I was watching an interview recently when Karim Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, made a simple yet profound observation: “The cause of death is life.” It is one of those statements that stops you in your tracks. At first glance, it sounds almost absurd. Surely death…
Personal & Family
As I get older…
As I get older, I realise how much of life is really about restraint. What I say. What I react to. What I allow to take up space in my head. I no longer feel the need to explain myself to everyone, or to correct every misunderstanding. Peace is not…
Chevening Excos Past and Present
Chevening Alumni Brunei Executive Committee2026–2028 Building Leaders. Connecting Influence. Elected by the alumni community, the Executive Committee leads the Chevening Alumni Brunei network for the term 2026 to 2028, driving engagement, advocacy, and the continued development of the alumni community. Chevening Alumni Brunei is the national network for Bruneian recipients…
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
25 Years of AnakBrunei: From Pixels to Perspectives
Twenty-five years is a long time in any medium. In the digital world, it is several lifetimes. When this blog first appeared on the nascent internet, in an era when a dial-up connection was the only gateway to the World Wide Web, when “blogger” was not yet a word, and…
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…