EmmaGoodEgg

Bobby Does Lawas

Growing up my husband Bobby was known amongst his relatives for not being the most MIB little boy. He failed to get a government scholarship because although he got a Malay ‘O’ Level as required, it was the Malay ‘O’ Level for the "orang putihs". What to do? There are advantages and disadvantages of a boarding school education. But over the years his Malay has improved and he has become interested in his connections with the land and the water around us, along with its attendant history.

For weeks my husband has been threatening to go on a wild man road trip with some of his kin to Sundar in Lawas, Sarawak - to pay a visit to the grave of his paternal great-grandmother.

Bobby’s great–grandmother passed away in the 1930’s, and was buried in Sundar. Although settled in Sundar, the family appeared to have had substantial links with Kianggeh back in Brunei. Not really surprising, given that the Sundar sits on the Trusan River, marking the traditional border between Temburong’s East Side and the Lawas district of Sarawak. The Trusan River flows into Brunei Bay, and sits in between the Temburong and Lawas rivers.

In a straight line, the distance between from Beribi in Gadong to Sundar is only 33.9 kilometers. That's 21 miles in old money and that's really not very far.

I reckon in the old days by sail and paddleboat, you could get to Sundar in half a day from Brunei. These days Lawas has an airport (code LWY) and is served daily by MasWings via Miri or Kota Kinabalu. You can also go by ferry and by road and this was the route Bobby and his travelling companions chose to take last week, in a big black diesel car.

Apparently, the travelling time has not really fallen over the years. By road, Brunei to Sundar is 120 kilometers or 75 miles. A scenic drive from Kuala Lurah through Limbang and Temburong, the journey features greenery, plantations and mountains. There are 6 immigration checkpoints and one of the shortest ferry rides in the world, at the Temburong-Limbang border crossing at Puni. The ferry ride itself takes one minute but since the ferry can only take about ten cars at the most, waiting time can stretch from 15 minutes to a couple of hours.

The journey from Brunei to Sundar took them three hours, though long queues at immigration can double the travel time. The travel time has been reduced by the opening of a new bridge over the Trusan River and there is a new bridge due to be built at Puni. Still, the various queues can turn the short physical journey into a tortious epic of grinding bumper-to-bumper frustration.

I understand that the point of passport control is to keep bad people out and to identify our borders, but in the 21st century there must be an easier way to organize travel to and from our closest neighbour. The cost notwithstanding, for example, in three hours one could fly to Hong Kong. A foreigner would need all the requisite eight chops in their passport, or ten, to get to Sabah, meaning 16 or 20 for a journey to and fro.

Durians are in season in Lawas and Bobby bought me some from a lady at the Lawas Market, who wrestled her green spiky balls open and placed the pungent flesh into plastic containers to take away for those who would rather not have their cars smelling of durian.

I had some for dinner on Friday evening. I am happy to report that the taste of the Lawas durian reminds me of the durian of my childhood. Rather less fleshy than the Thai, it was a well-rounded fruit. Not too pungent, sweet but not sticky sweet, with a nice balanced taste and a kick of heat to the body after.

So, I do hope that we can all figure out a way to improve communication links between ourselves and our neighbours. It is only sensible. Historically there has always been travel and communication across the Brunei bay area with substantial cross border family ties. It would be good for tourism and trade, and when durian season comes along, I could easily get my fix. 

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

One Night In Bangkok

I spent a few nights in Bangkok over the week for a work conference. Part of the conference program was the usual Gala Dinner and cultural show on the banks of the coffee-coloured Chao Phraya. It was interesting to note the striking similarities of the Thai Royal Court dance and the courtly dancing of the Javanese. Watching the dance I could almost imagine myself being in a "pendopo" (open pavilion) at a "Kraton" (palace) in Solo, Central Java. There are similarities in rhythm and presentation. It is in the flex of the hands, the stance of the body and the flashing of the eyes.

Many Cambodians will tell you that the music and dance performed in the courts of Siam in the last six centuries originated from Cambodia. Sorry to get historical on you but about 600 years ago in 1431 the Kingdom of Siam based in Ayutthaya invaded the Khmer civilisation based in Siem Reap, the builders of Angkor Wat. The story goes that the Siamese carted the whole of the Khmer culture, its books and priests, its nobility and dancing girls, back to Siam.

I'm sure I wasn't just imagining it but you see, it is also said that the Khmer civilisation was established in in the 9^th century by Jayavarman II, who himself had been raised by the builders of Borobudur in distant Central Java. Hence the similarities in the royal court dances of Java and Thailand - brought over a thousand years via Cambodia.

While we may think that Central Java, Bangkok and Brunei have little in common, in truth, South East Asians have had thousands of years of rubbing up against each other. In fighting wars, participating in trade, general travel, the various cultures appear distinct, but in truth the cultures we now see are a result of thousands of years of commingling.

So really what I'm trying to say here is how similar Bandar Seri Begawan is to Bangkok - I kid you not.

Bangkok and Bandar Seri Begawan both have a river running through them.

While you could not compare the mighty Chao Phraya to the Sungai Brunei - The Chao Phraya is part of a river system that bisects an enormous country that flows from the Himalayas to the Gulf of Siam. It is a large working river, on which people commute, play and live. Its flood plains provide fertile agricultural land that feeds millions.

Different in size and toxic silt perhaps but look at videos of the floating market of Bangkok on YouTube and you will see familiar images of ladies in their wooden boats selling their wares of fruits and vegetables akin to our Padian ladies of the Brunei of yore, straw hats and all. Tanned children with dark hair in their spendet gleefully jumping off wooden jetties. Stilt houses over the river are a common sight all over South East Asia, and indeed, both Bangkok and BSB have been monikered, “the Venice of the East”. The similarity is in the fact that both cities grew up centered on the river.

Thai cultural dancers wear costumes of cloth woven with gold threads that reminded me very much of the fine golden sheen of our own songket. The accouterments the dancers wore were reminiscent of the golden headgear worn by Bruneian brides during Malam Bebedak. Perhaps these days Bruneians have developed a more modest approach to dressing than the Thais, but I bet you we were rocking the same style centuries ago.

There are aspects of the characteristics of Thais and Bruneians that are common to both. These are a gentle and dignified demeanor, love of family and respect for tradition. Both nations are generally seen as consensus seeking and tolerant.

Brunei and Thailand also have great veneration of the Monarch. We love our King; it's as simple as that.

Yes, obviously Bangkok has got traffic, travelers and titty-bars. On the face of it, there are vast differences, but on a close examination, it is heartening to find how similar, and familiar in truth we all really are. 

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

Twitter: A Murder Of Crows?

The first thing Twitter asks you when you log in from your smartphone or iPad is, "What are you doing?" The answer to this simple question is at the core of this social network and micro blogging application. Launched in July 2006 by a 10-person start-up called Obvious, Twitter got its name when its makers liked the sound of its definition, "a short inconsequential burst of information" and "chirps from birds". It is the perfect name. My favorite collective noun for birds by the way is “a charm of goldfinches”.

"Twitterers" or "tweeters" send and receive short messages whimsically called "tweets". Tweets circulate among networks of friends, which is unlike text messages. You can also choose to receive the tweets of people you find interesting. Searchable Hash tags   (“#”) are used to collate tweets regarding the hashed topic. This means that a user can view the thoughts of all other users who have tweeted on this “hash tagged” topic without having to follow them in the first place.

Twitter reportedly reached a hundred million users this week. In a day 50 million active users send out 230 million tweets. Ranging from "Hello I'm in the loo" to pictures and news articles, haikus and songs on the ukulele, words of wisdom, the wide-ranging abundance of information on Twitter is, for lack of a better word, amazing. Some tweets are inane, some are eye-openers. Popular tweeters to follow include novelist Neil Gaiman @neilhimself and President Obama @barackobama. And with traditionally only 140 characters for you to form your tweets with, it takes a certain amount of skill to formulate your thoughts without irritating the heck outta people.

For me, the time when Twitter reached critical mass was when Ashton Kutcher @aplusk hit a million users in 2009 live on CNN. This showed that Twitter had hit the mainstream.

Twitter has had its fair share of ridicule, derided as the latest in time-wasting devices the most common of them. Lady Gaga @ladygaga wears the current crown for having most followers at 13,242,558 million last I checked. There are funny twitter feeds on anyone famous like @thequeen a parody account of the Queen of England. @darthvader, comes up with things like, “I like my Force like I like my toast, a little on the Dark Side”. 

But its use in Iran in the wake of the contentious presidential election in June 2009 to organize protests and disseminate information in the face of a news media crackdown brought it new respect. It has been credited, some say to excess, for helping to bring about the so-called “Arab Spring” of this year.

It has had its cultural moments. For example, the guy who live tweeted the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan a few months ago. He lived in a house without a television and got all his news and contact with the outside world on his pc and laptop. And he could tweet, right in the middle of Abbottabad, the earliest (accidental) report the world had on the raid that killed Bin Laden.

It is accessible wherever you have an Internet connection and with the advent of Wi-Fi and 3G it pretty much means that these days, you can be continuously connected to Twitter. You only really need a smart phone to theoretically be in touch with the thoughts of 100 million users around the world. It is not just whether you want or need to know whether Lady Gaga has just used the toilet, but since everyone is connected by various degrees of separation news, views and information can spread and disseminate through Twitter and across the world very quickly. It is like an enormous, global cocktail party.   

This virtual party has become tangible to commerce. Twitter has been used as a platform by various businesses for customer service or PR, to push sales to their followers or those they follow. Newspapers too have jumped on the bandwagon, providing daily updates on the news, engaging their followers (previously known as readers). This paper has recently come up with its own Twitter feed to sound out the views of its readers.

So far the chirping has been harmonious. As with everything, I hope that Twitter won't become too polluted with commerce and inappropriate behavior. There is always a risk, once things reach a critical mass, of fraud, scams and hoaxes. Just like certain well-known message boards of the past, twitter feeds may be subject to the manipulation of views, the distortion of the truth. Insidious little dishonesties can bring down communities or lessen the value of a useful tool.

That at the end of the day is all that it is - a communication tool for broadcasting and receiving information.  In these days of a multiplicity of view points, some valid, some subject to manipulation, some fraudulent; what is important for individuals is to arrive at their own position, their own point of view. Individuals need to locate and develop their own moral compass in order to decide individually what is right or wrong.  It is thus up to the individual to make Twitter their own, either “a parliament of owls" a “murder of crows”, or anything in between. 

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

I Got A Raya Feeling

Oh, the wonders of technology. I ordered perfume online and when it arrived shortly before Raya, I received a text message from the Post Office to come and collect my package, how very 21st Century I thought. The notification stated that the counter closes at 1.30pm.

I arrived at the Post Office, at the Old Airport at 12.30pm. Got to the counter, giddy with anticipation, and gave the man my parcel details. I was told that I had to pay import duty but that the customs counter, a mere 20 centimeters away, fully manned with three affable looking officers, was closed. All this means that my parcel will stay in storage for another day because the customs counter closes at 12.30pm. I looked up to the big white-faced clock on the post office wall. It read 12.34. I begged and pleaded but to no avail. The three affable officers, looking comfortable in their chairs, gave no explanation except shrugs and mutters of "tutup sudah" (it's already closed).

So much mechanical efficiency can be dashed on the jagged failings of human nature. The Post Office can manage to send me a text on the arrival of my package, but cannot manage another department to actually get me my package? How would a person with a business to run deal with this? If we want to be a 21st century economy, basic things have got to work. I believe that it is a simple matter of learning to work together to do it.

 

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As a society, we are fabulous hosts at our homes. It is no more apparent than during Hari Raya, when we open our houses to family, friends and complete strangers and treat them all to a well-stocked buffet, chocolates and all manner of dessert. Topping off the hospitality with parting gifts of green packets filled with money.

It used to be that Hari Raya open houses were simple affairs; we served only cakes, cookies and Fanta Orange. Over the years open houses have become much more elaborate, with full buffet meals, coffee and petit fours at the end.

The way that we celebrate has also changed. It used to be that people would circulate between various open houses during the first three days only. Now we can expect text messages, emails and Facebook invites over the course of a month. The tradition of a standing open invitation to a house over the first three days seems to me to be losing favor. 

What matters though, is the spirit of the host and the guest. It should start with a sense of brotherhood, community and sharing. It’s a good thing to open home or invite people for a bit of food and drink, as it is to visit your family, friends and neighbors. It is definitely not in the programme to dump a bowl of chocolates into your bag, or take another guest shoes as you walk out.

The tale of the nefarious shoe thief hit Brunei on Friday, with a video circulating of a woman in a tudung allegedly caught in the act of stealing a pair of shoes as she leaves a house she has just visited for Hari Raya. As cool as a cucumber she picks up a pair of shoes, dusts it off, checks for label and size and puts it in her bag (Lois Vuitton no less, but hard to tell though). And then she puts on her own shoes and walks away, all this caught on the homeowners close circuit television.

 

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Perhaps it's true what I've read online from a blogger friend of mine, how Hari Raya is not as "meriah" (merry) these days.

Well aside from nefarious shoe-nappers, the sensible calls to avoid waste and excess, and the fact that we are now more conscious of our health, I would disagree.

The way that we celebrate at home has changed. What was once a three day festival has become a month long marathon, but the basic idea remains through out.  Brother and sisterhood, community and family. A counter balance to a month of refrain and restraint is a month of generosity and giving. 

Thirty years from now, the way we celebrate Eid will be different. While now, our elders would have had large families of 10 or 15, our children’s elders would have had much smaller families, but I believe and fervently hope that the spirit will remain. 

Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin.

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.