Brunei Darussalam The Road to Independence

Truly an inspirational book of which I have just finished reading. Inspired? From a history book?

Yes, inspired by the eloquence of AlMarhum Begawan's steadfast will in seeing that Brunei does survive especially during turbulent times of the 1960's. '' air di cincang tak akan putus, darah tebal dari air, amalan ikitikad semua di tangan Allah Subhanu huwa taala''. And this was said in the audience of foreign royal and state delegates seeking AlMarhum Begawan's opinions when the idea of the formation of the federation of malaya was proposed. Such poetic statements. What a true gentleman.

Additionally, I found out that my grandfather, as mentioned in the book, was instrumental in the advancement of local Bruneians. Apart from that, in my opinion, he was a catalyst in fighting for the rights of Malays and was a friend to the late Al Marhum Begawan. Too bad that I had only read this book now after his death of so many years. I wished back then that I had the opportunity to ask him more about Brunei's history and it's 'Road to Independence'

P.S The difference between a 'gift' and 'voluntary donations'.

Seriously, Are We Alone?

Taken from http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu

During bertahlil functions for the late YAM, someone asked me a universally old overdue question that has yet to be answered. 'Uncle, are we alone in this universe?'

Hehe, some may not even bother to answer that question, some may even attempt to answer it based on sightings, proof if any and conspiracy theories such as Area 51.

Wanna know mine?

I have 2 answers.

Scientifically, it is possible. No need to go into details but it is a big possibility in a universe, a universe that seems endless and infinite.

Religiously, it is possible. We are but one planet that is inhabited by humans with Nabi Adam and Hawa as the first of all human kind. We have 4 'kitabs', the Quran, as the most complete and absolute of all, for humans on Earth. We all go according to what has been written for us through age and time and run our course of  history, current time and future.
My point is, there could be other 'kitabs' for other planets going through a similar course of their own fates as written by Allah The Al Mighty. My personal belief is that.

P.S It doesn't matter if we're alone or not, just as long as we have each other.

Brunei Flag At Half Post

I'm not back, I was never away. But my apologies for not updating my blog. All for a good reason.

As of the title, even though I know it's a bit late, is to pay my respects to one of the most influential people in my life.

Al-Marhum Yang  Amat Mulia Pengiran Sura Negara Pengiran Anak Haji Muhammad Bey Muntassir bin Pengiran Indera Mahkota Pengiran Anak(DR)Haji Kemaluddin Al Haj, a man of whom I have been lucky to know, admire and respect.

Brunei has lost one of it's sons. Knowing the late YAM personally, he is a man of vast knowledge, calculated and precise thinking, a truly policy maker and accurate in estimates in both economic and social predictions.

I was with the late YAM from his home till his passing in the hospital and till today, I can still feel his presence around us.

Please join me in praying for the late YAM and may Allah bless his soul.

Al Fatihah.

P.S Gone too soon.

Fatwa Mufti 1999

I reread the book entitled just as to refresh my memory regarding certain issues that affects us in certain aspects of life. Just to recap, the book is a compilation of some of the many letters received from the public with questions posed to the Ministry over the years.

Ones that I found interesting was regarding 'body building contest' , 'mafqud (orang hilang) and 'nasab'.

1) Body building contest - To summarise, it's not okay to have these type of contests and I do assume most would know why. Hehehe.

2)'Mafqud' - Lost or missing persons. If a person goes missing, a married man for example, his assets cannot be distributed according to 'hak'. Unless a missing person is confirmed and proven to be dead or a judge proclaims it so, no one can claim his assets as if he were dead. But a wife can claim 'nafkah' through his assets during his missing by way of a judge as 'nafkah' is still the man's responsibility to his wife and family.

3) 'Nasab' - I'm skipping the general point to get to this one, which is, naming a child of not known origins (anak pungut) with 'berbinkan'  and not necessarily 'Abdullah'. The choices is also not limited to 'Abdullah' but is allowed of choice from the names in 'Al-Asma' Al-Husna, for eg Abdul Rahim, Abdul Jalil with one condition that it does not coincide with the name of the step father. Meaning if a step father's name is "Abdul Rahman", it is not allowed to name a step son of not known origin 'berbinkan' 'Abdul Rahman'.
This is to avoid confusion with regards to 'nasab' between the step father and the step son.

More fatwas http://www.brunet.bn/gov/mufti/fatwa/Senarai%20Fatwa%201966.htm.

P.S It's okay to sell and buy cats just as long as they're not strays.

1431

Selamat Menyambut Tahun Baru Hijrah to all of my muslim 'brothers' and 'sisters'. 

Coincidentally, there was a meteor  shower in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. It was called the 2009 Leonid meteor shower. There were some gatherers to witness the meteor shower and from the information I received, it happened around 3:30 am and lasted for about 10-15 minutes. That must've been a sight to see.

More info on that here and from Brunei Times, here. Btw, I came across this site, here,  where Bruneians budding to be astronomers could benefit by becoming members ,if eligible, and joining the activities. 

There will be a bazaar sale on the 23rd of this month held at Matkab Duli's auditorium hall organised by the parents' association. So come one, come all. It's for a good cause as 2% of the proceeds will be for charity and donated to the Dana Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah's Orphans Fund. (TBC) more info here on facebook.


Extra channels from RTB will be available in December but this has yet to be announced. According to my sources, we will be switching from analog to fully digital and there will be receivers or decoders for sale for us to be able to watch these new channels. (TBC)


P.S Bejarih, bekarih dan belurih pahala pada bulan Zulhijjah. 

Pacquiao Wins!

taken from dailycontirbuter.com

A year older than Cotto, with more fights and wins under Pacquiao's belt, the Filipino World Champion has won another title fight.

The first two rounds was red hot rather than trying to sort the other out. Cotto went 'down' twice after receiving a barrage of speedy punches with power to match. After round 6, Cotto had no other alternative but to see the fight through by timing the pace of the fight (keeping a distance) from the Pacman.

It ended in the 12th after the referee stopped the fight when clearly Cotto, physically damaged and bloodied, was receiving more hits and had nothing to offer to Pacquiao.

So that's it. There's no stopping the Pacman for now.

P.S Congrats Pare.

What's Left of 2009?

taken from bruneitourism.travel

Hehe...I'm not counting the future holidays but rather looking at what other events that we have left to celebrate or look forward to.

Hari Raya Haji or Aidil Adha and the Borneo Games are in 2 weeks time and we are expecting 3 holidays in the month of December. My, my...where did the year go? Looks like my post is a bit premature by 1 month where most bloggers will be talking about the year end and the coming of the new year.

Anyhow, we'll be able to plan ahead for the upcoming school holidays for any planned family trips or outings.

What we can expect in the new year of 2010?

1) Expect the rush for school text books or not? (SPN21)

2) Ministerial shuffling (as expected, has it been 5 years?)

3) ASEAN Tourism Forum @ the BRIDEX Building

4) IMF's report of a higher GDP by 0.4% (InsyaAllah, Amin)

5) Cabaran Bukit Shahbandar by Pemoda

6) Education UK Exhibition

7) 2010 Aberdeen Brunei Senior Masters, Aberdeen Asset Management @ the Empire

Well the list goes on and on.....

P.S Advanced Hello to 2010.

Khutbah Jumaat 13/11/2009 - Accidents Do Happen

taken from funnydb.com

According to the statistics, 85% of road accidents is due to human factors and the other 15% is due to technical or engineering factors such as road conditions, faulty of the car itself.

Despite government’s efforts, accidents WILL still happen. It is impossible to achieve 0% or Sifar Accident. What is done is to reduce the number of accidents that cause fatalities. I do agree that the human factor is the dominant factor in the statistics and one of the ways to mitigate this is by educating our motorists to maintain discipline and patience.

Sabar or patience is a good virtue and is applicable to any situation. An added bonus is to help out our fellow motorists. ‘If we help others, Allah will help us’.

Furthermore, a reminder on how the law will act upon you from the result of your careless behavior is a very good deterrent when complimented with enforcement.

Accordingly, this is where our insurance scheme covers our liability as a road user. I have somehow forgotten to ask my insurance representative if my scheme covers medical and physical injury to the other party. Under the section ‘ Tangungngan Pada Pihak Ketiga’ is quite important and I believe most insurance companies will stress on this. So check yours today. Litigation fees seems to be out of the question.

Doa and dzikir is essential before we perform our journey, but somehow I practice it only when I am totally vulnerable to a situation when performing a journey, like when traveling by aeroplane. Hmm…psychological factor maybe.

Today, 14^th of  November  is a date of remembrance for all road accident victims.

P.S Our prayers to them.