my cny trip to brunei

flew to brunei by singapore airlines 2 days before the start of cny. the flight was pretty comfy, nothing eventful, except that many malaysians seemed to be on the flight to brunei. there were also a couple of japanese tourists.

bumped into a classmate i have not seen for years on both departing and return flights - talk about coincidence!

anyway didn't do much for cny. spent most of my time home, or accompanying my parents here and there, or driving my parents here and there once in a while. didn't get to see any of my frens or secondary school classmates. everyone seemed to have disappeared into their own busy lives =(.

cny eve was lively in my neighborhood. it was like a singapore national day fireworks all around my house the whole night. can't even hear my own voice while speaking!

went around town - kuala belait, and keep myself occupied with taking pictures. here are some shots of my childhood town. nothing's pretty much changed.

my secondary school

hsbc building (left); the only bus terminal in town (right)

town center (left); standard chartered bank (right)

petrol pump (left); petrol prices-$0.53/liter (right)

newly-built park, beside belait river

next, let's take a look at some houses at beverly hills (rich ppl area) haha. was there with my dad visiting his fren.

anyway my sis brought me to visit some "landmarks" - the billionth barrel monument and the shell complex. wow, i feel like a tourist in my own country haha.

entrance to the monument

nodding donkeys - brunei's lifeline

beaches behind the monument (there's an oil rig!)

picture of the setting sun

the shell complex at panaga

the sports & recreation facility by shell


house provided by shell for senior staff

btw we also hopped over to miri, malaysia. below are some photos from the trip.

on the way driving to brunei border


toll house for bridge crossing, brunei


brunei border control (left); malaysia immigration (right)


malaysia and her state flags


views of miri town


authentic sarawak kolo mee

on the last day we drove to the capital for breakfast before heading to the airport. gonna miss the char kway-teow over there.

the famous golden-domed mosque


local char kway-teow, non-oily version

and so february has concluded. march is gonna be a long agonizing month, with 4.5 working weeks and no public holidays =(. i shall only be looking forward to my intermediate japanese lessons then.

chinese new year 2010...

i just came back from chinatown after queuing for 4 hours in chinatown to buy 肉干 (barbecued pork slices). almost every previous years i managed to get someone to queue for me, except this year. luckily the weather was cloudy in the morning and there were also plenty of youngsters around my age queuing for the pork slices=).

as chinese new year draws closer, i can't help feeling excited yet apprehensive at the same time. as usual, every chinese new year i will be returning to brunei to spend the festival with my family.

for the benefit of those who doesn't know where brunei is located relative to singapore, i have attached a map below.


this chinese new year is a little different. it acts as a time-bridge between my current life and the start of a new lease of life of venturing out into new waters. at the same time, there are many rather exciting events to look forward to within this year.

will be flying off to brunei by sq tomorrow afternoon - finally a break from budget carriers! wish everyone a happy and prosperous chinese new year. also thanks to my colleagues for providing the red packets below =).

on brunei citizenship application process

recently i happen to revisit my old blog. saw some comments asking for information on brunei citizenship so i thought i might as well start a topic on it, for the benefit of those seeking the same information.

actually i have no idea where to start. maybe i shall start with my own experience of acquiring brunei citizenship.

having been born in brunei as a stateless chinese person, i was often frustrated that i was not issued a brunei passport, but instead a brunei international certificate of identity for travel. immigration officers from around the world would hound you for your purpose of requesting entry and all countries, except singapore, requires a pre-arrival visa. some countries don't even recognize the document. i was really tired of answering the question: "can you please show me your passport instead?" or being unnecessarily detained for further checks. fyi majority of the chinese people in brunei are stateless.

in order to be eligible to initiate the citizenship application process, the naturalization law requires all potential local-born applicants to have a continuous 15 years of residence in brunei or 20 years of residence in brunei for those born overseas.

fulfilling the above criteria, one must then present himself/herself in front of an immigration officer under the citizenship department in the district you are born. the officer will proceed to interview the applicant in pure malay, having satisfied that, hand the application form over, again in malay, to be completed on the spot. the completed form must be submitted with the necessary supporting documents.

once over, all the applicant can do is wait to be called for a naturalization exam. i waited for almost 2 years to be called. the scope of the 2-hour exam, in malay, can be summarized as followed:

• 1 composition, 1 short essay, 1 comprehension
• malay proverbs and classical literature (puisi, sajak, pantun etc)
• bahasa istana (formal language used in the palace or when referring to the sultan)
• bahasa brunei (local brunei dialects)
• general knowledge of the country (famous places, functioning government departments)
• name of the current ministers with full titles (trust me, they have really long names)
• local customs and traditions ( how is a malay wedding conducted etc)
• the brunei flag and crest, and ability to narrate the symbolic purpose of each part of the flag and crest

to pass this exam, one's malay would need to be of O-Level standard. due to more exposure to the malay language from school education these days, the younger chinese generation has a higher chance of passing. within the next 6 months, the applicant will be informed of the exam results.

once passed, please wait for another letter requesting the applicant to take up an oath to renounce all former nationalities as required by brunei nationality law. brunei currently does not permit multiple nationalities. the applicant have to wait again for another detailed letter to attend a citizenship presentation ceremony.

the ceremony was divided into two sessions: morning and afternoon. the morning session is essentially a taklimat, orientating us mostly on brunei nationality laws and some other civil departments, whereas the afternoon session saw the presenting of our citizen certificates, or sijil kerakyatan.

participants have to attend the ceremony in Brunei's national costume - baju cara melayu. pledges of allegiance to brunei were recited and the national anthem was played.

with the citizenship certificate, the new citizen can now applied for the yellow identity card and the brunei passport. the new brunei biometric passport currently enables the holder to perform visa-free travel to many countries in world, including the united states, china, japan, europe etc.

the citizenship does not entails much liabilities. anyway the benefits can be left for another post=). this post is too long in my opinion.

all the best and i hope this piece of information has been useful to those seeking it.