EmmaGoodEgg

Amuse Bouche

It's been a busy month for new restaurants and new menus.  Kaizen Sushi has opened a branch in town by the Brunei River next to the Yayasan complex. The owners have thought about the design and brought some trendiness. There's a theatrical Japanese entrance, with the quintessential Japanese garden look. Grey granite stepping stones with tiny loose grout makes one teeter in one's work heels. Upstairs the fairly large area felt slightly cramped, just as you would in square-foot starved Japan. What they wouldn't have in Japan is the beautifully framed view of Kampung Ayer, fabulous in the midday sun.

The food? Sushi was fresh, zingy and springy, and prepared with care and thought, as the original Kaizen in Kiarong is known for. There were some complaints of rubbery unagi, but we enjoyed tuna belly and salmon belly, lightly (and fashionably) torched. Nigiri sushi was properly bite sized and care had been taken with the rice (it is surprising how few restaurants get this right, it is after all half of the sushi). Service was crisp, an important attribute for a restaurant doing lunch hour.

Regent Square in Kiulap has welcomed Sorriso, a new Italian restaurant taking over the space left by an earlier Italian restaurant. I prefer the welcoming vibe of the latest version.

The personality of the Chef Salvo, who heads the kitchen, comes through in the food. You could look at the chef and eat his food and think yes, he cooked this.  The cooking is epitomized by the Beef Lasagna - luscious and sticky comfort food, made by a warm and jovial personality.  

The Chef usually comes out of the kitchen to explain his specials and to try to up sell more exotic ingredients like truffles or wild mushrooms. The menu also had locally sourced produce, like the red snapper or other fish from the local fish market. We did like that effort. There is a pizza counter and it is a standard operating procedure to invite children to knead their own pizza dough, a warm and indulgent service that sets the tone for the home cooked taste of the food. Sorriso treats you like family.

The welcome at Spaghettini at the Empire is certainly less warm, more corporate, but the service did improve over the course of a long dinner. Care is taken to ensure that you are looked after all at times by an at times over wrought but well meaning front of house.   

An amuse bouche of salmon on a crouton topped with lemon foam sets the tone for a new “high end” menu. This featured contemporary presentations of classic Italian dishes. Beef Carpaccio comes with balsamic jelly and truffle sorbet. “Coquille St Jacque” was scallops done three ways that included a delicious scallop mousse. The trick of mixing up desert and main course continues with mustard ice cream on a steak, and slow cooked ox tail presented like a chocolate brownie surrounded by m&m’s.

A lot of care and effort seems to have gone into the food, with some delicious results. Some dishes, like the chunky tomato terrine and the slightly disappointing apple tarte tatin may have to be re thought. 

Local Chef Ajoy Omar came out when we were just finishing dessert. He spoke with a touch of nerves and was keen about wanting to cook food differently. He certainly showed that he is knowledgeable about food and the catering business.

At that to me is one of the nicest things about Spaghettini, it showcases the cooking of a local talent, who is passionate and curious of his craft. It seems that he had opportunities to do other things, but he choose cooking as a profession and has pursued it as his calling. Chase your dreams young Simba!

We were told that the ox-tail was locally inspired and the produce sourced locally. Chef Ajoy also shared his dismay at the difficulty with sourcing other local produce-for example, locally grown tomatoes produces juice that runs clear, which then cannot be used for his jellies or foams.

With all these fancy new dining options, its nice to see that we Bruneians are taking an interest in what we shovel into our mouths and put on our plates. Hopefully, this will also translate into an interest in producing good quality local ingredients, such as fish and meat, and the elusive juicy tomato. 

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click nowhere because they haven't put it online yet.

The Exploitation Of Dewi

 

“Brunei is a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source and transit country for men and women who are subjected to forced labour and forced prostitution”, so state the opening lines of the US State Department’s country report on human trafficking.

All this talk about how we are on the State Department’s watch list has made me wonder do we really treat our guest workers badly?

At last count there are around 87,500 migrant workers from around the region who work in Brunei. They come usually through a recruitment agency and work in low skilled jobs as grass cutters, labourers, factory workers, drivers, gardeners and domestic helpers.

We have a lot to thank for these people who uproot and leave their homes and families to provide their labour here, to build our buildings, roads and infrastructure, mow our lawns, to look after our own homes and family. One may say that the large number of women in the work place is a direct result of domestic duties being taken up by overseas domestic help.

Everyone has a horror story to tell about domestic helpers abusing trust, going crazy, getting pregnant, stealing, but many times they become like trusted members of the family. And at the end of the day one can point to the valid economic benefits of regular remittances back to Surabaya, Luzon, Udon Thani.

But what exactly is the beef?

Human trafficking is defined by both the United Nations Protocol on Human Trafficking and the Brunei Trafficking and Smuggling of Persons Order 2004 as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, receipt of persons for the purposes of exploitation by: threat, use of force, fraud, deception, abuse of power, the giving or receiving of payments to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person. "Exploitation" includes sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. It is still considered as exploitation even if a person consents to be exploited.

For example, a South Asian man who is promised a job earning a thousand dollars a month, who pays an agent five thousand dollars for the job, which he then realises only pays five hundred dollars a month. Or he gets to Brunei only to be told that he's got to fend for himself. In a sense such a man has been exploited.

Domestic helpers are also asked to repay high agency fees, and to work long hours without a day of rest. There are also instances of non-payment of wages. The requirement to repay high agency fees is identified as a form of debt bondage. It means that in order to pay this large debt a domestic worker has no choice other than to continue to work, and/or to accept difficult or onerous working conditions.

Our Employment Order and the Domestic Workers Regulation state that you cannot deduct more than twenty-five percent of a domestic worker's salary for a repayment of a debt and the length of repayment should not exceed one year.

It may be unfair to say that not enough has been done in Brunei to meet the UN requirements under the UN Protocol, because the enforcement of labour and immigration rules does go some way to protect the interest of foreign workers.

Neither should it be seen as a clash of cultures, because certain things apply to all.

We can't expect to call ourselves a just and moral society if we can't recognise that every human life should be accorded a certain basic dignity. We can certainly all agree that non-payment of remuneration for a persons' labour is a denial of that fundamental dignity.

The way that we treat the less fortunate and powerless may be said to be a mirror to our own humanity. We as a nation do pride ourselves on our treatment of our own less fortunate. So maybe we should reflect on how we choose to treat our foreign guest workers.

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the online version click here.

And Thinking About Brunei

June 1945 the end of the Second World War, Operation Oboe was launched to liberate Brunei with beach landings on Muara preceded with heavy bombing. Three days later a burnt out Brunei Town was liberated. It was into this battered nation that His Majesty was born a year later, and from the ashes of Brunei town rose the nation that His Majesty has nurtured over a lifetime.

Imagine if you lived in Brunei Town sixty-six years ago. The last years of the war had brought much hardship. Able bodied and clever men were locked up and the women looked after the children and home anxiously waiting for their husbands and sons to return. Food was scarce. My late grandmother never favored tinned sardines having eaten nothing but in those years of hardship.

My mother was born a few days after His Majesty in July 1946. The first of a generation of baby boomers, a demographic spike resulting from the peace and stability of the post-war years.

Under His Majesty's reign mom, like many of her generation, has accomplished much. She looked after 2 young daughters in Cardiff while doing her first degree in the early eighties. Years later, during her time as a lecturer, she took my youngest sister to London and completed her Masters. She looked after her grandson while she wrote her PhD in London. My mother suffered an aneurysm nearly 4 years ago and recovered thanks to our public health care at RIPAS. She is an Associate Professor in mathematics education. A few days ago His Majesty bestowed her the title, “Datin Paduka”. For her dedication to self-improvement and the receipt of fine public medicine, mom could be the poster girl for public health services and education.

And so what else is the country, that His Majesty has built over the better part of 65 years, like?

It's not just our interest in education. An educated society is a civilised one, one in which people care for one another. Charitable endeavors are undertaken by many, from buying a sushi roll or an ice cream cone with its proceeds going to charities to doing strenuous physical activity for the greater good.

We are increasingly health conscious. Physical activity is considered a social activity among our small population. Ministers don helmets and Lycra shorts to promote cycling. I am positive there is a business opportunity in badminton because our badminton halls are full most evenings all over the country. Outdoor treks are enjoyed by many of all ages. We play all kinds of sports: ultimate, softball, basketball, rugby, futsal, football and netball. We do tai chi and yoga at the weekends. Spinning classes on stationary bikes and Zumba aerobic lunges.

The life expectancy of our total population currently stands at 76 years. The literacy rate of youth between the ages 15 and 24 is almost 100%. Education and health is the backbone of the nation. We are grateful for all that has been provided and much more.

His Majesty's government has also been generous in providing for shelter, for what good is a healthy mind and body without a roof over its head? Many Bruneians enjoy the various forms of housing benefits, from free land to subsidized housing and attractive mortgages.

A concern with food security will hopefully provide a bolster against uncertainties of the future.

For the better part we are an accepting and a tolerant bunch really, to tell you the truth. At home, in school, at work and online, everyone pretty much gets along. We are also a nation that is keen to be able to decide for itself what it feels about the world, what we perceive as right and wrong.

Lastly and importantly, we are a nation of believers, one that does not forget the importance of the spiritual side. A nation guided and governed on Islamic principles.

As a nation we could never say that we are ever in need or found wanting. We are comfortable with our place in the world and confident finding our way through it. We trust that looking back on his 65 years His Majesty, like us, will be proud of his achievements. 

Daulat Tuanku.

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the edited version online click here.

Big Boys and Their Big Guns That Go Bang!

This week the navy was in town. And the army and the air force and all kinds of military folk. They all swooped in for BRIDEX 2011, the bi-annual defense exhibition organized by Royal Brunei Technical Services that was officially opened last Wednesday. It marked the beginning of an exhibition filled with machine guns, fighter planes, all manner of vehicles amphibious and deadly. If you lived between Jerudong and Rimba, you would have heard the rumbling of the fighter planes or seen them in the sky. From a distance looking like a harmless flock of birds, and not a billion dollars worth of shiny aluminum that you would not wish to see deployed in anger.

The show started with a spectacular aerial display. The BRIDEX compound faces the South China Sea and provides a sky blue background for F16s looping twirling and performing low passes.

In the exhibition halls, gentlemen in dark suits and the odd Miss Tourism, or four, showed off their wares.

We saw bullets and bombs. Artillery rockets the length of a people carrier. Army fatigues and all manner of stealth. Turkey had a massive booth. The man behind the Turkish pistol counter took out a picture of a gold plated Colt, diamond encrusted and going for USD25, 000.

Singapore Technologies showcased a high tech armored personnel carrier in tents outside the hall. It was amphibious no less, with a remotely controlled gun on the roof. Inside, a deploy and forget robotic turret gun and videos of an unmanned marine patrol vessel.

A Malaysian manufacturer showed off a wide range of ammunition and M4 rifles, licensed by the American inventors. They also exhibited a range of add-ons with infrared sights and grenade launcher attachments.

I was quite partial to The Scout, a tiny unmanned aerial vehicle with a remote control touch screen console that looked like a hardened iPad. It was lightweight and reminded me of an aluminum-flying spider. Going for around USD100K, it looked like something a workshop class could make with a little effort - oh the price of innovation.

I confess that my knowledge of matters military is however limited to playing the console game, Call of Duty, Modern Warfare. But, for me, a blooded veteran of the Middle East, the Balkans and the favelas of South America, find me a middle-aged woman who's beaten all ten juggernauts on the last oilrig in special ops mode and I will call her sister.

But enough armchair commando. Should we consider the utility of it all?

It was a pleasant defense exhibition; in chilly air-conditioned halls the armored vehicles sit quietly pondering their existence. Many exhibitors appeared to come with the Brunei market in mind, bringing to my mind, a targeted level of technology and price. It was however still like any good bazaar or market. People come to browse, see what’s available; to see what other people are interested in and suppliers come to see what armed forces will be looking for and what the competition has to offer. 

It’s good that we can organize ourselves and bring high tech defense manufacturers into the country. By opening up and allowing people to come in and show their innovation and technology it does expose us all to new ideas, to new ways of doing things, it shows us what can be done with technology and, surprisingly, a limited budget.

It also brought a fair amount of people into the country and filled up our hotel rooms. I'm sure Gadong bustled a bit more with the presence of foreign military personnel dressed in uniform. Local contractors and business surely gained from the influx of delegates.

It’s also about a tiny country being able to put on an international show with excellence, where the tangled logistics of dealing with multiple visiting air forces, navies and armed forces was handled with aplomb. It is something that we always do well, and something that we can be proud of.

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the edited online version click here.

In Praise Of Self-Help

 

Newspapers last week wrote about the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS) study on University Graduates and Employment. There was a headline that read 'Graduates hopeful CSPS study will give employment solution'. I think the work of the CSPS is very worthy and it has come up with sensible ideas like the increase in forced savings. I hope the results of the study will be of use because graduate unemployment, indeed any unemployment, is a serious and saddening issue. It is the young workless that must be of concern. Isn't the thought of idle lives and wasted time, all in the prime of life distressing?

Many would point to a small private sector as a reason for this employment dysfunction. Less private industry means less job creation. Three quarters of Brunei's population live in urban areas. Most work in government services, oil and gas, retail and construction. The public sector is by far the largest employer of our population, perhaps to the detriment to the growth of the private sector. I wonder if the survey will tell us how many choose not to work in the absence of a public sector offer?

When people are employed they gain valuable experience and skills, contribute to the economy and create wealth. A satisfying and challenging work life is good for the psyche and the self worth. But hoping for a magic solution to unemployment after graduating is also not the right way of looking at things. Students should be encouraged to develop skill sets that will be marketable at the end. A review of the courses held at our learning institutions may be of help. Consider a decrease in the number of courses that has the highest number of unemployed graduates and bring in the courses that will lead to qualifications in demand in the job market.

Perhaps the thing to avoid when considering ways to increase employment is actually to avoid expanding the public service. It is not sustainable in the long run to have more than half of the population working in the public sector. It would be better to concentrate on creating and sustaining conditions for economic growth. Brunei coming in at number 112 on the recently published Word Bank index for ease of doing business is not the way to do it.

We should disregard programs that simply try to provide aid to people without helping people learn to help themselves.  One does not want to end up with a society that takes more than it gives. It is difficult to try and translate this into practical programs. How do you encourage people to be independent and not look for handouts?

At the end of the day perhaps it's all about encouraging self-reliance. The newspaper article brought to light two things. Firstly that maybe graduate unemployed should not expect that the authorities will wave a bureaucratic wand and magically make jobs appear, and secondly, have the young obtained the wrong kinds of skill sets?

Both of these issues may at least be dealt with by turning inwards and expecting more from ourselves as individuals. If an appropriate job is not available, perhaps the young should be encouraged to take up whatever position is available. Skills and experience are invaluable and any opportunity to learn new things should be embraced.

Obtaining a degree shouldn't mean the end of an education. Learning new things and gaining fresh insight doesn't hurt anyone, at any age. I believe there are fresh graduates out there who apply for clerical positions, getting a foothold and gaining their independence. It may not be ideal, but it should be valued.

@emmagoodegg

Illustration by Cuboi Art.

For the edited online version click here.