Yesterday I wrote about raising strawberries. Not the ones at the supermarket, but the ones we have apparently been growing at home. Children so shielded from life’s knocks that they struggle when things do not go their way. Then I shared the post with my own children, and what came…
Category: Society & Culture
Observations on Bruneian society, culture, and social issues
Society & Culture
Guest Lecture at UTB: What We Talked About
On the morning of 6 October, I spent a few hours in Lecture Room 7 at Universiti Teknologi Brunei, talking about Digital Media and Society with a cohort of Communications students from both Masters and Undergrad level. I was there as a guest, and I want to say thank you…
Faith & Reflection
It Starts With Us
Today’s khutbah was about work culture, which is not something you expect to hear from the mimbar, and it has been on my mind since. It talked about safety in the workplace, looking after mental health, speaking to each other politely and clearly, getting along with colleagues, and not letting…
Society & Culture
Why Dangdut
People ask me this more often than I expected. Why Dangdut? A man my age, with my background, humming Rhoma Irama in the car. The truthful answer is that I don’t really know. I can’t even tell you when I first heard it. It feels like it was always somewhere…
Society & Culture
The Anatomy of a (Online) Mob
I have written about the dog post before, twice now, a decade apart, in 2014, right in the middle of it, and again in 2024, looking back after ten years. I am writing about it again now because I have been asked to give a guest lecture on Digital Media…
Brunei & Governance
My thoughts on elderly care in Brunei
Just read Malai Hassan Othman’s (MHO) latest piece, “When Mum Can No Longer Be Left Alone,” and it hits close to home. I see the real struggles families here are going through with this, and it has made me think hard about how unprepared most of us are for this…