The US Embassy in Brunei has released the International Religious Report 2009. Of interest, there is a Brunei report starting off with what the Brunei’s Constitution states on religion: “The religion of Brunei Darussalam shall be the Muslim religion according to the Shafi’i sect of that religion: Provided that all other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony by the person professing them in any part of Brunei Darussalam.”

I am picking up stats and info from the report. During the reporting period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009:

• Brunei’s population is 380,000. The population includes -
  197,260 (or almost 52%) are Muslims;
  16,215 (4%) are Buddhists (Buddhism is the second largest religious belief in Brunei);
  6,884 (1.8%) Christians;
  712 (0.2%) are Roman Catholics;
  242 (0.06%) Hindus;
  72 (0.02%) Baha’is;
  34 (0.009%) atheists;
  40 (0.01%) Taoists;
  33 (0.008%) Sikhs;
  7 (0.001%) Nasrani;
  53 (0.013%) of other religious groups; and
  16,916 (4.45%) did not state their religious preference.
• There are 101 mosques and Muslim prayer halls, seven Christian churches, three Chinese temples, and one Hindu temple officially registered in the country.
• The following religious holidays as national holidays: Chinese New Year, Christmas Day, Hari Raya Aidil Fitri (Eid ul-Fitr), Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Eid ul-Adha), First Day of Ramadhan (Ramadan), First Day of the Muharram (Islamic Calendar), Isra Mikraj (Isra Me’raj), the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday, and Nuzul Al-Quraan (Revelation of the Quran).
• Several religious groups were banned that are considered deviant, including Al-Arqam, Abdul Razak Mohammad, Al-Ma’unah, Saihoni Taispan, the Baha’i faith, Tariqat Mufarridiyyah, Silat Lintau, and Qadiyaniah.
• There were 54 khalwat (close proximity between sexes) cases.
• 369 conversions to Islam.

The report said that the Brunei Government categorizes Catholics as distinct from other Christians. There is also an indigenous population that adheres to traditional beliefs, although they often convert either to Islam or Christianity.

Disclaimer: Please note that I didn’t get anything for putting up this poster. This is entirely done due to the main cause of this event. Please do come along and experience a little of the many challenges face by the visually-impaired.

Fri, 6 November 2009 @ Hua Ho Manggis. Be part of the Seeing is Believing Charity Fund.

I hope I am not being hit by marriage counsellors because of this post but this can be a fact of life. Just take the humorous side of it yeah. P/S: Dont let this deter you from getting married.

#CASE 1

Getting married is like going to a restaurant with friends. You order what you want, then when you see what the other fellow has, you wish you had ordered that.

#CASE 2

At the cocktail party, one woman said to another, “Aren’t you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger??” The other replied, “Yes, I am. I married the wrong man.”

#CASE 3

Before a man is married, he is incomplete. Then when he is married, he is finished.

#CASE 4

Marriage is an institution in which a man losses his bachelor’s degree and the woman gets her master’s status.

#CASE 5

A little boy asked his father, “Daddy, how much does it cost to get married??” And the father replied, “I don’t know son, I’m still paying for it.”

#CASE 6

Young son : “Is it true, Dad, I heard that in some parts of Africa, a man doesn’t know his wife until he marries her?”

Dad : “That happens in most countries son.”

#CASE 7

Then there was a man who said, “I never knew what real happiness was until I got married, and then it was too late.”

#CASE 8

A happy marriage is a matter of give and take; the husband gives and the wife takes

#CASE 9

When a newly married man looks happy, we know why. But when a ten-year married man looks happy, we wonder why. Affair ?

#CASE 10

In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year, they both speak and the neighbors listen.

#CASE 11

After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, “You know, I was a fool when I married you.” And the Husband replied, “Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn’t notice it.”

#CASE 12

A man inserted an ‘ad’ in the classified : “Wife wanted”. The next day, he received hundreds letters. They all said the same thing “You can have mine.”

#CASE 13

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing : either the car is new or his wife is new.

#CASE 14

A woman was telling her friend : “It is I who made my husband a millionaire.”

“And what was he before you married him?” the friend asked. The woman replied, “A Billionaire.”

4 degree map

The 4 degree map - the impact of a global temperature riseof 4 degrees C (7 degrees F)

Imagine what happen if the global average temperature rises by 4 degrees Celcius above the pre-industrial climate average. The Act on Copenhagen site says that the impacts of climate change will be widespread across the globe. In order to understand more about what the human impact of high-end climate change might be, a map (above)produced by the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre was produced which represents the latest peer-reviewed science on the impacts.

Go to this page on the 4 degree interactive map to click the interactive controls and select which impacts you want to see, zoom on specific geographies and access on more information on the science of the map. Of my interest, I click a zone very near to Brunei which shows the rise in sea level. Here are some of the findings in a summary:

• Sea level could rise as much as 80 cm by the end of the century. Low-lying reasons such as Bangladesh will be affected.
• For the population in the year 2075 (I will be long gone by this time), a mean sea-level rise of 53 cm means that up to an additional 150 million people per year will be flooded due to the extreme sea level. Three quarters of these people live in Asia (please note this).
• 56 million people from the 150 million will be from the Indian Ocean, 25 million from the east Asian cost and 33 million people from the Southeast Asian coast (thats us!).
• Hottest day of the year could be as much as 6 degrees warmer over highly populated areas of China.
• Decrease in rice yields of up to 30% in China, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
• Disease patterns have changed.
• Marine ecosystem affected. Livelihoods of those depending on the fisheries industry would be affected too as well as loos of coral reef habitats due to acidification.
• Northern Siberian permafost will almost completely dissapear and reduction in Alaska and Canada.
• Drought events occur twice as frequently across southern Africa, South-East Asia and the Mediterranean basin.
• Water resources affected by up to 70% reduction in run-off around the Mediterranean, Southern Africa and large part of Southern America.

Not a complete set, the rest of the books I have on my desk - not collecting dust! Natural History lovers should have this set.

I have previously posted The Seashore Life Of the Brunei Heart of Borneo booklets last June. According to the project leader and main author of the books, Roger Mc Ilroy who reported from cold and windy Scotland; the booklets were launched last Friday, 16 October, when BSP – the sponsor of the booklets – planted their 10,000 trees at Badas. I was away at that time and so I miss the boat. You may have read on the news of the launching from The Brunei Times aptly titled ‘BSP digs deep to preserve HoB’.

I did promise to give an insight on the booklets in my post. I will do as soon as I got more details from Roger on where the general public can get these very useful books on Brunei’s natural history. The plan, Roger said, was to distribute the sets to the schools around Brunei and made them available at all bookstores.  Although the book is intended for students, anyone interested should also grab them and have a read.

Page 17 of Vol 5 - The Crustaceans show a pic of a stressed crab that it foams. Maybe thats where the word 'crabby' comes from.

One of the photographers for the booklets was none other than Jan Shim whose pic of a foaming Horn-eyed Ghost Crab was selected in Vol 5 – The Crustaceans. The pic, as always from any of Jan’s work, is superb. Quoting from the book…”The Horn-eyed Ghost Crab is considered to be the most seaward living of the Ocypodes, one of the many types of crabs….” And the foam? Well, the book says: “When the Ocypode crab is stressed, it blows bubbles.” You have to read more from the book on the how

Its only Tuesday and now its 15:30 hrs as I type and I am already drained. Yesterday at work was hectic, not only because its Monday but my computer crashed. I just got back to work and I was sure emails and tasks would be shouting for my attention. I tried to sign in and all there to see was this blue screen. Nice! So now I am working from another work-station which is painfully s-l-o-w that even I have time to multi-task other stuff that doesnt need a click on the keyboard in between coffee and chocolate chips. Tuesday now and still no sign of recovery of my computer, I have to resort to the turtle work-station.

While googling for “energy booster” or ‘energy drinks or quick-fix food to boost energy level or smarter lunch”, I came up with this interesting article on ‘Out of Energy’ by one Denise Schipani. Denise outlined that there are nine things that zap our energy and writes how to fix them. She started the article with ‘It’s 3pm….’ How timely!

To save your energy reading the full article, I have put a summary of the list of the energy zippers and their fixes:

1. Being addicted to e-mail (ehem …) - If you continually halt to what you are doing to answer e-mail, check voice mail, and attend other beepers and blips from your pc or Blackberry, your attention becomes diluted which leaves you feeling depleted.  Fix this by switching off your electronic gadgets during your most productive hours – usually in the morning.
2. Visual clutter - I like this one. According to me (hehe), clutter equal to mess. The article says clutter signals disorder which makes us anxious. Our brain sense that anxiety. Fix: clear the clutter hun to give your eyes a rest rather than dart from mess to mess.
3. Being bored – I don’t know if anyone has time to get bored at work and if yes, please switch position with me. I never seem to have that time. Well, boredom for some people can be due to doing the same job or task so it’s monotonous.  Mental foot-dragging, boredom and lack of motivation are draining. Energy fix this by finding a partner or co-worker in a time challenge. Or, promise yourself a motivational reward for completing the task at hand.
4. Poor posture - Hunching wrecks havoc on your energy level. Enough said. Reboot your posture with these tips from my fav instructor, Denise Austin.  
5. Toxic indoor air - Copy machines, office carpet, cleaning chemicals all produce toxins in the air and you dont know how it can contribute to the level of toxins in your body. Go outside for ten minutes and smell the coffee or flowers or have houseplants inside. Dont also wear your shoes inside your house as youre dragging not just dirt in your soles but also chemicals and harmful pesticides from outside. Now you know why Asians leave their shoes outside the house? Islam has long taught on this due to the same reason.
6. Eating too much at once -  The effect of a heavy lunch is most noticeable in the afternoon because the slump happens at that reach-for-coffee-or-sugar hour – at 3pm. Fix this by eating every four hours instead of six. Increase your energy by smarter lunch which what I was looking for in the first place!
7. Living in artificial light – Know your body rhythm – our body rhymes with the sun as it means its time to wake up (or should have woken up for Subuh). So a 10 to 20 minute walk in the sun may boost your energy instead of staying indoors during lunch break (this is a note to myself too).
8. Listening to Negative Nellies - Pardon to anyone name Nelly but Negative Nellies? I have experienced this sort of person who just nags and whines and complaints every single thing in her life and boy, was I exhausted myself. So avoid Nellies.
9.  Holding to a grudge – Resentment is a huge energy-drainer and such negative emotions along with anger are toxic as they hung inside our tense muscles. So the answer, though it takes practise (and time) is to forgive old mistakes. We are all humans and are bound to make mistakes.

Okay I feel rejuvenated posting this here and reading THAT email make my day too

Its Blog Action Day today. Every 15 October, bloggers from all around the world unite to talk about the same issue on the same day with the hope that their voices will provoke discussion on the issue of global importance. From the Blog Action Day’s site, 7,194 blogs from 141 countries across the world have registered to join and talk on the issue of climate change. Here’s my take on the issue on my way to a training course and during my lunch break.

Climate change is already happening. Every day we hear devastating news about all these natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes which left hundreds and thousands to lose their livelihoods. I am really hopeful for the world leaders who will meet in Copenhagen this December will come up with a real, sensible outcome on how to tackle climate change.

Now don’t say that Brunei is not affected. I don’t know if anyone knows that Brunei is among the highest carbon emitter per capita. Tiny Brunei with a population of about a quarter million is not spared from the effect of climate change. The best example will be the flash floods. Bruneians are not used to experience what seem ‘normal’ for neighboring countries like the Philippines and Indonesia in facing calamities like typhoons and earthquakes due to its geographic location.

However, early this year, the country was suddenly awakened with the worst flooding it has seen for decades. I remember that night. Barrack Obama was just sworn in as the President. As the Americans and the rest of the world were watching the inauguration live, Bruneians were experiencing hours and hours of non-stop raining. The next morning, people from areas which have never experienced flooding were awakened with an unexpected sight – water with mud everywhere.

So what is happening? What was it that we did? Has Mother Nature lost her charm and unleash her fury. I think so. So what do we need to do now? I don’t suggest that everyone should go to the forest and hug a tree but more to our every day habit like switching to energy-saving bulbs, using less paper, re-cycling and re-using items, and no plastics. These little things that we do every day. Every one of us should be responsible in their own actions as it affect the future generation. I want my great-great-grandchildren to be still able to smell the flowers and breathe fresh air. If you are not sure what you can do to tackle climate change (or what on earth this climate change that I have been yapping on and on is), just google for ways to tackle climate change. I particularly like this Climate Change – Bloom from the BBC. Click on it.

Climate change, act on it for a greener world.

Padang, the capital city of West Sumatra province was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on 30 Spet 2009. A number of villages there have been declared as mass graves. Hundreds have died and many more have been misplaced or reported missing and are now feared to be buried under the rumbles. According to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency website, the quake has left 608 dead, 596 seriously injured and 2,039 lightly injured; 179,629 houses damaged and more than 83,000 in ruins. The death toll may exceed 1,000 said the agency.

I am so much impressed with the internationl aids from around the world which have provided clean water, money and other forms of aids to the area. At least 35 international aid agencies and non-governmental organizations are helping victims in Padang. Some 4,000 volunteers are working in the city.

On a related note, Masjid Abdul Rahman Auf in Kuala Lumpur would be compiling an anthology of poems remembering the Padang quake by the end of this month as a move in solidarity and humanitarian act on the tragic event. The launching and reading of the poems will be held on the 31st October and 1st November at the Dewan al-Ghazali, Masjid Abdul Rahman Auf, Km 5.5, Jalan Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Condolences to the familes of the victims of the earthquake. Al-Fatihah.

One of the earliest 1 cent stamps from Brunei.

I dont know if most people use slow mails nowadays with the advancement of technology. E-cards, e-invites via social networking like Facebook and Twitter are the norms now. I dont know how postal departments around the globe are surviving now. I do, however appreciate stamps. For a start, a stamp can be part of our history, our culture, tradition; everything that encompass our daily lives.  

According to the Postal Services Department, the earliest known use of a postage stamp in Brunei was one bearing a Brooketown (an old name for Muara) postmarked 24 April 1894 -  thats more than a century ago. A small post office was set up at Broketown in 1893 for the coal-mining workers of Brooke. The office was under the Sarawak Government operating a monthly mail service to and fro Kuching until 1907. If anyone remembers Brunei’s history, 1906 was the year when the first British Resident came to Brunei.  You can read more on Brunei’s postal history from the Postal Services website. I do notice a typo error though under its introduction when it says that “….The manager of the Central Borneo Company of Labuan, one John Robertson, obtained a concession in 1984 from Sultan Hashim to operate a postal service in Brunei Town (Bandar Seri Begawan)...” Can’t be 1984!

 I was looking at the latest thematic stamp produced by the Brunei’s Postal Services Department which will be issued as of this Friday, 9th October 2009. The name of the latest issue is ‘Wild Orchids of Brunei Darussalam Series I. The stamps are in the denomination of $1.00, 20 cents and 10 cents and designed by one Ajihis bin Haji Terawih. 

More informative and interesting stamps (and notes) can be found from our own Brunei’s Numismatist and Philatelist aka Brunei Daily Resources. Go check it out. Thanks for sharing Tuan Haji.

Brunei Shell Petroleum marks its 80th anniversary by launching a community campaign on road safety today. Labelled as ‘Tell-A-Friend’ BSP hopes that the campaign will help further improve road safety in the Abode of Peace.  The campaign was launched by His Majesty The Sultan of Brunei this morning where His Majesty also officiated the 80th anniversary. Read more on the event from BSP’s official website.

It does make anyone wonder what to be of Brunei without oil? Well, if you look to the open sea, you will think of oil and gas but if you turn your head around, you will see our intact rainforest. Al-Jazeera has recently made a Tv programme saying that brunei’s oil is saving the rainforest. Watch the video on the report more here.

Congratulations BSP for the 80 years and I pray for many more years of oil and gas exports for Brunei, amin.