Facilities and training ground of Singapore Armed Forces at Brunei's Temburong District: Creation of a hybrid space to conquer the same defence objectives.

05 November 2020

Title
Facilities and training ground of Singapore Armed Forces at Brunei's Temburong District: Creation of a hybrid space to conquer the same defence objectives.

Landscape
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) facilities and training ground at Temburong District, Brunei.

Concepts / Keywords
Exclave, Hybrid Space, Negotiation of Space, Bilateral Relations, Defence.

1. Abstract
The title "Facilities and training ground of Singapore Armed Forces at Brunei's Temburong District: Creation of a hybrid space to conquer the same defence objectives" is a metaphor for the close bilateral relationship between Brunei and Singapore. In particular, Brunei and Singapore collaborates extensively on military defence. The Singapore Armed Force (SAF) will send soldiers for jungle training at Temburong, an exclave district of Brunei. This article will examine the creation and negotiation of a hybrid space where SAF uses as training ground, and the impact of SAF's activities on the physical landscape, economy and culture.

Besides references to academic and newspaper articles, part of the report is written based on my personal experience, observations and memories of my army training at Brunei.

2. Introduction
About Brunei
Officially known as Negara Brunei Darussalam (Negara Brunei Darussalam means "Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace" in Malay),[1] Brunei is a small semi-enclave country on the northwestern coast of Borneo. Besides the South China Sea coastline, Brunei is surrounded by the East Malaysian State of Sarawak.

Brunei is divided into 4 districts, namely Brunei-Muara, Belait, Tutong and Temburong.[1] Temburong District is an exclave that is separated from the rest of Brunei by Brunei Bay and Sarawak's Limbang District.

Similarities between Brunei and Singapore
Brunei and Singapore shared many similarities, including geographical size, location, history and culture.

Brunei and Singapore are small, but wealthy nation, with advance economies and very high human development index in Southeast Asia (SEA).[2] Both countries share border with Malaysia. Due to the geographical proximity, Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia shares similar climate and physical landscapes; particularly, the tropical rainforest.

Brunei has a land area of 5,765km²,[3] sharing border with East Malaysia and generated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capital of US$31,086.75 in 2019 (ranked 2nd in SEA).[4] Singapore has a land area of 725.7km²,[5] sharing maritime border with the Peninsular Malaysian State of Johor and generated GDP per capital of US$65,233.28 in 2019 (1st in SEA).[6] In comparison, Malaysia has a land area of 329,847km², generated a GDP per capital of US$11,414.84 in 2019 (3rd in SEA).[7]

Singapore was a former British crown colony,[8] while Brunei was a former British protectorate.[2] Unlike Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, Brunei rejected the invitation to join the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 and chose to remain as a British protectorate.[2] Brunei gained independence from the British on 1 January 1984 to become an independent Malay Islamic monarchy again.[1]

Singapore's population is composed of 74.3% Chinese, 13.5% Malay, 9.0% Indians and 3.2% Others.[9] Brunei's population comprises 65.8% Malay, 10.2% Chinese and 23.9% Indian or Indigenous.[1] To a certain extent, there is similarity and familiarity in racial and cultural diversity across Singapore and Brunei.

Singapore is strategically located at the geographic centre of SEA and the maritime trade route between China and India. Brunei is rich in natural resources. Extensive crude oil and natural gas fields were discovered in 1929.[1] Revenue generated from the oil and gas industry transformed Brunei into one of the richest countries in the world, allowing Bruneian to enjoy free healthcare, affordable housing and education benefits.[1]

3. Brunei and Singapore's relations with Malaysia
Despite being immediate neighbours, sharing numerous similarities and economic ties with Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore perceived Malaysia as a constant threat to their existence. While maintaining diplomatic relationship, Brunei and Singapore have several bilateral disputes with Malaysia respectively.

History of Brunei
The Sultanate of Brunei was founded by Sultan Muhammad Shah on the Brunei River in 1363.[1, 10] The Sultanate grew into a powerful maritime empire, controlling much of Borneo and southern Philippines at its peak from the 14th to 16th Century.[2] However, frequent internal power struggles and British's colonial expansion on Borneo in the 19th Century resulted in the decline of the Brunei Empire.[2]

Brunei's Limbang dispute with Malaysia
In 1841, James Brooke helped the Sultan of Brunei to suppress a rebellion and was awarded land around the Sarawak River to establish the independent State of Sarawak .[11] Over the years, Brooke forced the Sultan to cede more river basins to Sarawak in exchange for cession money, which the revenue was desperately needed by the Sultan to fund the failing sultanate.[12, 13] Eventually, Sarawak expanded vastly eastward, from the northwestern tip of Borneo to the immediate vicinity of the royal capital, Brunei Town (later renamed Bandar Seri Begawan). The cession of Trusan river basin in 1885 leads to the Sultanate of Brunei being encircled by Sarawak.[13]

Limbang is strategically located at the central of the Sultanate, immediately south of Brunei Town. Limbang was regarded as the 'rice bowl' of Brunei (Cleary & Shaw, 1992),[12] as the fertile Limbang river basin grew most of the food supply of Brunei Town,[12] and is rich in minerals.[13] By 1884, high taxation leads to constant unrest and rebellions at Limbang, providing Sarawak the opportunity to acquire Limbang.[12, 13] In addition, North Borneo is also interested to acquire Limbang and other unceded rivers flowing into Brunei Bay to increase their revenue, strengthen their claim to Labuan and check the growing power of Sarawak.[13]

However, the Sultan realized that further cession of land would result in the disappearance of the sultanate (Crisswell, 1971).[13] Therefore, the Sultan firmly rejected Sarawak's offer of cession for Limbang.[12] The aggressive expansion of Sarawak and bitter fight for Limbang finally forced the Sultan of Brunei to appeal to Britain to stop further encroachment.[2, 12, 13] Eventually, Brunei signed a Treaty of Protection and became a British protectorate in 1888.[2] Thereafter, Brunei was administered by a British Resident and the Sultan was reduced to nominal authority.[2]

Despite protests by the Sultan, the British Foreign and Colonial Office approved Sarawak's annexation of Limbang in 1890.[13] The aggrieved Sultan do not acknowledge the annexation and consistently refused cession money offered by Sarawak.[12, 13] The loss of Limbang was a severe political and economic setback for Brunei (Cleary & Shaw, 1992).[12] Brunei was fragmented into 2 non-contiguous territories,12 where Temburong is disconnected from the rest of Brunei.

While the absorption of Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo as British protectorates stabilized the boundaries of the 3 territories, the disputed status of Limbang remained a sensitive topic of political contestation between Brunei and Malaysia today.[12] Brunei continues to regard the Limbang border as provisional, noting on official maps that Limbang is a district rightfully belonging to Brunei from the Islamic point of view, but is being administered by another government (Cleary & Shaw, 1992),[12] as Limbang was never properly ceded.[13]

Brunei's maritime claim in the South China Sea
Besides Limbang, the internal territorial waters boundary in Brunei Bay is not clearly delimited nor closed.[14] In addition, Malaysia proclaimed part of Brunei's resource-rich maritime territory in the South China Sea.[14]

The current maritime boundaries between Brunei and Malaysia were legally enacted by the British in 1958.[14] The maritime boundaries are straight seaward extension of the territorial boundaries between Brunei and Sarawak towards the limit of the continental shelf.[14] However, on 21 December 1979, Malaysia unilaterally published the "Territorial Waters and Continental Shelf Boundaries of Malaysia" map (1979 Malaysia Map), which asserted overlapping claims on Brunei's continental shelf and Singapore's Pedra Branca, thereby triggering immediate diplomatic protests from Brunei and Singapore respectively.[14, 15] Furthermore, Louisa Reef , which is within Brunei's continental shelf, is disputed between Brunei and Malaysia.[14, 16] Sovereignty of Louisa Reef is controversial and dependent on the legal definition of maritime features, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and fishery limits, which are subject to interpetations.[14]

Singapore's disputes with Malaysia
Singapore has several disputes with Malaysia that would resurface regularly. Bilateral tensions usually worsen whenever Malaysia is in the midst of a political crisis.[17] From Singapore's perspective, these disputes are nonsensical non-issues that were provocatively stirred by the Malaysian government for patriotic propaganda.

Notable bilateral tensions include the maritime boundary delimitation,[16, 17, 18] Water Agreements,[19] Pedra Branca,[16, 20] land reclamation at Tuas and Tekong, rail corridor, replacement of Causeway, air space control,[17] and port limit encroachment at Tuas.[17] While some of these issues were resolved, most disputes continued till today. Singapore leaders vowed to stand firmed to protect the country's sovereignty and territory.[17]

Security vulnerability of microstates
Brunei and Singapore are small, but wealthy countries surrounded by Malaysia. Furthermore, both are of strategic and economic importance to the region, making them even more attractive and vulnerable to predators. Iraq's annexation of Kuwait in 1991 is a recent example of a small wealthy microstate being annexed by its bigger neighbour.[21]

Nevertheless, small microstates usually maintain excellent record of persistence in the world stage (Kershaw, 2011).[21] In fact, there might be benefits for being small, because it is easier to defend and govern.

While Malaysia is currently 'friendly' to Brunei and Singapore, both countries do not take their security for granted, as complacency will lead to vulnerability. Furthermore, Brunei and Singapore still have ongoing disputes with Malaysia; not forgetting that threats could also come from other forces. Therefore, Brunei and Singapore cooperate intensively, establishing excellent diplomatic relations across many aspects.[22]

4. Brunei – Singapore Bilateral Relationship
Brunei and Singapore have excellent relations (MFA).[22] Both countries already established diplomatic relationship before it was formalized in 1984, following Brunei's independence.[23] Leaders from both countries maintain close personal ties, with regular exchange of visits at all levels.[22] Both countries collaborate extensively in defence, finance, trade, health, education, aquaculture and tourism.[22] Brunei and Singapore established long-standing arrangements;[22] notably the Currency Interchangeability Agreement (CIA) effective since 1967,[24] and close bilateral defence relationships established since 1976.[25]

Brunei – Singapore Currency Interchangeability Agreement
The Currency Interchangeability Agreement was established on 12 June 1967 to promote monetary cooperation between Brunei and Singapore.[24] Under the agreement, coins and notes issued by the Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) would be accepted in both Brunei and Singapore; and the currencies could be exchange at par, without charge (MAS & AMBD, 2017).[26] However, the Brunei Dollar and Singapore Dollar would not be legal tender when circulating in the other country (MAS & AMBD, 2017).[26] Instead, the currencies would be "customary tender" that would be repatriated to the issuing country periodically (MAS & AMBD, 2017).[26]

Historically, Brunei and Singapore already maintained currency interchangeability since the early 20th century.[26] The Straits Settlements minted the Straits Dollar as the uniform domestic currency in 1897.[26] The colonial and economic links between the Straits Settlements, Malaya, Brunei, North Borneo and Sarawak resulted in the Straits Dollar being widely circulated as the de facto common currency across these British dependencies, as the Straits Dollar was exchangeable on par with their own currencies.[26] The Currency Ordinance of 1938 created the Malayan Dollar as the common currency for the Straits Settlements, Malaya and Brunei.[26] The Malayan Dollar was expanded to include North Borneo and Sarawak in 1950, before transiting to issue the Malaya Dollar and British Borneo Dollar in 1953.[26]

Malaya obtained independence in 1957. Malaya merged with North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia in 1963. However, Singapore was kicked out of Malaysia and achieved independence in 1965. Subsequently, Malaysia proposed to issue its own currency from 1966.[26] Initially, Singapore preferred to share a common currency with Malaysia due to the extensive trade and complementary economic relationships, and to reduce frictions and transaction costs.[26] However, negotiations for a common currency collapsed, leading to Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore issuing their own currency on 12 June 1967.[26] Initially, Brunei and Singapore also signed CIA separately with Malaysia on 12 June 1967 too.[26] However, Malaysia decided to float the Malaysia Ringgit with the US Dollar, and terminated the agreements with Brunei and Singapore in 1973.26 Brunei and Singapore continued with the CIA.[26] Despite significant structural changes to the economies and domestic monetary policies, the CIA remained relevant for Brunei and Singapore, resisting several economic challenges over the years.[26]

The CIA boosted investor confidence on the Brunei Dollar and Singapore Dollar.[26] The autonomous Board of Commissioners of Currency Singapore and MAS are responsible for currency issuance and central bank functions respectively, providing check and balance to ensure the central bank is unable to print additional money to finance government deficits.[26] While there are changes to the monetary institutions and currency issuance framework, the credibility and discipline were preserved.[26] The CIA is also supported by the economic fundamentals of Brunei and Singapore, which includes their strong foreign reserve balance, current account surpluses and flexible domestic economies.[26]

Furthermore, the CIA is compatible with the macroeconomic stability of Brunei and Singapore.[26] As both Brunei and Singapore are small but open economies, an exchange-rate-centric monetary policy framework aimed at achieving low and stable inflation is efficient to directly offset imported inflation and indirectly reduce demand for exports (MAS & AMBD, 2017).[26] The CIA allows Brunei and Singapore to share the benefits of a credible nominal anchor by pegging their currencies.[26] In addition, the CIA eliminates foreign rate risks and transaction costs, which are essential to maintain the close economic and financial relationship between Brunei and Singapore.[26] The CIA has mutually benefits Brunei and Singapore for more than 50 years, encouraging stronger trade, investment, tourism and enhancing the strong bilateral relationship.[26]

Brunei – Singapore Bilateral Defence Relations
Brunei and Singapore officially established close bilateral defence relationships established since 1976.[25] The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Royal Brunei Land Forces (RBLF) cooperate extensively and the interactions continue to grow in scope and complexity.[25] SAF and RBLF interacts regularly through a wide range of activities, including bilateral exercises, visits, professional exchanges, cross-attendance of courses and knowledge sharing dialogues.[25, 27] In addition, Brunei also allows SAF to train in Brunei.[29] The leaders of Brunei and Singapore regularly reaffirms the need to maintain and further strengthen the strong defence relations between both countries.[25, 27]

It is beneficial for Brunei and Singapore to establish a close military partnership. Singapore is grateful to Brunei for allowing SAF to train in their territory.[29] SAF needs extensive land to conduct military training, especially jungle training, which is difficult to be conducted in Singapore due to land scarcity and rapid urbanization. Furthermore, the physical landscape of Brunei is similar to the landscape of Singapore, making Brunei an ideal destination for jungle training. In return, SAF's Officer Cadet Schools (OCS) conducts urban operations training for the officer cadets of RBLF at Singapore.[29]

Singapore imposed mandatory conscription on Singaporean males to serve two years of full-time National Service (NSF),[32] followed by 10 cycles of Operationally Ready National Service (ORNS).[33] The ORNS system ensures Singapore that there will be more than enough servicemen to be mobilized in the event of national emergency. While Brunei could afford to purchase the most advance military equipment, Brunei does not have enough soldiers to defend or operate the military assets, which serves as an absurd reminder of its vulnerability (Kershaw, 2011).[21] Therefore, from Brunei's perspective, the presence of SAF would act as a form of psychological deterrence to predators aiming for Brunei's territory and resources.[21] Besides the CIA, Brunei needs Singapore to defend the country's currency, assets and economy.[21]

In addition, the close defence relationship between Brunei and Singapore is part of a broader defence strategy. Singapore also has excellent bilateral defence relationship with Thailand,[34] which is strategically located north of Peninsula Malaysia. Although Brunei and Singapore were threatened by Indonesia's Konfrontasi in the 1960s, both countries currently enjoys warm and friendly ties with Indonesia,[35] as Indonesia progressed to pursue policies of internal stabilization and co-existence with neighbours (Kershaw, 2011).[21] Singapore's strategic defence relations with Thailand and Brunei ensures that there is holistic military strategies, check and balance of power on Malaysia and the shipping lanes along the Straits of Malacca and South China Sea from all directions.

5. An Exclave within an Exclave
Concept of Exclave
An exclave is a portion of a territory that is geographically separated from the main territory by foreign territory or international water. An enclave is a territory that is geographically surrounded by foreign territory.

Exclave exhibit several disadvantages and inconvenience, including transportation and governance. Strategically, it is difficult to defend an exclave as it is geographically separated and isolated from the main territory.

Temburong: a semi-enclave exclave of a semi-enclave country
Brunei is a small semi-enclave country that is almost completely surrounded by Sarawak. The South China Sea coastline provides Brunei with maritime access to the high sea.

The easternmost Temburong District is an exclave that is separated from the rest of Brunei by Brunei Bay after the annexation of Limbang District by Sarawak. Effectively, Temburong District is a semi-enclave exclave district of a semi-enclave country.

Poor accessibility and connectivity leads to negligence and poor economic development at Temburong District.[36, 37] Before the opening of the Temburong Bridge on 17 March 2020,[38] it is difficult to travel between Bangar (district capital of Temburong) and Bandar Seri Begawan by land, as a driver would need to drive for 2h via Limbang, passing through immigration checkpoints that are usually congested.[36]

As Brunei Bay is internal territorial water, the fastest and easiest way to travel between Bandar Seri Begawan and Temburong is via water-taxi, which requires about 45min.[36] A driver may also drive a car onto a fastcraft, which requires 2h to meander Sungei Temburong and cross Brunei Bay from Bangar to Bandar Seri Begawan.

Furthermore, sparse development and the thick jungle of Temburong makes the district a good hiding place for rebels and overland infiltrators, as experienced during the Indonesia's Konfrontasi.[21]

Lakiun Camp: an exclave within an exclave
SAF has two military facilities at Brunei. The headquarter is Jalan Aman Camp (JAC), which is located at Muara, the port town beside the capital. Another facility is Lakiun Camp, which is the base to support the jungle trainings within Temburong. As an overseas army camp, Lakiun Camp function like an exclave of SAF. Interestingly, Lakiun Camp is located at Temburong District, which itself is an exclave of Brunei.

It is a win-win solution for Brunei to allocate land at Temburong for SAF to setup an army camp and conduct military exercises in the jungle. This is because Singapore needs extensive land to conduct jungle training. Singapore do not have enough rainforest to conduct jungle training due to land scarcity and rapid urbanization. Furthermore, the physical landscape of Brunei, in terms of vegetation and terrain, is similar, but tougher than the landscape of SAF's training areas in Singapore. Extensive, similar but tougher landscape makes Brunei an ideal destination for SAF's jungle training.

From Brunei's perspective, Temburong is an exclave that is sparsely populated and largely agricultural or covered with thick primary rainforest. The presence of SAF at Temburong would act as a form of psychological deterrence to threats and the presence of SAF stimulates the local economy. Furthermore, Lakiun Camp and SAF's jungle trainings have minimal impact on majority of Brunei population, who resides in West Brunei.

In addition, the landscape of Temburong is similar to the landscape of Limbang and rural Peninsular Malaysia. Therefore, familiarity with the landscape would be an advantage for SAF and RBLF in the event of conflict and there is a need for the armed forces to counter an offensive towards Limbang or other parts of Malaysia. After all, forces that are flexible and deployable enough to move rapidly between different environments and types of operations is an strategically important for defence and deterrence (Tan, 2011).[41]

6. Hybrid Space
Jungle Adventure at Temburong
The thick primary rainforest at the interior of Temburong is the main training ground of SAF in Brunei. I visited Brunei for jungle training during my National Service. The trip lasted for 18 days (from 21 April 2006 to 8 May 2006) and comprise of a jungle orientation training, climbing Mount Biang and other minor jungle exercises [please see "Annex A" for details of my Brunei trip].[42]

SAF conducted assorted jungle trainings for officer cadets, Infantry, Commando and Ranger in the rainforest of Temburong. Collectively known as Exercise Lancer, notable jungle trainings include the Jungle Confidence Course (JCC), Support arms Officer Cadet Jungle Orientation Training (SOCJOT), Exercise Nomad and climbing Mount Biang. These exercises aim to train officer cadets for jungle navigation and survival.

Creation of a Hybrid Space at Temburong
Lakiun Camp is SAF's base to support the jungle trainings conducted at the rainforests within the vicinity. Lakiun Camp is located along Labu Highway, about 9km east of Bangar. It is strategically located at the mid-point of Labu Highway, the only East-West thoroughfare of Temburong, with trans-national access into Sarawak at both ends. It takes approximately 1h to travel from Bangar to Lakiun Camp by bus.

Lakiun Camp is located on the mid-slope of a mountain. The bunks resemble the long house of Borneo's indigenous people, but were constructed using zinc and wood. The bunks also looks like those disused camps at Pulau Tekong. Each long house can house 70 boys, while the furniture are legacy of SAF's hardware from previous generations. Although cantilevered on silt, with a veranda around its perimeter, the bunk has poor air ventilation, making it very hot and stuffy. This is weird, because architecturally, the bunk should be cool. The heat and poor ventilation might probably be due to the zinc wall, small window design and east-west orientation. The floor is constructed using wooden planks, which will vibrate whenever someone walks past.

As Lakiun Camp is a military base owned and operated by SAF, it creates a hybrid space that feels neither like Singapore or Brunei. Legally, SAF soldiers enjoys extraterritorial rights within Lakiun Camp. However, troops training in Brunei are expected to follow the rules of SAF and laws of Brunei. Interestingly, besides Lakiun Camp, SAF do not own the training grounds at Temburong. Therefore, the jungle trainings are conducted in a negotiated space.

Negotiation of Space & Impact of SAF's presence at Temburong
SAF's training were mainly conducted in the rainforests, which will not interfere with the everyday life of most locals. As SAF's soldiers are either confined within Lakiun Camp or in the jungle, there is minimal interactions with the locals, except during the Educational Tour at Bandar Seri Begawan.

As SAF do not own the training grounds at Temburong, SAF imposed strict rules for the jungle trainings conducted in the negotiated space, so as not to damage the environment or cause inconvenience to the locals. SAF's instructors will give detailed briefings and instructions to the soldiers on not to damage the environment and not to disturb or cause inconvenience to the locals. These are basic courtesy required from SAF to the host country.

For example, the primary forests are important natural and environmental assets, the army boys are instructed not to litter within the jungle. Strict measures, including item checks before and after an exercise were imposed to ensure that all garbage are accounted for and not abandoned in the forest. As the indigenous Iban population still live in the rainforest, occasionally, there were reports of SAF training troops who encountered the Iban. The soldiers are instructed to respect and not interfere with the everyday life of the Iban.

Soldiers are not allowed to take shortcuts across padi fields or plantations, to avoid killing or damaging the crops. There are accounts that farmers demanded compensation from SAF for alleged damages done by SAF troops, evitable from the unique footprints left behind by the SAF boots. While such claims are subject to further investigation, SAF would usually compensate the damages, because such incidents are rare and SAF do not want such unhappiness to affect the opportunity to train at Temburong and bilateral relationships.

In addition, as Brunei is an Islamic country, soldiers are not allowed to possess or consume pork or alcohol within Brunei. However, cigarette is easily available and unbelievably cheap in Brunei.

As the Singapore Dollar is accepted as "customary tender" at Lakiun Camp Canteen and shops in Bandar Seri Begawan, army boys do not need to exchange money for the trip. Unlike in Singapore, where many businesses and individuals prefer not to accept the Brunei Dollar, businesses in Brunei accepts the Singapore Dollar happily and we are able to pay using Singapore Dollars without rejection. Such acceptance level indicates that the Singapore Dollar is widely circulated in Brunei, and Singapore army boys probably plays a significant role in boosting the local economy. Furthermore, we noticed that many snacks, canned food and fashion are actually imported from Singapore. Therefore, these products are priced slightly higher (about 10% more) than in Singapore. In addition, food in Brunei are similar to Malay and Indian Muslim cuisines in Singapore.

Identity of a Hybrid Space (from a Singaporean's perspective)
From my experience, the physical landscape of Temburong Jungle indeed resembles SAF's training areas in Singapore. Without caption, a photo of Temburong could be mistaken as Western Water Catchment, Ama Keng, Mandai or Tekong. Perhaps, the differences are tougher terrain, higher knolls, steeper slopes, taller and denser trees.

To make feelings more complicated, Brunei shares the same time zone (GMT+8) with Singapore. However, as Singapore is in the wrong time zone , I feel that there is technically a 1h time difference.

The presence of SAF, similarity in physical landscape, acceptance of home currency at foreign land, and availability of familiar products blurs the border. Together with racial, religious and cultural diversity and familiarity, these generates an impression that as if I am still in Singapore, even though I am physically in Brunei. These hybridity constructed the impression of a hybrid space,39 making Brunei appears like an exclave of Singapore.

7. Challenges & Solutions
The excellent bilateral relations between Brunei and Singapore will continue for as long as Brunei and Singapore are small, wealthy, vulnerable, and still consider Malaysia or other forces as an exogenous threat. However, a few endogenous challenges might disrupt existing bilateral defence relationships and CIA.

Temburong Bridge
Temburong Bridge was opened to traffic on 17 March 2020.[38] The 30km highway between Bangar and Bandar Seri Begawan reduced driving time from 2h to 30min.[36] The project was built to provide Temburong with direct land connection to the airport and port, with an aim to stimulate economic growth at Temburong.[37]

Temburong is no longer an isolated exclave after the completion of Temburong Bridge. With improved connectivity and potential economic development, it might affect Brunei's decision to allocate space for SAF's military training.

Singaporeans' Perception of Brunei
Like many Singaporeans, my perception of Brunei's landscape is army, rural, forested, exotic, mysterious and tough before my Brunei trip. While some urban legends like Brunei gets dark at 5pm, unable to see our fingers at night, tough terrain, killing of quail, proves to be true, many myths were debunked after my Brunei trip.

For example, I was very surprised that streams in the jungle are extremely fresh and clear, as opposed to the rumoured muddy "milo water", and small fish and prawns can be seen swimming in the streams. The morning of Temburong is cool, where the ruralscape is covered with a blanket of morning mist, making the landscape appears mystical. The views of Temburong rainforests from a Super Puma helicopter are fascinating. The beautiful scenery is filled with lush greenery, contrasting with small houses that look like lego bricks. There is more potential for Temburong's rainforest than just military jungle training.

Potential for Themed Tourism
Brunei is only a 2h flight from Singapore, but Singaporeans seldom travel to Brunei for tourism. Most guys do not re-visit Brunei after their army experience. This is a huge contrast with Thailand and Taiwan, where SAF also has overseas training, but are popular travel destination among Singaporeans. It is even weirder if we consider that Bandar Seri Begawan shares the same flight radius as Bangkok and there is no need to exchange currency. While Brunei might not appeal to everyone, it could be an attractive destination for specific tourists – the adventurers, green travellers, military geeks and humanities scholars. Brunei may consider exploring themed tourism to target these groups.

As SAF only used the vicinity of Lakiun Camp for jungle training, there is still huge tract of primary rainforest in Temburong with opportunities for adventurous and eco-friendly tourism. Perhaps, Brunei could collaborate with Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) to setup an overseas campus at Temburong. The proposed OBS @ Temburong could target students of Pre-University level, especially those from Outdoor Adventure Club (ODAC) and uniform groups. Besides learning about jungle navigation and survival skills, OBS @ Temburong could educate the participants on leadership, geography and environmental protection.[40] Humans are paranoid of the unknown. Many boys are worried about NSF life and it is not helping that the urban legends of Brunei adds to the anxiety. Experiencing a short jungle boot camp at Temburong during Pre-University will help to reduce the anxiety and be better prepared for NSF and Exercise Lancer.

Advanced outdoor programmes could also target Singaporeans who are more adventurous, enjoys outdoor challenges or would like to reminisce memories of army days. After all, it is a fun experience sleeping in a hammock and being close to nature. However, opening up the rainforests for activities will expose the jungles to damages and pollution. Perhaps strict rules similar to SAF's should be enforced on the tourists to ensure that tourism activities will not disturb the environment and everyday life of indigenous locals.

For the less adventurous tourists, they may check into an eco-friendly resort to relax and enjoy a panoramic view of Temburong from a helicopter. Furthermore, Bandar Seri Begawan has potential to develop historical and cultural tourism. The Brunei Museum documented the history, territorial evolution and insights on the oil economy. Kampong Ayer is a floating water village built on stilt in the middle of Brunei River that could be utilized for authentic homestay.

Improved connectivity and development of themed tourisms will stimulate the economic growth of Temburong and check on illegal logging. Increased interactions will improve the impression of Brunei and further enhancing the depth of bilateral relations between Brunei and Singapore.

8. Conclusion
Brunei and Singapore established excellent bilateral relations long before it was formalized. Both countries collaborate extensively in defence, finance, trade, health, education, aquaculture and tourism; notably the Currency Interchangeability Agreement and close bilateral defence relationships.

Brunei and Singapore are small but wealthy microstates that are surrounded by a bigger neighbour that might be aiming for their territory and resources. SAF needs extensive land to conduct military training and Brunei needs Singapore to defend the country's currency, assets and economy. Besides its primary role in military defence, SAF is also punching above its weight by contributing to bilateral relations through alliance building (Tan, 2011).[41]

The annexation of Limbang teach Brunei a painful lesson that Brunei needs to defend its territory against encroachment from exogenous forces. As Temburong is an isolated exclave that is difficult to defend, the presence of SAF would act as a form of psychological deterrence to predators. Furthermore, the landscape of Temburong is similar to Malaysia, which would be an advantage for SAF and RBLF to counter an offensive during conflict.

Excellent diplomatic relations, complex bilateral cooperation, the presence of SAF, similarity in physical landscape and acceptance of home currency overseas blurs the border between Brunei and Singapore. These hybridity creates a hybrid space that feels neither Brunei nor Singapore. Nevertheless, there are good reasons for Brunei and Singapore to maintain and further strengthen the strong bilateral relations, as both countries mutually benefits from the close ties. In fact, Brunei and Singapore should explore more diverse partnerships beyond existing cooperation.

References
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Annex A: Boon Ping's Memories of Brunei

[This is my Final Paper submitted for "GE5214 Landscapes of Southeast Asia" module on 5 November 2020 for AY2020/2021 Semester 1. "GE5214 Landscapes of Southeast Asia" is offered by National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (FASS) Department of Geography & Department of Southeast Asian Studies, and is taught by Dr Hamzah bin Muzaini.]

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Facilities and training ground of Singapore Armed Forces at Brunei's Temburong District: Creation of a hybrid space to conquer the same defence objectives.   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

Memories of Brunei

08 May 2006

Exercise Lancer
I survived on will power throughout my Brunei trip, which lasted from 21.4.06 till 8.5.06. 18 days in Brunei sets the record for being the longest stay away from Home since birth. From the briefings, it seems like our Brunei trip will comprise of a jungle orientation training (navigation exercise), climbing Mount Biang and some minor exercises in between. As per SAF, I learnt to take these schedules with a pinch of salt to avoid disappointment and be mentally prepared for last minute changes. I heard from friends that our Brunei trip is longer than usual. But surprisingly, the Brunei trip is not as difficult as rumoured and definitely not as hard as what I expected. In fact, the Brunei trip is an eye-opener for me. I think I grow and mature a lot physically and psychologically.

Preparing for Brunei
We were given a packing list on the things that we need to bring. Besides the field pack items, the most important things would be insect repellent, mosquito head net and hammock. We have to squeeze all our military field items into our duffel bag, which will be send to SAT Cargo on 13.4.06. The duffel bag will be secured by a numeric lock, which we can use the lock for our cabinet in Brunei.

On the day of departure, we were only allowed to bring a hand carry luggage below 7kg. I brought an exaggerating number of 17 underwear and 10 green socks to last through the trip. I also brought extra gutters and bootlaces just in case.

As I do not know about the condition of the toilet, I bought a new green mug to brush my teeth; just in case that if the toilet is too disgusting, I can throw the green mug away after using it.

Travelling by Air, Land & Water
On 20.4.06, my family drove me to Changi Airport after watching "大长今" (Dae Jang Geum) and "Channel U 11pm News". On the way to Changi Airport, there was a slight disagreement on the Brunei trip with Papa, but luckily it did not turn into a bad quarrel. We arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 2 at around 12mn and I proceeded to report to SGT Alvin (whom I never met before) at Row 1. My parents and I loitered at the Departure Hall for about an hour before I checked in before 1am. We spend some time traveling on the travelator to Gate E28.

I boarded SQ8992 on 2.30am and the plane took off on 2.37am. I am glad that I was allocated a window seat (34K). With views of Singapore fading away, I find myself on a long way from home for the next 2+ weeks. While on board SQ8992, the Singapore Girl served me a set of Fish air meal, which taste good (better than air meals served by Thai Airways). SQ8992 landed at Brunei Airport on 4.23am. It surprised me that Brunei Airport is quite small and it does not operate for 24h. In fact, we are the only passengers in the airport.

Packeted breakfast was served to us at the Brunei Airport Arrival Hall. The breakfast was not really edible as it seems to be prepared very long ago. After waiting for an hour, we board the bus at 5.30am for an hour long bus ride to the Royal Brunei Naval Base at Muara. I fell asleep on the bus while hugging on to my water bottle.

The sunrise at the Royal Brunei Naval Base is really beautiful. The bright golden sunrise shining on the sea and landscape helps to relieve some of my anxiety. Bangar is located at Temburong District, which is an exclave that is separated from the rest of Brunei by the Brunei Bay. The only way to access Bangar is by a fastcraft. It took the fastcraft 2h to travel through Brunei Bay and up Sungei Temburong from Muara to Bangar Town. Sungei Temburong is a wide and meandering river that is rather muddy lined with mangrove. The scenery is quite monotonous; imagine watching 2h of mangrove landscape on a slow-moving fastcraft. During the journey, the crew will sell us cigarette, which is unbelievably cheap! A pack of Marlboro Red is only $4, which is almost three times cheaper than Singapore!

Next, we transferred for another hour of bus ride. Finally, we reached our destination SAF Lakiun Camp at 9.30am. Can't believe that the entire journey from Changi Airport to Lakiun Camp is 7h! Without realizing, I actually travelled on 3 modes of transport (air, land and water) for the same journey.

Lakiun Camp
Lakiun Camp is located on the mid-slope of a mountain. Lakiun Camp is a substandard camp. The bunks resemble those indigenous long house of Borneo. To be honest, Lakiun looks like a refugee camp to me. I think the zinc and wooden bunks also looks like those disused camps at Pulau Tekong. I am glad that the toilet is not too disgusting.

We were received by our Advance Party friends and we were escorted to our longhouse (Block 31). We estimated that each long house can house 70 boys. The beds are those narrow, black-framed double-deck bed with thin sponge mattress. We joked that these furniture must be some legacy from the 2G Army. The floor is constructed using wooden planks, which will vibrate whenever someone walks past.

The bunk has poor air ventilation, making it very hot and stuffy. This is weird, because the bunk is cantilevered on silt and there is a veranda around its perimeter. Therefore, architecturally, the bunk should be cool. The heat and poor ventilation might probably be due to the zinc wall, small window design and east-west orientation.

Uncooked Rice & Curry
The Cookhouse did not provide full set of utensils, so we need to bring our own fork, spoon and green mug. The Cookhouse only provides the compartmented metal plate, which is always glazed with a thick layer of grease. As everyone are supposed to wash the plate after eating, it is not surprised that there are lazy people who wash it skimpily. To be honest, it is quite disgusting. Therefore, most of us will wash the plate again before taking our food.

Food at Lakiun Camp Cookhouse were cooked by SAF perm staff and reservist cook. To be very objective, the food is quite inedible. For several meals, the rice were not fully cooked. Seriously, this is the first time I ever ate uncooked rice. I am really curious on how would this even happened! And it is curry for almost every meal. I really don't like curry and it is just silly to serve curry before outfield. It is quite difficult to swallow the food prepared by the Cookhouse. Thankfully, we do not need to eat too many meals here.

Fortunately, our PC allow us to patronize the canteen whenever we are in camp (i.e. before and after outfield). Food sold in the canteen is edible, but not cheap. This is because Brunei currency is pegged to Singapore Dollar. A plate of Nasi Goreng Kampong cost $4 at the canteen. However, I am very willing to pay for good food. By the end of my Brunei trip, I spent $70 on canteen food, which is a lot, considering that we are outfield most of the time.

Good Morning Lakiun
From the camp, I am able to see the dry field plantation at the plain across the road. The scenery is at its best from dawn (when the field is blanket with a layer of mist) till early morning. The weather at Brunei is very weird, but predictable. Brunei starts to heat up at around 9am, and it can get really hot as the day goes by. It will heat up until around 2pm or 3pm and it will start raining heavily for a while. Then the sun will start to shine again.

Brunei shares the same time zone with Singapore. Although Brunei is located within GMT+8, which is the same time zone as Singapore. However, as Singapore is in the wrong time zone (Singapore is physically in GMT+7, but uses GMT+8), I feel that there is technically a 1h time difference. For example, the sun would rise at 6am, which is 1h in advance at Brunei, as compared with the standard 7am at Singapore. Similarly, the sun would set at 6pm, instead of the standard 7pm at Singapore. In other words, 6am in Brunei feels like 7am in Singapore. The time lag causes some disturbance to my body clock. For example, when I woke up at 5.45am on the second morning, the whole place is already lit up. It takes time to adjust to the differences.

Jungle Orientation Training
The very 1st training is a Jungle Orientation Training. Duties were delegated and I was assigned to be the team leader of Team 4, who will be under the guidance of instructor LTA Tan. After a series of briefing and preparing our stores, we began our jungle adventure.

From 23.4.06 to 25.4.06, I attended Exercise Nomad, which is a 3 day 2 night unguided Navigation Exercise (Navex). I am in the same navex team (A17) with Eugene, Nicholas, Gilbert, Ronald, Kin Wai, Kheng Mun and both Alex. We are supposed to navigate our way through the thick primary rainforest of Exercise Area Zebu / Tameda to reach our destination. Our starting point is off Zebu Track, near Mike 2. We set off at 8.30am to search for our 1st check point "SIGN/NAME" and we reached there in 45min time.

Confidently, we continue to search for the 2nd check point "POKE/PULL". However, at around noon, we found ourselves holland in the woods. Thus, we decided to backtrack. But after some discussion, we decided to bash in the general direction, which is the biggest mistake my team made.

At 3pm, we came across a stream, where we decided to fill up our bottles. I am very surprised that the stream is so fresh and clear, as opposed to the rumoured "milo water". Small fish and some prawns can be seen swimming in the clear and cold water. We were taught to fill our bottle in the direction of the water flow to avoid collecting sediments into our bottles. We would need to add a puritab tablet into 1 litre of water (i.e. 1 green bottle) to purify the water before drinking. The stream water actually taste better than the drinking water in Lakiun Camp. This is because the drinking water in camp has a strong chlorine smell that is similar to swimming pool water. Furthermore, the stream water is naturally chilled. We rested at the stream for a while before continuing with our navex.

We bashed up a hill and found checkpoint "CUBE". Although "CUBE" is not the checkpoint that we are looking for, it is an important achievement after holland for the entire afternoon, because we finally manage to obtain an accurate MGR of our location, which is essential for navigation. We decided to harbour here till the next morning.

The 9 of us start to find suitable trees to tie our hammock and set up A-frame as roof. It is true that Brunei starts getting dark after 5pm (also known as last light). It is pitch dark by 7pm and we are unable to see our fingers even if we hold them in front of our eyes. I am very scared of snakes, so I sprinkled sulphur powder on the trees I tied my hammock and around my perimeter. Initially, I tried wearing my boots to sleep, but it is quite uncomfortable. Therefore, I have no choice but to remove my boots and cover the top to prevent snakes from sneaking into it. There is a lot of mosquito and insects in the rainforest. Therefore, we need to wear a mosquito headnet to sleep. It is a fun experience sleeping in a hammock, bringing back memories of sleeping in a cradle.

Brunei is extremely cold at night. I need to wear my Gortex Jacket to sleep. When I woke up on the next morning, I lifted the hammock cover and pulled it back immediately. It is cold (about 20°C). It takes a while for the body to warm up and adjust to the temperature. Nevertheless, it feels shiok to be able to enjoy almost 8h of sleep in the forest.

Eugene and Nicholas started planning our navigation route and we decided to continue our search for "POKE/PULL". However, we holland again at around 11am. It is much worst this time because we hit Out of Bounds (OB) area, as indicated on the SAF signboard. We were paranoid. We were worried that we might have crossed the border and intrude into Sarawak (not joking).

We decided to head down to the stream and trek along the river to where we met team A06. After walking for more than an hour in knee-deep water, we decided to take a break on a shore of pebble. The team had some fun playing with water, boosting our morale that river crossing might not be as scary as what we imagined. But at the same time, we started panicking that we might not have enough time to complete the mission. Eugene and Nicholas also confessed that they are not good with navigation.

Armed with my background in Geography and my love for maps, I decided to take over. It started to rain at 2pm, so we need to evacuate to higher ground. After walking for a distance along the river, Alex and I found a neat trail up a knoll and the team climb up. It is raining, the team is tired and morale is low, so we decided to rest at a spot on top of the knoll until the rain stop. There is no clear path on the ridgeline, meaning no one else has passed here for some time. The team is paranoid that we might have hit OB area again. However, based on instinct, we continue trekking on the ridgeline and hit checkpoint "FINAL" at 3pm. We are very happy because we know that we are still in Ops ground and manage to obtain MGR for our location. We started searching for a spot to harbour for the day. We came across this rather open area again, which we passed by a few time on day 1 and we decided to harbour here. We decided to cook and consume some of our ration (which we rationed for rainy days) to lessen our 20kg load.

Knowing that we were near to our 1st check point "SIGN/NAME", we head straight there. True enough, it took us a mere 1h to reach "SIGN/NAME" again. We trekked back to Zebu track and saw our instructors there. To be honest, I am confused on whether we are at the starting or ending point. I guess my team failed Exercise Nomad. Nevertheless, I am very glad that we managed to navigate out of the jungle safely.

Flying in a Super Puma
We were back in Lakiun Camp at around 2pm. On our way back to camp, Ronald heard from the signal set that Ken fainted, rolled down a knoll and was out of exercise. That night, I was informed by my PC that I was selected as a replacement for Ken and I am to join Team 3 immediately. I attended a briefing by the instructors for the upcoming exercises and I had to rush back to our bunk to pack my stuff for outfield. Wei Hao and I fall in late, making Warrant Hong super angry with us. It somewhat gave him a very bad 1st impression. Therefore, Warrant Hong was rather harsh on us for the rest of the day.

We took an hour ride from Lakiun Camp to the Zebu Eastern Quarry Heli LP, where we waited for the 3 lost Ex Nomad teams to track out. After a long period of waiting that morning, the 3 lost teams were finally united with the rest of the company. The teams gulped their breakfast and changed their uniform before setting off for our 2nd exercise.

The Super Puma helicopter arrived and we started boarding in sticks to Kampong Mariam, a mock village that is inaccessible by road. I am in Stick 7, together with instructor Master Gunner and big shots like our CO and OC. Our Super Puma departed at 10.39am and we arrived at our destination about 15min later. This is the first time I took an helicopter ride and I was really super excited. The scenery is really beautiful high up in the air. Lorries at the quarry looks so small, as if they were lego bricks.

At the foot of Mount Biang
Once we stepped out of the Super Puma, we had to trek a distance and cross Sungei Biang before we finally reached the foot of Mount Biang. I bumped into Zheng Feong and we had a casual chat. At the foot of Biang, instructor LTA Shay told me that the path is forever muddy throughout the year. LTA Shay taught me how to walk through the mud in order to keep my boots as clean and dry as possible. As Warrant Hong has a very bad impression of me, he instructed me to follow LTA Shay for the afternoon. From the rear gate, we had to climb a very steep and muddy virtual stairs down, cross a small stream and up a knoll. We followed the ridgeline and some of the guys taught me on various techniques and mistakes.

After the 6th check point, LTA Shay secretly told me that he lost his way and he was trying his luck by trekking down the knoll. Thankfully, we found ourselves on the right track again. It rained very heavily in the evening, which forced the night walk to be cancelled. The rain is a blessing in disguise, as I think night walk can be quite dangerous for Brunei's horrific darkness. That night, instructor CPT Asman invited us to sleep in the instruction hut, as there is no trees to tie hammock and the ground is too muddy. The instructors even allow us to sleep on safari bed and benches, which makes me even more touched, as the instructors do not need to do so.

Early next morning, Warrant Hong cooked some hearty breakfast and gave some bread to us. Around noon, the instructors cooked and had their lunch. After the instructors finished their lunch, they invited us to eat the porridge and leftover canned food. To be honest, it feels quite humiliating initially. But if I look at it from another angle, as a trainee who is not entitled to any welfare, it is actually very fortunate that our instructors chose to share with us almost everything they have in the deep forest of Brunei. Furthermore, I am really very hungry and sicked of the green pack field rations and biscuits. It also taste much better than Cookhouse food.

That morning, I had a long chat with Louis, a perm staff of Lakiun Camp, and get to know him better. After lunch I get to chat with Zhi Hao, whom I am not familiar with when we were in Singapore. Zhi Hao and I exchanged our passion in music and upcoming university courses. We also accidentally found out that we have a few common friends. That night ended without any major event.

I stopped writing notes of my Brunei forest adventure on a daily basis from that night onwards, because I was too tired, the transitions can be quite confusing and some of the exercise details are confidential. There are too many exercise transitions, which usually happened whenever we crossed a knoll and the exercise name will change accordingly. Whenever we transited into a new exercise, we will assume our respective roles for the new exercise.

The next morning, we trekked out the forest. I followed behind CPT Asman and get to know a little more about him. Warrant Hong walked over to me and asked me to comment about the performances of my batch while smoking. I gave a politically correct reply. Warrant Hong replied "hong lan hor?", which I agree in my mind because we really have rooms for improvement. We continue to trek out and we reached the road about an hour or two later.

While travelling along Jalan Temada on our way back to Lakiun Camp, I get to see how luxurious the natives are. The locals live in huge bungalow with expansive courtyard, backyard and lovely gardens. Each house have their own water tank and purifying system. A few of the bungalows even have their own small satellite disc installed. We reached Lakiun Camp an hour later.

Night Walk
We had a good day of rest before going for a short night walk at the rear of Lakiun Camp. LTA Shay introduced some traps that will be used for the Jungle Confident Course (JCC). Louis told me that the quails were usually noisy when they arrived at Lakiun Camp, but the quails will become extremely quiet on the night before the quails were send to trainees out for JCC. It is like as if the quails know they will be slaughtered by cadets the next day.

The night walk also gave me a very good impression of our 2IC CPT Darren. CPT Darren is able to bond with us rather well and even volunteered to walk back into the forest to help retrieve missing parts of the 84. As we will be climbing Mount Biang the next day, LTA Shay want us to bring some sweets and high sugar food to replenish energy.

Over the Rainbow
To avoid making the same mistake, I fall in early on the morning of 30.4.06. However, my radio set played a very big prank on me by malfunctioning at this very last minute. Luckily, Shaun helped me to change a radio set with the store. We set off at around 6.25am.

It is a cool morning and the surrounding of Lakiun Camp is covered with a blanket of morning mist. After travelling for a short distance, I saw a very clear and beautiful rainbow at 6.30am. This is the 2nd time that I saw a rainbow in my life. The 7 colours are so distinctive. The rainbow is really beautiful. The landscape is mystical at this moment. This is definitely one of the most memorable moment for this Brunei trip.

Conquering Mount Biang
We reached Zebu / Temada area again an hour later. LTA Shay is the CRT instructor and I was assigned to follow LTA Shay for the whole of this exercise. We trekked all the way to Zebu Track. On our way, it started raining very heavily and I bumped into Kang Woei.

While walking to the harbouring ground, LTA Shay and I talked a lot. We found out that both of us stayed at Tampines and we studied in the same primary school and JC (LTA Shay is 5 years my senior)! LTA Shay shared with me that he has very bad impression of Shaun, as he observed that Shaun likes to wayang, backstab and enjoys commanding his fellow platoon mates around. LTA Shay also warned me that Wei Hao is rather cunning, as he do things with a motive in mind and he will only help others if he is able to gain something useful in return. LTA Shay said that he appreciates that I did not complain much throughout the exercises and I have always been neutral among the childish conflicts between Shaun and Wei Hao.

We were completely drenched when we reached our harbouring ground. Interestingly, the heavy rain stopped shortly after we reached our harbouring ground. CPT Asman offered us hot ration and asked us to help ourselves with the food. Calvin, another perm staff whom I met in Lakiun Camp before, joined us for this exercise to help CPT Asman and Louis. I chatted with Gavin before setting up our hammock.

The next morning, we walked to the heli point again to take the Super Puma for the 2nd time. I can still feel there is still excitement. This time I get to see the quarry and the villages in detail before the Super Puma landed safety.

We began our journey up the infamous Mount Biang. As LTA Shay needs to cover safety, he will bring me forward and walked further up before taking a rest. LTA Shay explained that by doing so, we will have a longer period of rest and we do not need to keep "pausing". LTA Shay also taught me the technique of "non-stop climbing" as he explained that I will feel more tired if I keep having rest in between.

LTA Shay said we continued our journey up Biang when the medic passed by us. LTA Shay explained the logic of following behind a medic is because if someone informed him of casualties, he can bring the medic along asap.

It took us 1.5h to reached the infamous "Stairways to Heaven", which is well known to be the worst segment of the climb up Biang. LTA Shay taught us on the technique to climb up the steep rocks and to follow his footsteps, as these are the tested and proven path. LTA Shay and I conquered the "Stairways to Heaven" without much sweat and we reached the top of Mount Biang in 2h after commencing our climb. The summit of Mount Biang is quite anti-climax, because there is no view to reward our effort to climb; it is just trees and ridgeline. Nevertheless, CPT Asman treated us coffee as an encouragement.

After everyone arrived, LTA Shay and I left shortly to search for harbouring ground. On our way, it started raining heavily again. Gavin and I hurriedly setup our A-frame using our ground sheet before tying our hammock. If not, our barang barang might be even wetter. Gavin and I were decided to help Shaun, who is having issues with his hammock. By this moment, I was already very annoyed with the childish conflicts between Shaun and Wei Hao. Their quarrels had escalated into personal attacks yelling and I had to talk to Wei Hao to tell him that we are out in the jungle and we should be helping each other instead of insulting each other.

The rain stopped pouring after we finish setup. LTA Shay walked towards my hammock and showed me a leech on his body and he burnt the leech off with a lighter. The leech tried to escape, but Gavin stepped it and blood gushed out of its squashed corpse. LTA Shay asked me to check for leeches as I followed him up Biang. I took off my boots, saw a leech on the ground and stomped it to death with my boots. I checked my body and found stains of blood on my calf, believing it was sucked by the leech that I killed.

The dusk sky starts to darken and we start preparing our dinner. CPT Asman lend us his bunsen burner, which we take turn to cook instant noodles. As usual, we had an early night. Halfway through my sleep at around 4am, I heard loud Malay prayers, which seems to be broadcasted over loudspeakers. This freaked me out, as we are on top of Mount Biang, which is in the middle of primary rainforest. At that moment, I tried to shut my eyes and convinced myself that there might be a mosque in an ulu place nearby or I am too tired and start to hear imaginary things. I tried to forced myself to sleep. I woke up at around 6am and I still hear the prayer.

The top of Mount Biang is freezing cold in the morning, at around 16°C. I feel warm because I am wearing my Gortex Jacket, camo scarf and Nomax gloves inside the covered hammock, which is sheltered by the ground sheet A-frame. However, the moment I lifted my hammock cover, I closed it back immediately. It is cold! I can feel the cold breeze piercing through my mosquito net, making me shivering inside my hammock. I hide inside my hammock for a few more minutes, rubbing my palms to warm myself up, before getting out of my hammock. I was still wearing my mosquito net on my head, which freaked Gavin out. Gavin told me that there is a mosque nearby and I felt relieved. Gavin and I packed our stuff and joined the rest for our descend down Mount Biang.

Surprisingly, the journey down Mount Biang is much more tough than the climb up. There isn't any path to trekked downwards; only big rocks and slippery boulders, LTA Shay warned me that there might be snakes hidden in the gaps and underneath the rocks. LTA Shay added that snakes are more commonly seen in October, so we might be lucky enough to avoid seeing one. This freaked me out, making me on high alert throughout this segment. LTA Shay said I will be safe as long as I followed his footstep.

After the rocky slope, LTA Shay said we should be able to see a waterfall. However, I only hear sound of gusting water and the direction we were heading to is a steep upslope. Finding it strange (as we are descending), I asked LTA Shay if we had gone the wrong path. LTA Shay acknowledged my opinion and shared that our OC insisted of leading, but did not want to hear advices from the instructors, so they decided to let him "perform". At this moment, most of the trainee had finished drinking our water, so finding a stream is very crucial. LTA Shay had finished his water resources, so both of us are relying on my last 1 litre of water. To be honest, most of the trainee had lost 99% of our morale. But as we had really holland, the instructors decided to take over, under the guidance of CPT Asman. CPT Asman is pissed with the proud OC and lectured him. CPT Asman lead us down in search of water.

After holland for 4h, we finally found a stream. Everyone feels so relieved; at least we know we will not die from thirst. It is very encouraging to see CPT Darren helping us to fill our water bottles. This is what a true leader should be doing instead of showing off. A leader earn his respect not because of his rank, but how he treat others.

After resting for a while and consuming a simple lunch, we continued with our descend. We found the markings and we were happy that we were back on the right track. We continued following the marking in fast speed as it started raining. As some of the marking were lost, LTA Shay lead the way based on his experience. I am tired and morale was low, so I need trekked in a fast pace to catch up with LTA Shay. The trainees continued the journey with low morale and we finally reached the river crossing point of Sungei Batu Apoi at 4pm. It was raining very heavily and we were severely behind schedule, so the instructors had to cut the exercise. This is really a big morale booster for all of us, who are all drenched.

After some discussions among the instructors, the instructors allowed us to board the speedboat to cross the river. Once on the opposite shore, we climbed up a rather steep slope, and realized that we are actually very near to the rear of Lakiun Camp.

Goodbye Lakiun Camp
Without knowing, we had completed all our 10days outfield missions. We spent the next 3 days cleaning and returning stores. It is quite disturbing that we need to throw away all the unconsumed combat ration, because we were unable to return these drawn food for hygiene and food safety reasons.

We were issued Polo shirt and T-shirt to commemorate our training days in Brunei. We started packing our stuff for shipment back to Singapore. In the end, I did not throw away the green mug, because the green mug accompanied me through the days in Brunei. I brought the green mug back and named it "Brunei cup".

Before leaving Lakiun Camp, I went to bid goodbye to my senior LTA Shay and thanked him for his guidance in the past few days. LTA Shay and I exchanged contacts and we agreed to meet in Tampines after he finished his posting in Brunei next year.

I also bid goodbye to Louis and Gavin, wishing them well for their stay in Brunei. However, I am unable to find the other instructors in camp to thank them personally.

Back to Civilization
On 7.5.20, after taking a last look at Lakiun Camp and the dry field plantation, I boarded the hour at 5am for the hour long bus ride to Bangar. At Bangar, we transferred to the fastcraft in batches for the 2h long journey to Muara. Watching the mangrove of Sungei Temburong moving at a slow pace is sleep inducing. I fell asleep twice while onboard the fastcraft. Somehow, the return trip seems much longer, as it feels like we spent 4h on the fastcraft. Maybe because I am really tired. Similarly, the crew will sell us Marlboro cigarettes at $4, damn cheap!

Finally, we reached the Royal Brunei Naval Base at Muara at 8am. We transferred to bus and reached Jalan Aman Camp (JAC), which is the HQ of SAF in Brunei, at 8.30am. JAC is a slightly more modern camp than Lakiun and the food at JAC Cookhouse taste much better than Lakiun Camp Cookhouse. We had nasi lemak for breakfast at 9am before commencing our R&R at Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB).

Bandar Seri Begawan Educational Tour
The 1-Day Brunei Educational Tour started at 10am. We reached the Royal Regalia at 10.30am, which is a museum on the royal family. This is followed by a stop at the Jame Asr Hassanil Mosque at 11.30am. Jame Asr Hassanil Mosque is a national mosque named after the current Sultan of Brunei. Jame Asr Hassanil Mosque is the largest mosque in Brunei and it was built in 1992 to celebrate the jubilee of Sultan's coronation. We passed by Istana Nurul Iman (Sultan's Palace) at 12pm and had lunch at Riverview Hotel at 12.30pm.

We reached the exterior of Omar Ali Saiftuddin Mosque at 1.45pm. Omar Ali Saiftuddin Mosque was completed in 1958 and is named after the previous Sultan of Brunei. Omar Ali Saiftuddin Mosque is famous for its golden dome that is constructed using 24k gold. Therefore, it is also known as the Golden Mosque.

We visited Brunei Museum at 2.15pm. The museum documented the territorial evolution of the Brunei Empire, which is extremely fascinating. This is the best museum I visited for this tour, as it provides me with a deeper insight on the history of Brunei and its economic dependence on fossil fuel.

We arrived at Kampong Ayer at 1.15pm via water taxi. Kampong Ayer is a Water Village built on stilt in the middle of Brunei River and visited a family staying on the kelong. The family served us some kuehs, which is quite authentic and delicious.

I am the only one who thinks that BSB and Brunei Museum are quite interesting culturally and historically. Maybe this is because I am the only Arts & Humanities student for my batch. It is very likely that I will make a 1day visit to BSB again...

Back at BSB, we arrived Yayasan Shopping Complex at 4.15pm. Yayasan Shopping Complex is the better shopping mall for this trip. The supermarket sell food and snacks that are imported from Singapore, so the products are sold at a price that is about 10% higher than in Singapore.

Brunei's fashion is quite behind Singapore (which already very behind Japan and Taiwan). But thanks to this 'fashion lag', I actually managed to find the "FILA SURF WEAR R800-2393 4759 LIGHT BLUE" T-shirt at the departmental store! Although "FILA SURF WEAR R800-2393 4759 LIGHT BLUE" was sold at a slightly higher price than its orange colour twin "FILA SURF WEAR R800-2393 723 STARFRUIT" that I bought on 31.7.04, I still bought it. I am very happy because I have been searching for "FILA SURF WEAR R800-2393 4759 LIGHT BLUE" for close to 2 years...

We had dinner at Holiday Lodge at 5.30pm before shopping at The Mall at 7.30pm. The Mall looks like JB's Holiday Plaza as it is filled with Ah Beng fashion store and pirated VCD shops. It surprised me that Brunei does not have any book shop or CD shop that sell original CD. As there is really nothing much to do at The Mall, Kang Woei and I decided to return to our bus earlier.

While waiting to board the bus, I heard a familiar voice shouting my name. I turned around and saw Warrant Hong! Warrant Hong was sitting on the railing and smoking. We chat for a while and I thanked him personally. On the bus, my PC told me that Warrant Hong praised my performance and nominated me for the 'Best Soldier Award'. PC also added that Warrant Hong seldom praised people. I feel very touched because Warrant Hong have been looking after me like his son. Then suddenly, I realized that I forgot to asked for Warrant Hong's contact, so I ran down the bus in search of him, but in vain, making me feel very sad.

Long Way Home to Singapore
We were back at JAC at 9.30pm. JAC has weirdly designed bunk and infrastructure. All of us are checked into a single huge bunk without partition. The double-deck beds are the modern white-framed bed, but placed very closely together with tight space in between. Thankfully, we only need to spent a few hours here before flying back to Singapore. I dozed off for a while. Kang Woei woke me up at 2am telling me that we need to get ready for our trip to Brunei Airport. Finally, in the wee hours of 8.5.06, we are on our journey home after 18days in Brunei.

Perhaps I missed home too much, I actually told the SQ Girls "I Love Singapore" while boarding the plane. I am glad that I was allocated a window seat again and SQ8991 took off at 5.35am.

The SQ breakfast is the best meal I had ate in the past 2+ weeks. The Straits Times was dominated by the result for General Election 2006, which happened on 6.5.06. While on board SQ8991, I listened to J-pop new songs like Koda Kumi's "No Regret" and Tokyo Jihen's "化粧直し" while watching the SQ KrisWorld flight map (map geek mode). Words can't describe the excitement watching the plane inching nearer to Changi Airport.

SQ8991 landed safety at Changi Airport at 7.40am. As we were only allowed to bring $200 cash, I ran out of cash for duty free at Changi Airport (the silly me did not bring my ATM card along). Therefore, I have to borrow cash from Ong to buy lipstick, Tiger Beer and Absolut Vodka for Mumy, Papa and my brother respectively.

Memories of Brunei
This Brunei trip is tough, but not as difficult as imagined. In fact, I think this Brunei trip is quite fun and inspiring for me. I get to realize my childhood dream of riding on a helicopter, not once but twice on a Super Puma. Climbing Mount Biang is also not as horrible as what people described...

The jungle experiences pushed my endurances beyond my limits that I have ever imagined and I am very proud to achieve all the objectives. I understand more about myself. I grow and mature a lot physically and psychologically. In addition, Lancer is a very successful slimming centre; I lose 3kg within 3 weeks.

I really missed home when I was in Brunei. I called Mumy 21 times during my 18 days in Brunei. Brunei is really a milestone in life that trained me to grow up.

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Memories of Brunei   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.

From Stagmont to Brunei

20 April 2006

Anything but Signal
Year 2006 started off at Stagmont Camp Signal Institute, where I continue on with the rather boring and useless signal training. The training syllabus are too technical for me, especially for someone who is not well-versed in electronic, science and technologies.

To be honest, I did not choose Signal! My childhood dream was to be a Helicopter Pilot, so joining the Air Force became my goal. I would rather be in Guards or Infantry, as I find the job scopes to be a lot more meaningful... Perhaps the urban legend of boys inheriting their father's vocation is true...

Pride & Responsibilities
Perhaps, the most meaningful and memorable tasks were being assigned as the Map IC and the Detachment IC for a mission. These roles are good training for planning, responsibility and leadership.

Being the Platoon IC was the longest 2 weeks (or is it more than 2 weeks?) of my life! It was when you became the Platoon IC, then you will realize who are your true friends and who are those who wayang in front of the commanders and instructors to score brownie points. The most interesting fact is, those guys who will really help you are those Platoon ICs before your regime (especially your immediate predecessor)! Therefore, you will pay the kindness forward to the next Platoon IC after your run.

Haunting Memories of Stagmont
Friends should know that I am quite atheist and I am not a religious person. I do not think that Tekong Ladang Camp (BMTC) and SAFTI are haunted or eerie. However, I must say that Stagmont Camp is definitely the most haunted place I have ever been to. The camp is surprisingly eerie for its civilized location, which is in the heart of Choa Chu Kang New Town, next to Teck Whye Estate, opposite Choa Chu Kang Stadium and surrounded by a cluster of schools. As Stagmont is on a hilltop, we could see the high-rise blocks of Bukit Panjang New Town N6 (Blk 625 – 631) located not too far away.

I can sense the place is not right from the moment I stepped into the bunk block, which seems to be built in the 1970s. I do not get this feeling often, so it makes me feel quite uneasy throughout my stay at Stagmont. The bunks are located along a long double-loaded corridor that is similar to those old-school 1-room flats. The corridor is really dark even during a bright afternoon. My buddy Darryl (who is able to see things) advised Weimin and I not to use the toilet at the end of the corridor (beside the chin-up bar). That toilet is actually nearer to my bunk, so it raised curiosity. But anyway, I prefer the central toilet as it is brighter and larger.

Every night, we will hear lots of wild dogs barking and howling loudly slightly before midnight and the melancholy howling might last till the wee hours of the morning. The howling came from the middle of the parade square, which can be seen from our window, but nobody dares to peek at it.

Guard duty are the scariest memories in Stagmont. Almost all the prowling stops feel eerie and the spooky ambient would made my hair stand unknowingly. The worst location would be the petrol station and the driveway leading to the forested side gate (from map, the driveway would cut through a small forest, before reaching Choa Chu Kang Drive). The driveway is always brightly lit before anyone walked there. However, the moment we reached the driveway, the entire row of street lamps will goes off suddenly. Whenever we walked near the petrol station, there will be lots of loud interference from our walkie talkie. Something weird is, the street lights will switched on again after we left the driveway.

Once, while prowling down the dark driveway, I experienced a strong gush of cold wind blowing from the forest side gate, brushing past the right side of my body. It feels damn weird as it was a still night and I did not feel the wind on the left side of my body. I looked at my prowling partner, with my eyes wide open. He was walking to my right and he whispered "Don't say anything, we talked about it the next morning." The two of us hurried down to the side gate, signed our endorsement and we hurried back to the main driveway. Back in the guard room, Ler seems to know that I wanted to talk about my encounter earlier and he instructed me to talk about it only after the sun is up. Finally, after we booked out the next morning, Ler told me that he experienced a strong gush of cold wind blowing past the left side of his body. This means that the strong gush of cold wind only blew through in between the two of us! O.M.G.!

Other spooking locations along the prowling route includes the eerie chin-up bar between our bunk and the training block, the Level 2 Foyer at the HQ block (we were instructed to check whether all the rooms were properly locked), surrounded with huge portraits of past commanders since colonial days (I got a huge shocked when I saw this when I climbed up the stairs for the 1st time and the feeling of surveillance by their eyes is quite creepy at night), the hall with huge mirrors at all corners. The only 'safe spot' seems to be the dead end driveway overlooking Kranji Expressway (KJE) and Pioneer Junior College. That is where we would have our water breaks and take a breather.

Furthermore, the fat gay Malay RP will target and harass some of us when we were resting at the guard room. Once, he molested my inner thighs while trying to wake me up for duty. Kenneth and Jerrick were harassed too. However, we do not evidence to report him to our commanders.

The longer we stay, the more weird encounters we experienced and the more strange experiences we heard from our batchmates. We also started hearing lots of stories from the instructors that the camp is indeed not clean. For example, These urban legends include the dogs forming a circle at the parade square and started howling at midnight, the haunted chin-up bar, strange accidents stopped happening after an altar was setup at the vehicle maintenance area, etc. To make things worse, most of the tales corresponded to our spooky encounters and most importantly, the instructors were not aware of our encounters before they told us the stories. Nevertheless, some legends like the haunted locked bunks at Level 6, men disappearing behind the low wall and frangipani smell near KJE sounds a little too exaggerated, fictional or generic to be true.

In addition, the bunk block is quite dirty and was infested with rats. We clean it regularly, but it was still forever dusty; perhaps because we were on a hilltop and many of the rooms were unoccupied.

I just hope that I only need to stay at Stagmont for a few months. Hopefully I will not be posted here permanently.

Fun Memories of Stagmont
As Stagmont is at Choa Chu Kang, it is really far from home and the long journey home is quite tedious. It is quite impossible to take MRT from Choa Chu Kang to Tampines via Jurong East, as our book out timing on Friday clashes with the evening peak hours from Jurong Industrial Estate. Even if I managed to squeeze into the train, the journey would take about 1.5h. I tried taking the direct bus #67 from Choa Chu Kang bus interchange to Tampines bus interchange and the entire journey is about 3h, definitely the longest bus ride I ever took.

From my "3 day tour singapore" experiences, I think the fastest route is still via MRT from Choa Chu Kang to Woodlands (about 15min), then transfer to bus #168 (about 30min). By this way, the journey from Stagmont to Home is only about 1h and I could get a seat. In fact, I can even buy bread from Causeway Point Prima Deli.

The best benefit of Stagmont's civilized location is its proximity to amenities. Stagmont is just a stone throw away from Teck Whye Neighbourhood Centre (where Weimin stays). The camp is also a short walk from Choa Chu Kang Town Centre. Sometimes on a pleasant afternoon, Wee Liat and I would walk to the MRT station instead of taking a feeder bus there. Stagmont is also located near Lot One, Ten Mile Junction and Bukit Panjang Plaza, which means that there are abundant choice of food and hangout places for nights out. Once, Darryl, Kenneth, Wee Liat and I even took bus #190 to Orchard for nights out.

Training for Brunei
We were briefed on our upcoming activities for the next few weeks, which the most horrifying would be Brunei!

With our Brunei trip only days ahead, we started doing lots of load training and route marches to prepare us for our jungle getaway... There are countless 24km route marches with 300% supply loaded! The 12km route marches at hilly Lorong Asrama and the route marches from Changi Village to Fort Road through East Coast Park really squeezed me dry physically.

These trainings leads to serious strains and aching on my hamstrings and upper calves. I do not have any issues with physical trainings prior to these, but these exercises were really a level up. These trainings also triggered a relapse of plantar fasciitis, which I first sustained during PE (repeated stairs climbing) in TPJC, about 3 years ago. Although I could still continue with my trainings, I had to undergo physiotherapy to relieve these aching. I also think the heavy load affected my posture, because based on measurements, I became 3cm shorter (169cm) after these trainings). I am basically surviving on will power till the Brunei trip.

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From Stagmont to Brunei   © 文彬 2004~2024. All rights reserved.