The Daily Brunei Resources

Rumah yang dipercayai berpuaka – tempat Tentera Gurkha menjaga keselamatan penduduk kampung di sekitar Kampong Ayer – pada tahun 1962. ’Jambatan Fail’ kayu pada tahun 1970, iaitu sempadan antara Kampung Sungai Kedayan dan Kampung Ujong Tanjung. Sekumpulan kanak-kanak yang tinggal di Kampong Ayer pada tahun 1960, kelihatan berada di pantaran. Kampung Sungai Kebun pada tahun 1959. Ristaan rumah-rumah lama Kampong Ayer September 9, 2017 Oleh Haji Mohd Daud Abdul Rahman BANYAK sejarah dan kisah-kisah lama yang masih segar dalam ingatan penulis sewaktu zaman kanak-kanak menetap di Kampong Ayer. Kanak-kanak pada ketika itu gemar berenang bersama rakan-rakan mereka terutama ketika air pasang. Keadaan sungai di Kampong Ayer pada zaman itu juga kelihatan begitu bersih dan bebas dari pencemaran. Kampung Sungai Kebun pada tahun 1959, keadaan air sungainya juga begitu menenangkan dan keindahan suasana kampung dikelilingi dengan rumah-rumah jenis ‘Rumah Beidong’ pada zama...

THE BRUNEI TIMES, 30 OCTOBER 2016 British Royal Visits to Brunei by Rozan Yunos The recent state visits by the Emir of Kuwait and the President of the Philippines did not faze the public very much in Brunei. The Brunei people are so accustomed to seeing heads of states and heads of governments visiting Brunei ever since Brunei became an independent nation in 1984. It was not the case before that. When Brunei was still a British Protectorate state, there was no regular visit of such prestige. Over the course of about eighty years prior to full independence, there were only visits by the British Monarch and members of the British Royal Family. When they visited Brunei, they were treated with great pomp and ceremony. During the reign of His Majesty Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, there were two such visits. It was sixty four years ago to this month that Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent and her son, the Duke of Kent visited Brunei. It was on Octo...

THE GOLDEN LEGACY, THE BRUNEI TIMES 16 OCTOBER 2016   Brunei in 1888 By Rozan Yunos Sometime in 1888, Vice Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon, VC, KCB, was cruising off the coast of Borneo according to the newspaper The Illustrated London News on 13 October 1888. He stopped in Brunei and met Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin ibni Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin, the 25th Sultan of Brunei. Sultan Hashim ascended the throne in 1885 after the death of Sultan Abdul Momin. Vice Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon was the commanding officer of the British Naval squadron on the China station. The newspaper also reported that the island of Borneo had not yet been thoroughly explored. It noted that there were three states, that of Rajah Brooke’s Sarawak, the area occupied by the British North Borneo and Brunei. It also reported that the Dutch Government has formed settlements in the southern and western parts of Borneo, which are administered in connection with Java, but the interior, with its “primiti...

THE GOLDEN LEGACY, THE BRUNEI TIMES 2 OCTOBER 2016 Brunei's Deep Offshore History, Sunken Wrecks By Rozan Yunos A RECENT talk at the Institute of Asian Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam entitled The Offshore Deep History of Brunei Darussalam combined two interesting topics — that of the history of the millions of years of the underwater geological development in the formation of Borneo Island and Brunei, and the history of maritime shipwrecks especially those of the Second World War. The talk was given by Dr Antonino Briguglio, a Senior Lecturer of Micropalaeontology and Biostratigraphy at the Faculty of Science and Dr Frank Dhont, a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Asian Studies. Borneo Island and Brunei can be considered ‘new’ geologically having spent much of its time underwater and only rose up to be Borneo Island probably in the last few million years, a long time for human beings but a very short time in the life of the earth. The changes of the physic...

THE GOLDEN LEGACY, THE BRUNEI TIMES 25 SEPT 2016 Brunei’s Landmarks in the Digital Game By Rozan Yunos The current worldwide phenomena of the new digital augmented reality game, ‘Pokemon Go’ has also caught on by many in Brunei Darussalam. The usage of Brunei’s landmarks and architectural icons as ‘Pokestops’ or places where game enthusiasts can collect their balls to be used to catch their digital monsters have led to a number of Bruneians visiting some of these places for the first time ever in their lives. The car parks around the various recreational parks and places were suddenly seeing record number of cars which were virtually unimaginable before. At the Damuan Park, much to the chagrin of regular runners and joggers, many new visitors can be seen wandering around the park with a number of them reading the various signboards which described the ASEAN sculptures which have been there since 1987, almost thirty years ago.  It would be good if those same players during...

Illustrations of the ethnic group in the Phiilippines in The Boxer Codex. A Spanish galleon from the Boxer Codex. The manuscript now known as the Boxer Codex contains vivid historical descriptions of many parts of Asia including Brunei. Picture: Agencies Rozan Yunos Bandar Seri Begawan Sunday, May 29, 2016 TO students studying history in primary and secondary schools, history can be a very dry subject. To them every fact, every date, and every opinion have already been locked in place. Their task seemed to be to memorise and regurgitate them during examinations. But history is not like that. Even though it gives the appearance and the impression that everything is already known, it is not so. Below the surface, everything is still moving and in some cases fast flowing. The facts of history can change anytime. Some facts changed through some documents which have only been unearthed recently, or through some artifacts which have just been discovered. There is const...

The new flyover at Jalan Babu Raja-Jalan Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha junction. BT/Fazizul Haqimie  Abdul Aziz Ismail BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Friday, June 3, 2016 A NEW flyover at Jalan Babu Raja and Jalan Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha is now open for motorists. According to the Public Works Department (JKR) at the Ministry of Development (MoD), the flyover is one of the projects under the 10th National Development Plan (RKN 10). The $20.2 million flyover, which began construction on June 20, 2012, was contracted to Tobishima. According to JKR, the project is aimed at accommodating the increase in traffic, and at the same time, ensure safety of road users. The new road development is also aimed to enhance the road networks where motorists are able to have more access. Traffic light systems have also been installed to ensure road safety. JKR said the flyover could also reduce traffic congestion at Jalan Raja Isteri Pg Anak Saleha. Present at the launching ye...

Rozan Yunos BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN Sunday, May 22, 2016 THE citizens of the Straits Settlement Colony in Malaya and Singapore saw this headline on The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser on 22 May 1916 ‘Brunei Acting Resident murdered’. If there was a newspaper in Brunei at that time, many would be surprised too. But even though there was no newspaper in Brunei then, the small population would have known much earlier that the British Resident residing in Brunei who was the de facto Chief Minister at that time had been murdered on May 18, 1916. The Singapore newspaper reported and gave a quick summary of his biography as follows: “News is to hand that Mr Ernest Barton Maundrell, BA (Cantab), acting British Resident, Brunei, was killed on Thursday last by a Bengali or Sikh policeman. Maundrell, who was born on November 9th, 1880, arrived in the Colony in 1903 as a cadet. He passed his final examination in Malay in May, 1905, and was then gazetted as a passed cadet of cla...

BRUNEI'S ANCIENT EXPORTS by Rozan Yunos Bandar Seri Begawan Sunday, May 15, 2016 TODAY, Brunei’s main export is pretty well known even to non-Bruneians. Our oil and gas exports are the main items driving our export markets and the nation’s income. But oil was only discovered in 1929 in Seria. However, historians have indicated that Brunei had been very active in the ancient maritime trade for centuries. So what was it that Brunei did in all those years to ensure that ships from China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malacca and other nations to come and trade with Brunei? Brunei had geography on her side. Brunei was ideally located among the busy trade routes in Southeast Asia. Its sheltered bay protecting ships from the monsoon winds and positioned as a halfway house for the travel journeys from Korea and China to the Southeast Asian nation states all no doubt played a role in making ships come and stop by to trade with us here in Brunei. Geography alone is not suffic...

Rozan Yunos Bandar Seri Begawan Sunday, May 8, 2016 THE Labuan Island, situated off the mouth of the Brunei River in the Brunei Bay has an area of thirty square miles (78 square kilometres). It was relatively uninhabited when the British took it, being only occasionally visited by fishermen. It was said to be originally covered with dense forests with some of the trees being valuable as timber but most of them were gone by successive coal companies and the cultivation practice of slash and burn by the Kedayans and other squatters from Borneo. According to W H Treacher in his book ‘British Borneo: Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan and North Borneo’ (1891), a few cargoes of timber were also exported by the Chinese to Hongkong from Labuan. There were then expectations that Labuan would mimic Hong Kong in that a freeport island lying next to a rich country would result in it becoming an emporium and collecting station for the various products of Borneo and that of the Sulu Su...

Rozan Yunos Bandar Seri Begawan Sunday, May 1, 2016 IN TODAY’S world, beads are seen as insignificant trinkets despite their abundance and wide availability in many tourist and fashion retail stores. Beads have always been favourites among the women of the world and many men too covet them. They come in many sizes, shapes, colours and material that it is almost impossible to keep track of every single beads that had been on the market, whether today or in the past. It is not surprising that beads are among the smallest artefact known to archaeologists, and is often the most found artefact and relic from many archaeological sites around the world, especially on sites of residences and villages or townships. Beads had been used for thousands of years, and are probably among the earliest item worn to adorn oneself. Beads are more than just decorative items used to adorn oneself, or one’s dress or to beautify the house. They were more than that. Beads had been used a...

A file photo of Kublai's Kahn, a 27-metre Chinese junk anchored in the Hong Kong Harbour. Chinese traders have been trading with Brunei since the early centuries. Picture: EPA Rozan Yunos Bandar Seri Begawan Sunday, April 24, 2016 THE Maritime Executive website on February 24, 2016, had this news headline “Brunei: Asia’s Newest Trade Hub” as the website reported about the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Brunei and China, and that the sultanate has voiced her interest in becoming part of China’s Maritime Silk Road as Brunei attempts to reduce its dependence on oil and gas revenue. The silk road refers to the ancient trade route with China dating back to the 14th century of which Brunei used to be a part of. The modern Maritime Silk Road is now officially known as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route Economic Belt, a Chinese initiative to increase investment and foster collaboration across the historic Silk Road. What role did Brunei play in the maritime tr...