announced during that day’s press conference, requiring by law anyone who is suspected to be, a case, carrier or contact of infectious diseases to carry out medical examinations or medical treatment.

Viralled WhatsApp messages reported positive cases at a BIBD (Bank) branch and the Civil Service Institute (IPA). They later turned out to be among the Tabligh gathering attendees or their family members. All their co-workers were asked to go home and to begin 14 days isolation. The IPA personnel had just conducted a training programme involving 84 people. They too were instructed to undergo the 14 days isolation. Now everyone with relatives working at the BIBD and IPA was nervous. Of the 14 new cases,  Case 25 was not related to the Tabligh gathering attendees. But, he too just came back from overseas, Cambodia then Malaysia and brought the virus with him into Brunei. By now, there should be enough reason to immediately impose 14 days isolation to anyone coming into Brunei before they even got a chance to pass the virus to other people in the country. But, nothing on that yet at that day’s press conference, neither was there any ban on mass gatherings yet.

13 March 2020. Day 4. 12 new cases bringing the total to 37. It was the first Friday since the virus made its way into the country. It was Friday prayer day. Although the Imams were urged to shorten the Friday sermon, the risk of random transmission even with the shorter sermon was still high. Elsewhere, gatherings like weddings, Doa Arwah and Tahlil were still conducted which only proved that using the word “discouraged” didn’t have much impact on preventing people from proceeding with their mass gathering plans. Finally, at that day’s press conference, a ban on mass gatherings, including weddings and sporting events, was announced. All planned national events were to be called off with the Israk Mikraj slated for 22 March 2020 being the first victim. Another bombshell was dropped at the press conference. It turned out that a number of the mass Tabligh gathering attendees upon returning to Brunei had attended a local Tabligh gathering on 05-08 March 2020. The level of ignorance was shocking to say the least.

14 March 2020. Day 5. 3 new cases bringing the total to 40. The new cases included a 9 month old girl who is the daughter of one of the Tabligh gathering attendees. At the press conference it was informed that all of the Tabligh gathering attendees have been traced much to the relief of the public. The government caught wind of the upcoming mass Tabligh gathering in Indonesia on 19-22 March 2020 and strongly advised the public against travelling overseas in order prevent more importation of the virus. If there is any lesson to learn from the attempt to prevent mass gatherings, merely saying “discouraged” or  “advised to avoid” will fall on deaf ears.

15 March 2020. Day 6. 10 new cases bringing the total to 50. Case 25 who returned to Brunei on 04 March 2020 did a good fair share of his virus spreading work attending a family event on 08 March 2020 and passing on the virus to a number of the unsuspecting family members. So as the 8 people who got the virus from attending the 05 March 2020 Tabligh gathering in Brunei, spreading the virus to their families, friends and workmates. At this stage, it had become obvious that the contact tracing was steps behind and couldn’t get ahead of the spread to close the floodgate. To the public’s horror, viralled WhatsApp messages showed a list of Bruneians who registered to participate in the Borneo Ultra Trail Marathon in KK on 14-16 March 2020. This was despite the “strong advise” not to go overseas. At the press conference that day, the overdue ban was announced where Brunei citizens, permanent residents and foreigners holding valid identification cards are not allowed to leave the country starting on 16 March 2020 except for medical treatment, attend court hearing or studies overseas.

16 March 2020. Day 7. 04 new cases bringing the total to 54. Viralled WhatsApp messages that day were about the chaos at the land border checkpoints. It seemed like some people didn’t get the memo about the travel ban. This was not all that surprising. There are people who actually don’t watch the news, don’t listen to the local radio, don’t follow the developments. But, we do know that everyone has a mobile phone, thus at time of crisis as such, sms push notifications would be more effective to get the important messages across to everyone. Just saying.

People started to talk about banning entry into Brunei, which has not been imposed yet. At this point, it was very clear that thermal scanning at entry points didn’t help much when anyone who looks healthy, with no symptoms, normal body temperature, can well be carrying the virus in his/her body.  Alas, one of the 4 new cases, Case 53, is a British national who entered the country on 09 March 2020. He had close to a week window to spread the virus to anyone he came in contact with before he was tested and found positive.

At the supermarkets, the panic buying continued, with people now targeting eggs. Perhaps the rice hoarders just realised that they needed some eggs to go with the rice during a lockdown situation.

At the press conference, the Minister of Religious Affairs announced the closure of Mosques for a week from 17 to 23 March 2020 and that there will be no Friday prayer on 20 March 2020. It was also informed at the press conference that one of the positive cases is in the ICU and another two in the CCU. At this stage, sentiments about the press conference had also begun to emerge particularly on its “dryness” and seemingly lacking conviction that were thought to be not commensurate to a crisis situation, where the Ministers were sitting down instead of standing on a podium; reading out prepared scripts instead of delivering the updates off the cuff; still looking suave in their fancy suits and ties when looking all pretty for the camera should be the last thing on their minds.

17 March 2020. Day 8. People woke up to a sombre day as they heard the subuh prayer call knowing that the mosques were closed. By that day, a number of agencies had activited their BCP, including BSP and TelBru. At the government sector, departments were still in a wait-and-see mode. They were so used to red tape, even at time of crisis like this no one was bold enough to activate anyting without any formal instructions from their big bosses. So, Maria, like other civil servants, still had to go to the office that day and face the risk of random transmission. 

At the press conference that day, it was informed that there were 2 new cases bringing the total to 56 with 2 in critical condition. The smaller number of new cases didn’t bring much comfort knowing that the virus had already broken loose in the country. The Minister of Education announced at the press conference that Brunei students overseas whose learning institutions had been closed or activated the online learning due to the Covid 19 crisis were to be brought home. Meanwhile, adressing the “egg issue”, the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism assured that eggs are enough for everyone up to the end of the year. At this stage, assuring the public about the supply of hand sanitisers and masks for everyone would be more apt than eggs. It was sad to think that Maria had to supply her mom with makeshift liquid spray of dettol and water mixture for temporary protection, before the hand sanitisers come back on the shelves.

18 March 2020. Day 9. 12 new cases bringing the total to 68. As the number of cases kept on going up, concerns started to grow on the impending situation where the spread exceeds the MOH capacity to treat and contain. Yes, Brunei had dealt with the Swine flu back in 2009-2010, but Covid 19 had proven to be a different beast altogether. It is deadlier and spread more easily than the Swine flu. It took 9 days for reality to set in, the reality that we were actually not ready. At that day’s press conference, like a flick of a switch, a slew of overdue measures to help slow the spread were announced, all to begin on 19 March 2020. These included the closure of open markets; restaurants and eateries to not accept dine-in customers; closure of all sports complexes and facilities including gyms, bowling alleys and golf courses; closure of museums and galleries, youth centres and libraries; all Ministries and Departments to implement BCP; and at last, the implementation of the 14-day self–isolation requirement for individuals arriving in Brunei from any country. Oya, and also at last, the use of sms push notifications to get Covid-19-related information to the public.   

Oh UNN. Love it or hate it, it has made its grand entrance in Dec 2018 and it is here to stay. But right off the bat, the UNN did not receive a good reception from a portion of the public despite its well-meant mission to modernise and improve the country’s network capabilities. Im sure everyone agrees that our network capability needs some catching up to do. There are areas in the country that have no internet connection for god’s sake! And don’t get me started on the dismal internet speed. Finally, some action. With all the hype about fourth industrial revolution, IoTs, smart city and smart everything, its high time for the ICT people to walk the talk and put their money where their mouths are.

So, why are there people who are not happy with this development. I think its all about timing. The sleepy Bruneians are still reeling from the shock of the Hengyi presence at the Pulau Muara Besar and the sudden surge of Chinese nationals in the thousands that came with it. Despite the massive FDI project will boost the country’s economy, all the public can relate to is the immediate impact from it that they directly felt. It is the culture shock, only that this time it is felt by the people of the host country, not the visiting nationals. The out of the blue announcement of the upcoming Star City Megamall and its showroom building that suddenly appeared overnight at Batu Besurat didn’t help the situation.

At a time when the Chinese presence is not sinking in yet, the faint-hearted Bruneians are hit with another wave of culture shock – the sudden in-your-face presence of Bangladeshis. I would say beginning 2018, locals began to notice Bangladeshis being everywhere they turn. To be fair, there are explainable reasons for this [Elephant in The Room] but their apparent massive presence is enough to make Bruneians jittery.

Now, going back to UNN. Like I said, its all about the timing. Town hall meetings have been conducted since early this year for the staff of the three telcos to inform them whats going on and what to expect following the takeover by UNN. Recently, recordings of the town hall meeting went viral which showed snippets of what have been mentioned.

In one video:

Lady in audience: Basically our jobs are at risk. Guy on stage: There is no job, there is no….what do you mean you have a job? Lady in audience: So basically….. we are jobless, we are just having salaries? Guy on stage: Yes. Yesss.

Sounded like a heavy stuff they were discussing. The wider public who received the video shared on whatsapp, although not being there and not knowing the full story, only went on with what they heard in the short clip – “There is no job”. This really strikes a chord with the public, especially at a time when unemployment in the country is a trending issue.

In the business world, layoffs are often a natural outcome of mergers or takeovers of companies, but they don’t happen in all situations. In the case of the UNN formation, the three telcos and the UNN are GLCs, so buffers to the layoff impact can be expected. However, it looked like there seemed to be a communication breakdown during the meetings since instead of getting all excited about a prospect of a more exciting service to the public, the people are worried that they will lose their jobs and fall into the unemployment abyss.

The press coverage about the UNN takeover didn’t help the situation, especially the image of the UNN CEO, who is a German receiving the big red fake UNN key. He, together with six other fellow Germans from the Deutsche Telekom Group made up the management team of UNN. The Germans left their families and the comfort of their home country behind to come here to help us develop and modernise our sad ICT system. But, despite this well intention, all that occupied the minds of Bruneians are that “here come more foreigners”.

I would take all the public grievances about the broadband coverage, stability and internet speed and show in a promotional UNN launching video a scenario where the UNN helped make all those issues go away, people at the rural areas are enjoying good and stable coverage, no more annoying loading circle while watching youtube or Netflix, downloading completed just in minutes instead of hours, Bruneians, adults and kids, bosses, employees, students and retirees, all smiling and happy, enjoying the digital nirvana created by UNN. The public would certainly welcome UNN with arms wide open.

I personally believe that no one employed in the 3 telcos will lose their source of income over the UNN takeover. I just hope that five years are enough time for the Germans to pass on their wisdoms and prepare the locals to takeover management of the UNN. Employment drama aside, lets look forward to what the UNN is here to deliver. Its mid-term aim to build more towers to address connectivity issues and make services available everywhere, is something pretty exciting to watch out for.