I've always dislike the fact when Bruneian drivers doesn't give a rat's ass about other drivers, especially to the ones driving an old shabby car. Exhibit A - just look at my car. I'm well aware that it's not shiny, nor does it reaches to 140 km/h nor does it look posh or anything you want to label it. But hey, it's still a car, and i still could drive just about anywhere i want. And on a brighter note, i don't have worry much if i scratch it against the road boundary thingy, or if i bend over a drain (not that i wish for it, hell no), because it's an 'antique' car that i don't have to fork out lots of money if scratched the exterior. Get it? I guess thats the good side about driving an old car.

As i was saying, other drivers, almost everyone of them; are quite rude. It's kinda hard for me to explain in detailed here, but you know what i mean. They're pretty much an ass on the road. Okay fine, i get the fact that there's an old shabby car in the road, an old 'kerita kaling' car blocking your so-called-highway. But so what? Just because that car is in your way, that doesn't mean you ought to be treating its driver like crap. Just because i couldn't see your annoyed face on the road, but that doesn't mean i'm not offended by your 'fast roaming' or 'kissing-my-car's-ass' kind of way. I'm aware that you intend to drive fast, but fuck it man, stop kissing-your-car-to-my-car's-ass! Go to the right lane if you want. I mean, that's what right lanes are for, isn't it? To overtook someone else's car. Have patience. Have some bit of respect. At least.

Now, that comes to a totally different story if i were driving a non-shabby car. I drove my next to kin's car the other day (well sometimes when i run errands for them), and i received a whole lot of different treatment from the drivers. Instead of typical 'rudeness' i get when driving the old shabby car, i received a 'neutral' aura from the drivers. Get it?

I've been driving for over a year, and the treatment i received never seem to change whenever i drive the old 'kerita kaling'.

Sigh, Bruneians are always like that - judge a book by its cover. In this case - judge a person by its car.

Or - judge a person's integrity by their status. If you're not well-known, then you're pretty much a dumpster.

Anyways, today a great friend of mine told me a story about integrity. My friend went to this textile place somewhere in Serusop, and overheard ruthless conversations between a Bruneian female customer and an Indonesian worker. The customer was complaining about the fact that the Indonesian worker couldn't live up to his/her promise. The Bruneian female was promised to get some piece of 'tudong' but she went bizarrely mad. She started to threatened the Indonesian worker (who knew nothing much), and called him/her awful names, "eh buduh ko ani, ko janji hari ani ada, macam-macam alasan ko ani! baik ko ambil tu! ku sue ko nanti, biar ko! tebayar ko kan?!"She basically shouted at him/her repeatedly. I mean shouted as in THE WHOLE customers in the shop turned their heads in disbelief.

That's how rude the Bruneian female customer was, she didn't even care about others eavesdropping on her, didn't even care about shame because all she ever wanted at very moment was - to get some piece of 'tudong'. That went on and on for about...i don't know, probably till that customer bled her throat, haha. But the funny thing is - it's all just because of 'tudung'. I bet she was so damn panicked she didn't have anything to cover her dyed hair for Raya HAHA. Sekadar. Now that's what i called - desperation calls for desperate measures.

But then again, this story isn't really accurate, perhaps i missed out on few vital points along the way, thus it turned out pretty bad in this post. But i do get the main story correct, which is this - just because she's a Bruneian, who earns up to 3K bucks per month, who doesn't know the true meaning of hardship; that doesn't mean she could mock, threaten or treat fucking rudely at that Indonesian, whose not even close to earning what she earns per month, whose barely living on a 12hours per day 24 days wages, who surely has no status in Brunei, whose just doing his/her job. Look, sometimes we have to understand certain circumstances, and accept it with patience. And there are some situations where we ought to be a bit angry at times because certain salespersons aren't doing their job correctly, like we used to say "sekadar nyawa-nyawa ikan durang bekeraja", now this we can 'push' them a bit. There are boundaries, okay?

I'm not saying just because this 'tudung' thing happened recently, but merely the fact that we have got to tone down, or even better stop this attitude of looking down on lower-standard people. I've come across this attitude way long before, but at that time i just didn't have the courage to voice out my thoughts. I know that it's easier said than done. Sometimes we can't control ourselves, we aren't aware of what our actions could potentially do to other people's feelings, we speak before thinking them thoroughly, and i guess that's our flaws. And i know most of us are hypocrites, thus i'm quite scared to point out more debatable thoughts, as i fear it would hit back on me.

Sure we're good at keeping a close relationship with family and friends, and about keeping a good integrity, but we're bad certain aspects of our lives. We always point out our friend's and foe's wrongdoings without even glancing our own personalities. Get it? What i'm talking about is both "tone down looking down at other lower-standard families" and "tone down being a hypocrite". Sure i'm being humanly possible as i can right now, being thoughtful and all, but i fear i would fall into the same pit as other hypocrite beings in later days. So...it's safe to say what has been said is enough. I'll stop here.

And oh, if i were a policewoman, or some sort of authority who could stop a car for speed-driving, i would be glad to do so (for just a while, as a hobby). Anyhoots, i always come across lorry-truck drivers speed-driving way over their 50 km/h limit. Sometimes i had to push the acceleration pedal more just to overtake those kind of lorries. And what's worse, those lorries-trucks overtook a saloon car! Hard to believe? Photos doesn't lie (unless photoshope-d, but that's a different story).