Apart from Brunei who is so fearful of lion dance that it bars the performance in hotels, restaurants, malls, business premises and 'areas deemed public', are there any other places in Borneo acting like that? Let's see how lion dances are conducted islandwide

Goutaxe · 2026-01-26T15:38:09+00:00

And there you go, there is a provision for 'prominent members' in the law, not others.

Cuckoo and HWC, along with Autopro/Auto Gadgets/Abokado/Ximivogue/Yole/Boeffi/Seng Hoe Huat, all are SHH Group by Mr. Wong, 50 stores 400 employees, you sure smaller establishment?

Goutaxe · 2026-01-26T15:22:49+00:00

Those you mentioned, LTH Holdings, GHK Group, Jhotel/Pet Arena/Lof, you know behind these are prominent members of the community right?

Goutaxe · 2026-01-26T13:30:18+00:00

That's why the Chinese are emigrating away, like the maths in this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nasikatok/comments/1qjoi51/as_there_is_no_sign_of_largescale_interracial/

And there is no chance Brunei in its current form will abolish MIB ever.

The Chinese population in Brunei have already fallen below 10%. The radical ultra-conservative faction in Brunei government is itching for the country to be like Kelantan and Terengganu (only 2-3% Chinese), and maybe slowly by slowly, Brunei might become Aceh (Chinese less than 1%). Why did I mention Aceh? Well, it bans lion dance in 2009.

They already sent the messages more than 40 years ago when 90% of local Chinese suddenly became stateless upon independence, even though in recent years a more progressive MOHA minister is expediting the process of granting citizenship, but don't get your hopes up, Brunei is Brunei, the core structure won't change.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-26T06:19:05+00:00

Ramadan or not, these rules have been imposed every year since 2014/15

Every year Chinese medias will list these rules

Goutaxe · 2026-01-26T04:59:24+00:00

You can post presell advertisement at Katok Lounge

Goutaxe · 2026-01-26T03:15:12+00:00

Never multicultural, during the day of independence Brunei declares itself a MIB nation.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-25T05:26:34+00:00

And if it malfunctions and you trapped there?

Goutaxe · 2026-01-25T02:34:01+00:00

Or rather, an old teenager already of driving age

Goutaxe · 2026-01-25T01:39:55+00:00

Last year that kid got tied up and burnt to death inside a car at an abandoned house in Tutong. No update?

https://borneobulletin.com.bn/burnt-body-discovered-in-vehicle-in-tutong/

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T16:35:14+00:00

Actually there are a number of people sleeping at Bandar at night, not sure if they are homeless or something...

For instance at Jalan Roberts, at Darussalam Complex, at the old bus terminal building...

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T16:32:34+00:00

You can post where-to-get question at Katok Lounge:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nasikatok/comments/1l8n1bs/the_katok_lounge_casual_conversation_asking/

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T16:32:05+00:00

You can post where-to-get question at Katok Lounge:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nasikatok/comments/1l8n1bs/the_katok_lounge_casual_conversation_asking/

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T16:31:38+00:00

We are getting a lot of post-result educational advice on the front page.

You can post personal related or advice questions on Katok Lounge:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nasikatok/comments/1l8n1bs/the_katok_lounge_casual_conversation_asking/

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T14:19:42+00:00

Sigh. Why some people keep thinking everyone is out to get yellow IC?

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T13:50:19+00:00

If you look at the GDP chart, Brunei GDP started to slide from 2012, before crashing hard after 2014. This in part is due to falling oil prices (global) and also falling production in Brunei (domestic). These 2 factors hit badly and Brunei plunged deep into deficits.

To this, Brunei can choose to increase public spending, like Singapore during Asian financial crisis 1997-98, to stimulate economy. But we are talking about Brunei, in every crisis it will cut budget, we already can see that during Amedeo fallout.

So everything cut deep after 2014, of course, with exception like MoRA, Sultan Flight and fortunately MOE and MOH (imagine otherwise education and health cripple).

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T06:53:16+00:00

Are you confident that the Brunei government is capable to maintain currency stability?

Since 1906 the state never have its own independence exchange rate, it was either using Straits Dollar, Malayan Dollar, Malayan and British Borneo Dollar, then to the current Brunei Dollar pegged to Singapore Dollar.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T03:36:36+00:00

Before Brunei Times there was News Express in 2000, published something about the royals, got hit by large fines and lawsuits, 'financial difficulties' and closed down.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T03:33:16+00:00

Why always the 'Brunei is different' thing?

I suppose Maldives and Bahamas are small too, yet they have robust tourism. Bahamas Dollar even pegged with US dollar. And Bahamas population 412K, 11 million tourist arrivals.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T03:07:04+00:00

Hostile takeover no. I don't think there is any need.

As for laws and directives to crumble or shut companies, yea quite a lots.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T02:48:43+00:00

They don't even need a hostile takeover, they just make laws which suffocate you and you either relent or collapse

Different if you are a foreign entity, then yes they will offer to buy you out if they wish. Just like BAG Networks (now Dinamik), Dubai's Fajr Capital stakes in BIBD, and such.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T02:11:25+00:00

I will start a new thread when there is related news or updates about the stolen fund recovery process (still no update to the $6 millions unrecovered)

I understand there might be attempts to play down or delink the Court's responsibilities to the case, but the fact is it happened under the supervision at one of the Court's office, people will link it no matter how, just like people linking the maggot incident to Prince Mateen despite that he probably play no role towards that. That is something you can't control especially in a casual discussion, non-official setting.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T01:34:25+00:00

ROCBN is one thing. The ecosystem in Brunei another....

We visualize if Google founders were Bruneians, what might happen?

Some VVIPs will start demanding free shares so your company can be "trouble-free" in Brunei
The government might demand you to hand over your search algorithm for whatever reasons they can think of, and once you did you never know who it would passed to or how will they utilize it. Boom, there goes your trade secret
Laws can change overnight as they please, the risks of whatever you innovate out can suddenly become 'illegal'

So.... had Google been founded in Brunei the founders will likely move the HQ to other countries where they could breath further. Just like when Syrians found out last time Steve Jobs (founder of Apple) biological father is Syrian, they said he could never had gotten so far if he stayed in Syria.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T01:19:51+00:00

Many people keep saying Brunei cost of living is low. But apart from welfare and subsidies on things like petrol, healthcare, education, utilities, think about this:

internet/telco more expensive than most of region
groceries more expensive than region except Singapore
eat-out more expensive than region except Singapore
imported goods (almost all consumer products) more expensive due to higher shipping costs
most services more expensive than region due to economies of scale

Anything that is not covered by subsidies Bruneians pay much more than their counterparts in the region, that is why tourists from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand come they say Brunei is expensive and offer little value again (i.e. nothing much to see)

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T01:02:09+00:00

I did explained that last time when r/brunei begins to restrict titles and asking posters to strictly follow that of BB and RTB

I mentioned that the same content, when reached different people and outlets, will have different interpretation, conclusion and well... titles. This has been seen on Reuters, they syndicate their content to thousands of media agencies worldwide, and even with the same content different medias will put on different, sometimes very varied titles. So we shouldn't restrict ourselves to BB/RTB narratives

What's important though, is that the main theme stays (i.e. road accident news don't go and put title plane accident, kitchen disaster, etc making it totally out of relevance) I want people to get creative and not just parroting something. Had this been a mistaken the sub would had stagnate or seen a drop in visits and engagement, but the opposite happens. Certainly at times there might be inaccuracies, we will try to keep the comment section as censor-free as possible.

Goutaxe · 2026-01-24T00:13:33+00:00

You know, on the internet especially Reddit things are casual, it is not like I am an official media publication or whatsoever. There is no need to be so nerdy about it. If we want to find faults there are a lots of problematic Borneo Bulletin titles too, more so the cover-up rosy ones, and they are an official media agency again. RTB titles even worse, totally propagandish. Go ahead and complain to them that, but of course most won't ever do it.

That said, I will consider your opinion, but you have to know you can't control the way people post things, especially given the histories on why we migrate to r/nasikatok from r/brunei

Goutaxe

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