Looking at the past holds the key to Brunei's future
Sunday, March 18, 2007
WHY keep a blog? That is a question I have been asked repeatedly. My colleagues, having discovered my blog, are mixed in their reactions. Some are completely aghast in the media, blogs are sometimes treated like the devil incarnate and bloggers the pariahs in society or at the very least immoral or vain. Some are quietly amused and wonder how long I will last.
As for me, I'm completely amazed that technology allows anyone with a computer and Internet to instantly transmit their thoughts to the world.
Originally a weblog was more like a diary but now blogs are more than that. You would not want to read all blogs, though, as there are just too many.
Even here in our little country, I have lost count of the number of existing blogs. Some are well known and regularly visited whereas some are so rarely visited there are virtual cobwebs.
But today's topic is not about blogging per se. It is about why a senior civil servant (me) would want to use this tool to impart knowledge.
It is ironic. I first started not to impart knowledge but merely to use the blog as an information board on new materials available on my main website.
Over time, I found it much easier to put the information on the blog entry itself, which eventually had a life of its own, with the number of visitors first comprising of my wife and I to today's average of 800 daily visitors and at times over 1,200.
Over time too, I found that I seem to have positioned myself as someone whose role is to impart knowledge about Brunei, hence the catch phrase "helping to foster a better informed Brunei society".
I write every day because I think and I know there are many things in this beloved country of ours that we do not know enough about. When I first started, I wrote about the Brunei that I know. Now I write about the Brunei that I do not know.
I read and I talk to people and the more I do, I discover a wealth of information available but not widely or at all disseminated.
This knowledge is so precious that once the keeper is no longer with us in this world, it would die with them. There are just so many things about Brunei that we will never know.
How many people know that Bukit Merikan is where the Americans used to stay in the 19th century when they were first in Brunei, and that we had a relationship with America more than a hundred years ago? How many people know we had railways and cable cars in Brunei? How many people know that the Secretariat Building is shaped like an E or that E could have stood for Elizabeth II?
How many people know that the Royal Regalia Building was formerly the Churchill Memorial Hall? How many people realise that it is a C shape for Churchill?
I could go on but then that is what I do everyday. I write about the little things that make Brunei Brunei. What made Brunei? What shaped Brunei? What determined Brunei? We can look at the past and we can envisage the future. But the most important thing is that one has to realise that the future of Brunei is in everyone's hands. Every single one of us determines what makes Brunei Brunei.
The unique cultural aspects of Brunei was influenced by many cultures and societies throughout history that until today, the part of the "chiri" read out during the award of Pehinships are in Sanskrit. Malay wedding ceremonies have similarities to Indian nuptials. Our language is made up of words that come from Arabic and other sources. Our unique Brunei language is not unique. Many of the words are also spoken by others around the region.
Travel through the Borneo region and discover that the whole island used to be Brunei. Do we care about how powerful we were in the past? Or do we care about whether we can find jobs that will enable our future generation to feed themselves?
No doubt the latter is more important. But then I would argue that you need to know about your past before you are able to find the way to the future. The past is like a light, something that can light up the path in front of you so that you can see and find your way to the future.
We need to know about our past. Our legacy left to us by our forefathers. They worked hard so that they can leave a more secure future for us. We should not squander that. We should utilise that and use the lessons of the past as we chart our way forward. The history lessons that we can learn are not about dates or about who did what but what was done that makes and shapes Brunei as Brunei. We cannot change the past, but the future? That is entirely up to us.
Beginning next week, Rozan Yunos will write a weekly feature for The Brunei Times entitled "The Golden Legacy". He maintains a website on Brunei at www.bruneiresources.com. The Brunei Times
As for me, I'm completely amazed that technology allows anyone with a computer and Internet to instantly transmit their thoughts to the world.
Originally a weblog was more like a diary but now blogs are more than that. You would not want to read all blogs, though, as there are just too many.
Even here in our little country, I have lost count of the number of existing blogs. Some are well known and regularly visited whereas some are so rarely visited there are virtual cobwebs.
But today's topic is not about blogging per se. It is about why a senior civil servant (me) would want to use this tool to impart knowledge.
It is ironic. I first started not to impart knowledge but merely to use the blog as an information board on new materials available on my main website.
Over time, I found it much easier to put the information on the blog entry itself, which eventually had a life of its own, with the number of visitors first comprising of my wife and I to today's average of 800 daily visitors and at times over 1,200.
Over time too, I found that I seem to have positioned myself as someone whose role is to impart knowledge about Brunei, hence the catch phrase "helping to foster a better informed Brunei society".
I write every day because I think and I know there are many things in this beloved country of ours that we do not know enough about. When I first started, I wrote about the Brunei that I know. Now I write about the Brunei that I do not know.
I read and I talk to people and the more I do, I discover a wealth of information available but not widely or at all disseminated.
This knowledge is so precious that once the keeper is no longer with us in this world, it would die with them. There are just so many things about Brunei that we will never know.
How many people know that Bukit Merikan is where the Americans used to stay in the 19th century when they were first in Brunei, and that we had a relationship with America more than a hundred years ago? How many people know we had railways and cable cars in Brunei? How many people know that the Secretariat Building is shaped like an E or that E could have stood for Elizabeth II?
How many people know that the Royal Regalia Building was formerly the Churchill Memorial Hall? How many people realise that it is a C shape for Churchill?
I could go on but then that is what I do everyday. I write about the little things that make Brunei Brunei. What made Brunei? What shaped Brunei? What determined Brunei? We can look at the past and we can envisage the future. But the most important thing is that one has to realise that the future of Brunei is in everyone's hands. Every single one of us determines what makes Brunei Brunei.
The unique cultural aspects of Brunei was influenced by many cultures and societies throughout history that until today, the part of the "chiri" read out during the award of Pehinships are in Sanskrit. Malay wedding ceremonies have similarities to Indian nuptials. Our language is made up of words that come from Arabic and other sources. Our unique Brunei language is not unique. Many of the words are also spoken by others around the region.
Travel through the Borneo region and discover that the whole island used to be Brunei. Do we care about how powerful we were in the past? Or do we care about whether we can find jobs that will enable our future generation to feed themselves?
No doubt the latter is more important. But then I would argue that you need to know about your past before you are able to find the way to the future. The past is like a light, something that can light up the path in front of you so that you can see and find your way to the future.
We need to know about our past. Our legacy left to us by our forefathers. They worked hard so that they can leave a more secure future for us. We should not squander that. We should utilise that and use the lessons of the past as we chart our way forward. The history lessons that we can learn are not about dates or about who did what but what was done that makes and shapes Brunei as Brunei. We cannot change the past, but the future? That is entirely up to us.
Beginning next week, Rozan Yunos will write a weekly feature for The Brunei Times entitled "The Golden Legacy". He maintains a website on Brunei at www.bruneiresources.com. The Brunei Times
Business Besides Oil
