Kopi Talk with MHO

REVISITING MY KOPI TALK SHOP

I found this long forgotten little booklet when I was ransacking my filing cabinet for some important documents this morning. It made me smile when I found it. Sweet memories during my time with the Borneo Bulletin as full time journalist came rushing back as I flipped through the pages.

This booklet is a compilation of my articles published by the Borneo Bulletin. I was then the News Editor of the daily paper.  

My Editor-in-Chief, Mr Rex de Silva created a special column in the newspaper’s weekend edition. He named it Kopi Shop Politics.

The column was introduced in late 1999. Info-communication technology in Brunei was at its infant stage. We didn’t have the luxury of interacting and socialising through Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Skype and so on and so forth. Social media was beyond our imagination.  Smart phone…? No way! It was something we only learned from a futuristic movie. However, there was this so-called chat room application but it never appealed to me.

So with all these new technologies beyond our reach, we introduced this Kopi Shop Politics column.

Through this column we shared with readers the daily gossips, conversation, discussion, comments and debates on anything and everything that took place at what we called ‘coffee shop parliament’.

This was how the column was introduced…

The world would certainly be a peaceful, well-organized place if the people who thought they knew how to run things were in charge. However, these people are currently busy driving taxis and sitting in coffee shop drinking cups of ‘teh’ or ‘kopi tarik’.

A quick peek into a popular coffee shop in Brunei will reveal the absolute truth of all that.

The coffee shops in Bandar, Tutong, Gadong and Muara are the favoured hangout of office workers, retirees and many others who usually get together for breakfast or high tea. 

Heated political discussions are always a part of the menu although it is always just a lot of hot air without any action.

Anyone who feels that free speech and freedom of expression is needed in Brunei should spend some time in a local coffee shop.

Over several cups of ‘teh tarik’ and ‘kopi tarik’ or ‘teh c’ and ‘kopi c’, with serving of ‘cucur pisang panas’ and other malay ‘kueh’, many Bruneians spend hours talking, arguing, debating, commenting on and criticizing anything under the sun. These serious discussions are always spiced with sprinkling of gossip.

Usually, the discussions evolve around the most current happenings in the country and generally the conversations are filled with a great deal of criticism. If these discussions are to be believed, the authorities never get anything right and there is always a lot to be desired.

The coffee shop parliament never runs short of issues to be discussed. Everything comes under the microscopes, from religion, politics and business to crime, sex and housekeeping, no topic is sacred.

(With permission and if time permits, I will share some of the articles here soon)