Zed Peace

Dua puluh enam

Oh no he didn't!

Oh yes he did! Akai Music Production Center 1000. Minor scratches around the edges but works like a charm. The person who sold it to me goes by the name Onyx Gold and sports a gold tooth. In other news, albums are still on sale and apparently selling like hot cakes.

peace

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Micbandits

Of Mics & Men
2008

Of Mics & Men is our 3rd studio release and is a follow up to our previous album Rn'P (2007). At the expense of writing a self-interested report of why people should buy this album, I'll keep this post short and snappy and let the music speak for itself.

L-R: Zed Peace, Khaos, the Kro.

Final product: Of Mics & Men, design by Yazid

Track list:

1. Preface
2. Here comes the rapper
3. Said to me feat. Juju
4. The Pontianak
5. Hilang feat. Yaya
6. Sights and Sounds
7. Wisecracks III feat. Fezz
8. How to kill a bandit
9. Perfect Girl feat. Reza
10. Apa Khabar?
11. Wildlife

Album Snippet can be downloaded from our main music page

Here comes the rapper (trailer):

Here comes the rapper (official video):

The above video was directed by Reza. It was shot in Brunei during ramadhan. The shirts were provided by the generous folks of Wardrobes Inc. We were all pretty satisfied with the outcome and can't wait to do another mini project with Reza in the future. Wanna give a big thanks to both parties involved.

Interested in getting a copy of the album? They're sold for $5 in Brunei, and you'll have to contact KHAOS @ 8838535 to get a copy. Just call him saying how many pieces you want and where you'd like to meet him. The reason we do this is to get a good customer relationship going on and we'd really like to meet the listeners themselves anyway, since you're the ones we do this for.

If you are in the UK, its 2 pnds for a copy. Contact either me (Zed - 07876500349) or Kro (07979724464) if you wanna grab hold of one. We'll either mail, or preferably meet you in person somewhere somehow.

That's all in the info i can give out right now, will try to come up with more things to say about the album. We really wanna thank everybody involved in the project in Brunei and in the UK and none of this would be possible without your support.

PEACE!

Dua puluh empat

Brunei in the future
by Zed Peace

In the beginning of 2008, Brunei annouced a long term strategy which would secure its future some 27 years later, by the year 2035. It is essentially a wawasan, a vision of sorts, and that said, it may or may not come true. It highlights mainly economic and social goals towards Brunei's future, aiming for the usual things every country would desire: high gdp, high living standards, fully educated youth, jobs, technology etc. During the summer while I was in Brunei, I attended a talk held in UBD for students under government scholarships, and they stressed that us students also had an important role to play. The powerpoint presentation showed how the scholarship programmes given out by Ministry of Education was but one part of the entirety of the 2035 plan. To put it bluntly, we are cogs under this grand clockwork of a strategy, and should return to Brunei ready to give our services towards the well-being of our country. And that is only fair, being a sponsored student of the Brunei Ministry of Education myself, I cannot express the gratitude I owe to the administration.

The trouble with opening up a discussion of the future is the many uncertainties that entails it. The big question for me for example, and I might be the exception here, is what are the changes the 2035 vision hope NOT to see? Will there be any changes to the country's leadership and direction, or will it be essentially the same by 2035? This is the political dimension the 2035 vision and its advocates seemed to have turned a blind eye to. For one our current Sultan would be 89 years old and I can safely predict that HRH the Crown Prince would assume the throne by then and his cabinet will consist of the future ministers of today's generation. Will this have a significant impact towards government, or would the status quo remain? Looking back at history, the previous Sultan, Sultan Omar Ali Saiffudin, announced an unexpected abdication in 1968 so his son became the Sultan, who was 21 at the time. Certainly shocking at the time, however Sultan Omar Ali abdicated for political reasons. In Graham Saunders 'A History of Brunei'* he wrote:

'Sir Omar's calculations proved correct. His abdication, the installation of his son, and the ceremonies associated with the corronation in 1968 provided the breating space required.' [p. 162]

Although:

'The installation of a new sultan did not mean any change in policy. If anything, Sir Omar Ali as Seri Begawan Sultan had a freer hand than before. [...] In effect, however, the Sultan weilded virtually autocratic power, which in these early years meant that the Seri Begawan exercised his power.' [p. 163]

The 2035 plan, however conclusive and full-proof (being supported by a stream of facts, data and research), does not try to predict any drastic turn of events which might mess about with status quo. Governments all over the world depend on strategy, and strategy ultimately depends on the quality of the leadership and administration. To recall a very Sun Tzu-ish quote, a general is only as good as his subordinates, or something along those lines. Meaning in order for this 2035 vision to become a reality, both the Brunei government and the Bruneian people MUST be willing to comply and take the necessary actions (and/or sacrifices) to achieve it. If any one of these groups, by the years leading up to 2035, start to have cold-feet and falter, then I am sad to say that there would have been no point in assembling the strategy in the first place.

*This book is certainly a must-read as it gives an alternative assessment on Brunei's political history, hence the title 'A history' and not 'The history'.

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President Obama.

Back to work.

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America Votes, Brunei anticipates
by Zed Peace
3/11/2008

US-Brunei relations go way back, around the mid-1800's or thereabouts. Back then, countries would travel across oceans in order to establish diplomatic relations with our humble little government and America was no exception. Its a good thing too as soon after, the US came to be one of the most powerful nations on Earth and we just quietly watch as president after president gets sworn into office and attempts to solve the problems of his day.

Fast forward to 2008, we are here to witness yet another election, this time from African-American candidate Senator Barack Obama and republican hopeful Senator John McCain. Who will become President and Commander-in-Chief only time will tell. Certainly both individuals are massively supported in America but let us see what popular opinion in Brunei seems to think. These are some of the local remarks I've come across regarding the elections:

'I want Obama to win because he is cool!'

To elaborate, Bruneians seem understand his non-white identity and this typifies him as being cool as it is something we can relate to him with. His Muslim background (or Malay Muslim even) having an Indonesian step-father also appeals to Bruneians very much so. And although he is a self-declared Baptist, there's no reason to assume he won't be sympathetic to the Muslim cause and theres nothing Bruniean Muslims like better than Non-Muslims that are Muslim sympathizers. He also plays basketball, and that's also cool.

Overall, his image as a youthful, charismatic leader has wide appeal and we happen to be suckers for celebrity leaders.

One thing we have to understand about American political culture is that whatever they and their background or view of the world might be, whether black, white, muslim, jewish, atheist, gay, lesbian, pro-abortion, polygamous, marijuanna-user etc., they pride themselves in being American first and foremost. And by American, I mean a consumer of democracy, and so pride themselves in their ability to vote. This kind of mentality is absent in most governments found in South East Asia but that isn't really a concern right now. Here might be another opinion:

'I don't want McCain to win because he is another Bush'.

This statement is rather tricky. Yes McCain is republican, and Bush is republican. But Bruneians don't hate republicans in general, oh no that wouldn't be fair, we don't even know the difference between Republican and Democrat. We just hate Bush. We forgot why we do though, but it doesn't matter, the image of Bush as an ineffective president is instilled within our minds already.

George W. Bush, US President 2001-2009

But as of late, there hasn't been much bad media about President Bush and in retrospect, he did do a lot of good things with and for Brunei. Oh yes he certainly did. We should learn to stop not liking him, and accept him for what he is; just another US President.

Sultan of Brunei and President Bush, Oval Office, Dec. 16 2002

On December 2002, our Sultan met with President Bush and talked for a while about things that interest both countries. Political cooperation, counter-terrorism, economic issues, military relations and more importantly education were amongst the things discussed. On education for example, Bush made sure the Fulbright Scholarship Program was pursued with Brunei, which is an opportunity for Bruneian postgrad students to not only study in the US but return with leadership skills and cultural training which might be really useful in todays world. See, that was Bush in his first term.

Sultan of Brunei greeting President Bush during the Beijing Olympics

We are, despite other things, in very good terms with the strongest nation on Earth. And if that isn't exciting enough, we are in good terms with the US Republican government. So if McCain is to be another Bush, which he won't be, its more points for us.

The point of todays post beside some mild humour and quips, is to allow Bruneians to know that whoever we see win in this election, our country's leadership is, and most definetly will remain, pro-US and pro-Democracy for that matter, in the sense we like the fact that America's voting. It tickles our fancy every 4 years or so. There are many things we can learn from this far-western nation that decided to send one of its convoy to visit us a century and a half ago.

And so... America votes, we anticipate.

Pictures and information courtesy of various sources, most of which is google.com

Dua puluh satu

In the midst of assignments and dissertation, I find therapy in making music. I've had my trusty mic for a couple of years and never once has he failed me, Mr. Rode:

So far I've only had one new addition to the equipment family and thats my new studio headphones, the Sony Mdr-7506's and these things are super duper and damn worth the money.

And next up on the list which I'll be saving up money for, is a workstation keyboard, something i've always wanted. The might Roland GW-8, which will cost me a pretty penny:

And to the folks interested in Micbandits' Of Mics & Men album, it will come out eventually. Just having a minor problem with the design. But all 11 tracks are completed and are just sitting in this laptop waiting to get duplicated onto CD. But yea, the design is on its way. Even the Here Comes The Rapper video (props to director Rezdarez) we had to put on hold, cuz we wanna release it when the albums safely in the palms of the people. I've spoken to Khaos recently and he said he'll do his best to give me the design so I can send it off to the printing company. Working transnationally can be a pain sometimes.

Just in case some are impatient, here's a free track from Of Mics & Men called Hilang, which features Yaya. (Note: The other tracks having nothing to do with the album). Enjoy

Now playing: micbandits

Have a nice day.

Dua Puluh

What do others say about Brunei?

It's always good to keep oneself informed about the things said and written about the place they come from. Whether they are positive, critical or just down right not true, I myself enjoy any piece of opinion I come across about Brunei. In 'Democracy and Development in Southeast Asia: The Winds of Change', it dedicates a whole 4 pages on Brunei to assess its system of government (p. 143-146) and even decides to place the chapter as a subheading under Singapore. It concludes that '[B]runeians live as if in a medieval sultanate - but with modern conveniences' and further points out that 'there is no opportunity for Bruneians to change their absolute Muslim monarchy'. A harsh assessment I suppose, as it indeed portrays our country as being backwards and, excuse my French, undemocratic, but what else can we expect from western writers.

In 'A Short History of South East Asia' (2006) on the other hand, it deals with the ASEAN countries in alphabetical order and so Brunei is discussed in the first chapter and has a slightly better 10 pages dedicated to it. It concludes in the subtopic 'Brunei in the New Millennium' that:

'A question for the future is the extent to which the hitherto quiescent middle class will continue to accept the status quo or whether they will demand greater political involvement and representation commensurate with their own rising educational and finanacial attainments.' (p. 9)

We get a sense that even outsiders care for the well-being of our humble abode and so should always look towards what is being said. Many a time I have read interesting accounts and views about Brunei, that I almost start to think that there is a 'problem' with the way things are. As a political scientist, one is taught to remove all bias and study situations closely and more importantly within context. In this case, Brunei, in its regional and international context, towards a more politically committed and globalized world.

It should no longer be the case that we simply take in all that is written about Brunei from a foreign perspective and certainly the opinions of our own people, but perhaps they become too important to ignore.

Times Online: Is Brunei worth visiting?
Wall Street Journal: In Tiny Sultanate, Days of Easy Living May Be Numbered
US Department of State: Country report on Brunei
Real Travel: Oh bother, its Brunei!
University of Mary Washington regional geography blog: The Sultanate of Brunei

etc. etc. etc.

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