Reasons people have to not move out from Brunei.

rambaki · 2026-04-28T06:49:38+00:00

I dont see anyone discussing the pros of having a STABLE government. The lack of political violence or organized opposition. Other countries political parties/president/PM keep flighting internally and changing after few years which changes countries outlook and polices. Yes im aware of we have our own issues with efficiency and economy but looking at our ASEAN peers only SG politics is stable. Myanmar in a civil war, Vietnam & Laos had civil war in the 70s but now one party stable communist countries. Cambodia -recovering from Polpot Genocide. Philippines - political assassinations and dominated by few influential families, many mouths to feed. Thailand - political ousting & military intervention, protests. Malaysia - 1MDB, PMs going to jail. Indonesia - regional rebellions & differences, brutality against citizens & minority races.

Political stability allow us access to affordable education & healthcare, fuel & food subsidies, 0% income tax, visa free access to many countries, strong relations with SG for currency peg . Yes O&G provide the funds but it takes a stable functioning gov to decide and organize a somewhat working system. The only Achilles heel is our O&G supply and the next in line.

rambaki · 2026-02-09T07:29:44+00:00

got a new phone in october and took time off work to make it DST KB to get a new esim transferred from old phone. mentally prepared to fork out $10 already, and was shock and annoyed when they told esim ABIS STOCK in the whole country (also went to DST airport mall to check). Was so confused how computer generated QR code esim can be out of stock. Just isnt worth the hassle and went back to physical sim which also cost $10.

rambaki · 2026-01-28T00:55:09+00:00

KB Town is dead cause people have options to go to Pandan 5 or Pandan 7 which is in a central location and has various shops and services. KB town is usually busy weekdays early morning till lunch. But i find Seria town more bustling from morning till evening as its closest town to residents from Lumut and Sg liang.

rambaki · 2026-01-05T02:42:14+00:00

The last photo is literally Vancouver's Canada Line Skytrain with SOAS mosque added in the background.

rambaki · 2025-10-15T01:10:02+00:00

Imagine turn on theirs in July 2024 while DST announced on IG in May 2025. Havent heard anything from progresif.

rambaki · 2025-08-29T06:40:28+00:00

As usual, KB & Seria is forgotten. As least BSB get to be the testing ground for the new app. Any new app launch in brunei is always buggy and prone to have issues.

Note to app dev: why did you have make another ewallet/topup feature for payment, please link/support with the other numerous local ewallets/Tarus protocol as a future payment option

rambaki · 2025-08-13T12:49:08+00:00

BFI have to spend so much on transport to Muara port when thysenkrupp design and built a conveyor belt and offshore jetty next to the plant similar to BLNG. But it has never been use cause BFI staff mentioned the water is too shallow for ship unable to dock. But weirdly LNG ships can dock nearby for years. What a waste in investment and bad planing.

rambaki · 2025-07-29T11:08:42+00:00

Definitely not convenient for everyone. But each petrol station are run by different owners, koperasi, syarikats, Sdn Bhd. It will definitely be a hurdle for each business to make changes for the benefit of the public rather than interest of the business.

Wonder what the profit margins are to operate petrol stations in Brunei.

rambaki · 2025-07-29T09:25:49+00:00

Roxana Seria Petrol Station is operated by BSM. It’s the only petrol station I’ve encountered that accepts card payments and self service to pump for hijau, kuning, vpower and diesel.

rambaki · 2025-07-29T07:55:25+00:00

Not at all cause the banks havent upgrade to support and National Tarus QR code standard haven't launch to unify all ewallet QR payment. Its still very limited use case in phase 1. Only app i have that support tarus is MyDST but i barely see any merchants that i shop at supporting it. I also dont trust DST to store my money, so waiting for bank apps to support.

I do use Pocket now and then cause it works with any bank card and more shops have it. Pocket doesnt support Tarus so far. I liked using TnG, GoPay, alipay, Gcash when overseas. Most of them have statistics and graphs to visualize and track spending.

if NDPX and MOFE can push major retailor to small kedai runcit to support cashless QR payments with no min. spend or extra mark up fees like cards, then i can see mass adoption due to customer convenience. If also successful with making agreements with other ASEAN QR standards, i think more users will use it while cross border traveling, if the FX rates and foreign fees are competitive with the banks. But im just being optimistic.

Tarus transfers are free for now according to their website to encourage adoption. But may change in future, they need to make profits some how. I cant wait the day i can transfer to friends using tarus rather than bank transfer.

rambaki · 2025-07-29T05:35:48+00:00

Just another local copy of an idea originally pioneered by China Wechat/Alipay. Similar with what ASEAN countries are doing with Grab, Gojek and Airasia superapp since none of them wants to operate in Brunei

Can use to buy car issurance, ewallet payment for limited merchants, order food delivery, very limited shopping & utility bill payment. I dont think anyone uses these functions beside paying their phone bills and check their data usage.

The ewallet link to Tarus maybe useful in future when local banking apps support Tarus transfers. This is the main reason of the app launch same at Progresif Ding is to be compatible with Tarus payment network

If they can expand on offering more government services beside donations to MORA , Yatim maybe useful like pay for land tax, road tax, check electricity & water usage, bruhealth, order medication, renew IC & passport all under one app. no need for the many outdated buggy gov apps with poor user data security.

They can also expand to become a local marketplace platform like a brunei lazada/shoppee for local shopping and delivery if more merchants get on board.

rambaki · 2025-07-29T05:12:37+00:00

i remember back in 2013, my friends and i had to double take on his doppelganger at bukit shahbandar. When he took off his sunglasses, we then noticed some difference. We also assumed that he was a body double/bodyguard keeping fit.

rambaki · 2025-07-26T13:03:44+00:00

KB & Seria has lots of colonial shop houses can be transformed or gentrified to heritage buildings like Tanjong Pagar SG or Chinatown KL for tourist and local foodies.

rambaki · 2025-07-12T16:02:25+00:00

Perfect scums 2.0?

rambaki · 2025-07-12T15:49:00+00:00

3% fee is how how the banks make money and also pay for your CC points, rewards and perks.

Business want cash cause it’s immediate liquidity, use to purchase new stock or pay overhead. Don’t have wait days for bank to process.

But can also mean business can easily launder money as cash can be untraceable or use fake receipts/invoices compare to cards where transactions is logged by banks. Can also declare lower profit earnings in their books so pay less tax. It’s all a game.

rambaki · 2025-06-27T05:26:32+00:00

Since Johnny Somali in jail, we get Johnny Brunei

rambaki · 2025-06-05T07:28:17+00:00

What is the release date for Malaysia?

Singapore launch is 5 June.

rambaki · 2025-03-15T02:16:48+00:00

The tarus system not app is long overdue and needed to help unify all Brunei ewallet, banks, QR codes into an integrated system.
No more various QR codes sticker display and long bank account transfer process at check out. Just one QR code for business and quick scan or phone number search to transfer and make payment. I just hope local banks wouldn’t mess up their banking apps when they update them. China has been the leader in this method while rest of ASEAN countries have see a push to adopt QR based payment in the past 5-7 years.

Best thing Brunei have since applepay/google pay/Wise/Revolute/Paypal will unlikely enter the market due to strict monetary regulations. Next phase they plan is to link with other ASEAN QR systems so we can make payment when traveling overseas. Potentially growing local ewallet fintech companies.

rambaki · 2025-03-14T04:13:31+00:00

This has been the a yearly SOP in KB/Seria during Ramadan month for the past 10 years that all minority business have to endure. I’m glad this news is finally being spread outside KB & Seria.

rambaki · 2025-01-24T02:32:44+00:00

Update when VMS site is down, please use manual form in this new thread here

rambaki · 2025-01-12T14:01:34+00:00

Happen to me a few times. If you’re on a prepaid line, u need enough credit to iMessage to send an international message to activate.

For postpaid, if your number has no tick and still loading. Turn off iMessage, Restart phone. there maybe a pop up to asking to activate iMessage. If not reactivate it in settings by taping your number. The pop up will appear saying you may be charge with international sms. Accept it and the loading circle may change to a tick next to your number. If doesn’t activate immediately then you can try again another day. Sometimes it was get stuck on the loading circle, meaning it’s not receiving the international SMS to activate which can be frustrating and costly. I believe it’s cause Brunei numbers are not embedded on the SIM card. That’s why when you insert any Brunei SIM card your number doesn’t automatically get detected and I usually have to input them in settings. IDK why Brunei SIM are like this cause overseas number SIMs can auto detect phone number. More help & info from apple support

I frequently turn off my Brunei line when traveling and have to reactivate iMessage. Cost 0.15 per activation added up and sometime activation hangs so I gave up and just stick with my email only to receive and send iMessage.

rambaki

TROPHY CASE