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...