This article is dedicated to Sofrie@RunSofrieRun who recently tweeted: "Mat Baim will surely be writing something in the Borneo Bulletin if he sees this."

To find myself mentioned on Twitter was a real surprise. Readers would surely want to know how Sofrie@RunSofrieRun and Mat Baim are connected.

I have never thought of acquiring a laptop to write my articles. I use an old computer belonging to my son consisting of all the basic components, a CPU, a screen, a mouse and a keyboard which can be used to type in Arabic. After all, I only want to write an article or two to be sent to the paper for publication. I have never even done the e-mailing. I ask my son to do so on his laptop.

When I was at the Petroleum Unit in the late 90s, there was a PC on my desk. The computer was connected to the BSP network which enabled me to keep in touch with the company via its website and I could also do internal e-mailing to officers in the department. The idea was that decisions could be made through the "square box" without officers having to leave their desks.

I had to learn how to get connected using a computer. But the new technology was not something that I crazed. I never had a liking for sending e-mails as I liken it to talking to a square box. If the e-mail was answered, it would be necessary to reply! The whole process is too impersonal. I prefer meeting officers for discussions and giving instructions personally unless it was a routine matter that could be dealt with via a memo. By meeting the officers I hoped to build a good working relationship with them.

So when I retired, purchasing a laptop was the last thing on my mind. It was only at the insistence of the son who reasoned that a laptop was the best option if I wanted to write. The laptop was purchased around July or August of this year.

I spent many hours learning the controls and whatnot. Out of curiosity, I searched for "Mat Baim" on Google. I was surprised to learn that there is a real person named "Mat Baim" who was the general manager of a company in Indonesia! The search also listed a few entries on my "old" articles relating to the Kiarong Roundabout!

When the article "Slow boat to Halal certification" was published in the Borneo Bulletin Weekend on Sep 24, 2011, I was amazed to discover that more entries were listed under Mat Baim on the Google search, all relating to the article. I discovered that the article was posted on a number of websites, both in and outside the country.

I was also surprised to discover an entry titled "Sofrie (@RunSofrieRun)" on Twitter. I clicked at the title to reveal the entries I mentioned earlier. The "this" referred to by Sofrie @RunSofrieRun was a picture of what I thought was an arrow-shaped placard usually found pasted above a cistern in a toilet. It read:

SILA TEKAN

FLASH SETELAH

MENGGUNAKAN TANDAS

TERIMA KASIH

In English, this literally means:

PLEASE PRESS

FLASH AFTER

USING THE TOILET

THANK YOU

My initial reaction was that Sofrie was relaying a message that my articles were best flushed down the toilet! I really thought so! At least that gave me comfort that he took the time to read my articles!

Writing an article is like sailing into uncharted waters. One never knows what to expect from readers! God has given everyone the capacity to think and give an opinion.

I prefer to write in the first person as it allows me to give authenticity to the story. But some readers may see this style - "I was this and I was that" - as boastful. But what I was in the past is part of my history and I write with no malice.

I am fascinated by mysteries, "who done it" crimes ever since I first read Perry Mason way back in the early 60s. My literature teacher confiscated the book when I was reading it in his class!

It would appear to me that Sofrie had set a challenge for me to see something not so obvious behind the placard.

There are two ways of looking at it. "Flash" is a spelling mistake or "flash" is not a spelling error.

If the word "flash" was really "flush", the label becomes:

SILA TEKAN

FLUSH SETELAH

MENGGUNAKAN TANDAS

TERIMA KASIH

Which would mean:

PLEASE PRESS

FLUSH AFTER

USING THE TOILET

THANK YOU

There are two courses of action arising from the instruction on the label. The first is to press and the second is to flush after doing the pressing! The mystery here is what is to be pressed?

The wording may sound better if rephrased as follows:

SILA TEKAN FLUSH

SETELAH MENGGUNAKAN TANDAS

TERIMA KASIH

That would give the meaning that the user of the toilet is asked to press a "flush" after using the toilet. Here lies the mystery. What is the "flush" that is supposed to be pressed? It would make some sense if at the tip of the arrow there is a word "FLUSH" on top of a knob above the cistern; the idea being to press the knob resulting in water flushing down the toilet. It will make more sense if the word "tekan" or "press" is removed, leaving the wordings of the label as follows:

SILA FLUSH

SETELAH MENGGUNAKAN TANDAS

TERIMA KASIH

Which would mean:

PLEASE FLUSH

AFTER USING THE TOILET

THANK YOU

A logical instruction for the user of the toilet.

Now, what if the word "FLASH" is not a spelling mistake? One can have two interpretations. The first interpretation is that the user is asked to press the flash. But what is a flash? To the locals, a torchlight is sometimes referred to as a flash. In this case, the user is asked to press the torchlight after using the toilet! The question is for what purpose? Is it to signal to other users of the availability of the toilet? Such illogical instruction renders this interpretation unacceptable.

The second interpretation is applicable if the word "tekan" or "press" is deleted and the label becomes:

SILA "FLASH"

SETELAH MENGGUNAKAN TANDAS

TERIMA KASIH

Which would mean:

PLEASE FLASH

AFTER USING THE TOILET

THANK YOU

In this case the user is asked to flash after using the toilet! There are two meanings to the word "flash". The first means "move very quickly". Thus the instruction in this case is asking the user to move very quickly in the toilet room after relieving himself! Or the word "flash" may also be interpreted as that crude act of exposing oneself to another person!

The mind boggles!

Anyway, I wish to thank Sofrie@RunSofrieRun for the brain teaser.