Scorned

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No one enjoys taking the trash to the garbage dump area. The bad smell, trash scattered, rats running around. A dead body? Not in Brunei, or so you think. One afternoon, in 1996, a man got the shock of his life when while throwing his trash at the Binturan camp garbage dump site, he saw a dead body of a man lying among the heaps of trash. Adding to the horror was that he recognised who it was.

Trash

What kind of killer would dispose the body at a trash dumping site like it was garbage, and for everyone to find? I would say, the kind who are confident that they won’t get caught, that nothing found on the body would lead the police back to them; someone who had established an alibi and got someone else, say…. a contract killer to do the murder. We also see this in stranger homicides where the killer is a stranger and has no acquaintance or common affiliation with the victim, the killer would have no care or need to hide the crime, i.e, the body.

Even before the police got to begin their investigation on the dead body, there were two obvious clues which indicated that it was clearly not a random crime against an unknown victim. Firstly, the body was badly bruised that seemed to be the result of multiple blows and struck by a blunt object. The man was beaten to death with excessive brutality. Such overkill would only mean one thing – the murder was rage-driven, thus personal. The second clue is the choice of location where the body was dumped – garbage dumping site, probably chosen to humiliate the victim even after his death, an act of punishment, revenge-driven, thus again personal. Now, the police just had to find the victim’s enemies or haters, then they would get the suspects in the crime.

So, who was the victim and who hated him so much to want him dead? Well, the victim was no stranger to the area. He lived in the Binturan camp, he threw his household trash at the very dumping site where his body was found. He was a military corporal based at the camp. One day, when Corporal B did not return home, his wife thought that he was on standby duty, which was not unordinary for a military personnel. There was also a military exercise going on at that time, so the wife thought that her husband must’ve been busy tending to that. The next day, she was surprised to be visited at home by some military personnel looking for her husband, informing her that Corporal B had not come to work and his mobile phone was unreachable. The military has a strict policy about absences without leave (AWOL).

Another 24 hours came and went, and Corporal B was still MIA. His family and friends knew in their guts that something terrible had happened to him because the Corporal B that they knew won’t just voluntarily go AWOL and risk himself being dismissed from the military. For some, they actually knew that this was coming, that Corporal B’s “extracurricular activity” would get him in trouble, although they didn’t expect the “trouble” would come in the form of being murdered.

If Corporal B would’ve heeded the quotes “Don’t play with fire if you don’t want to get burned” and “Don’t poke the beehive if you don’t want to get stung”, probably he won’t find himself in the shit he was in. But, Corporal B was relentless, so said his friends. It was no secret that the married-with-kids Corporal B had a side girlfriend, a beautiful Limbang girl. Well, that’s his own business. But, the troubling part of this was that the girlfriend was someone’s wife, not just a regular someone, the woman’s husband was a Limbang drugs thug. Yikes! Armed with this information, it seemed like it was a no brainer for the police to figure out who the number one suspect would be. But, it was not as simple as that. There was a plot twist.

It turned out that the girlfriend’s husband had an airtight alibi. He was in jail at the time for a drug-related charge. Corporal B’s family and friends couldn’t think of anyone else who would harbour any ill intentions towards him. The likely involvement of the Limbang husband in the murder stood out like a sore thumb. Being in jail, of course, wont hinder one’s ability to arrange for someone to be killed. But where would the police even begin to prove this possibility. With no leads, the case quickly turned cold. 

Then, close to a month later, in a spine chilling development, a suspicious-looking black garbage bag was found in a ditch in Kuala Lurah. In it was a dead body of a female, her stomach was mutilated. It was the body of Corporal B’s girlfriend. It was like a gruesome scene straight out of a CSI episode, only that, unlike in the tv series, despite the obvious common denominator in the two murders, the solution of both cases never saw the light of day. And so, once again, the bad guys win. 

Fake It Till You Make It

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Who would’ve thought that the fake ID business would emerge in Brunei. Not because it is a difficult feat, but come on… Brunei is such a small country, one would be so stupid to think that the authorities won’t sniff it out. It’s like farting in the elevator, everyone could smell it, everyone knows who did it.

On 14 September 2020, the public came to know about the detention of seven locals, aged 26 to 29 year olds, for their involvement in a syndicate for forged Brunei IC.  The forged ICs they would sell and use to obtain bank loans. As part of the crime package, they also along the way falsified Government’s and private companies’ official documents.

So, what were they thinking?? Probably the seven millionaire wannabe millennials are asking themselves the same question right now as they sit in their prison cells in Jerudong.

These boys, they are not school dropouts, they are educated. They were not broke. They didn’t grow up around crime or poverty. So, what went wrong? Remember Ramzid4h? The lady who is sitting in jail right now serving a 10 year sentence for her siphoning galore. She grew up rich, got the best of education, good paying job. Well, the boys got the same demon that she was having – Greed.

Don’t be fooled by their young age. They are not naive. The boys knew exactly that what they were doing is illegal. Just like in other victimless crime, there was an absence of guilt, since no one died or got physically hurt from their entrepreneurship. These kind of criminals, they will not stop until they got caught. Since there are no human casualties involved, they also thought that they’re gonna get it easy when caught. N4bil just got five years and he would get to enjoy the $6 millions “untraced missing” funds in no time when he gets out.

Where lucrative financial gains are involved, criminals would stash their profits in offshore banks, in alias bank accounts or in suitcases somewhere in some houses or buildings not registered under their or their relatives’ names, so that the authorities won’t be able to trace and seize them should the criminals got arrested. These hidden stashes would be waiting for them after they served their jail terms. Unless they got the death penalty or life imprisonment, then its a different story. 

…..

Graveyard Shift

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Last Friday at around 0200 am I heard a loud screeching sound coming from the road. I knew exactly what sound that was, the sound tires make when spinning in a stuck situation. I went out to the balcony to check it out and true enough, I saw a car got stuck on a road curb and the driver was pressing on the pedal to get the car to move. It is a pretty high and wide curb, even seeing from a distance I could tell that there was no way he could get the car out of the sticky situation by doing just that. Poor guy. 

I kept watching as the man wandered out of sight then came back with some rocks. He placed the rocks against the tire as buffers, got in the car and pressed on the pedal again. Screech! screech! the car still couldn’t move. He would adjust and add more rocks, tried again and again, to no avail. It was amazing that the continuous screeching sound didn’t wake any man living in this building, at least, to go out and give him a hand. There was not much help that me and my cats could offer.

Every 5 minutes or so a car would pass by, slowed down, but amazingly none of them stopped to assist. Maybe because it was really late and they just wanted to get home or they did roll down their windows and ask if they could help when they slowed down but the man declined.

After about 20 minutes, a car did eventually stop. Out came a man and a woman. From their body gestures, they appeared to be his friends. So now, on top of the “rocky” strategy, they tried the “rock the boat” way to get the car out the shitty situation. The woman got inside to press on the pedal while the two men pushed the car. Well, the car still didn’t budge. While doing that, there were other cars that passed by, but still none of them, at least, impulsively stop to help. Wow! 

It was already close to 0300 am and I got sleepy. I went to bed and didn’t get to see the ending to the drama. In the morning, the car was gone. It better be.

A couple of days later, at a family gathering, I was telling my siblings about this story and my mom who just got out of the kitchen and missed the first part of it assumed that I was on the road and one of the passing cars. She immediately quipped, “Do not ever stop your car especially at wee hours. It could be a ruse!” Ooo…now I get it, I thought to myself. The people didn’t stop to help because of their moms.

I guess when you’re in a car trouble on the road at 0200 am, you’re pretty much on your own. I would just call the police though. 

Halo

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Halo

02 September 2020 – Lucky to have spotted a pileus cloud this morning. Wow! The pileus cloud also called scarf cloud or cap cloud, is the lenticular cloud appearing above the cumulonimbus cloud forming a halo. The pileus clouds are short-lived. The one I saw disappeared just seconds after the picture was snapped.

Halo2

Dangerous Liaison

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In 2006, after serving a good 30 plus years, A retired from the civil service. He had quite a good career, rose up to hold a senior post, well-liked by his peers and subordinates. A loved his job but he was ready and excited to finally hang his work suit. His senior post had secured him a hefty retirement gratuity and monthly pension. He also had secured his own place at Perumahan Rimba. By all account, A was set for a comfortable next chapter of his life as a government retiree. 

Still a bachelor, A was living by himself in his house. But he was far from lonely. He was very well content with being single and free. Life at the Rimba Retiredville was all peachy, until 2010, when came a day that changed A’s life forever – the day he met Cyrile.

A Filipino foreign worker, Cyrile came to Brunei in 2010 to work as a live-in employee. Cyrile was employed by A’s nextdoor neighbour. One day, the two struck up a conversation and so began their friendship. A had soon taken a fancy towards Cyrile, whom he pampered with gifts and attention. With his financial standing, A surely had no problem doing this. When the relationship turned sexual, A became more generous, rewarding Cyrile with $1,000 every time they got it on. 

This was more money than Cyrile could have imagined. In just a few months being in Brunei, Cyrile had gotten into possession a lot of money and good stuff. Cyrile had just hit a jackpot, didn’t hold back, milking the situation, outrightly asking for money from A, using sex to maintain A’s interest and commitment. 

A’s friends knew what was going on, that Cyrile was just after A’s money. They also suspected that Cyrile had come to know about A’s hefty retirement gratuity, and was targeting that. It was not like Cyrile made any effort to hide the intention anyway. But A was too smitten to see the obvious. Despite their worries, none of A’s friends dared to say anything for fear of upsetting A and seen as meddling into his personal life. Besides, A was a grown man, he could do whatever he pleased. They could only hope that A would come to his senses before it was too late. 

In 2012, much to their relief, Cyrile employment contract expired and Cyrile returned to the Philippines. But, not so fast. Cyrile would come back to Brunei to work with another employee. Well well well, what do you know, before the engine of the plane which flew Cyrile here even cool down, Cyrile was already on the phone with A to ask for money. 

A meeting was set. In the afternoon on 01 August 2012, Cyrile went to A’s house but only one of them came out of the rendezvous alive. On 09 August 2012, A’s family went to check on A and found him dead. There appeared to be multiple stab wounds including one on his neck. A nearby couch seemed to have been set  on fire. A was 61 years old.

Soon after, the house was swarmed with police cars. The surrounding people were shocked to hear about the murder which they initially thought was an armed robbery went wrong. In the house, there were signs that a robbery had taken place and A’s family had confirmed that his mobile phone and laptop computer were missing. But, there was no sign of a forced entry which only meant one thing, that A knew his killer and had let his killer in. At this point, no one knew about A’s meeting with Cyrile. 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Jangsak, Cyrile sold the stolen mobile phone and laptop computer to a friend for $400 and went about with daily activities like had not just murdered anyone. The thought of police tracking the  mobile phone didn’t even cross Cyrile’s mind.

On 14 August 2012 at 0128 am, police banged on the door of the staff quarters in Kg Jangsak where Cyrile was staying. The mobile phone and information from A’s friends have led police to Cyrile. Cyrile was arrested and charged with the murder. 

When interrogated, Cyrile told a tale of being attacked by A with a knife that afternoon after refusing A’s sexual advances and trying to break up the relationship. Cyrile managed to wrestle the knife away and used it to stab A three times including “on the shoulder near the neck”. Cyrile then tied the injured A to a chair, just to untie him moments later due to pity. Cyrile didn’t call the ambulance for fear of being arrested. Instead, Cyrile proceeded to grab A’s phone, laptop, cash and other belongings, cleaned the bloody floor, then left the house, bringing the murder weapon along. A was still alive when Cyrile left. So the tale went.  

Cyrile threw away the knife as well as bloodstained clothing and shoes, then came back to A’s house at 0100 am on 03 August 2012 with the intention of getting rid of evidence by burning down the house. Cyrile poured gasoline all over the floor and lit up the couch. In a stroke of fate, the flames self-extinguished and the fire did not spread. 

While admitting to stealing A’s belongings and attempting to burn down A’s house, Cyrile didn’t plead guilty for murdering A, instead insisting that the stabbings were for self defence and that A’s death was accidental. 

Only Cyrile and A knew what exactly went down that fateful afternoon. Eventhough A was not able to tell his part of the story (since A is dead and all), physical evidences were enough to tell the police that Cyrile’s version of the story was a complete bullcrap. For one thing, despite claiming “self-defence”, there was no defensive wound of any kind on Cyrile’s body. Additionally, the severity of injuries suffered by A depicted a clear case of an overkill instead of self-defence. And if A really initiated the attack, Cyrile should have immediately called the police the moment A was down after being stabbed the first time. Instead Cyrile left the injured A to die, disposed of the knife and made attempts to burn down the house.  

In 2015, Cyrile, then 31 years old, was found guilty of murder and  sentenced to death by hanging. For the charge of intention to burn down A’s house, Cyrile was also sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2016, The Court of Appeal refused an application against the death conviction.

Cases of pensioners falling prey to gold diggers are not uncommon in Brunei. It’s not hard to spot the red flags but victims often chose to ignore them because they just couldn’t resist the ego boost. It was unfortunate of A that the gold digger that crossed path with him is also a psychopath. A let his guard down and he paid the price with his life. 

To Love and To Kill

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No one ever said relationships were easy and what couple doesn’t quarrel? Some couples make up, some break up, and some end in murder. They say love makes the world go round. Add obsession, love can also drive people insane. Insanity plea, that is, after they kill you.

34-year-old Bobby and 33-year-old Novalinda, both Filipino foreign workers in Brunei had been a couple since 1998. They were engaged to be married.

Bobby doted on Novalinda so much, he spent his earnings on showering her with gifts, gave financial assistance to her family in the Philippines and the rest he saved up for their wedding.

However, hardly a year after their engagement, Novalinda, who worked as a waitress, began to lose interest in Bobby. What began with some cold treatment later worsen when Novalinda started to push Bobby away. She also taunted Bobby by telling him about other men that have been courting her and that she was seeing another man.

Bobby was heartbroken. He couldn’t sleep at night and spent his days crying uncontrollably. Unable to cope with it, Bobby decided to resign and return to the Philippines. He was scheduled to leave Brunei on 14 November 1999.

These were all according to Bobby’s account. If these were true, no one could ever know why Novalinda did all that to him. She could never tell her side of the story because she is no longer alive. On 12 November 1999, two days before Bobby was scheduled to fly home, a heated argument between the two occurred in Bobby’s room which ended with Bobby strangling Novalinda to death with a cord.

Bobby covered her body with a blanket and left the room. He then fled to Lawas where he later surrendered himself to the Malaysian police who handed him over to the Brunei authorities to face the murder charge.

In court, Bobby told of the sappy story of his shitty life. He pleaded guilty of “unintentionally” killing Novalinda and said it hurts to think of what happened to Novalinda and it was all because of his love towards her.

A psychiatrist who evaluated Bobby said that Bobby was suffering from adjustment disorder and of the severely depressed type, thus have poor control of his impulses, which explained why Bobby went psycho that night when “provoked” by Novalinda.

In passing the sentence, the Chief Justice took into account Bobby’s mental state, that the offense was not pre-meditated and Bobby was provoked, that Bobby pleaded guilty and had expressed his regret. In the end, Bobby got a lesser charge of causing death not amounting to murder and was sentenced to 4 years in jail.

Speechless…

Fast forward to May 2003, Bobby had 6 months left of his jail sentence, probably by then his eyeballs were swollen like tennis balls for crying every night, the public felt a sense of deja-vu when news broke out that another Filipino man murdered his girlfriend who was also a fellow Filipino, and like Novalinda, also working as a waitress in Brunei.

50-year-old Edgar Puzone had been living in Brunei since 1994, working as a graphic designer. In early 2003, Edgar began a relationship with Vilma, a 25-year-old Filipino waitress working at the Senja Rasa Restaurant at Jalan Tutong.

Their relationship was rocky even from the start. What Vilma didn’t know was that Edgar was on anti-psychotic medication to treat a long history of psychiatric problems. The pressure of the rocky relationship had flipped his psycho switch. Poor Vilma didn’t see it coming.

On 27 May 2003, Edgar walked into Vilma’s workplace and stabbed her twice in the chest. He then turned the knife on himself in an apparent suicide attempt. The restaurant workers managed to subdue him. Both were taken to the hospital where Vilma succumbed to her injuries. Edgar was immediately arrested.

During trial, Edgar through his court-appointed lawyer, raised the defense of mental instability. Medical experts were flown in from Manila to testify that Edgar was not aware of his actions when he stabbed Vilma. The Judge, however, didn’t buy it saying that Edgar’s mental illness was not a strong mitigating factor for him to escape the death penalty. “We are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this was a premeditated and brutal murder and the defendant is convicted of the charge accordingly”, the Judge said.

On 03 Feb 2005, Edgar was convicted and sentenced to hang for the murder. In August 2007, Edgar lost his appeal against the death sentence. In 2009, during His Majesty’s state visit to the Philippines and following the appeal from President Arroyo, His Majesty had agreed to commute Edgar’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

Forrest Gump’s momma always said, “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” True indeed, the seemingly charming guy who came to your life could be a psycho who would end up killing you.

My Top 5

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For someone who hates water, I must say I’ve ironically put myself through quite a number of water transport rides. The temuai (longboat) ride up the shallow Temburong river; the 45-minutes speedboat ride to Temburong across the Brunei Bay and through meandering riverways; and the Kg Ayer water taxi speedboats all driven by Evel Knievel – were horrifying experiences that left me saying “never again”.  

Of course, not all the rides I experienced were horrifying. Come to think of it, there are a select few experiences that I had back then taken for granted but now consider as rare opportunities that I was so lucky to come upon.

Here are the best 5.

5. Airboat ride, Tutong River, 2015. When people hear about airboats, the first thing that may come to their minds is the Everglades in the US. Airboats are made for gliding across shallow water and swamplands hence they use giant fans instead of submerged propellers. And we all know what’s lurking in swamplands – alligators and snakes. No thanks! But, I didn’t have much choice when my work required me to ride on the airboat in 2015. One look at the airboat, I said to myself, this is not a boat, it’s just a thing sitting on water with a large fan at its back, a flat platform, some seats on it and nothing else. I was nervous at first, fearing that any predator from underneath the water would decide to make a “leap of faith” on the boat, but at least the fan’s super loud noise gave me some comfort that the gators wouldn’t even think to come near us. In the end, it was a pretty unique and interesting experience. 

4. Catamaran ride, Brisbane River, 2009. The two-hulled Catamarans are not just neat-looking, they are also more stable than the typical vessels. Their design allow them to fit in large amount of space. This, coupled with  their flat crossdecks made the catamarans perfect to be used for ferrying services. There are a number of countries that use catamarans for public transportation. So, when my work sent me to Brisbane, Australia in 2009, I wasted no time in taking the opportunity to experience one and headed straight for the Brisbane CityCats, the city’s catamaran ferry service. What a great way to enjoy the stunning view of the city, almost therapeutic. [Im still waiting for our local urban planners to be inspired by the catamaran ferry service for the Brunei river.]

3. Amphibious vehicle ride, Charles River, Boston, 2005. My trip to the US back in 2005 is one of the most memorable trips I’ve ever had. I got to  experience things that I may not have the opportunity to do again. During our stopover in Boston enroute to New York, we only had time to do two leisure activities. Since it was an official trip, it was up to my boss. So, we went for the Boston Duck Tour. We hopped on this funny looking bus, at least that was what I thought it was, just a bus. It began like a normal narrated city tour, then woooo….the bus made a turn and splashed right into the river. It is an amphibious vehicle, able to move both on land and in water. Talk about plot twist. What an amazing city tour! I was all smiles and can’t stop talking about it ever since.

2. Submarine ride, Oahu Undersea, Hawaii, 1998. For a long time, I thought that only the military got to own submarines. That was until I went to Hawaii in 1998. I was among the 30 or so international participants attending a course there. At the end of one of our classes, the course organisers announced that they would take us for a fancy dinner cruise as part of our weekend leisure activities. They also announced the option to go for a submarine tour before the dinner for anyone who would be interested and willing to pay the fees. I remember that it was around $85 and because of this, there were not many takers. For me, it was a no brainer. I’m not a good swimmer, hopeless in treading water, let alone diving. So if I want any chance to see what’s under the sea with my own eyes, I got to take the submarine tour.

The shuttle boat ride was choppy, but thank god we arrived at the submarine before my seasickness set in. As I climbed down the ladder to get into the submarine, I couldn’t believe that I was actually gonna go under the sea, for real. Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into, I said to myself. Inside were two long benches one on each side and we sat facing the round windows. Each one of us was given a piece of paper with pictures of the colourful fishes to look out for, like a checklist. Wow, the view was very mesmerising. The tour  lasted about one hour and I managed to see nearly all the fishes in the list. It was an experience that I will never ever forget.

1. Could there be any water transport experience more epic than a submarine ride? Well, yes. Im talking about the beast of the ocean. Ok ok, not the supertanker, the other one. No, not the cruise ship, the other other one. Yep, the aircraft carrier. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think I would find myself being on a moving aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. Wow! I still pinch myself when I think of it. The plane ride to get to and from the aircraft carrier was an epic feat in itself especially the arrested landing and catapult assisted take off, no roller coaster or catapult bungee fairground rides could even parallel the horror that we went through. But it was totally worth it. 

A Case of Deja Vu

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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.