Radio in a blog

1st of all thanks for all the birthday greetings that I have received thru Facebook, Twitter & SMS. Some wish happy birthday, some wish that all my dream will come true, some want a trip to Tamparuli (honestly why not other place? Is it because of that song ‘Jambatan Tamparuli’), some wish that my business dream becomes a reality, some wish that I got admitted to NUS (really appreciate this). The best birthday gift that I have got for this year is BLNG Award! It will even be sweeter if the outcome of my university application is out yesterday, but too bad none yet! What is even more interesting is May 24th is Brunei’s Energy Day. Most importantly, I am thankful to God that Im still here; able to type this post & share my views.

Radio in a blog

We interrupt this posting to bring you breaking news LOL! Few days ago I said I was going to try something new in this blog. It will be radio in a blog. Here goes but before that the name of the radio station is only direka-reka.

Ok, good afternoon people. Enjoy your afternoon with us on Lepak FM Kafe Lepak till 4 pm later. 2 hours of international mix of music coupled with as usual a hot topic discussion. The topics today is of course yesterday’s Energy Day. Share your views with us thru phone 1230456 , SMS KAFE space your views to 33988, Lepak FM Twitter & also Facebook. Ok, we will be right back. 2.15 pm Lepak FM Stay tuned!

Commercial break

2.20 pm welcome back, you are still with Kafe Lepak on Lepak FM. Now, yesterday was Energy Day. What is so different about this year was the Energy Unit decided that petrol & diesel have to be sold at a commercial price. Which is obviously not the usual 50 cents plus or 30 cents plus per litre that we are so used to for decades. Prices shot up to almost $1/litre just for 1 day. SMS from 789. It says ‘mahal minyak semalam but aku mengagak filling jua pasal udah karing tank’. Thank you for the SMS. Its time for a song break but do keep you views coming. This is the latest song from 2PM, a Korean band with the title: Without U. Which brings another question in the mind of everyone. What if subsidies were removed for real? Hmm ….

Music break

2.40pm thank you for staying tune to us. We received tons of SMS, Facebook & Twitter replies, thanks appreciate your views. We shall read as much as possible as time permits. SMS from 914 says ‘1 day if no subsidi sakit kepala oh might as well use bicycle then if that day comes’


Facebook replies: ‘train will be popular at that time’, this reply from XXX is not suitable to be aired sorry about that, ‘people wouldn’t mind if oil price go up 1 or 2 cents’


Twitter replies: @abcpanas ‘extend ja 1 more wk then people can feel the effect of harga minyak naik’ @kopicais ‘we should carpool’


2.50pm Kafe Lepak will be right back don’t go away & keep your views coming in. Coming up on top of the hour the news, traffic updates, weather report & then we shall continue with our show here on Lepak FM Baik Punya Beb!

Commercial break, news, traffic update, weather report, song break

Time check its 3.05pm welcome back. 1 piece of news on this Energy Day captures my attention people who buy oil scold the petrol station attendant for their expensive fuel bill. Adakah patut? It’s not the attendant fault. The Energy Unit is trying to educate us & giving us a priceless ‘bitter’ experience of what if oil prices goes up 1 day for real permanently what would happen. We should be thankful that these subsidies are being provided by our government. While other countries are cutting back on subsidies, our government is still bearing the huge subsidies cost. Oil is a non-renewable resources and it’s increasingly difficult to extract oil even though there are abundant under the deep sea. If you go & fill up in KK or Miri, you will feel the pain of paying expensive price. Here you pay B$20+ for a full tank, there you probably pay after conversion B$30+. See the difference. It gets even worse in Singapore, UK, etc.

3.15 Its time for ’15 Non-Stop Hits’. 15 minutes of pure music no talk, no interruption & no commercial. Songs to be played include Super Junior Sorry Sorry, Justin Beiber Baby, Linkin Park What I Have Done. We will be back after that.

3.30 pm 98.6 fm this is Lepak FM More views on this topics.

A caller on the line: Why not really increase the oil price permanently by 10 cents & see the public reaction.


DJ: But the government say there is no plan to do so, but the minister in charge say it is a ‘bitter reality’ that have to be faced eventually. Good idea, thanks for the call. Next caller


Caller: ‘It’s high time for introduction of bicycle that can move as fast as cars’. Using pedal power & solar energy then it will be much environmentally friendly


DJ: Interesting idea, there are already electric cars, perhaps pedal powered cars are on the drawing board already, we don’t know. Thanks caller! 3.40pm we have to take a break for the prayers & shall be back after that.

15 minutes left on the show. Well I shall share my views on this. To the public I say be prepared for ‘bitter reality’, oil aren’t going to be 50 or 30 cents forever. To the government we thank you for the subsidies provided all these years & a ‘learning experience’ yesterday. Jam-packed petrol stations is a rare sight in Brunei unless its Hari Raya time but in countries like Malaysia the day before government increases fuel prices people throngs the stations. We have seen that kind of crowd in the station Saturdays & Sundays so are we going to see the scene again in the near future. That is remained to be seen. Thank you for all the views shared, those that are unable to be shared due to time constraints really sorry. Till then, I see you when I see you bye bye have a great afternoon. Coming up is the wacky duo of Chic & Doc who will make you laugh as you make your way back from work. Outta here!

P.S. People says between 18-21 is a transition period. The age of 19 comes with a transition aim!

Belaitwide students awarded (update 1pm)

Well how was my last blogpost, people? I hope that I didn’t hit any OB marker or igniting someone’s anger. Well if I do then I apologise once more SORRY SORRY! Well sorry isn’t the hardest word to utter LOL! But if it was to be said to your loved ones/sweetheart then maybe you will be ‘berat mulut’ to say sorry right?


This morning I had attended a ceremony to receive an award, nak kata besar tak nak, kata kecil pun tak juga, so it’s a meaningful ceremony if I were to describe it. It was the Brunei LNG Academic Excellence Award presentation 2009. It was organised by of course BLNG & this year Sekolah Rendah Lumut 1 & Sekolah Ugama Lumut 1 were given the trust to be the coordinators. It was held in the Liang Lumut Recreation Club. I guess this is the 2nd time only I had step foot onto this LLRC, the 1st time was to see RTB 'Menjejak Kampung' few years back & this time I’m here to receive an award!

Since the letter stated for students to arrive at 7.30am, I arrived a little bit earlier than the stated time. Before entering the hall, we (award recipients) had to register to receive a nametag stating ‘PENERIMA’. The teachers in the hall say ‘pakai nametag atu jangan disimpan/dipegang’. Since 7.30am is a little early for some of us which are on a ‘hiatus’ mode till university admission, some grumbles can be heard. But overall, ‘joy was in the air’ as some of them can see their classmates whom they have not seen since February. At first, we were simply sitting in places marked ‘penerima anugerah’, then we were arranged according as per the list in the programme booklet.

In a ‘freezing cold refriroom’, a little after 9 am the chief guest, Yang Mulia Awang Haji Md. Mahdi bin POKDG Seri Diraja Dato Laila Utama Haji Awang Abdul Rahman, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs arrived. The ceremony starts with the reading of surah Al-Fatihah which is the norms in most functions in Brunei & Quranic verses.

This was followed by the speech by the Chairlady of the event, Cikgu Hjh Sediah binti Madeli, Principal Sekolah Rendah Lumut 1. 1 important point in her speech that I wish to touch is this year there are changes in this year’s ceremony. Usually, these awards are only awarded to students from Mukim Lumut schools only. However, this year this award had also been awarded to students from Belait District schools no matter its government or private schools. In addition, this year teachers were also awarded for producing excellent results in public exams. In her speech she also thanked BLNG for its continuous support & concern towards education, in particular in making this annual event a success. This awarded was intended to award students who have worked hard for their exams & it serves as a ‘pembakar semangat’ for the students to do even better in the future. Lastly, she thanked all parties that had ensure this event runs smoothly & also the local media for covering this event. From my observation, I spot RTB crew, Pelita Brunei journalist, a Chinese newspaper crew & surprisingly a ‘student blogger’ who happens to receive an award too. While from the booklet, it states that RTB, Borneo Bulletin & Brunei Times is covering the event. So, award winners I suggest you all to grab a copy of your local Sunday newspapers (Sunday Bulletin, The Sunday Times, etc) to contribute back to Brunei economy, since you have been awarded cash LOL! She ended her speech with a pantun.

Next, the chief guest also gave a speech. He talked about the importance of internet to students nowadays. In 2009, internet penetration rate in Brunei as provided by AiTi which is as high as 78.5% which is marginally higher from that of 2008. He advises parents to ‘mata-matai’ their children internet usage so that they won’t be exposed with negative contents on the internet which may lead to social issues. He further adds that social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter) should be used cautiously. In his speech, he also stresses on the importance of Religious Knowledge. This is in line with His Majesty's titah that was conveyed early this year. The chief guest also adds that education is important to the country in building its human capital. A human capital that is not of a good quality is a lost to the nation.

After the speech, there was a drama presentation by the cute Primary kids from Chung Lian School Sg Liang titled ‘the story of the young moth’. The morale of the story is you should obey your parents/elders. Well as in the drama ‘I Not Stupid’ says ‘ITS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD’. LOL! Another message could be ‘don’t play with fire as you can get yourself burnt’ or in Malay ‘Jangan main api nanti terbakar diri’!

Then, the time that everyone had been waiting for: award presentation. 1st, 16 students from Mukim Liang primary schools & 20 students from Belaitwide Ugama schools received awards for Primary 1-5 top students. The award recipients each received a trophy, certificate & pen. As many as 114 students from various schools in Belait received awards for excellence in public exam in 2009. 41 students received awards for PSR which entitles them to get a trophy, certificate, $200 TAIB Akaun Remaja & pen. 13 students received awards for SSSRU which also entitles them to receive the similar prizes as those of PSR. The PSR & SSSRU award were presented by Awg Hj Mahri bin Hj Matahir, BLNG Corporate Affairs Manager. 17 students received awards for PMB which entitles them to get a trophy, certificate, $250 TAIB Akaun Remaja & pen. 9 students received awards for Brunei Cambridge GCE O Level which entitles them to get a trophy, certificate, $300 TAIB Akaun Remaja & pen. Since SMSA is the only 6th form centre in Belait District 31 students (including me) from SMSA received awards for Brunei Cambridge GCE A Level which entitles them to get a trophy, certificate, $400 TAIB Akaun Remaja & pen. Not forgetting 3 students from other schools outside Belait also received the similar awards. All these awards for excellent students in public exams were presented by the chief guest. 1 interesting thing to note is students from some schools are extremely polite, by bowing before receiving their awards.

After 150 awards were presented, the ceremony takes a break from award presenting to listen to tausyeh performance. Then a further 19 awards were presented by Awg Hj Salleh Bostaman bin Hj Zainal Abidin, Managing Director & CEO BLNG for teacher’s best performance award. For PSR & SSSRU teachers received $250 cash, certificate. For PMB teachers received $300 cash, certificate. For Brunei Cambridge GCE O Level teachers received $400 cash, certificate. The only representatives for Brunei Cambridge GCE A/AS Level comes from SMSA.3 teachers received $500 cash, certificate. The recipients were for AS Level Mr Nyiau Ah Lek Physics tutor, while for A Level were Accounting tutors Miss Cheryl Lim Lo Yin & Miss Emily Tan Phek Suan (my tutor).

To thank the chief guest for gracing the event despite his busy schedule, a token of appreciation was presented by the Chairlady of the event. A doa selamat was read to mark the end of the ceremony. While the chief guest was viewing the mini exhibition set up by various parties, students quickly arranged themselves for a photoshoot. Smile for the cam! Then, another photoshoot with the chief guest & other guests. A small ‘makan’ was also prepared for those present. As the event ends, a rain falls from the sky maybe its ‘hujan rahmat’. The whole event was smooth except for a few mistook the trophies incident. A quick look at the pen is it’s custom-made, not your usual $1.80 pen! And it’s made from stainless steel, because it’s quite heavy.

Now, its time for my Oscar award speech LOL! I would like to thank BLNG for presenting me with the award; it is the best birthday gift ever. A big thank you for the tutors at SMSA that had taught me especially my Accounting tutor Miss Tan. You already been rewarded for your ‘overtime’ & hope that you will be rewarded in the Hari Guru celebration coming in a few months. Thank you also to Cikgu Rashidah who had been willing to be ‘guru pengganti’ Business Studies. Thank you also to Mrs Joan for cultivating my reading skills (now Im Mag & Paper geek LOL!). Thank you also to Miss Tor for the calculator. Lastly, thank you to Kerajaan Kebawah Duli for allowing me to be PADI (pendatang asing dengan izin) in Brunei for the past 13 years!

Maka dengan ini berakhirlah sebuah kisah yang sungguh panjang & lagi membosankan!

The blogger thinks that sesiapa sahaja that curi his selipar must be poor thus he halalkan sahaja. In addition this blogger is in a good mood.

What The Media Says
Sunday Bulletin reports that students should acquire extra skills in overcoming the increasing challenges in academics.
Vancetan.com had a few pictures on his website vancetan.com & a video on youtube Youtube video
RTB News reports that parents should monitor their children internet usage.
Pelita Brunei also reports that parents should 'mata-matai' their children online activities.

Antara introvert & extrovert

Rasanya dah lama tak mencoretkan isi minda saya dalam Bahasa Melayu, dan selalunya saya mencoretkan isi minda dalam Bahasa Rojak (English & Malay mixed) yang digunakan secara meluas di kalangan remaja/orang muda masa kini. Oleh yang demikian pada kali ini ingin saya menghormati status Bahasa Melayu sebagai Bahasa rasmi dengan menggunakan Bahasa Melayu pada kali ini. Pada waktu yang sama, saya juga dapat memelihara/memperbaiki kualiti penulisan Bahasa Melayu saya yang makin ‘berkarat’ (LOL!), bak kata pepatah ‘sambil menyelam minum air’.


Pada posting yang lepas, saya telah mengupas isu ‘pemanasan global’ secara ringkas. Kali ini saya akan mengupas isu yang telah bermain di minda saya sejak 2 tahun dahulu kot. Introvert & extrovert Apakah maksudnya, implikasinya & berbagai lagi akan saya kongsi sekadar yang saya tahu.

Ringkasnya dalam Bahasa Cina (Mandarin) introvert juga dikenali sebagai ‘zhai nan’ untuk lelaki dan ‘zhai nue’ untuk perempuan. Manakala dalam Bahasa Inggeris pula dikenali sebagai ‘home boy’ atau ‘home girl’.

Definasi introvert ialah orang yang suka memerapkan diri di dalam rumah selepas waktu kerja/kuliah/sekolah atau pun pada hari minggu/cuti. Golongan ini selalunya menghabiskan masa bermain permainan online seperti Warcraft, DOTA, dsb. Atau pun membaca komik dunia fantasi, oleh itu golongan ini berimaginasi luas memikirkan mereka adalah pahlawan yang gagah melawan raksasa yang jahat.

Berbalik kepada perkataan ‘zhai’, dalam Bahasa Jepun ia dikenali sebagai ‘otaku’ ataupun orang yang handal/tahu-menahu dalam sesuatu bidang. Sebagai contoh seorang rakan saya pandai mengenai perkara-perkara yang berkaitan dengan Photoshop, oleh itu kita boleh panggil dia ‘photoshop otaku’. Seorang lagi pula handal bermain futsal jadi kita boleh gelar dia ‘futsal otaku’. Menerusi contoh-contoh yang telah dijelaskan tadi nampaknya ‘zhai’ maksudnya bukan tak bagus. Tetapi remaja Taiwan menggunakan perkataan ‘zhai’ yang satu lagi untuk tujuan bergurau atau merujuk kepada seseorang yang ‘home boy’ atau ‘home girl’. (Nota: dalam Bahasa Cina terdapat perkataan yang sama tetapi mempunyai dua maksud yang berlainan) Apabila remaja Taiwan hendak bergurau dengan rakan-rakan mereka, mereka akan kata saya amat ‘zhai’/kau amat ‘zhai’, tetapi jika perkataan ‘zhai’ digunakan kepada seseorang yang tak berapa dikenali, alamat ia akan mengundang hadiah ‘buku lima’.

Memetik satu laporan agensi berita AP pada tahun 2008, fenomena ‘zhai’ ini meluas di Taiwan, Jepun, Hong Kong dan sebahagian kawasan pantai barat tanah besar China. Laporan tersebut juga menyatakan keadaan ini tidak mendatangkan bahaya tetapi telah wujud segolongan ekstremis ‘zhai’ yang menimbulkan kekecohan dengan mengganggu pasangan-pasangan kekasih di bandaraya Taipei. Ini secara tidak langsung telah memberikan liputan media meluas terhadap golongan ini dan seterusnya mencetuskan perbahasan di dalam media tempatan. Secara statistik walaupun angka sebenar tak diketahui, pakar percaya angka ‘zhai nan’ lebih dari ‘zhai nue’.

Selepas kita memahami sedikit sebanyak fenomena ini apa kata kita mengenali personaliti warga ‘zhai’ dan tidak ‘zhai’ pula. Orang yang tidak ‘zhai adalah seorang yang sangat responsif, perintis, pelaksana dan suka menyumbang. Manakala orang yang ‘zhai’ suka memberi dorongan kepada orang lain, berwawasan, menganalisis keadaan sebelum bertindak, menaik taraf diri sendiri.

Sebagai penutup bicara kali ini, ingin saya kongsi pendapat saya sebagai seorang ‘zhai. (Ya saya mengaku adalah salah seorang dari golongan ini). Saya tidak menimbulkan kekecohan kepada sesiapa kerana saya percaya semua orang bebas bergaul dengan sesiapa termasuk bab percintaan, tidak bermain apa-apa permainan online kerana bila saya main game senang ‘game over’ LOL!. Last sekali entah apa nak kata lagi dah ‘mati akal’.

So guys & gals out there are you Introvert or Extrovert? Zhai or not ‘zhai? Think about it!

P.S. Rasanya di sini memang banyak ‘zhai’ kerana tak banyak aktiviti ‘nightlife’ yang boleh dilakukan selain ‘lepak di kafe’, ‘lepak di Mall’, chillaxing. Ada juga kebaikannya jadi ‘zhai’ kot entahlah!

BYE HAVE A GREAT MID MONTH aka poket kering kontang

NOTA:Penulisan ini tidak mencerminkan pandangan negara penulis ini tinggal & pandangan negara asal penulis. Ini hanyalah cetusan fikiran peribadi penulis yang telah bermain di otak penulis sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu. Harap maklum & penulis memohon maaf sekiranya penulisan ini menyinggung perasaan sesetengah pihak dengan sengaja/tak sengaja. Jika ada menyinggung perasaan sesiapa ia hanya kebetulan sahaja.

Calamity Chaos

Ok 1st of all greeting to be made, albeit its late its better than none right?
Last Sunday, was Mother's Day so Happy Mother Day to all mums around including my mum. Sorry mum couldnt afford a gift, only prayers & wishes.

DST Group 15th anniversary district roadshow @ OGDC last Friday/Saturday

Last Saturday I went to OGDC to see this roadshow as mentioned above. What can I deduce from my visit? Gifts galore & the reality. There were plenty of gifts on offer (mostly DST corporate gifts which you cant buy anywhere I guess), electrical goods, Easi cards, shopping vouchers, etc. So, I bought a few $15 Easi limited edition & got gifts as well as lucky draw. Then, went around the roadshow to each & every booth to play the games, answer surveys, etc. 1 thing that I liked about this roadshow is there is a HRM booth which organise a mind game to see whether are you creative or not. The result: I AM NOT AS CREATIVE AS THOUGHT

The main story:Calamity chaos

Freak floods there, tornado in another, terrible drought in some place which isnt supposed to have drought! If you had watched + or - 2 degree celcius which was aired on TV sometime ago you would know some of the consequences of global warming.

Last week was Brunei's Ministry of Development customer day which so coincidentally was also Brunei's 1st No Plastic Bag Day. This is a great effort in saving our environment by reducing usage of plastic bags.
In another country, no-plastic bag day was even politicised. When state ruled by the opposition enforced this rule, the country ruling government slammed it. However when this country ruling government controlled state enforce it its not wrong. Such double-standard! Cant politicians put away their differences in this issue & work together towards reducing global warming?
Even worse floods will also be politicised. The ruling government warned the people of a place to vote them into power if they didnt want flood to occur in that place anymore otherwise be prepared to brace for floods which is too frequent in that place
In all these scenarios where floods & even no-plastic bag day is politicised, we are headed for more calamity chaos. So brace it & bare with it till politicians have the will to put aside their differences in environmental issues.
On the other hand, Brunei is a step forward slowly but surely in tackling environmental issues with its 1st time participation in Earth Hour, No-Plastic bag day trial & even more to come I guess.

LETS HOPE FOR THE BETTER FOR THE WORLD

Till next week Have A Nice Day Using  More Plastic Bag & Styrofoam containers (guilty pleasures)

This blogger had too much 'guilty pleasures' & hope to reduce these acts in the coming months

Speak your thots out

Note: The 1st 2 lines of this posting is intentionally / dengan sengaja left blank to signify World Press Freedom day which falls on 3rd of May each year.
Very very soon I am assuming that GP students in Pre-U will come across the topics Media & Advertising. 1 of this topics sub-division is PRESS FREEDOM/freedom of speech.
What is actually freedom of speech? Yeah some people may assume that it means you can speak whatever you want without someone taking a musking tape to tape your mouth. Some people may say it means you can continue talking non-stop 247 unless you are 'out of tune'. Erm, its actually partly correctly the 1st definition while the 2nd make no sense at all. To better illustrate what it is let me give you an example
A bank robbery just occured some time ago. The person involved in this robbery let just call A. The reporter who was covering this robbery for a newspaper just call X. X goes to interview the police, the witness, the bank manager, etc to write this story. However there is a catch in this situation X found out that this A that is allegedly involved in the robbery is related to a very high ranking official in the country. What shall X do? If he write it as it is, his job maybe on the line but if he write the story in a biased way, he feels guilty to the people & the  newspaper readers. He decided to write it as it is and it got published without any omission of details. But what if he write the story as it is & the editor intervened by caning the story. This means there is a curtailment of press freedom. Ok maybe this example is too complicated to be understood. You shall understood after you had entered that topics in GP
The best way to show your thots is through blog. Yeah write your own blog! None can curtail your freedom of speech this way as internet is a world without borders unless you write on sensitive issues. That you may attract unwanted publicity from govt dept, media, etc. You can also improve your language skills in this way.
What is important is a story always have 2 sides never ever one sided. Its 1-sided because of the certain parties who didnt want people to know another side of the story. Seek for both sides of the story!
Have a great week & happy World Press Freedom day.
This blogger thinks that he write in a no-holds barred manner in commemoration of World Press Freedom Day for this posting. He feels sorry for journalists around the world who have to balance the needs of the newspaper owners as well as newspaper readers who seek for truth.
This blogger wonders that how come people always fight over wealth/money. How come people cant make friends with money rather than fight with money. In the end both parties may end up losing!