When barking dogs turn rabid

quote: Malaysian Insider
Politicians all over the world claim to be the protectors of their people. They often conjure up various threats to our wellbeing. When we buy into their stories we tend to support them and thus they are able to rule over us. In a democracy this is less of a problem as when we stop believing the politicians’ spiel we can always vote them out. But many parts of the world do not have fully functioning democracies and thus we find leaders who, once they have been empowered, do all they can to stay in power and thwart any move to democratise.

These autocrats and their sycophants will bark their ideologies to all and sundry. They expect their people to believe their worldview so that they remain in power. Those who oppose them in their own country are often treated harshly so that they would be able inject fear into the society to silence any further dissent. Unfortunately for them, the advent of the Internet has seriously limited their ability to keep their citizens ignorant and quiet for long. Competing views which tend to be more liberal in nature do crop up and challenge the existing order. The so called “Arab Spring”, though nascent, has exposed some world leaders to be nothing more than barking dogs.

The people in Tunisia and Egypt were a little more fortunate that they were able to remove their barking dogs with less loss of life than in neighbouring Libya. At least Ben Ali and Mubarak knew that the jig was up when their people clearly turned against them. Gaddafi, on the other hand, continued to bark and even turned rabid when his people wanted him gone. Who can forget his famous lines, “my people love me, my people love me all”, that was carried on the cable news networks. He was so out of touch with his people and reality that it would have been comical, if not for his attempted massacre of his own people.

The hope for those countries that have successfully removed their autocrats is that their people will be freer and be able to put in place a democratic process that cannot be easily undone by any aspiring dictator. The only advice I would give them is that they avoid choosing those politicians who bark the loudest who want to show them to the promise land but take away their freedom.

They need to remember that the moment a person enters politics, regardless of whether the person wears a military uniform, religious paraphernalia, a doctor’s white coat or even a suit and tie, that person is a politician. A politician wants people’s support so that he or she will be in power. You can give your trust but don’t ever give away your freedom, especially your freedom to remove the politician who you trusted in the first place.

Consider Alternatives Before Hiking Tariff

Extracted from Brudirect Public Forum:


As reported in the local newspaper The Brunei Times THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2011 entitled 'Cheaper power rates for most Bruneians', I am shocked to read the following sentence.:

“On the other hand, higher consumption means higher bills under the new system. Running computations based on the data provided by the official, The Brunei Times found out that a household that uses 2,740 kWh will rack up a bill of $150 a month under the current system ($21.50 for the first 170 kWh + $128.50 for the remaining 2,570 kWh at $0.05 per kWh).

Under the new tariff, the same consumption would yield a power bill of $291 ($5 for the first 500 kWh, $100 for the next 1,000 kWh, and $186 for the remaining 1,240 kWh).

Dato Hj Matsatejo said that the new system would "definitely" raise awareness, and people would be more accountable for their actions...”

In article, the Minister taunted that most Bruneian "will" enjoy cheaper rate with the new electric tariff. However, for those unlucky enough, their normal old electric bill of B$150 shall now cost them B$291 per month. Brilliant isn't it? Why the sarcasm?

Well, lets see..

a. What is the minister assistance in helping the people in reducing their electricity consumption apart from targeting their wallets? 

b. Has this new tariff study the implication it has to the fixed income people of which most Bruneian belongs to? 

c. Is this the best alternative (new electric tariff) in educating the people about "prudent" electric usage?

d. The minister talk about the people to switching to energy saving appliances such inverter type electrical appliances. Where are the people going to find that extra money to buy such appliances?

e. Doesn't the minister is aware that the food and non-alcoholic beverages index in Brunei had been steadily increasing since 2004 from 100.8 to 110.0 in 2010?

f. To further irritate the whole issue, according to the minister, about 20% of the population (low income group) will benefit the new tariff. What happen to the rest 80%? Should they just swallowed this just because they are deemed to "afford" it? 

I sincerely do not know what is the logic behind all this so called new initiative. One thing for sure, it certainly does not help the people.

If the minister is thinking of conserving our energy resources, then why he is considering to Thailand and Philippine request for gas and increasing gas supplies to Japan?

Surely with depleting resources, Brunei should not be contemplating to such requests. Do not let our "friendliness" take the best out of us, the Bruneian. A malay proverb says, "Ambuk di hutan disusukan, anak dirumah mati kelaparan".

What really annoying about the whole thing is the lack of transparency in formulating such policy. This policy has a profound impact to the people lives and yet it was not discussed nor debated openly. What ever happen to our LegCo? What is their take on this matter?

The next thing that make me nuts is the notion of electricity going private . Is it not enough for the minister to run the people to the ground with his new tariff now he had to up the ante?

Electricity is a basic necessity. Just like water and housing. Privatizing them are just plain silly. We are all well aware that corporate put profit first before welfare. There are many examples where we hear and see, corporates being belligerence towards the people. We don't have to look far, just look how DST had been treating her customers? Is that we want?

As I have said before, there are many ways to conserve energy. Targeting people wallets are definitely not one of them. In fact, we should be finding ways to improve the service the government provide to the people. 

HM had been a benevolent ruler. Had been kind and generous to his people. And for that the people gave him their full loyalty and support. But, the minister action is only planting seeds of discontent amongst the people towards the government.

If the minister excuse for his action is to save government expenditure then he is totally clueless about Brunei money. As a sovereign nation with a sovereign currency, there is no issue of Brunei running out of Brunei dollar. Since 1971, after the world had gone off the last remaining gold standard, Brunei currency had been FIAT currency. Notion that we needs to export our oil and gas in order to earned hard currency is false. Those so called "hard currency" are also themselves fiat currencies. USD is not being back up with Mount Rushmore, Yen is not being back up Mount Fuji and etc. None what so ever.

In short, if Brunei to runs out of oil and gas for export and all her overseas investments failed, it does not stop the government ability to spend by a single cent!

Do not be fool with talks by so called expert. Majority of them are clueless about government finances. We can see all this just by watching, listening and reading the news about the state of affair of their country economies. Trying to propagate their silly ideas to Brunei. Don't believe me, take classic example IMF. This organization had been pushing for tough austerity measures to the like of Greece, Ireland and etc. And what these countries got? More debt, more unemployment, more social unrest, more poverty, losing state assets and etc. Is this the way of life we are embarking to?

Pushing a policy under the disguise of progress where in reality it is a backwardness. Our people had been suffering silently whilst our ministers joking and laughing at the dinner table.

I do agree that we must be wise in our electricity usage and I do agree that people must be accountable for their electric dues to the government. But does the intended action proposed by our energy minister justify to burn further hole in the people's wallet?

I do not know if you realize this, but are now seeing Brunei paying more to get by in this country. We have "income tax" of 8.5% (TAP and SCP), our food prices had been steadily increasing month after month (refer to JPKE stats on Food CPI), increase tax on cars (whilst at the same unimproved public transport services), paying down debt (due to bank "generosity") and etc. And now new electricity tariff.

What does the government wants from her people? To teach or to punish?

What is more frustrating is the lack of action by the minister in trying to reduce the anticipated impact on electric tariff. He talks a lot about the needs of efficiency, needs about reduce consumption and needs to conserve, but he did not address them in terms how to achieve it. Instead the minister approach is to hit the population wallet. Is that on? Ok fine, lets assume that the population buys into the minister argument, what do the population gets in return? The population gets a bigger bill while the minister got his ministership extended and few more state medals. Is that what we wants or is that what HE wants?

There had been many studies about energy and its related issue. CSPS made many studies on alternative energies and most of them had been put forward. But what actions are being taken about it? Totally NONE. The most we can hear is, "it is still under consideration". Until when is the question? In the meantime, the population continue to pay for the heavy price.

Furthermore, there are many talks about the needs to save government money and thus the government must be prudent in her spending. Are they saying that Brunei is running out of Brunei dollar? Since when? Honestly, there is no such thing that our country running out of Brunei dollar. Brunei can create as much or as little Brunei she wants. No one call tell her otherwise for simple reason. Brunei dollar is a sovereign currency of Brunei Darussalam. Brunei have the exclusive right to create her Brunei dollar.No one and I repeat no one can tell Brunei not to create Brunei dollar. Brunei government is monopoly issuer of Brunei dollar and the people of Brunei is monopoly user of Brunei dollar. As long as all transactions are done in Brunei dollar in Brunei, there is no issue of our government running out of money or to save up (not unless they want to bring the money into their grave).

To me, there are better alternatives than to hit the people's wallet. If the country is serious about energy conserving and efficiency then explore and implement the following:

a. Reduce the national speed limits from 100 or 80 km/hr to 65 km/hr. Enforce that limit religiously.
b. Initiate state wide school bus program.
c. Do 4 days of working and 3 days of weekend.
d. Eliminate electric or hybrid car tax.
e. Give grant to the population to switch inefficient electrical appliances to more efficient appliances.
f. Give assistance and grant to the population to generate their own electricity.
g. Initiate LRT system in the country.
h. Initiate Maglev railway between Belait, Tutong, Brunei Muara and Temburong.
i. Develop alternative energy power generation NOW! - We have wind, solar, geo-thermal (hot water spring in Belait) and seriously consider nuclear power.
j. Initiate "no car day" if required.

If you analyze the above suggestion, most of it can be done now and some of it does not cost the government arms and legs. Others are within the government capacity. In term affordability, we can afford them seriously.

Extracted from Business Insider.com

The Playboy Prince Of Brunei Is Selling Dozens Of Fancy Cars Online

Julie Zeveloff | Aug. 15, 2011, 11:30 AM | 2,830 | 4

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Who could forget Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of the Sultan of Brunei who famously blew through $14.8 billion dollars ?

He's the guy who owned 2,300 cars, eight planes, and a yacht named Tits whose tenders were called Nipple 1 and Nipple 2.

He found himself in a world of legal trouble when authorities discovered he had fueled his lavish lifestyle with funds from government coffers, and is still dealing with the fallout of a fight with his former attorneys.

Now, it seems Jefri is unloading some of his toys via online market place James List, according to the company's own blog (via Luxpresso).

From James Spotting:

The assemblage includes rarities like a BMW italDesign Nazca V12 concept car and a Lamborghini Cizeta V16T, a Jaguar XJ220 and a Maserati 4200, along with dozens of Ferraris. Numbered among the prancing horses on offer are an F50 for €799,000 an F40 at €595,000 and an Enzo at €1.4 million.

Add to that an F355, 599 GTB Fiorano, 575M Superamerica, F430 Spider, 550 Maranello, 512, 348, and Testarossa. Then throw in a few Lamborghinis and a Bentley Arnage and you begin to get the picture.

DON'T MISS: How The Playboy Prince Of Brunei Blew Through $14.8 BILLION >

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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/prince-jefri-brunei-cars-for-sale-2011-8#ixzz1XKZvAWdG

The Taloo Brothers

Once upon a time, on a corner of the large island of Angkut Angkut, in Southeast Asia, there was a tiny nation the size of Delaware called Kalangi, where for 800 years its royals had married their cousins. Few people took notice of the place until 1929, when gold was discovered there. The current King, the 39th in a long line of rulers subservient to Japan, hit the jackpot when his country gained independence, in 1972. By 1978 he was the richest man in the world, worth $80 billion. Unleashed from obscurity and unable to tell friends from sycophants, the king, then 41, quickly gravitated to the gambling clubs of  London and began transforming men into moguls: bankrolling the early exploits of the Babarians arms dealer , allegedly financing the purchase of Many department store and Hotels, in London, for the Korean entrepreneur Kim Bu. As word spread of the King’s gaping wallet, merchants from all corners of the globe swarmed into Kalangi, selling him practically everything they had to offer—17 private jets, thousands of luxury cars, what one diamond dealer called “a Smithsmartian” of major jewels, and a trove of art masterpieces, including a Renoir for a record $70 million.


The King’s biggest extravagance turned out to be his love for his youngest brother, Kulati, his constant companion in hedonism. They raced their Ferraris through the streets of Kaput Kaput, the capital, at midnight, sailed the oceans on their fleet of yachts (Kulati named one of his Tits, its tenders Hantak1 and Hantak 2), and imported planeloads of polo ponies and Argentinean players to indulge their love for that game, which they sometimes played with Prince Kutu. They snapped up real estate like Monopoly pieces—hundreds of far-flung properties, a collection of five-star hotels (the Dokas, in London, the Hôtel Plaza Kuntut, in Paris, the New York Palace, and Hotel Bala and the Butu Hills Hotel, in Los Angeles), and an array of international companies (including Yerpsa, the London jeweler to the Queen of Anglan, for which Kulati paid about $385 million in 1995, despite the fact that that was twice Asprey’s estimated market value or that Kalangi’s royal family constituted a healthy portion of its business).

ALLAH SELAMATKAN SULTAN, RAKYAT DAN NEGARA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Daulat kebawah Duli Tuan Patik...
Bersempena sambutan Hari Keputeraan kali yang ke 65 tahun, saya mengucapkan 'Selamat Hari Jadi Ke 65 Tahun' moga moga sehat, panjang umur dan berterusan menerajui memimpin Negara Brunei Darussalam. AMIN.

IMF REPORT YEAR 2011- [BRUNEI Government Sector Employment by Grade, 2003–09]

This REPORT was prepared based on the information available at the time it was completed on April 15, 2011. The views expressed in this document are those of the staff team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the government of Brunei Darussalam or the Executive Board of the IMF. 

Copies of this report are available to the public from International Monetary Fund ● Publication Services 700 19th Street, N.W. ● Washington, D.C. 20431 Telephone: (202) 623-7430 ● Telefax: (202) 623-7201 

E-mail: publications@imf.org ● Internet: http://www.imf.org

Tamat Family Get Together

Gambar kenang kenangan anak dan menantu Hj Tamat sewaktu Majlis Bertahlil bagi keluarga Haji Tamat bin Puasa pada 29hb May 2011 bertempat di rumah kediaman anak nya Hj Tusin bin Hj Tamat. Perhimpunan ini ada lah perhimpunan tahunan bagi keluarga ini bagi mengkekalkan tali silaturahim. Di anggarkan lebeh tiga ratus orang yang hadir pada hari itu terdiri dari Anak, Anak menantu, cucu cucu, cicit dan hingga sampai ka piut. Allahyarham mempunya sepuloh orang anak, 82 orang cucu, 236 cicit, 40+ piut.
Bergamber [Dari kiri: Hj Anik, (Menantu), Hjh Sara (Anak), Hjh Saidah (anak), Hjh Dudah (anak) Hjh Tiamah  (Menantu)].

Message to ALL youth. Our children deserve a better....

Message to ALL youth

Our children deserve a better nation that what is happening to it right now. We have evolved too much materialistically and have let the elite citizen be consumed and intoxicated by money in the process of maintaining power. MIB has lost its noble value.

This merdeka, are we celebrating a hidden catastrophe -- a malapetaka?

Youth of this Nation, you are a beacon of hope. Reflect, reanalyse and revolt. Reclaim your righteous minds, as the African-American actor Denzel Washington said to his students in the movie The Great Debaters. Transform the world inside and outside." You are the force of change in any society at any time. You must help the country find the final solution to the mess she is now in.

The hope for change lies in the middle class and in public education, and in you, youth leaders of social change. How do we teach ourselves to analyse propaganda, bias, half-truths, and recognise progressive forces, institutions and organisations of change and subsequently align with these forces? How do you use your music, arts, creativity, and technological prowess to affect changes and to help us craft a sincere merdeka; a merdeka not for the few to freely plunder the nation and rob the poor but a merdeka for the many to exercise their fundamental rights as citizens and their entitlement to basic human needs.

Youth of the Nation: reflect, reanalyze, reconstruct, and finally, revolt!

Harta Pusaka Kedayan di Brunei Semakin Hilang

Kali ini aku mengutarakan SOAL HARTA PUSAKA KAUM KEDAYAN YANG SEMAKIN HILANG. Puak Kedayan dahulunya merupakan bangsa yang mempunyai harta pusaka yang unggul disegi Tanah.


Tetapi akhir akhir ani nampaknya bangsa kitani semakin kehilangan tanah akibat kemiskinan. Contoh nya pada masa kini kita sudah banyak melihat orang orang bukan bangsa kedayan yang tinggal di kampong orang Kedayan, saperti Jerudong, Sengkurong, Kilanas, Lumapas, Junjungan, Kampong Kampong di sapanjang jln Muara dan banyak lagi yang sudah kita maklomi dulu nya di huni oleh orang kedayan.

Apakah keadaan seperti ini juga di alamimi oleh Paadiaan Paadianku di Malaysia??? Akibat miskin tanah dijual?

Aku amat sedih melihat betapa mudahnya bangsa kitani melepaskan EMPIREnya kepada bangsa lain. Kalaulah satu ekar dilepaskan dan akan datang semula berpuluh puluh ekar itu tak mengapa. Tetapi ekar ekar tanah yang dimiliki oleh bangsa kitani terus hilang satu demi satu ke tangan bangsa lain. Dahulunya bila disebut sahaja Puak Kedayan maka bangsa lain berucap "ahh... banyak banyak tanah kaum kedayan atu!"

Tetapi sekarang kitani sudah mula berkurang pemilikan tanah. Susah payah orang tuha kitani dahulu menghimpun harta pusaka dan kini anak anaknya mula mengadaikan dan menjualnya dengan mudah.

Satu perkara lagi bila Kaum kitani sudah kaya ia lupa kan siapa asal usulnya. Maksudnya apa yang ku katakan lupa akan usulnya atu adalah inda tia sanggup berkuapak cakap Kedayan dan hawar tia kan mengakun kedayan. Kerana anggapan Kedayan selepas kemiskinan bahawa adalah bangsa kedayan ani inda standard. Inilah amat menyedihkan.

Apa pendapat liau disana?

Apa yang aku kuapakkan disini inda pulang semuha kedayan begitu tetapi kebanyakannya begitu. Sama sama tah kita pikirkan... demi masa depan anak cucu keturunan kitani.

Why Brunei never Succeed!!!

Observe1

Brunei will never succeed for the simple fact that our very top (our ruler) does not want the diversification of our economy.

Our ruling family has been inculcated in UK to control. For that, the economy must be within full control.

How does one achieve full control? Through absolute dependence. We depend on the government and its oil economy for everything.

If the economy gets diversified, meaning, we citizens breakaway of the oil dependent economy, we have a huge leverage because we would suddenly don't require the government hand outs. We would therefore, question, freely, some government policies.

That questioning would be met by a mute master and than you have it: trouble, questioning…

Whenever there is economic advancement that is not provided by the government, meaning, no hand outs; we become our own masters, therefore we tend to question things such as: why does that minister or ruler has two helicopters and 10 jets and I can't have mine?

Why is it that he can drive around without license plates and I am forced to have one?

Why is it that his family controls all the good businesses and I am stuck in the kampong? Why can't I import my car without duties as he can?

Those are the questions that would soon arise if we are empowered by diversification and therefore wealth without Government intervention.

The fear is to loose control.

Unfortunately, although good souls, the rulers were instilled with the fear of loosing the pie. We are used to getting the small pieces that fall from the pie because the pie is controlled by the rulers.

Now the real question: does the ruler really control the pie? Or is it another outside force (i.e. Royal Dutch Shell - Q.E. and Q. Beatrix) that controls him, who controls us?

If he was not so worried about loosing control, he could really face the masters and give them the middle finger and grant us absolute control of our nation's future.

While that doesn't happen, we are stuck in "surviving" paycheck by paycheck and they get the illusion its all fine and will stay all fine forever.

But really, will it?

I don't see it that way and I pit our young and their future generations because they might be swallowed by radical change. Things could be different if the change started from the top down, truly and not just for headlines.

We've been waiting for diversification for 2 decades or more but actually, No Action, Talk Only (NATO country )

Now this shows a myopic side of our government which thinks oil and its related economy will last forever…

The will to change is not there.

There is only fear of loosing control, loosing the pie...

Look around, fear has been growing exponentially and without any reason. Look and the motorcade nowadays, even ambulance following. As if there were imminent threats or real danger in meeting the rakiat. This is also part of a broader agenda by the ones selling the security services and making tons of money every month

Observe 2

Observe1,I don't fully agree with your analysis. My opinion is that our heads of the nation really wants diversification. They all know that the oil will not last forever. So it is imperative that a solution to replace the oil economy be found.
Since

Observe1

Observe2, I respect your point of view but its hard to defend it. Our country is very small and in actual fact has an owner. Our leader does not want change or diversification, otherwise it would have already happened. Come on, 350,000 subjects in such a small place, one single owner things can't get resolved? No way...

Observe3

The way I look at it, I agree to part of Observe1's observation and also the other forumers. Sometimes I sit down and wonder too, why certain things are so easy to solve yet remain a perpetual problem like making RBA efficient and profitable? Why keep changing CEO every few years and BoD members every now and then? I still dunno the answers sometimes.

Or the BIA for that matter, why can't just revampt the organisation and appoint real fund managers (even if they are foreigners) and run it properly?
Sometimes I wonder too...

Why Brunei never Succeeds???

This is just a brief overview of the life in Brunei, and there are reasons why I think Brunei will not succeed economically and socially. Before reading, please bear in mind I'm not ungrateful, in fact I think Brunei is a great country but a lot of errant individuals holding positions have made the life of RAKYAT very difficult and almost unbearable.

If  Brunei wants good economics advisors &  managers, get the real ones, not make political appointees. Don't be afraid to seek help from good neighbours like EDB Singapore but get the professionals.

Brunei Goverment should invest in creating a new mindset for the public managers. They should have courses to instill patriotism, honor, truth, love for the land..etc. Also we should have capacitating courses for the betterment of our local executives. Beyond that, the top should be contented and stop grabbing more and more....the family feud is still ongoing, silently but ongoing and that has been like this since the mids 90s and we are stuck in the middle, pretendingthat all is fine...

And in the meant time, projects that could benifit the country and people get hijacked by the key people to line their own pockets.

And lousy projects are paid for at marked-up prices and be burdened to the country...

They get richer and we are content, we have house,  we don't pay tax, we drive black sedan and they laugh at us. They are truly wealthy.

Everytime you hear about Brunei, people talk about oil money, tax free country, free education, free medical, free this free that, big black V12s and jags and Aston Martins...but when one come to Brunei they will see most people driving Hyundais, Toyotas, Hondas and paying installments and waiting for promotions and free drinks coupons to claims during Hari Raya and borrow few hundreds now and then to make end meet.... hey, I thought we're a rich country?

Subsidies. no income tax, free education, etc. These goodies will not last forever. It is just a matter of time that we will need to impose income tax, remove subsidies, etc. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Yes, that why the country need to do a few things and do them quickly...

• diversify - have been talking for ages!
• build up the sovereign funds is BIA success rate, is it doing ok or just earning less than putting the money in the bank?
• cut wastage and cut grandeur expenses
• human capital and skill pool development (quickly decide the direction and provide the right skill development programs);
• overhaul the civil services and make it proactive and efficient as engine of development and make it work with the private sector;
• liberalize the private sector and encourage its development but not put dampners and impede its growth;
• stop nepotism, stop having uncles and aunties and cousins and nephews in civil service hirings, hire on merits!
• hire the pros, not the conSULTANs - even if they cost a little more because he produce a lot more and their contributions are immense!
• trim the civil size, its fat and clumsy!
• drop the subsidies slowly and stop the wastages and inefficiencies...

The mindset of our Gov, & leaders are absolutely wrong and directed towards incredibly short term. We are in the path to doom and not gloom. We could be beacon of light and hope in this corner but we're being led the other way. The people advising our leaders are crooks. That is the facts. We have British spies working inside our nation, along with US spies and S'pore spies and even Malaysian Spies. This is unacceptible!!! BIA sucks in term of results, standing very below average + they don't know what is the power of their name. They don't know how to capitalize on their "fame" from previous golden years. That is fantastic in terms of incompetence and lack of vision.