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‘Architectural Miscarriage’
By Ignatius Stephen

Bandar Seri Begawan - "Hijacked!" The young man who came in was obviously rather upset. He was perspiring from the mid-day sun. Large heads ran down his face. Then he slumped into a comfortable chair and taking out a red handkerchief wiped his neck.

"A cold orange drink, please," he told the waitress.

And as he sipped his glass he did not have to wait for long before his friends came in. He seemed much relieved. He could now give vent to his frustration. He could, at least, tell someone.

The man wore a white short-sleeved shirt with pockets on the upper arm and elsewhere, like those popular with some young architects.

"Hijacked!" he said again unable to suppress his stressful condition as soon as others arrived.

• "What's the matter? Who has been hijacked?" asked a lady next to him. She was very much concerned about his heightened state.

"Yes, yes, who got hijacked, tell us?" asked another older person in some alarm, obviously a senior civil servant.

Others in the group urged him likewise. Who? What and where they wanted to know.

The man looked at his friends. Now he--will tell them. "A whole building!" blurted the unhappy man at last replying to assuage their combined curiosity.

"What? A whole building? How could that happen?" gasped the young woman. Others in the group expressed equal consternation. "It cannot be," said one of them. Others were similarly skeptical.

"Yes," asserted the Iran who was still apparently in the state of minor trauma.

"Which building, if we may ask?" someone then inquired. This man who showed so much emotional shock had just witnessed that noon the unveiling of the splendid Dirgahayu 60 monument on the Bandar Seri Begawan waterfront.

But as he took a look around he was most unpleasantly surprised to discover that most of the monument was hidden from the public view by a most monstrous building, which was in part a former customs go down.

"That is an architectural miscarriage," he remarked when someone told him that the museum had taken it over and pronounced it a historical site. He just could not believe it. He was told that the museum people had moved in great haste and caused the cheaply built ugly structure pronounced a historical heritage.

"You cannot call this historical not by any stretch of imagination. It looks like someone has played a big joke on the town people," said the upset young man.

"But the site has been gazetted. What can anyone do?" remarked the senior civil servant. "Well you can always de-gazette it. It doesn't mean if a mistake has been made we should not correct it," suggested the young lady.

"Yes, but who will do it? Who is powerful enough to undo the mistake?" asked another member of the group.

"I agree that something has to he done otherwise the monument we have put up in honour of our beloved ruler will he blocked from public gaze for most part," said the older man.

"Yes, I am sure we will come to our senses one day soon and bulldoze this unsightly structure down so we may fully enjoy the royal monument and river scene.

"That will really beautify the capital also and help to give it character.

"So don't worry. All will he well. Someone powerful, courageous and enlightened enough will take the decision and remove this eyesore," the lady said in trying to calm the apprehensive young architect as the group rose to go.

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