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.

Lost

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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.

Jungle

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.

Hat-trick

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Talk about crime in Brunei. I would say we have thefts every other day. Someone high on drugs and gambling somewhere in the country as we speak. Cigarettes and alcohol making their ways into the country through the daily mousetrail express. The Covid-19 pandemic had forced prostitourists otherwise daily activities to go on a hiatus. One or two people murdered each year. One child abuse case every other year. Occasionally, we got vandalism, corruption, extortion, assault and arson cases. Kidnapping and rape happening once in a blue moon. Then we have molestation cases which are disturbingly more frequent than one thinks.

In 2004, a man managed to pull off a hat trick by committing 3 types of crimes all in one day. 38-year-old A was at a low point of his life. His second wife just left him and his first wife was asking for a divorce. His job as a gas cylinder distributor did not pay enough to support his four children, let alone pay the bills. He tried to look for a better job, but no luck. Probably, having “ex-convict” in his CV contributed to this.

A is a habitual thief and drug user. He had been thrown into prison not just once but many times. The first time was in 1991 when he was 25 years old. He would then be in and out of prison until 2002. It was rather obvious that his time in prison didn’t really do much to rehabilitate him and it didn’t take a psychic to predict that he would do crime again. So, with a shitty job, an empty wallet and a marriage that was falling apart, what did he do? He turned to his confidant cum his shrink, Mr Syabu. But, Mr Syabu’s service came with a cost and for this A turned to his old friend, Mr Theft.

At around 5.45am on 11 August 2004, A, who was high on Syabu, began his crimeventure. He loitered at the Bandar area and had his eyes on a parked Nissan Sunny car which he then stole. He then drove to the Kiarong Complex area. There he scanned through for things to steal. He saw bundles of newspapers outside of a shop and snatched some of them. From Kiarong he went to the Jame’ Asr Mosque area and drove along the back road, the Jalan Kiulap that is leading towards RIPAS, prowling. By then it was already 6.45am. People were already out and about, sending their kids to school and going to work. As he drove closer to RIPAS, he came across a food stall with some customer traffic. He saw an opportunity there and decided to stop and park by the roadside, observing. In a matter of minutes, the normal hustle and bustle of Jalan Kiulap would be shattered and a family’s life would change forever.

A woman was screaming frantically.  She had left her car with the engine running by the roadside to go buy something at the food stall. When she came back, her car was gone. Her 5-year-old daughter was in the car. Yikes!

A is a thief not a kidnapper. He didn’t set off that morning to snatch anyone’s kid. But, an unattended car with its engine running presented to him on a platter, was too much temptation to him, eventhough he fully realised that there was a kid inside. His Syabu-polluted judgment got the better of him and he decided to drive off with the lady’s car.

The public was shocked to learn about the incident. Many were left speechless. Never in a million years did anyone expect happening in this country, an unattended child just feets away, would be at risk of being snatched. Well, nothing is unexpected when there are drugs involved. Drug addicts could do unthinkable things. The drugs also made them stupid too, hencewhy A was still driving the stolen car instead of ditching it during the ensuing manhunt. It wasn’t long for A to be located and apprehended. The kid was found safe and reunited with her family. Unfortunately however, A had outraged her modesty.

In December that year, A was sentenced to a total of seven years in jail and three strokes of the cane. Given his past record, jail time and the cane are likely just child’s play to him. Would the punishment rehabilitate him this time? I don’t think so and most likely after he got out in 2011, he went back to doing drugs and crime.  Just saying…

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.

….

Breadcrumbs

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I cant help but be amused at how dumb some criminals are. Premeditated crimes that are not well thought out would, more often than not, land someone in jail. But leaving breadcrumbs that reveal their own identity is taking dumbness to a whole new level.

In Oct 2019, 25-year-old Ms N, a teacher at a private school, thought that she had concocted a genius plan to get quick bucks. With the help of a corrupt bank employee, she secretly registered for online banking to her mom’s account. So, she saw this big numbers on the screen, the digits were twerking in her face, calling her name. She imagined all the things that she had been drooling over could now be within her reach. There was no unseeing what she saw. She must get her hands on the money.

Well, unless she had a fake ID and with it opened up a bank account using a fake name, get ATM card for the fake ID bank account and went to the ATM wearing disguise or a big hat, then there was actually no way she could steal the money from her mom’s account and not get caught. But, the temptation seemed to be overwhelming for her, and she went on to make 15 transactions to her cousin’s account. Genius!

Can a teacher be that dumb? Here is what I think. I think that the $67k+ that she stole are just a small fraction of her mom’s money in the account and she knew that and probably was confident that the mom would not even notice them missing. It was only when the mom went to the bank, five months and 15 online transfers later, that the mom was told by the bank staff about the money transfers. Obviously, the bank could easily track who the recipient account belongs to. As to why there was no care in covering her tracks, I think she probably just thought even if the mom found out, it was just going to be a family’s internal affair. The mom would just scold her and that was it. Well, she thought wrong.

A police report had been made two days after the mom’s bank trip. The daughter and her cousin were then both arrested. It was a no brainer for the police. The press feasted on the story and added 2+ more k to the headline saying “Woman Lands in Jail for Stealing BND$70k from Mother”. The first thing on my mind when I saw the headline was.. Wow! some money the mom got there. Then, the second thing on my mind was.. Can’t the mom just let it slide?? Yea, its a big amount, but isn’t blood thicker than your wallet??

It was alleged that the mom did recoil later and wanted to just forget about everything but by then the police were not having any of it. Besides, it was not like the daughter just took some cash from the mom’s purse. There is identity theft involved, when she pretended to be her mom, applied for the online banking and made the online transfers. Then there is also money laundering, when she transferred the stolen money to her cousin’s account making them looked like the cousin’s legitimate savings, withdrew the money and spent them on personal things, shoes, handbags, clothes, watches, video games, iPhones, trips to Indonesia, and what not.

On 30 April 2020, the daughter was sentenced to two years and eight months jail while the cousin got eight months. Two months later, following an appeal from the public prosecutor, her sentence was increased to three years and four months. Unless the mom is planning to disown her, after serving the jail term, unemployed and ex-convict Miss N would still go home as her daughter. Nobody wins.

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..

Fifth Passenger

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It was close to 1am. We were driving along the Muara-Tutong highway. There were five of us in the car, me, my friend Lily and 3 boys. Back then, the highway was not lighted as it is today. It was in the late 1980s. I was at that phase of life where breaking rules was cool and boys with cars were fun. In other words, the phase where all decisions made were bad decisions.

Earlier that evening, me and Lily snuck out and were picked up by the boys. It was Saturday night and we were going to crash parties. Yep, that was the in thing for youths back then. After the third party, we decided to call it the night.

We were cruising down the highway. It was quiet and dark. Once in a while, headlights from another car could be seen. We were all tired and dozing off. It was still quite a distance to go, when we heard the turn signal sound, tik-tok-tik-tok. The car made a left turn into a dirt road. “I need to take a piss”, the driver said. He drove further down the dirt road before stopping the car. He went out and the other guys decided to take a piss too. He left the headlights on and the music blasting.

Sitting at the back seat, I scanned around. It was pitch black, but I could see that we were surrounded by thick forest, then realised that we were in the middle of a road construction site that cut through the dark woods. With the headlights, we could only see 200 feet ahead, and nothing beyond that, just more darkness.

It took forever for the guys to get back into the car. I could see them chatting and goofing around. Are you kidding me?? I said. I could only hold my cool for so long before I broke into nervous sweats, the hairs at the back of my neck began to go haywire. I reached to the front to turn down the music volume. Lets go already! I yelled.

Well, instead of listening to me, the boys thought that it would be funny to scare us girls. One of them said, Hey ghost! Are you here?? If you’re here, show yourself!” OMG! I was completely speechless. My jaw dropped.

My head down, I nervously panned my eyes around, bracing for the backlash. Then, a speck of flickering red light appeared out of the darkness, far down the dirt road. Lily softly elbowed me and made gestures to let me know that she saw it too. We looked at the boys and they were looking at the direction, but they were still not budging.

We continued to stare at the red light which appeared to be getting bigger and bigger, before realising that it was actually slowly moving closer. Then, all of a sudden, a black human figure became visible, cradling the light in its two hands and the figure was walking towards us. The boys scampered and in a millisecond were already in the car, screaming like girls, gas pedal slammed to the floor, wheels screeching, rocks and dirt flying. We were back at the main road, even before we could finish one breath, at least it felt like it.

Phew! But not so fast. We looked through the back window and the red light was still right behind us. Everyone yelled for the car to go faster. After what felt like forever, it finally disappeared from sight.

It was silent the rest of the journey. Everyone was too shocked to say anything. Me and Lily were dropped off and safely snuck back. We went straight to bed, didn’t say anything to each other. Surprisingly, we slept well, no nightmares.

We didn’t tell anyone about that night. We couldn’t anyway, as no one was supposed to know that we snuck out. We also agreed that we were not going to talk and discuss about it. It was an unpleasant experience that we rather forget. So, we put the ghostly encounter behind us. But not so fast…

More than a week later, we bumped into one of the boys from that night. It was only then that we found out about their week of hell. The three boys we were with are brothers. After dropping us off that day, they went home. Despite the cold and eerie feeling they felt in the car, nothing peculiar happened.

The next day, they went about their normal daily routines. The older brother, the only one old enough to drive, was to send their 12-year-old sister to school. But, instead of getting into the car, the sister ran back to the house and began to cry hysterically. She was inconsolable, wailing and crying profusely. No one understood what was wrong with her and when asked, she just screamed some more.

Her condition remained like that throughout that day. Their parents had to write a sick leave letter to her school while they were trying to figure out what was wrong with her. By the second day, she had stopped screaming, but would just lie in bed, sobbing, wasting away.

An Ustadz was called in to look at her. The moment the Ustadz pulled in to their driveway, he knew right away what they were dealing with. He saw a black figure at the back seat of their car. It turned out that the thing followed them home that night. But only the sister could see it. The boys had to come clean about what happened to us. The Ustadz then did his thing and later informed that the figure had left.

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If there are any lessons to be learned from our experience, I would say, they would be firstly, boys..never ever ask for a ghost to show itself to you if you are gonna scream like a girl when you see one. Secondly, if you are driving and you see a ghost, then the ghost disappeared, chances are it might be already getting cosy in your back seat. Thirdly, and the most important one, girls…never ever sneak out without permission.

As for the sister, she came out of it just fine. If you ask me, she was probably just being a drama queen and didn’t want to go to school. Who knows.

Deadly Secret

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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