Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Bandar Seri Begawan – Fireworks is an essential and well anticipated part of Raya festivities. However, as people have the freedom to set off their own explosions in the comfort of their own backyards, some do not get the thrill to play with just the standard firecrackers out of the box.

Buda, as it is known locally, have been on sale at sundry shops, stalls and supermarkets nationwide hut as children become curious, some use their ingenuity to take apart the volatile substances found inside these explosives and create their own mixture, in the hope of enhancing the blast.

These modified explosives can indeed be hazardous, as one family had the unfortunate luck of experiencing the dangers of these sort of fireworks.

Rather than indulging in the norm of visiting open houses of friends and relatives, they had to settle for a trip to the local clinic.

Their second youngest son, Rusyaidi, had grown tired of playing with the standard explosive and began experimenting with explosive substance, said 18-year-old brother Ruzaili.

Ruzaili said that his younger brother compiled the contents of some small fireworks and lit it up. However, the mixture ignited too quickly and he ended up being scaleded.

Ruzaili said that he and his family were tending to guests at their home at the time of the incident and only became aware after his other brother noticed that the young boy's hair appeared differently. Rusyaidi, who was trying to hide his injuries, finally had to explain what had happened.

Ahmad Fazli, 22 admitted that he had the experience in tampering with fireworks when he was younger.

The university student said that he was always fascinated by how altering the composition of the mixture could affect the loudness of the "bang".

"Those tampered explosives (fireworks) were really good... they seemed simple to make and made an unbelievably loud explosion," he said.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, a civil servant, who wished to remain anonymous, reminisced about celebrating Raya back during his younger years when commercial fireworks were much harder to come by.

He said that before, he and his friends made their own explosives using nothing more than bamboo and a few basic ingredients.

Known as the meriam buluh, or bamboo cannon, the home-made firecracker was usually four to five feet in length and had a diameter of around four to six inches.

He said that these days the knowledge of making this sort of traditional firecrackers is well known but remain ambiguous among the younger generation.

"There are still some of us that remember how to make it (meriam buluh), but I think some people might feel it is too dangerous as it is so unpredictable," he said. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times