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…
Category: Society & Culture
Observations on Bruneian society, culture, and social issues
Society & Culture
Fifty-Nine Years On, What Does ASEAN Mean to You?
Today marks the fifty-ninth anniversary of ASEAN, and if you’re in Jakarta there will be a proper ceremony for it, the anthem, a video presentation, remarks from the Secretary-General, a message from the Philippines as this year’s Chair. The theme this year is “Navigating Our Future, Together.” It’s also the…
Personal & Family
A Building of Two Chapters
This building brings back a lot of memories for me. Some really good ones, and some I’d rather forget. For months now I’ve driven past it nearly every day, on my way to and from Print Plus, watching the refurbishment come along quietly in the background of my daily routine….
Society & Culture
Whatever Happened to Brunei’s Ten Business Icons?
Whatever happened to the ten icons Back in 2011, I wrote about a post called Business Icons: The Success Stories Behind 10 of Brunei Darussalam’s Most Accomplished Individuals, and never really got round to introducing the faces in those photos properly, just captions like “JC Big Boss!” and “Da gangsta!”…
Brunei Darussalam
The Silence We Mistake for Strength
The elderly lady in the featured photo is my beloved maternal grandmother. She lived with us for as long as I can remember. She was Chinese. We were a Malay Muslim household — but my father, to his credit, gave her generous leeway to keep her own customs and traditions….
Brunei Darussalam
Hired Help, Not Indentured Labour
The other day’s incident stayed with me. But the truth is, it’s not an isolated moment. It’s a pattern. Across many homes, not all but enough to matter, domestic helpers are treated less like employees and more like something in between obligation and ownership. One helper expected to serve an…