Crazy Green Bean Frenzy Grips Brunei
By Dk Suria Rina PHA & Rosli bin Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - Riding on a wave of SARS-related rumours, a 'Green Bean' frenzy seems to have sprouted among certain sections of the community in Brunei, too.

While this rather outlandish quick-fix for the SARS virus was making the rounds in some regional countries, notably Cambodia and Malaysia, the claim hit Brunei's popular SMS networks and phones got jammed.

So much so that Thursday evening the bean formula had become a buzzword in town. Grocery stores were running out of stock of the lowly bean, which earned connoisseur status overnight.

Gullible folk hardly hesitated to spill the beans. They passed on the message as many guzzled down bowls of insipid hot bean soup without let up, sources said.

A young PR executive who did not wish to be named told Weekend that her mother got her to eat her boiled green beans just before the clock struck midnight as an antidote to SARS.

Many others too fell for the rumour. Cambodia reportedly launched an investigation into the rumour saying that only the bean traders and the telephone companies gained from it.

The rumour here also had some weird and incredible connotations. That came in the form of a Kuching-based claim about a newborn child who first gave out the bean remedy.

The alleged miracle is said to have occurred Wednesday night when this newborn was able to talk and advise people to consume boiled green bean water to ward off the SARS virus before midnight on Thursday.

The infant allegedly died soon after. According to observers, a lot gullible and superstitious people who apparently believed this wild rumour began spreading it mainly through SMS and mobile phones.

Many who received this message were, however, sceptical about it. But some reportedly fell victim to it.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin