Tiger Woods

Ok, this doesn't seem to go away. After we heard Tiger Wood's admission of his own should I say dalliance, he suddenly became the joke of the twitterverse and the net all over. Even the CNN couldn't help but join in the bandwagon of the tabloid world. Everyone seems to rush in digging up a piece of the story. Twitter's popular tweets were on jokes which I thought were hilarious. But jokes aside, I really pity this guy. I supposed when you are a public figure and rely your income on public endorsements, part of the bargain is that you forfeit your right to privacy. I have been following him as I am such a big fan. In fact I went to see him played golf once in a Johnny Walker Classic some years ago in Bangkok. Funny, I actually bought a package ticket to fly to Bangkok just to see him played. The Tiger effect is that many people who play golf and some that I know don't, are actually drawn to watch golf because there is Tiger playing. I actually will get my self glued if Tiger is playing on the sports channel. He is such a golf wonder, the way he drives the golf ball miles and miles away and the way he gets the ball rolling into the hole with his putter makes you wonder how he could ever do that. Anyway, in the Bangkok tournament, he was reportedly paid $1 million USD appearance fee. Thats right just to appear he was paid that amount of money! But he didn't disappoint us, he actually won that tournament. For the winning prize, it was much much lower than his appearance fee.

well, I just hope in the coming days, the news on his transgression will just go away. Let this be just his private affairs for him to sort it out with his wife and family. Because as for me, I just want to enjoy seeing him play golf again and win as many majors as Jack Nicklaus if not better.

Mandiri (ability to be independent and not dependent on others)

Do I sound heartless if I keep reminding my kids I would charge them rent if they still stay with me if they turn 21? well I do exactly just that albeit with the best of intention. I want my kids to think that his dad whom they cheeckily say their "24 hour atm" will not always be there to support them. I want them to be aware that everything they have now is not just there by pure luck but really by sheer hard work. I keep telling my kids that I was already away from my parents since I was 11 and I actually never asked a single cent (which is actually true) since then. Okay I did go back once a year during the school holidays and stayed with my parents but I never asked any money from them as I had my scholarship allowance to cover my expenses everytime I came back to Brunei. By the time I finished school at 22 and back to Brunei, I already had a job and I actually gave my parents money to buy groceries and I helped them cover the household expenses.
When I think of it now, the greatest gift that my parents gave me was allowing me to be away that early age. I dont have any regrets for leaving them at that early age. I learned to become very independent. I was ever more determined to study hard and worked my way up to get a good education. No, I wasnt fed on a silver spoon. I wasntnt a spoilt brat. My early years were spent at a Government malay school not a fancy private or international school. I was only given 20 cents a day (and sometimes with no pocket money at all). I want to remind my kids now unlike their atm machine dad, they are now in the most expensive private schools and its fully covered all thanks to the previleges given to their "atm machine" . In fact when I was at a young age, me and my eldest sister were already taught on how to earn our own pocket money. I remember the time when my mum used to leave us at Pantai Muara selling keropok and snacks at the weekends. I also remember the time I would be selling kacang rebus (steamed groundnuts) everytime there was a "sabung ayam" in our kampung. Honestly I had no idea if that time cock fighting was illegal or if it had entered our legal dictionary as a crime of cruelty to animals. I would also be going to the rivers trying to catch mud crab (which we call membintur) and the nearby forest for edible wild mush room and "bayam hutan" (wild spinach) or rabung nibung. These are edible young shoots of the wild spiky nibung palms. The spiky torns are actually sharp and can cause nasty prickly stings if you accidently step on them. Their tiny torns can get stuck under your skin and can become infected if you dont squeeze them out.

I actually became quite an expert on the art of survival. I know mushrooms that grow wild on trees expecially rubber trees are edible and those that grow on land are dead poisonous. I know where would be the best places to get karamunting or kelamunting which are wild berries, rebung nibung and occassionaly I would follow my older cousin, abang usop to catch the pelanduk (mouse deer). At that age I became so stupidly daring too. I remember when I was about 9 or 10, Abang usop, my brother and I went to the river estuarine in Serasa to catch the mud crab. one of our traps actually lost its nylon rope which we would normaly tie around the mangrove tree along the estuarine. The estuarine was probably 10 0r 15 feet deep and I challenged my brother to look for the lost trap in the murky waters of the estuarine. My eldest brother didnt dare to jump into the water and I did. I actually found the trap. Now of course, I realise that wasnt the wisest thing to do as now I know that estuarine is actually infested with crocodiles!

It has been awhile

wow. it does feel like that I have just awoken from a coma. I have not visited my blog and neither have I attempted to write anything until tonite. I am really sorry stercus. As you probably have heard. I have changed job, changed house and in fact I have changed "ma maison et mon pays" (no, I havent changed my nationality). Je suis maintenant un ambassadeur. yes, that's right. You heard me. It is a new job, a new country and you can say a whole new life for me and my family. And as you can imagine, there is a lot of adjustment to make not only for me but for the entire family. Moving to a new country is never easy. In our case, we have to leave many loved ones behind and some of them I would never even know if I could still see them. I have a very sick mother and mother in law who is suffering from a stroke and a dad who has a chronic kidney failure who is still stubbornly wanting to look for a donor despite advices from a doctor that he is better off on dialysis.

After 3 weeks here, I can say that I am now slowly adjusting to the pace of life here. Its really a beautiful land and the people are really nice too. I will probably start a new blog at least to log a daily account that my family and I encounter during our stay here. The question that I have to decide is whether I should make the blog public. well, I will have to think hard about it later.

I certainly will need to keep a daily diary of things that I do here. At least one day in the future, I will be able to look back and reminiscise the bits and pieces of our life in this new country we now call home at least for the next 2 or 3 years.

About dad...

I bought my dad a lazy sofa for him today and he was so happy. What happened was he wanted to take one of my prized posessions away. I have this 2 pieces of Castilla limited editions lazy chairs which I bought in Singapore. He said he wanted to take away one as he needed one for him to watch TV. I told him there is no way I would give up those chairs even if he only wanted to borrow them. I know dad so well. He would take my cars for a ride and I could guarantee my own life, they would end up getting bumps and knocks here and there! No I am not exaggerating. At one time he took my Ford Ranger and it came back with a big dent right on the front bumper. I actually asked him how it happened and he said he was hit by a car. I know dad so well. He would not admit to anything. Anyone who saw the dent on the Ford Ranger could actually tell that it was caused by a self accident. I didnt want to argue with dad so I ended buying him another Ford Ranger so that he wont wreck my own! strangely enough, his Ford Ranger is now nearly 2 years with him and there is yet to be a single scratch on the car. it still looks brand new and he wont let another soul touch that Ranger! I guess for him its ok to wreck his sons' cars but big no no to his own.

ATI

if an organisation doesnt have accountability, transparency and integrity (ATI) mechanisms in place, believe me its people inside will try every opportunity to abuse its powers. These 3 pillars form the very principle of good governance. The best form of accountability is still public scrutiny. That is why public offices are encouraged to have feedback mechanisms such as having in place suggestion boxes and customer satisfaction surveys.

dont pass your judgement until you read the full facts

ไม่ให้ตัดสินจนกว่าคุณจะอ่านเต็มข้อเท็จจริง

The right to expose but not to criticize

As a public officer, you should never ever make any disparaging remarks about the Government policies.  But this does not mean you cannot expose abuse of powers or excesses of public officers.

what does this mean? well as an example, you should never ever make public criticism the government ban on smoking in certain public premises but you can certainly expose any public officer who flouts this ban!

Natural justice

there are 2 principles:

1.  you must listen to both sides of the argument

2. you cannot be fair if you are interested in the outcome

sebelum buat keputusan, dengar dulu deh kedua pihak dan kitane inda akan belaku adil kalau kitane ada kepentingan dalam keputusan atu.

clarity of silence

The privacy and clarity of silence
Can cleanse the heart
And heal it more easily and swiftly
Than all the words we so desperately try to find.

Silence gives space to thoughts and images,
Reflecting gently on details
Otherwise lost
In the murky water
Of the noisiness of life.

Silence brings wonder
At life’s meticulous design.
It purifies our surroundings.
Greater yet,
It distills our world within.

All at once we can breathe freely.
Gone is the smothering effect of trying too hard.
Gone is the pressure of fear and pain.

Silence is a great gift to ourselves.
It is a gift we ought at times
Give to others.

~Viola Jaynes

Paradox of plenty

In her book, The Paradox of Plenty Terry Lynn Karl explains why, in the midst of two massive oil booms in the 1970s, oil-exporting governments as different as Venezuela, Iran, Nigeria, Algeria, and Indonesia chose common development paths and suffered similarly disappointing outcomes. She contends that oil countries, while seemingly disparate, are characterized by similar social classes and patterns of collective action. In these countries, dependence on petroleum leads to disproportionate fiscal reliance on petrodollars and public spending, at the expense of statecraft. Oil booms, which create the illusion of prosperity and development, actually destabilize regimes by reinforcing oil-based interests and further weakening state capacity.

Karl's incisive investigation unites structural and choice-based approaches by illuminating how decisions of policymakers are embedded in institutions interacting with domestic and international markets. This approach—which Karl dubs "structured contingency"—uses a state's leading sector as the starting point for identifying a range of decision-making choices, and ends by examining the dynamics of the state itself.

isnt this a wake up call for us?

I lost another uncle

I just heard the sad news my uncle on my mother's side had just passed away this morning. He had been suffering from prostate cancer for awhile. I knew his time would come as the doctor attending him said that it was already in advanced stage and gave him a few months to live. When I visited him, my amit (his wife and my mum's very close older sister) was full of hope. She was angry to the doctor for telling her that his ailment couldn't be cured. She said that Doctors should be more positive. I was just nodding my head to show my agreement though I knew in my heart that doctors cannot give false hope to us. That is why when my mum fell into a coma and lost her pulse, I was never angry to the doctors at A&E for informing us to brace for the worst. I could see that they were trying their very best. What is important for us I think is never to give up hope and continue to pray to Al-mighty. To my uncle may you rest in peace. Amin. Al-fatiha.

Call me an idealist but I know you and I can make a difference

If each grain of sand were to say: One grain does not make a mountain, There would be no land. If each drop of water were to say: One drop does not make an ocean, There would be no sea. If each note of music were to say: Each note does not make a symphony, There would be no melody. If each word were to say: One word does not make a library, There would be no book. If each brick were to say: One brick does not make a wall, There would be no house. If each seed were to say: One seed does not make a field, There would be no harvest. If each of us were to say: One person does not make the difference, There would never be love and peace on earth. You and I do make the difference, Begin today and make the difference. by anonymous

Back to school

I cant believe that after more than 19 years, I am actually back to campus. First day of school was more of an ice breaker. we got to introduce our selves. There is a vice president of an organisation from China, directors from various law enforcement agencies in Spore and from Hong Kong and 1 from Botswana who is yet to appear. The NUS campus for this program is actually the old NUS campus at Bukit Timah and not far away from my old college NJC. The building looks colonial but the facilities are fantastic. First day lesson was more of an interactive lesson on globalisation and the financial crisis.  At night as part of the team bonding session, we were brought to a restaurant called Coriander Leaf where we actually had to cook our own food and we would be given prizes for the best prepared food. We were divided into teams and I was in Team 5.  Our team was asked to prepare a fusion peking duck. I had to prepare the sweet and sour onion chutney as the sauce. Kiasu as I was, we actually won 1st prize and we took away the grand prize, a food grater and a set of measuring cups for each of the team member.  I have to say, the restaurant has a fantastic concept. We got to cook and eat our own food. The owner, Sania Ahad is beautiful and hilarious. She and her staff made cooking so fun and enjoyable. At the end the various array of gourmet that we prepared didn't come to waste as we were very hungry.  For one night I became a culinary expert...

The unsung heroes

Tonite's entry on my blog is dedicated to all the unsung heroes at our Intensive Care Unit especially for my school friend of the yesteryears saiful 'karau'. Well, Saiful or si karau as we fondly called him likes to don a short spikey hair and that's where he got his nickname from. You wont actually miss him as he looks exactly like a GI Joe who just got out of a military boot camp. I have known him since we were kids in Singapore. He was actually a year my senior at boarding for Brunei students in Singapore which we called AKBS (Asrama Kerajaan Brunei di Singapura). This was the hostel where at the tender age of 11 I first started to get my first taste of a foreign land. Si karau like many of us had always been good at sports. He took up football, sepak takraw and badminton. He excelled in all of them. I on the other hand was the reluctant sportman. I wouldnt say I was good in sports. But I actually owed it to him. He with the other seniors would drag us juniors to play the games or sports they got us to play. Si Karau was never a bully but because he was so damned good in the sports, we became so determined to outdo him. So he became our iconic mentor of sort.
When mum was admitted at the ICU, he was one of the first person I saw. I had not seen him in ages but I immidiately recognised him by his short spikey hair. Saiful like many male and female nurses there are the frontline staff at the ICU. In fact he is more than just a nurse. He is a qualified APN (I think it means Assistant Practitioner Nurse). If the doctor were a captain of an airplane, he would be like his first officer. Thats how important he is. These are the real heroes as they work tirelessly to keep everyone's hopes for their loved ones like ours alive. Today, si karau called to inform me that my mum was taken off the artificial respiratory.she could now breathe on her own and she was so 'nyanyah' so I was told. That is my mum alright! And now whilst I am waiting to see my mum, I can see these unsung heroes at work. There are oblivious of the countless hopes that have been kept alive by their true dedication and love in their everyday work. Tonite I celebrate you my friend. Thank you karau and the rest of your crew. May Allah bless all of you for all of your good deeds. Amin

Via nokia e90

I am still at ICU. I managed to see babu and she is conscious. The nurse told me that she is now able to breathe on her own. This is really good news. But she is visibly in pain. I told her not to get excited as she is still weak. I could see tears falling down her weak eyes and she was wailing in pain. She asked me for a peice of paper and she wrote this 'bapa, ampun dosa ku'. I know she wanted to see my dad. I told her, dad is now on dialysis in rimba. I know she misses my dad.

Supermum part 2

Our super mum is responding well to medications. She is still on artifical respiratory but the good news is her bp is way better than before. She passed out her urine today so that means her kidneys are still functioning. Alhamdullilah.
This is just a pic I took with my Nokia E90 outside the ICU.

Strongest mum in the world

I am now at the ICU at our RIPAS Hospital. My mum is now fighting for her life. She has been suffering from a lot of medical conditions for as long as I know. She was diagnosed as having stomach cancer last year and the doctors managed to remove it and she recovered well. She is also a diabetic and suffering from high blood pressure. Earlier this year she was also diagnosed as having a heart condition. My mum is also on medication for her bi-polar condition. Earlier in the evening, she simply collasped and lost her blood pressure. The doctors were simply puzzled why it happened. Luckily she was already being warded when this happened. She was brought to the a&e with no pulse. Her blood pressure went down to 30. At the unit, the doctors and nurses tried to revive her. They broke the news to us that her chances were very very slim. I didnt want to lose hope. I know my mum is the strongest person on this earth. She gave birth to all 9 of us. She went through several operations in her life. I know she will pull through. I know she will not give up. At the a&e she was basically motionless. The doctor informed me that I had to brace for the worst. I whispered to my mum's ear to be strong. I recited the shahada. I know she heard me. She was brought up to the ICU. I was with her through out. At the ICU, they managed to get her bp to 100. She responded to our voices. Alhamdulillah. I was very relieved. Now her condition is still very critical but she is responding to medications. I know she is a very strong woman. That is my mum.

The loneliest job

When I have migraine, I know its time to stop thinking and simply switch off and hit to the land of Nod. I've just had a few assignments completed and the problem with me when I start doing heavy thinking, the grey matter up in my head simply doesn't know how to switch off!

Anyway, I once saw a quote that says "its lonely at the top".  How very true.  There are many times I feel I have the loneliest job and its getting tougher by the day.  Thats the reason I find solace in blogging as I found a way of expressing and letting out my thoughts as if I were in front of a shrink.  This of course is done without compromising my job as I know there are many "donts".  As a lawyer in the public service understanding the legal parameters is just something I cant ignore lest I be made accountable.

I used to think that I could gain enough strength, courage and confidence in my job by every experience that I have to go through in which I really stop to look fear in the face. I when confronted with difficult situations will always say, 'I have lived through more worse than this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along for sure.' I used to go to court.  I used to handle a lot of difficult situations, tough witnesses, tough defendants, tough defence lawyers and tough judges. I have dealt with robbers, gang rapists, thugs and thieves.  That experience in the courts actually had made me a person who can handle any given situation.

But now there are many times I am in a no-win situation. I say " damned if I do, condemned if I dont". If that happens I have little choice and most often than not, I have to do what I think is right not because I want to please anyone but because it is simply the right thing to do under the law. This is the exactly the point that makes me think and wonder on how long I will last in this job.  Investigating people with authority is never an easy job because these people can bite back and when they bite, I know they will bite hard.  They will use every means they know to bite back. 

Initially I got paranoid over this. For many months, I keep myself and my family away from virtually every people that we know except close families. I banned my kids from the internet, blogs, facebook or other social networking sites.  But soon I realise, they are only kids once.  To make them a responsible person is not to hide them from the rest of the world.  They have to lead a normal life. They have to learn to make their own mistakes because I know they will learn from them. I have to live a normal life.  To fight fear is not to hide from it. You have to face it. I want my children to live a normal life, meet their friends at the mall or the movies for as long as they are always responsible and respectful persons and mindful of the job that I have to do.   If I were hiding from the world, I must have done something wrong.  Wasnt it me who actually said, 'corruption and abuse of power is fearful of transparency'? so why should I hide? I once said that public officials will think twice of committing abuse of power if they know if they are constantly being watched and under continuous public scrutiny.  I certainly have to live up and practice what I preach. I know what the legal parameters are.  I know what the OSA says, I know what the PCA says.  I know what the Sedition Act says.  I know what the defamation laws say. I know what the General Order says.  So at the end come what may, it is my world according to stercus accidit!! (please google for its meaning) good night (or rather morning now)

My lil Haziq

Boy, my lil son Haziq who is only 4 is probably the most difficult person that I ever have to negotiate with. I wanted to bring him for a haircut and he insisted that his mohawk would remain. Of course he loves to go to the barber shop as the indian barber would normally give him a lil lollypop as his way of keeping lil haziq still on the chair. I told him that he would need to get his hair cut as it has grown so long. Lil haziq would never say no to that offer but he would as always have a comeback to say at me. 'mohok babah' as he would normally say. I just have to nod yes as I knew saying no would always mean another comeback as he just loved to have the final word. Anyway, to cut the story short when we were at the barber shop, he was quick enough to tell the indian barber what he wanted and the barber understood him as usual.

Majlis Pertandingan Membaca Al-Quran Bahagian Dewasa Peringkat Akhir Kebangsaan Tahun 1430H/2009M

I am now at the ICC attending the annual tilawatil quran. We are expecting our Crown Prince to officiate the event. This annual quran reading competition is held to select the representatives in both the male and female category to represent this country at the annual international event that is normally held in Kuala Lumpur. The competition will run for 2 days culminating with the prize presentation. I am feeling very tired due to a lack of sleep. I have been working all day and night on a few projects. I am at the moment exploring the possibilty of using Facebook in our public outreach program. So far the responses have been very encouraging. Some of the comments and suggestions posted are very good. I will post an article on my official weblog anticorruptionwatch.blogspot.com on why we are pushing our cause on the newer technologies. But I simply would like to simply say this corruption is fearful of transparency because I know as a matter of fact that public officials will think twice of committing abuse of powers especially corruption if they know their actions are under the constant public scrutiny.
This post was made yesterday but somehow my nokia refused to send it.

KFC

Do you know we have our very own KFC a lot earlier than when colonel sanders first set foot in Brunei? Yes, its none other than our Kianggeh Food Court (KFC) situated along the Brunei river.
one of my sisters called me this evening if I would like to eat satay at the KFC. So at this very moment, I am now here at the KFC with my missus and my oldest daughter.
Well, I couldnt remember the last time I actually hung out at this famous open food court along the jalan residency. I am actually surprised that the food court is still around and there are people thronging the area! I remember when I was probably 7 or 8 years old my dad used to bring us here to eat satay or soto hati buyah. He would bring us here usually when he got his pay check. As a corporal in the police band, it was obvious that we couldnt expect much luxury and spending a night outing at the 'KFC' was such a big deal as it was a once in a blue moon occasion. Dad would first tell on the rules of eating the satay here. The stalls would charge the satay we ate by the number of satay sticks left on the table. They would come with different varieties, so dad would tell us that each of us would only get 4 or 5 sticks. There were also occassions when he would 'tapao'(to go) some satays and soto. The scariest part was that he would park his car right infront of the cemetary across the road and left us in the car whilst he ordered the tapao. Tonight I parked my car right at the spot where dad used to leave us and told my daughter exactly that.
I have to say the satay is still very tasty and the cool breeze blowing along the brunei river with the kampung air as the backdrop is such a wonderful experience. My only hope is for the authority to beautify the area further as it can be a great tourist attraction.

Cupcakes making the news?

I am now on my way to work. I cant believe that cupcakes are making the 7 am news! Are we running out of news?

In love with Laila

I'm simply in love with 'laila' and hope my missus dont get me wrong on this..Seeing His Majesty with his sons going down the paddy field barefooted and sweating it out planting the newly named 'laila', our very own rice hybrid actually brought tears to my eyes. I was simply overcome with joy and pride that we have our very own monarch coming out in the morning heat planting the paddy seedlings. It was the most evident symbolic gesture of our king in telling his subjects that we must be self sufficient in the rice production. I believe this is doable. We were once a self-sufficient rice producing country until oil was found. All of us were basically born and fed with 'beras siam' ever since. I can't wait to get my hand on 'laila' as I'm sure being local (with a filipino mix) will feel and taste better than the foreign siamese ;-)

posted via push email on Nokia E90

Shoe throwing culture? No thanks

THis is just a quick entry via my mobile email as I am having my lunch with missus. I am reading today's paper on an angry student in India throwing a shoe at PM Manmohan Singh. It now seems to appear that throwing a shoe at politicians has become quite a fad after that famous incident on former US President George W Bush. What is happening? Has the world gone to accept this as an art nouveau of sort? Its absolute bonkers! Turning to violence no matter how less harmful it may seem as a mark of protest is to me wholly unacceptable. This is definitely not the stercus accidit world!

Final result

Brunei dpmm 2 saf fc 1. We are now on top of the league table! Fantastique!

Live photo of the game

Half time result.

The score is still 1 nil to Brunei. Let us hope that the score will remain until the end game. If it does then brunei dpmm will be top of the league. It will be a tremendous boost to the morale of our team in its first season with the spore league..go brunei go!

Football fever

I am now at the stadium with my missus and my younger siblings. Football fever is back. It was quite sometime ago that missus and me last watched a game and I thought I would give my voice of support to our 'brunei' team since they joined the spore league. The atmospehere was ecstatic and alive with the usual home fans shouting and booing. It reminded me of the good olde days when I was a young boy watching the game with dad. He was the loudest amongst the crowd with the usual chant 'you bloody stupid referee' everytime the referee gave away the ball or freekick to the away team. I used to hide my face in ambarrasement everytime he did that as the crowd would egg him on to say it louder, 'steady pengiran!'. With the atmosphere coming out alive like tonight I can understand why some fans frenzied in excitement especially now our dppm team is leading by 1 nil. I will continue to update you as the game goes on....

tweaking by the twit

I did it again! I thought my old dexterity with anything computers would help me improve the look of my blogsite.  So I began downloading some of the free xml codes that I got from the many sites on the net. somehow, I didnt do it right (again). I lost some of my old links and xml codes like the visitors tracker and my kids' photos.  I will have to rebuild the blog again!how frustrating! grrrrr....

I have always thought that I have been a computer geek.  When I was at school, I was amongst the first one who managed to get hold of the commodore 64.  Yes it was running on 64 kilobytes of RAM and back then we had to use cassettes to install any program or to save anything as there was no such thing as floppy discs (my daughter asked me what is that?) and let alone cdrw!.  I thought it was the coolest possession that I had which I bought with my own savings from the monthly allowance that I got as a scholarship student in Singapore. computers were then very abstract. I remember wordstar was the few word processing software available and after that wordperfect entered the market. before the windows operating system (was it 3?) came into the foray, you would need to learn a lot of the c command. And now things have all changed but I dont know if its for the better or worse as the endless arrays of softwares, tools and sites available are just mind boggling! Just the other day I got an email from a friend asking me to "twitter"? I am sure it was a mass email generated by the program. So the question now is should I or should I not twitter? I have been using facebook for a while and I have to say now I began to get hooked to it simply because of its simplicity (I use my nokiae90 to "fb") and like what I said in my previous posting, it is indeed very useful for me to get connected with my friends and relatives all over the world. 

But the downside of this technologies and the always-connected life, there is this constant urge and expectation to always be up-to-date on my emails and on the web. I have this constant urge to find answers for every question that comes to my head and by googling you are bound to get the answers in a matter of seconds. Indeed the amount of information available for free on the net is the biggest pull factor on why it is the greatest invention that mankind has ever come up.  But what if there is a force behind all this? What if the search engines that are being developed are tweaked in such away that information that promotes a certain cause or propaganda goes on top of the search list? is this not possible? (oh no, I have gone deeper now in this conspiracy theory)

But really? Take wikipedia for instance, one of the noblest inventions that the internet has managed to come up. As we all know it is a free encyclopedia built by contributors like you and me. 

But can we rely on the information from wikipedia especially those that can affect certain political or legal cause? That can affect the minds of the people who read them? Can wikipedia be used for some clandestine purpose for instance as a tool by Governments as one of its open source for its propaganda machine?

I have tried to pick up one particular interest in my heart.  The issue of Limbang which has been a disputed territory as it was annexed illegally by Rajah Brooke of Sarawak in 1890. This is what I got from wikipedia and I managed to trace the IP (internet protocol) address of the person(s) contributing the information on wikipedia as is:

The two countries agreed, via the signing of Exchange of Letters on 16 March, 2009, to settle their boundary issues and demarcate their common border according to the five historical agreements, of which the two directly concern Limbang, and to use the watershed principle to fill in the gaps. This essentially reaffirms the current de facto boundary without major deviation and has led Malaysia to declare that the Limbang Question has been settled with Malaysia having unequivocal ownership over Limbang.{{cite web |url=http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=396573 | title=Brunei Drops Territorial Claim Over Limbang | accessdate=2009-03-17 |author=Hafizah Kamaruddin |date=March 17, 2009 |publisher=''[http://www.bernama.com.my [[Bernama]]]''}} Brunei however immediately denied Malaysian press reports, saying the Limbang Question was never discussed during negotiations for the Letters of Exchange.{{cite web |url=http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/mar18h1.htm | title=Brunei denies Limbang story | accessdate=2009-03-23 |author=Azlan Othman |date=March 18, 2009 |publisher=''[http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/ [[Borneo Bulletin]]]''}} Malaysia subsequently said the Limbang Question will be settled when the survey and demarcation of the boundary between the two countries is completed.{{cite web |url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/20/nation/3518846&sec=nation | title=Limbang border to be set | accessdate=2009-03-20 |author=Nurbaiti Hamdan |date=March 20, 2009 |publisher=''[http://www.thestar.com.my [[The Star]]]''}}

Now, isnt Bernama an official government news agency?

Your guess is just as good as mine.

Standing Orders of our LegCo

If you have ever attended the debate at our Legislative Council, you would have noticed that the atmosphere is a lot more formal with real decorum than any of those theatrics and sometimes violent scenes that you see in parliament houses of other countries (or territory?) like Taiwan. We don’t see our YBs hurl abuses at each other or like you see in Taiwan Parliament some of them even end up trading punches.  Parliament as a very important branch of Government should actually place itself with dignity as it is part of a symbol of a sovereign country.  After all that is the place where the laws of the land debated and get enacted.  I am very glad since the very beginning of our Majlis Mesyuarat Negeri  (now Majlis Mesyuarat Negara) we have not seen such unsightly incidents.

I am very sure that every legislative council or parliament of any country has a set of rules on how it runs its debate.  In Brunei, the Constitution provides a subsidiary legislation (which is a kind of a “smaller” law) that governs the conduct of proceedings of the Council and its called the Standing Orders.   When the council is in session, the members or the YBs who are not speaking shall not cross the floor of the Council unnecessarily or read newspapers, books, letters or other documents except those which are directly connected with the business of the Council and if there are no rules provided under the standing orders or the Brunei Constitution, they can actually adopt the practice or rules that are currently being practiced by the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.  

So if you have any ambition of becoming a YB in the future, knowing these rules is a good starting ground.  

Can Facebook make you a lot less smarter?

This actually just comes out.  Based on a study of 219 students at Ohio State University , suggests that the more you use Facebook, the less you study, and the worse your grades get. However, the report’s author does say the report only shows a possible connection between Facebook use and lower performance in your studies.  So can the conclusion be that Facebook make you a lot less smarter?

Well, I am one of those many millions who have a facebook account. I wouldn't want to admit that finding as scientific though. I somehow find Facebook useful to get in touch with my friends and see what they are up to.  I use it to express my personal thoughts and sometimes poke a bit of fun at my lil brother and friends over football especially when Liverpool FC gets beaten. Like tonite, Liverpool is supposed to have its return match against Chelsea FC.  My crystal ball says they will get beaten by the Blues..hehehe..To my lil brother Hazami..sorry dear.

All good things must come to an end

All good things must come to an end and this includes my 21 day long vacation.  Today is my last day of the 21 day leave and I have to get back to work this saturday.  The thought of coming back to work is really quite a mixed feeling.  Somehow I do miss my office, my desk, my pc and of course the everyday challenges that I have to face when it comes to dealing with managing an organisation.  On the other hand the 21 days that I take to get my mind off work is really refreshing. I know I am not going to have the same opportunity again of getting up in the morning according to my own sweet time or spending almost every day in the golf course or at my favourite kopi tiam or at a restaurant eating dimsum. I am pretty well rested all right but I am going to miss all the stress free activities that I do when I am on leave. 

I am supposed to get up early tomorrow as I am invited to play in the ASEAN Law Association Golf Tournament.  The Association, ALA for short is an ASEAN fraternity of lawyers both in the Government and the private sector in the region and these include judges and the attorney generals.  I have been invited to participate as in the past.  We had a small reception this afternoon organised by our Law Society at the Empire Golf Club. I was glad to see some of my old friends from Singapore. Anyway I need to log off now.  I need a good rest for the tournament.

PKL and PIKB

I am now attending the PKL and PIKL awards ceremony at the palace. This is the time of the year that 100s of recipients of the honours q up to receive the awards from our crown prince. You can see the faces of the recipients glowing as some of them would have waited years to receive the awards. It is a kind of recognition to them for their contribution to the state and the people of this country. Some of my old pals were on the list.. so a big heartiest congrats to them. Im now technically on leave but I have to attend today's function as I need to replace the one I missed last thursday. Somehow as usual i completely forgot that i had a function to attend last thursday. As usual i will have to come up with a written excuse to the state protocol dept for not attending. They probably think that im running out of excuses if i said i completely had forgotten about it.

Looking forward to my vacation

I have been out of the internet at home for awhile. I was so fed up with the slow connection so I terminated the service. Now Im using GoBroadband and in fact this posting is made on my nokia e90 via email whilst caught in the traffic jam (I am not driving). So starting from now on, i will only be doing short postings as I am just not used to the small key pad and the tiny screen.
I will be taking my long vacation starting this saturday. Im taking the kids to kuching to visit my sister who happens to stay there now as the husband is working at the consulate office. Its funny after the bruhuha of Limbang I chose Kuching as my holiday destination. My old pal at AGC cheekily poked a bit of fun on me saying that if I got a 'dato patinggi' then they know who the traitor is! Hehe not a long shot..I am a true born bruneian. I wished i could write more but not now. When the time is write i probably will. But for now, i just want to let the whole thing die down. Im so looking forward to my vacation...

Waiting nervously for the big moment

Today will mark a new beginning in the history of this country as we will have a recognised maritime border. I am very proud that I have been part of that process. It does mean a lot to this country as it will guarantee a continuing prosperity of this country for many years to come. just check on the news...

Happy CNY to all my chinese friends

May I wish a happy chinese new year to everyone who celebrates the annual spring festival.  Like Hari Raya,  the chinese community here will have their open house inviting their friends and relatives.  It normally lasts for 15 days with the chap goh meh marks the end of the celebration.  This is the first full moon of the lunar calendar.  This year is the year of the ox and do you know that President Obama was born in the year of the ox?

And this is just a random knowledge I picked up from the net, research done by a UK university found that too much thinking makes you fat as you tend to take in more calories (duh! like I don't know that already)

Ok, I end with this short entry with some random photos that I tweaked with photoFunia, the face recognition technology website.  My daughter actually told me about the site and I thought it's really cool...

Whose fault is it anyway?

I just finished reading my friend’s very interesting posting that he wrote on his weblog http://bruneiresources.blogspot.com/ entitled Managing Disasters (again) http://bruneiresources.blogspot.com/2009/01/managing-disasters-again.html  The loss of lives was really a sad thing to happen and my condolences to the families. On the question of who to blame for the countless number of houses that collapsed due to the torrential rain and floods, I thought I would give here a bit of an English legal perspective but I say this without prejudice. I am not here trying to give any form of legal advice but really to share with you some knowledge on how the law would most likely look at it in terms of apportioning blame. On that question of who can they blame, it really is a question of which “neighbor” owed the duty of care.The case of Donahue vs Stevenson (1932) is probably the one that will be cited by English lawyers in terms of answering that question. On August 26, 1928, May Donoghue sat in the Wellmeadow Café in Paisley and drank the defendant manufacturer’s ginger beer, which her friend had purchased for her. The bottle contained the decomposed remains of a snail. After drinking it, Donoghue suffered from shock and severe gastro-enteritis. As she could not sue under contract law since it was her friend, and not she, who had purchased the drink, she brought a claim on the alleged negligence of the ginger beer manufacturer. The case settled for £200. Lord Atkin, hearing the case, stated: “You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbor.”  Negligence cases in their millions have been brought against manufacturers, drivers, employers, doctors, contractors, developers, local authorities, accountants, lawyers and even government departments under this principle.  

If I take a flight on a commercial airline, the airline can’t really say I fly at my own perils and I should be at fault for taking that risk.  This is because the law of negligence would consider me as the airline’s “neighbor” as I would be proximate in relationship with the airline (in this case it would be easy for me to say that the airline was my “neighbor” as I would have a contractual relationship with the airline) and thus there would be a reasonable duty of care owed by the airline to avoid acts or omissions that it could reasonably foresee that would be likely to injure me for instance engine failures in the event the aircraft was airborne.  So one way to answer that question who can they blame is to find who is the proximate “neighbor”  or “neighbors” who breached his/their duty of care that resulted in the damage to the houses?  is it the developer who failed to provide proper drainage and strong retaining wall when the risk of your house collapsing was really a reasonably foreseeable risk? or is it your next door neighbour who built an illegal extension that he knew could pose some risk of damage to your house? or could this simply that no “neighbor” was at fault as it was simply an act of god?  it is natural for people to blame those who are directly responsible for the injury or damage or those who have the resources to rectify the damage.  What happened in the last few days is really a sad case for Brunei but I am very sure that it wont be the last that we see.  If there are lessons to be learned, I would say strengthening our legal framework on the building code and enforcing them without fear or favour would be our first priority.

Serasa Beach, a tourist attraction?

I was reading an article in our local newspaper not too long ago that Serasa beach with its pristine beach and serene surrounding is a tourist attraction. So at one weekend I brought my kids and wife to do our bit of KNK (Kenali Negara Ku, our tourism promo to encourage us explore our own backyard instead of going overseas).  When we were there, I was in for a bit of shock.  I wasn't sure if I would agree with the author of the article because what I saw was not exactly something that I would describe as pristine. There were all kinds rubbish strewn on both sides of the beaches and I had to say that the scene was appalling. With all the rubbish thrown all over the place, I couldn't believe that there were still kids and parents who would take a dip in the polluted water.  The question is who ought to be responsible in cleaning this up?

I am so soooo sorry

I cant forgive myself.  Today I made the cardinal sin of an irresponsible dad and be honest I wasnt really proud of it. I forgot to pick up my son alai syafiq after school! Today was his first day of real school after the 3 day orientation at the Maktab Sains. I am still trying to get used with the new routine of picking him up after school.  Before at his old school, it was my indon driver whom I relied on to send and pick up the kids from school with the exception of my 2 daughters who go to JIS.  So I was supposed to pick him at 5.30 pm after my badminton game but somehow my mind simply slipped.  I went back to my desk after the game as I had a few things to clear.  I am supposed to give a presentation this coming tuesday and I had to draft a few legal opinions which obviously I cant say much here as they are OSA.  so you can imagine that my mind was crisscrossing from one piece of work to another.  Little did I realise that the time flew as quickly as my feeble-mindedness  when my missus gave me a call if I had picked up my son. My heart pounded so fast because when my missus called I thought to myself  that I wouldnt be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to him as it was already almost 7 pm! When I arrived at the school, luckily there were two security guards who were waiting with my son. I was really so relieved that he was not alone. I was thanking the guards profusely and apologised to them for my lateness.  Obviously my son was very upset and I could see tears in his eyes. I told him how sorry I was and to make it up I bought him some cheese burgers at Jollibee just nearby.  I cant say how thankful I was to the security officers for allowing my son to use their handphone to call his mum.  This is one reason why I think students should be allowed to carry handphones for as long as they dont use them during lesson hours.  One possible option is for the class teacher to keep them in a safebox and return them to the students after school hours are over. I can understand that schools are reluctant to do this as this would add an extra  administrative burden to them and there is also the liability issue if the phones in their custody got stolen or damaged. I know there would be a lot more of other issues to resolve than the ones I mentioned. Another alternative is to provide a few public phones that the students can use to call important numbers like calling their forgetful dad!

Alai Syafiq's first day

The new year 2009 has somehow begun with nothing unusual.  My eldest son Alai Syafiq has begun his orientation week at his new school, Maktab Sains.  Missus and me attended his first day of school. Obviously he was very anxious.  As usual this is the time of the year that I will come up with my own list of new year resolutions. I actually had two wish-lists this year, my own personal one and one which I drew up for the office and published in our intranet. I won't publish the personal one here as it is personal but rest assured like any personal resolution it is a positive one.  I asked Kaka Amal, my eldest daughter to come up with hers which she posted in her blog poiseandlegs.blogspot.com.  Anyway, the dreaded traffic jams will hit the road as usual again as school days have begun after the long break..