Category Archives: Tragedy

2021’s WTFs – Part II

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

Source: Circulated on WhatsApp

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

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

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

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

2021’s WTFs -Part 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Bad Aftertaste

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It sure felt like 2021 passed by in hyper lapse, but though 2021 is now gone, it left a trail of bad aftertaste. The Covid-19 deaths, many of them are senior citizens in their 70s, 80s, 90s, are truly heartbreaking. They managed to dodge age-related health issues only to be taken out by Covid-19. And to spend their last days without their close ones physically by their side, it is really painful to even imagine.

With 98 deaths, 95 of them being within a span of just a few months (Note: I am fully aware of the MOH’s “sanitised” Covid-19 deaths figure), 2021 went down as a dark year in the country’s history. How could it not be. For a country with a small population like Brunei, losing that many countrymen and women in a flash is a national tragedy, but one that didn’t get the attention and sombre airtime it rightfully deserves. People are instead so quickly to move on, totally oblivious about how fu€k3d-up our mitigation efforts are. The age of individualism that has been dawning on the country’s population is here. Whole-of-nation has no chance to be anything more than just a mirage. And oh yeah, for the people calling the lead a hero in this crisis, I want to ask you… what is so heroic about losing that many men and women under the person’s watch?

What If…

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I must say, ever since the second wave of Covid-19 outbreak here, I had a lot of deep thought sessions, mostly early in the morning when I woke up, while staring at the ceiling, partly happy that I got to sleep in every single day, a wee bit missing the pre-Covid routine. In one of these sessions, my thoughts wandered off to some serious what ifs. What if there was no Covid-19 pandemic, meaning no disruption in air travels. What if in that alternate parallel world trajectory, there was a plane crash. But due to Covid-19 and the air travel restriction that followed, flights were cancelled, and that same plane never get to take off. So, while the people who had already booked the flight complained about ruined vacations, the inconvenience of trying to get refunded, they had no idea that the cancellation had just saved their lives. Mind blowing…

Anyways, once upon a time, in 2014, Lily had just ended her tour as a senior nurse. She had not reached retirement age yet, but she just had enough of the grueling hours which left her little time to spend with her 3 kids. Her eldest, her only girl, had just turned 13 that year. When one day, Lily first noticed her eldest wearing make up, she realised how much she had missed out on her children’s growing up years. She was envious of her husband, a stay-at-home dad, for having being able to be there through all the milestones. 

Lily wasted no time and the next day after her last day at work, she, her husband and kids flew to Malaysia for the much-needed family vacation. It was a trip that Lily had planned months earlier as a surprise to her husband and kids. Lily was over the moon and the kids were having a blast. They went to all the top tourist attractions there – Legoland, Genting Highlands, Malacca, you name it.

A week into their 2 weeks vacation, an idea popped up in Lily’s mind. Why don’t we fly to Beijing, she said. An excursion to China…that’s a great idea!, her husband said. The kids were all cheering in agreement. Lily went on the internet to book for their flight to Beijing. The plan was to go to Beijing from KL, spend 2-3 days there and come back to KL for their flight back to Brunei. Since all the upcoming afternoon flights to Beijing didn’t have seats available for 5 of them, Lily went on to book a midnight flight.

Lily excitedly announced to her husband and kids that their flight to Beijing had been booked for Saturday, in 3 days time, with departure time of 0035H arriving at 0630H. Upon hearing this, Lily’s middle child, 12 year old boy, said no no no no noooo way! One thing that Lily didn’t know at that time is that the boy is not a morning person. The husband knew this all too well because he had to deal with getting the boy up for school every morning. Don’t be ridiculous, Lily said. But the boy was dead serious, he totally protested and didn’t want to go, saying that he rather stay in KL alone. He spent the rest of the day sulking. Lily kept at the back of her mind that the whole trip was about strengthening her bond with her children, so she didn’t want to argue much about her son’s antics, but deep inside she was hoping that the boy would snap out of it and change his mind in the morning.

The next morning came and it was still a no from the boy. Lily found it a bit annoying but in the end she yielded to the boy’s protest and cancelled the booking.

Saturday morning came. It was 08 March 2014, Lily woke up around 9ish and switched on the TV. She was shocked to see what was on. Her jaw dropped. She looked like she had seen a ghost. She went to her middle son who was still sleeping, laid next to him and gave him a big hug. The boy was awaken by the hug and grumpily said “Arrrghhh mooooommm, please I want to sleep!”

The flight to Beijing that Lily had cancelled was MH370. 

Final Journey

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We hear about and watch on TV some misfortunes that befell people who were overseas, away from their home countries, whether they were on vacation, studies or business. The families sent them off to the airport not expecting that it would be the last time seeing them alive. One would think that these heartbreaking tragedies only happen to other people, but in reality, there are Bruneian families that have gone through such tragic loss of loved ones.

Here are the 7 tragic deaths of Bruneians overseas:

1. In 2005, a Brunei soldier died when he fell while rappelling from a helicopter during a heliborne training at Sembawang Air Base in Singapore. The helicopter was hovering about 20 metres above ground.

2. In 2000, a 26-year-old Bruneian man died after being stung by a jellyfish while swimming at the Pasir Bogak Beach in Pulau Pangkor, near Lumut in the central state of Perak. He was studying at the International Islamic University in Gombak, Selangor and was holidaying in Perak. He was swimming with five of his friends when he was stung and collapsed. He was rushed to the Pulau Pangkor Health Centre where he died.

3. In 1983, a Royal Brunei Air Force pilot lost his life during a flight training in the UK when the helicopter he was piloting crashed on a ridge. Chillingly, 7 years later, in 1990, another Royal Brunei Air Force pilot, on a flight training in the UK, would also crash the aircraft he piloted. He however survived the crash and went on to become the Chief of Air Force decades later.

4. In 2013, what was supposed to be a regular field research trip by UBD geology students and their lecturers turned into tragedy when a number of them were swept away by strong currents while crossing a river in Tawau during the last day of their trip to Sabah. Two of the students didn’t survive. The bodies were flown back by the Royal Brunei Air Force aircraft.

5. In 2011, Brunei-owned Sunshine Borneo Tour and Travel bus carrying 31 Bruneian tourists and 2 bus employees lost control and overturned at a sharp bend before hitting a tree at Ranau-Tamparuli road in Sabah, killing 07 passengers and injuring 24 others. The then Sabah State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister said the accident was believed to have been caused by faulty brakes, and the downhill area where the accident occurred was known to be hard to negotiate.

6. In 2015, a Brunei socialite, living out of the closet in Thailand, was found dead in a hotel room, believed to be a victim of foul play.

7. In 1985, a Brunei student in the UK was found dead on her bed of what seemed to be from carbon monoxide poisoning. The death was ruled as an unfortunate accident, one that is shrouded in mystery and unanswered questions when a crucifix was found on the Muslim girl. Her parents would later build a very conspicuous building in her memory along the old main road in the Belait District.

The Brunei Great Flood and Blackout

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One might say that Brunei is lucky in that its location spared it from major natural disasters like earthquakes or cyclones. I remember being in Quezon City in September 2011 for a meeting right about the time when the powerful typhoon Nesat hit the Philippines. There was a day where we were not allowed to leave the hotel, the hotel’s glass doors and windows were shaking and rattling. Outside we could see branches, leaves and litters flying around. The creepy, eerie sounds of the strong wind sent shivers down my spine. The strength of the wind was nothing that I and perhaps any other Bruneians have ever seen before, and that was just the tail wind of the typhoon. So yeah, we were lucky, but that is no reason to be complacent.

It has been 11 years, but the memories of the chaos in 2009 were still fresh in the minds of Bruneians who lived through it. 

In January 2009, continuous rain battered the country causing flash floods in many areas with water reaching up to 5 feet high. Blocked drains further caused water levels to rise quickly. In rural areas like Kg Sukang, the water level even rose up to 4 meters high. Of course, Brunei had experienced flash floods before that, but the rainfall intensity that January 2009 were more than normal.

Some schools had to be closed as the classrooms were flooded with water. Homes and business establishments were inundated with flood waters. Many roads were flooded and rendered impassable.  

The continuous downpour which started on 09 January 2009 had also caused many landslides forcing affected residents to vacate their homes. Several hilltop houses were in danger of being swept downhill by landslides as retaining walls were on the verge of collapsing. 

The FRD hotline was off the hook with emergency calls. Towing services were overwhelmed with calls to assist flood hit vehicles. 

By 19 January 2009, all hands were on deck. The military with their large trucks, the FRD covered hills with canvases, shelters and packed meals were provided to flood victims whose homes were badly affected, police erected warning signs and blocked flooded roads from traffic.

But nature was not done yet, unleashing its ultimate wrath on 20 January 2009 with the heaviest rainfall battering the country, that would trigger a chain of events, events that the public and private entities perhaps never even factored in their scenarios planning and business continuity plans. The chaos that ensued showed how ill-prepared we were. It was a rude awakening, a manifestation of our complacency, dragging our feet on building disaster preparedness and resiliency. 

20 January 2009 was a Tuesday. It had been raining since 0800+pm. That evening I was at my sister’s house in Kg Tungku, waiting for the heavy rain to stop so that I could go back to my place. By 1000pm the rain kept on pouring and didn’t show any signs of slowing down, so I said the heck with it and decided to brave the downpour and drive home. It was supposed to be just a 12 minutes drive.  Back then there was no WhatsApp or Instagram yet, so no “live reporting” on what were going on out there.

First I encountered a flooded road, totally expected. Eventhough the road was totally submerged, the drainage railings could still be seen and this helped a lot in keeping the car on the invisible road. The likelihood that my car would stall while driving through the flood did cross my mind but the cars in front me got through just fine, so I took a chance. I was driving really slowly and everything was fine until some psycho in an SUV from the opposite lane ploughed through so fast like it was no one’s business. Right then my car was dead. Just great! I switched on my hazard light, waited for a few minutes before restarting the car again. Oh! What a relief, the car came back to life. 

As I drove on, with the rain still pouring, I saw that the first traffic light that I encountered was dead. I began to notice that the surrounding buildings were all dark. The power was down. Talk about bad timing. Little did I know at that time that that was the beginning of the Brunei’s great blackout.

The heavy rain that day had caused the 66,000-volt main power station in Gadong to be submerged in 3 feet of water, tripping the turbine generator. Power was interrupted at 1100pm causing blackouts in a number of areas in Muara and Gadong as well as BSB. Shops at commercial areas of Gadong including the Mall, Batu Besurat, Kiulap were not spared. Traffic lights in the affected areas also lost power. 

Driving in the heavy rain, in the dark, maneuvering every intersection, never had I ever wanted to get home so badly. Then, from afar, I saw it. No, it can’t be! I said to myself. I saw the Kiarong underpass, our country’s famed one and only “tunnel” was almost completely filled with water. How was that even possible.

underpass

Source: Borneo Bulletin, Jan 2009

The underpass is actually equipped with 8 water pumps to drain out excess water completely. It also has a backup generator which automatically switches on in case of power failure. Then what happened? It was later explained that as a safety precaution, the pumps had to be switched off that night because of the overwhelming water flow which was fast submerging not only the water pumps but also the back up power system which could’ve done further damage to the generator. The tunnel was closed off and would only be reopened in the morning of 22 January 2009. 

It had already been 30 minutes of my supposedly 12 minutes drive home that night. After the horror look on my face stood down, I drove around the flooded tunnel, took the roundabout and continued on my journey home. I looked at my watch, it was already past 11pm. As I reached the final stretch of road to my place, I saw our building, it was completely dark, then it dawned on me that the elevators would not be working and I would have to take the stairs. Oh crap! Let’s just say that my unit is at a double digit floor of the building and the stairwell was narrow and completely dark.

Finally I reached my place but instead of feeling relieved, I felt a sense of dread. It was close to midnight. Our building is notorious for being haunted. But, that was the least of my worries. The thing was that other than ghosts, criminals also took a liking to our building, breaking into a number of units. So, I was more concerned about some criminals lurking in the dark  stairwell.  The story about how I got out of this sticky situation was epic, but  that would be covered in another post.

Back to the black out, despite the best efforts of the Department of Electrical Services, normal power supplies would only be restored after four days of mass blackouts. The prolonged power outages had led supermarkets and kedai runcits alike to suffer a lot of losses as frozen food and raw meats went bad, ice creams melted, among other predicaments.

On top of the mass black outs, telephone lines were also down as the flooding had also damaged telbru’s telephone equipment in Gadong. Yep, including the police hotline too. Due to the power supply disruption, some areas suffered lack of DST network affecting mobile phone services. 

It is not an overstatement to say that our first responders were running around like headless chicken especially on the night of 20 January 2009. The FRD had to scramble its manpower to respond to the hundreds of distress calls – flooded homes, falling trees, falling lamp posts, landslides, the works. Police personnel were deployed to control traffic at flooded roads and at intersections with dead traffic lights. The military with their big trucks to assist stranded villagers, using boats at areas even their trucks couldn’t get through. In the midst of the pandemonium, sadly however, they couldn’t get on time to save two people who lost their lives that fateful evening. 

At around 1045pm, residents of a house in Jalan Pasir, Berakas heard a loud bang. A landslide had crashed into the back of the house, caving in the walls of the kitchen and several rooms of the house. All managed to flee except one, a 46 year old woman who was fast asleep at the time of the incident. The wall of her room collapsed on her trapping her under the debris of mud and concrete. Attempts to immediately pull her out were unsuccessful and she was killed. 

The other heartbreaking loss of life happened at the very stretch of road where my car stalled that night. The incident happened after midnight. A man had just fetched his 19-year old daughter from work and was on the way back to their house in Kg Katok. By the time they reached within a kilometer from their home, the road had already become too flooded and could no longer be driven through. The father and daughter decided to leave the car and get home by foot. While walking through the rapid flowing water, the daughter unfortunately slipped and got sucked into the storm drain. Trapped by the drainage railing, efforts by her father and two other men to lift and pull her out failed and she drowned. 

Heavy rains continued to batter the country throughout January and into February before slowing down towards March that year. Hundreds of houses had suffered damages. Some water pipes, roads and sewage systems in a number of places also suffered damages. A concrete bridge at Jalan Kg Tunggulian in Sg Liang even collapsed as a result of the flooding. The heavy rains also led to nearly a million dollars in damages to crops and livestock throughout the country as farms and paddy fields were submerged in water and thousands of chicks perished.  

Rest-less

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In December 2019, 70 year old Haji Muhammad Hassan Yong bin Abdullah left his house and never came home. He was later reported missing at the Lamunin Police Station. Haji Hassan has a fruit orchard in Kg Kiudang. A search operation at his orchard turned up nothing.

In February 2020, a man who was chasing after his escaped buffaloes stumbled upon a pair of yellow rubber boots and a parang (machete) under a rambutan tree at Haji Hassan’s orchard. He saw a nylon rope hanging from the tree. Then, to his horror, he saw a human skull a few feet away. He first alerted the owner of the nearby house before then calling the police.

Cows

People in the area immediately assumed that the skull belonged to Haji Hassan and that he had taken his own life. People who knew him always suspected that something was off with him, some claiming that he was facing financial problems of some sort. The local residents also informed that Haji Hassan had pulled off the disappearing act before. He would then reappear only to disappear again later. So, when his latest disappearance was on the news last December, they were not too concerned about it, thinking that he would reappear again as he always did before.

There has been no official confirmation that the skull really belonged to Haji Hassan. Do we (Brunei) even have the technology and database (dental records, DNA) to make the confirmation. Haji Hassan’s name is still in the missing persons list on the PDB’s website. Does this mean that the skull was not his or the police are still trying to figure it out.

But the fact that a human skull was found clearly indicated that someone had died and not given a proper burial. And just because there was a rope hanging from the tree, it doesn’t mean that it was definitely a suicide. The deceased’s loved ones deserve a proper investigation in order to rule out the possibility of foul play. Then there are also a number of big question marks that cannot be ignored and need answering. Found were boots, parang, rope and a skull, where were the rest of the bones?? There were houses nearby, how come no one smelled anything foul??

Although the possibility is bleak, some part of me still hope that Haji Hassan is still alive and safe somewhere out there. It is really heartbreaking to think that Haji Hassan, an elderly man, a Muslim convert, who is supposed to enjoy a care-free retired life to have to succumb to such fate, whether driven to hardship, depression, suicide or being a victim of foul play.

Dead End

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Despite coming from a wealthy family, Y worked hard from the bottom to get to where he was in the country’s civil service. In the late 1980s, he had risen up the ranks to take up a high position, first in the Ministry of Health, then in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports. Y had it all – a successful career and a family that loved him. All that changed in 1995 when a horrible diving mishap had left him in a coma.

The news about what had befallen Y came as a shock to the public. Diving is not a mainstream hobby in the country, so it took a while for the scenario to sink in. One could only imagine the level of grief that his family was going through. Prayers and words of encouragement were pouring in for his loved ones in the trying time.

As the months passed by, the dust of the shock began to settle, new hot issues took over in occupying the attention of the public, pushing the thoughts about the tragedy and the comatose Y further and further away, then fading out of people’s mind, forgotten.

Came 1996, a significantly eventful year for Brunei. His Majesty turned 50 and there was a royal wedding of His Majesty’s eldest daughter, Princess Rashidah. The public was treated with free concerts by Michael Jackson, then a month later, by Whitney Houston.  Wow! 1997-1998, the country was preoccupied with severe haze, the Asian financial crisis and the Amedeo scandal. In 1999, Brunei hosted the SEA games, then in 2000 it hosted the APEC Leaders’ Summit. 2001 was launched as the visit Brunei year.  Throughout all these, nothing was heard about what ever happened to Y. Was he still in a coma? Had he recovered?

Then on 28 July 2001, Boom! Came a jawdropping revelation that shook the country’s population to the core, sending tremors across the region, and the world even. That day, it was uncovered that Y was no longer in a coma, he had died.

Well, coma patients could lose the battle and die. Nothing jawdropping about that. However, in the case of Y, for what ever reason, those who cared for him did not declare his death when he died and did not arrange for a burial. His dead body was kept in his house and was reduced to just a skeleton when his death was finally discovered. A local newspaper reported that the body was “half-mummified”, while through the grapevine, some have claimed that the body inhibited advanced adipocere formation (wax-like). Regardless of the actual state the body was in, one thing was certain – that he was already dead for some time.

Y

How did it come to this? When did he die? Why was his death not declared? These questions have garnered a lot of public interest who wanted to make sense of the situation. Without a proper and prompt press statement, their imagination went wild. A number of theories emerged, some were plausible, some were downright outrageous, ranging from fraud of financial nature to some kind of hocus-pocus ritual. The authorities were just beginning to piece together information to get an accurate account of what could have led up to the mess and to establish whether there was a crime involved, but the court of public opinion was already in session where fingers were pointed to a certain people in the deceased’s family.

Now, here comes the plot twist. On 30 July 2001, two days after Y’s dead body was discovered, a 44-year-old woman was produced in court facing the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Apparently, from the police investigation, it was established that this woman was somewhat responsible for the fiasco. She is not a family member of the deceased. She is SK, a former midwife, who practiced Chinese medicine.

How did SK come into the picture? As had been divulged at the court proceedings, sometimes after Y was checked out from the hospital to be cared at home by his family, SK’s service was enlisted to provide alternative treatment. From their investigation, the police had found evidence that while giving the so-called treatment, she had removed the breathing tube which had led to Y’s death. She allegedly committed the offence in May 1998. As part of the treatment, she had insisted that no one would enter the room, which the family had obliged to (before they eventually barged into the room on 28 July 2001). With Y lying dead in the room, she continued the charade and continued to receive payments for her service, specifically $400k in total. The police, however, were unable to locate the said $400k, which she claimed that she had given to the less fortunate people.

The public reaction to this scenario was mixed, with some not buying it and insisted that someone in the family was complicit. So, despite SK being held as a sole suspect, the rumor mill surrounding the involvement of another party kept on churning. This obviously upset family members who were already distraught by their loss to the extent that they had reportedly sought legal advice and asked their lawyers to file an injunction against insensitive and sensational reports regarding the case.

The idea of being taken legal action for rumour-mongering actually had worked in muting the chatter about the case. In due time, the public’s attention fizzled as people moved on to discuss about other hot issues, particularly the shocking terrorist attacks on the US that happened in September that year.

Eventually people had stopped following the development and lost track of the charges brought against SK. Today, people who lived through and had memories of the bizarre case could not recall what actually happened to SK, some claimed that she was found guilty and incarcerated, some claimed that the charges against her were dropped and she was released, but nobody is totally sure.

Snippets

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Everyone has vague memories of bizarre incidents in their lifetime, things happening in the country before there were WhatsApp, Reddit and the social media. Things that people would find difficult to believe if they didn’t see it with their own eyes. Some happened to their close ones, some they heard from the grapevines. As time passed by, details of those events got lost in memory. But, here are some of them.

Stucky Situation. Sometimes in the 80s, a couple decided to get it on at Bukit Saeh in Lumapas. However, they were faced with “separation” issues when they guy couldn’t detach himself from the girl. When all DIY efforts failed, they had no choice but to seek help. Wrapped in a blanket like a burrito, they were taken to the hospital in an ambulance where they were finally set free.

Team Spirit. One night in the early 1990s, a routine briefing by a military officer somewhere in the remote jungle area was interrupted when a Gurkha soldier, who joined the local troop in the jungle operation, suddenly acted strange. He shouted insults and mimicked the officer in a mocking way. It was clear to everyone there that he was “not being himself”, that he was possessed because he was talking in the local kedayan language, fluently. Things got hectic as he became delirious and unruly. They had to subdue him by physically restraining him. He later snapped out of it and had to be airlifted out.

Cutastrophic Dismemberment. In 2001, police were called to Kg. Perpindahan Mata-Mata where a 34-year-old local man, believed to be of unsound mind, had cut off his pecker in a fit of rage. At the scene, there were a lot of blood, but the police couldn’t find the tool that the man had used. He was then brought to the hospital for treatment. The fate of the “victim” of the slaying was not known.

Bad Break. In the 1980s, a high school girl had smuggled a test tube out of the school’s lab and brought it back to her hostel’s room for an after-school experiment. It did not, however, play out as she had hoped. In a stroke of misfortune, the test tube broke while in action.

Where There’s A Wheel There’s A Way. One late afternoon in 2001, a lady who was driving along the Muara-Tutong highway noticed that the car behind her was flashing its headlights. She slowed down and as the car overtook, the man driving the car was pointing at her car’s tyre and signalling for her to stop and so she did. At the roadside, the man offered to change her tyre and asked her to get the tyre jack. She went to the boot and as she returned with the tyre jack, the man said he was mistaken and there was actually nothing wrong with the tyre. It was a false alarm, the lady thought. It was only later that she realised that her handbag was gone.

Far Fetched. One morning in 2009, a car flew into a classroom at a school in Kg Mulaut. An Indonesian man who was driving the car was fetching his employer’s kid from the school. When he was about to park the car, instead of pressing the brake pedal, he accidentally stepped on the accelerator and the car went straight towards the classroom at high speed, hit a road separator, went airborne and flew straight into the classroom. Fortunately there was no class in session at that time, but a teacher who was sitting on her chair was thrown to the floor, although suffering just minor injuries.

….

Hung Up

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At 78, Haji O is not your typical senior citizen. A retired military officer, he is more fit than any young person you know. People know him as an athlete, winning a lot of medals in the veterans category, both in local and international events. He has truly become an inspiration to everyone, young and old people alike.

When it comes to his passion for running, Hj O takes the bull by the horns and didn’t let old age slow him down. Rain or shine, pavement, sand or dirt, he would still don his running shoes and make the miles. People have come to recognise him. He is already used to people asking to take pictures with him, happily smiling for the camera.

Behind his seemingly content exterior, however, there hidden grief, a big, gaping wound left in his heart, that never stops bleeding.

20 years ago, Hj O got a phone call that no father should ever receive. His son was found dead in his flat, hanging from a fan on a wire. The police who responded to the scene quickly established that it was a suicide. Or was it?

This is the local police we are talking about, not the Hawaii five-0 or the CSI Las Vegas. So, the lack of imagination was not unexpected. Also not unexpected was the lack of due care in protecting the integrity of the crime scene, with a number of other tenants of the flat sneaking a peek of the dead body, tainting any potential evidence along the way.

Three days later, much to the shock and dismay of family members, the local newspaper carried the headline “Navy engineer hangs himself”. It was a double whammy for Hj O as not only he lost his beloved son, then he would have to deal with the stigma of his son taking his own life.

From the beginning, Hj O had refused to accept the assumption that his son’s death was due to suicide and rightfully demanded for an investigation. As catchy as it might sound, the headline was misleading, irresponsible and insensitive, to say the least. Perhaps due to the backlash from family members or the police, the next day after the headline came out, the newspaper stated “Police investigate engineer’s death”, saying that the case was still under investigation pending a postmortem report by the pathologist.

Nothing was heard about the autopsy result after that. But, even if the pathologist confirmed that the cause of death was hanging, that is by no way a solid confirmation that it was a suicide. Some detective work would still be required to totally rule out the possibility of foul play. Was there a suicide note? Was he suffering from depression? Did he just go through a bad breakup?

The deceased was married when he died and they were living in married quarters inside a military camp. The other tenants of the flat where they were staying are his fellow military personnel, everyone knew everybody, they bumped into each other on a daily basis, at the stairwell, at the parking area. It is hard to imagine that no one around him knew or noticed any tell tale signs of his impending death, be it suicide or murder.

The big question mark is Where was his wife when it happened?? Well, sources have claimed that during the time leading up to his death, they were having marital problems and the wife was staying with her parents. Right about the same time, a lady, alleged to be his girlfriend, was seen with him, frequenting his place. According to the sources, the relationship seemed to be exclusive as there was no attempt to be discreet. Now, the big question mark shifted to Where was the girlfriend when it happened?? I would definitely zoom in on the girlfriend to unravel the mystery.  She knew something.

If there was really ever any investigation done by the police, there was never any update on it to the public, and now that two decades have passed, I don’t think there ever will. For the tenants of the flat, some of which have now retired from service, the case still haunts them to this day. For me, three things from the accounts of the tenants still resonate in my sleuth mind. Firstly, on the following day after the alleged suicide, the girlfriend with an older lady (believed to be her mom), were seen entering the crime scene and leaving with loot including an air conditioning unit. (She later claimed that those are her things that she had left there during their relationship). Secondly, an unfamiliar man was seen in the vicinity in an around the time of the alleged suicide. And thirdly, the feet were touching the floor. My my my..