On 27th August 2025, the front page of Pelita Brunei carried a striking photograph: our beloved Sultan, Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, shaking hands with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. The headline read, “Hubungan NBD, Malaysia Kekal Erat, Mesra.” It…
Tag: Thoughts
Brunei & Governance
A Bruneian’s Take on Healthcare Reform: Balancing Progress and Compassion
As a proud Bruneian citizen, I deeply value the care our government provides for its people. The recent policy change, effective July 1, 2025, which ends free healthcare for non-citizens, including permanent residents with foreign nationalities and foreign spouses of Bruneians, has sparked much discussion. Reflecting on my own experience…
Personal & Family
55 today…
Not quite young. Not yet old. Just… 55. Somewhere along the way, birthdays stopped being about cake and candles and started becoming markers of time. Not time wasted, but time lived. Experiences stacked like chapters in a book—some thrilling, some humbling, all instructive. Turning 55 feels different. Not heavier, just……
Brunei Darussalam
Traffic and the National Psyche
Ever noticed how traffic tells you a lot about a country’s personality? It’s the national psyche on wheels, honestly. You can learn more from fifteen minutes on the road than from a three hundred page vision document, because traffic is where people show their true colours, when no one’s watching…
Brunei Darussalam
Reflections from My First Umrah
Alhamdulillah, we’re home. Safe, tired, and honestly still trying to process everything that happened over there. I sat down a few times to write this and kept deleting what I’d written because it felt too neat, too polished for what was actually a messy, overwhelming, beautiful few weeks. So here’s…
Brunei & Governance
My Thoughts on Growing Grains, Trees, and People
“If you want a year of prosperity, grow grain; 10 years of prosperity, grow trees; 100 years of prosperity, grow people.” I keep coming back to this proverb. Can’t shake it, actually. Maybe because as an anakbrunei, someone who’s watched this country up close for a long time, it names…
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