Life In Brunei Not All Hardship

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31539, 29 November 1967, Page 2

Life In Brunei Not All Hardship

Although she has lived in some trouble spots—notably Turkey and the Argentine in the early 1960 s Mrs W. H. Archer is content to follow her husband and his United States company’s oil drilling equipment round the world.

For the last two years she has lived in Shell Oil Company’s “camp” in Brunei, Borneo. There the cosmopolitan community, including Europeans, Indians, Celonese, Malay, Chinese, and several Australian and New Zealand couples, live in comfortable, tropical homes surrounded by a golf course, swimimng pool, tennis courts, and tropical gardens. Life is tranquil In the oilrich sultanship that has no seasons and little poverty. ‘The Malays and Chinese appear to live very happily together. “They voted to remain in the British Empire and although I think they will even-

tually want independence they seem contented now," said Mrs Archer, who has accompanied her husband to New Zealand for his annual vacation. The British maintained Gurkha troops in a nearby camp, she said, but there were few border incidents. “I’ve never been afraid in Brunei," she said. Crude Fanning “Farming methods are crude, of course. There is no machinery. Most of the work in the fields is still done by hand, but everyone has plenty to eat. “Their housing may not be very good by our standards but it’s adequate. Everyone seems very happy and there are no beggars or obvious poverty.” Mrs Archer’s husband is an avid sportsman, but besides playing bridge Mrs Archer occupies her spare time with her garden, books, and records. Orchids thrive in Borneo’s humidity—Mrs Archer has 40 in her garden—and form a lucrative industry in which many women engage. “Malay and Chinese women

devote most of their time to their families. Few work after marriage and all are keen for their children to be educated,” she said. The couple mix freely with the various nationalities in their immediate community and in the surrounding villages. Following their custom to adopt some dishes indigenous to the country in which they are living, Mrs Archer often instructs her Chinese cook to serve , native dish. She finds the Chinese shopkeepers “very helpful” and wants for little. Shopping for clothing, however, is done in Singapore. Hong Kong, or during her visits home to Texas. In spite of the rain, termites, mosquitoes, and small lizards which “bark like dogs,” Mrs Archer has adjusted to life in the tropics. “The hardest part about moving around is leaving the children. My eldest daughter is married now, the youngest is in junior high school, and my son is at college. They have travelled with us a good deal, but now they have to be at home for advanced education," she said. As well as leaving her fam-

ily behind in Texas, Mrs Archer has had to give up her hobby of ceramics. Humidity is so high in Brunel that the work does not last long.