Has anyone in Brunei tried any of these-and succeed? Would love to hear some success stories. Anyway, many of them are pretty do-able..for example no. 4..I would love to get people come in on a regular basis to clean my house (rather than having full-time amahs- who, in our experience, have caused a lot of headaches and heartaches to some) and what about no. 13, I am sure that the hostels at the UBD and/or ITB are not enough to accomodate students who need places to live. And no. 8? Why should it be an Indian to cut-off the grass? Are the Brunei boys too weak to hold and operate the grass-cutters?
If you know any local who is offering services such as house-cleaning, grass-cutting, babysitting, please let me know...I would definitely be engaging them and will put good word of mouth to other friends and families (provided the services are satisfactory!)...Anyway, enjoy the article..you never know, you are on your way to become a self-made towkeh...
By Jennifer Howze
Everybody needs a quick infusion of cash from time to time. These ideas bring in money fast, and many can also be done at flexible times, so it's easier to arrange child care with a friend or family member for free.
1. Have a garage sale. By using a few easy tricks, like posting fliers at grocery stores and Laundromats, making signs that can be seen from nearby busy streets and displaying your items in a department-store style, you can increase the amount your sale brings in.
2. Sell on eBay. Books, CDs, unused sports or exercise equipment, clothing, novelty items -- people buy all kinds of things. Even if you're selling several small items, the money can add up. Just make sure the buyer, not you, pays the cost of shipping.
3. Put clothes on consignment. This is an especially good way to get rid of clothing like fancy dresses (think old prom gowns and cocktail dresses you'll never wear again), but anything in good condition can be put on consignment. You share the money from the sale with the consignment shop, but it's an easy way to squeeze some money out of clothes that would otherwise just take up closet space.
4. Perform household services. You can earn some money informally by letting friends, family, and others in your community know that you're available to clean their houses or apartments, or to take in ironing. If you find you have a knack and stamina for cleaning quickly and thoroughly, you can turn this into a regular, reliable way to earn extra money every month.
5. Have a bake sale. Do you make a killer chocolate chip cookies? Are yummy breakfast burritos your specialty? If so, why not bring in your items once a week to your job and sell them to coworkers and other businesspeople in the vicinity? If you don't have a job, what about a friend's workplace, a community center or a nursing home? Put the word out beforehand and gauge the response as you go, so you don't end up with a lot of leftover food. By talking up your home-baked goodies and arriving at the same time every day or every week, you may find that people start to anticipate your arrival. You can start a cottage industry along the lines of Mary's Monday Cookie Break when you come around to hawk your wares.
6. Sell homegrown fruits and vegetables. You don't have to have a farm to produce delicious, delicious, organic produce. By presenting your goods in an appealing way (save the plastic or cardboard produce containers from the grocery store and tie them with a distinctive ribbon or desktop-printed label), you give them niche appeal, and you can sell them much the same way as baked items, listed above.
7. Have a family car wash. Enlist your spouse, your kids and their friends on a Saturday to hold a car wash. Talk to local merchants who have parking lots and ask them to donate the space, or set up an assembly line on your street. By naming the event ("The Annual Jones Family Car Wash") and highlighting an upbeat family goal ("We use this car wash to pay for the kids' extracurricular school activities"), you give people a reason to join your cause.
8. Do gardening services. Mowing lawns is a perennial summer job for kids. If you have a mower, encourage your children to launch a business -- or do it yourself. In addition, you can also weed or haul gardening rubbish to the dump (often garbage services won't remove it).
9. Provide man-with-van services. Or, in this case, woman with van (or truck). This service is great for people who need to move a single piece of furniture or for young people who don't have a lot of stuff. If you're able to do moves on your own or with a helper like a friend or spouse, you can position yourself as a mother's helper (a woman living alone might feel more comfortable having another woman moving something into or out of her home). If you don't have a lot of physical strength, your husband and a cousin, uncle or son can do the heavy lifting and you can take care of scheduling and follow-up. A small classified ad in the local paper is an economical way to advertise.
10. Get a paper route. While we often think of paper delivery as a job for a boy on a bike, all kinds of people pick up extra cash this way. Because papers are delivered in the morning, it's possible to complete a route before the regular workday starts, or before your kids are up. (Just make sure you catch up on your sleep by going to bed early at night!)
11. Pet sit. Owners are always looking for reliable pet-care services. Plus, if you stay home with your kids during the day, a regular dog-walking gig is a great way to get everyone out of the house for some fresh air and earn extra money. Put the word out at pounds, the ASPCA, the local veterinarian's and dog runs. Be prepared to provide references from anyone you've ever sat for before. Learn how you can also turn pet sitting into a home business.
12. Babysit. To provide regular child care in your home, you'll often need to be accredited and registered with the state. But occasional babysitting in your home or someone else's is more straightforward. You might already babysit for friends for free, but by reaching out in your community you can find parents whom you would feel comfortable charging a reasonable fee. Depending on your schedule, you can position yourself as a last-minute resource, a Saturday sitter while Mom does errands, a date-night sitter and so on.
13. Rent out a room. This option might take longer than some of the others listed here, but it can provide steady income for a set period of time, or even indefinitely. It might require that your kids share a bedroom or that you give up a family room in the house, so everyone in the family should be prepared for the changes. And of course care should be taken to pick carefully to ensure you get a trustworthy boarder. This is an especially good option if you live near a university or technical college. Eighteen- to 22-year-olds will more likely be fine renting a room with kitchen privileges than older people, and you'll be able to rent on a semester basis.
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Thursday, 25 October 2007
How did I get to love Economics?
It was many years ago.... Well, when I was young I used to live abroad and when I came back I went straight to the secondary school, to be precise, I was put in Form 5. You see, while abroad I went to some international schools which did not have the same system that we had in Brunei. As a result the subjects I took were like American History, Drama, French etc. And when I came back, I had to choose subjects which I had zero idea of. These included Economics, Principle of Accounting, Malay and History. It was in May when I resumed my education in Brunei and the 'O' level exams were in November. So imagine how panic I was!*
Anyway, my economics teacher at that time, who was local, I presumed had faith in me (my POA teacher on the other didn't..I remember she told me that I wouldn't get through with just a few months to learn things which were supposed to be learnt in 2 years..Well, Miss..I've proven you wrong!!). Back to this economics teacher (God bless him, Allah Taala saja membalasnya) he was the kind of teacher who was dedicated. Of many teachers, he was the only one who made the effort to give extra classes to his students, free of charge, to prepare for the upcoming O levels. And the way he taught us, his patience in explaining the theory of demand and supply, elasticities etc etc..was superb. And I guess because he was such a likable and friendly teacher, well we could approach him anytime we wanted, he made economics the most understandable subject I've ever learnt (to me that is). And I said to myself, this is it..for better or for worse, economics would become a part of my life..either teaching it or using it or anything to do with it.
I don't know if we still have the kind of teachers like my economics teacher. Even during the time when being a teacher was a profession that someone would chose at her/his own free will, only a few were available. What about now, I wonder, when teaching has become the profession of 'the last resort'? When becoming a teacher is probably no longer the favourite ambition of our children. Will we be able to produce dedicated teachers? Teachers who live to teach, not teach to live.
For those of you who are teachers or who are becoming one, please take pride in what you do. Being a teacher is one of the noblest job. Either directly or indirectly you get to shape-up people's lives and/or help people to determine which path they want to take in life. It is a big responsibility. So if you think teaching is not for you, then don't do it for the sake of just having a job. You might be depriving those who genuinely want to teach hence depriving students from having dedicated and good teachers.
I was extremely lucky to have met my teacher. I'm forever indebted to him. Thank you, Sir!
Anyway, my economics teacher at that time, who was local, I presumed had faith in me (my POA teacher on the other didn't..I remember she told me that I wouldn't get through with just a few months to learn things which were supposed to be learnt in 2 years..Well, Miss..I've proven you wrong!!). Back to this economics teacher (God bless him, Allah Taala saja membalasnya) he was the kind of teacher who was dedicated. Of many teachers, he was the only one who made the effort to give extra classes to his students, free of charge, to prepare for the upcoming O levels. And the way he taught us, his patience in explaining the theory of demand and supply, elasticities etc etc..was superb. And I guess because he was such a likable and friendly teacher, well we could approach him anytime we wanted, he made economics the most understandable subject I've ever learnt (to me that is). And I said to myself, this is it..for better or for worse, economics would become a part of my life..either teaching it or using it or anything to do with it.
I don't know if we still have the kind of teachers like my economics teacher. Even during the time when being a teacher was a profession that someone would chose at her/his own free will, only a few were available. What about now, I wonder, when teaching has become the profession of 'the last resort'? When becoming a teacher is probably no longer the favourite ambition of our children. Will we be able to produce dedicated teachers? Teachers who live to teach, not teach to live.
For those of you who are teachers or who are becoming one, please take pride in what you do. Being a teacher is one of the noblest job. Either directly or indirectly you get to shape-up people's lives and/or help people to determine which path they want to take in life. It is a big responsibility. So if you think teaching is not for you, then don't do it for the sake of just having a job. You might be depriving those who genuinely want to teach hence depriving students from having dedicated and good teachers.
I was extremely lucky to have met my teacher. I'm forever indebted to him. Thank you, Sir!
Salaam.
* I managed to get 7 credits out of 8 subjects. And the 1 I didn't was History (bless the teacher, he was nice too! I could never - and still can't - remember the years and the names or which year goes with what hahaha)
Thursday, 18 October 2007
Top 10 Economics Blog
Top 10 Economics Blogs according to Technorati
1. Freakonomics
2. Marginal Revolution
3. Greg Mankiw's Blog
4. The Big Picture
5. Economist's View
6. The Becker-Posner Blog
7. Brad DeLong
8. EconLog
9. Dani Rodrik
10. The Conscience of a Liberal (Paul Krugman)
Source: www.26econ.com
1. Freakonomics
2. Marginal Revolution
3. Greg Mankiw's Blog
4. The Big Picture
5. Economist's View
6. The Becker-Posner Blog
7. Brad DeLong
8. EconLog
9. Dani Rodrik
10. The Conscience of a Liberal (Paul Krugman)
Source: www.26econ.com
Get Rich Young
I found this article in MSN money which is very interesting...The moral of the article is to get your attitude right, believe in yourself and hey! No Pain No Gain...and let's banish the Brunei-mentality of get-rich-quick-and-businessman-equals-a-Mercedez Benz.
Tips to get rich young
By Emma-Lou Montgomery
October 12 2007
You almost never get rich working for someone else, and to give you a helping hand in starting your own business and making it successful here are five tips from people who made it big before they were 30.
An increasing number of young people are defying the traditional view that you need to spend years learning the ropes before starting your own business. Not only that, but they're also proving themselves to be inspirational entrepreneurs in the process.
"Owning your own business is no longer the preserve of older employees with decades of work experience," pointed out Chris Humphries, director general of City & Guilds.
Young people who have already made their mark are providing the biggest inspiration for the next generation. Nearly half of the young wannabe entrepreneurs said they know someone under the age of 30 who has already gone it alone.
Whether you already have a role model or not, here are some valuable tips and insights about starting up in business from five young, and highly successful, entrepreneurs.
1. Know your target audience
When Richard Reed, co-founder of smoothie and fruit drinks company Innocent, started out he took his former boss' advice to heart and made certain he knew his target audience.
"The only target audience we absolutely knew was our friends and family," Richard said.
"And what we identified was a need for something healthy that we and our friends and family could consume despite the long hours we worked and relatively unhealthy lifestyles we had as a result."
To fill this gap in the market he, along with Adam Balon and Jon Wright, bought £500 worth of fruit and turned it into smoothies. They sold them from a stall at a music festival in London in the summer of 1998 and this was the start of a business which now has a £10 million annual turnover.
But before leaping in, they made sure they were making the right move.
"We put up a big sign saying 'Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?'. And put out a bin saying 'YES' and a bin saying 'NO'. We asked people to put the empty bottle in the right bin. At the end of the weekend the 'YES' bin was full so we went in the next day and resigned," Richard said.
2. Remember there's no such thing as failure
As a schoolboy, Peter Jones dreamed of running a multi-million pound company. Today he is one of the stars of the TV series Dragons Den and in charge of a £200 million empire as owner, chairman and chief executive of various businesses ranging from telecoms and leisure to publishing and media.
He's had plenty of ups and downs on his way to the top, but Peter says the key to success is to refuse to acknowledge the existence of the word "failure".
"I believe that there are no failures in this world - only events that give you feedback," Peter said.
And his long line of achievements, starting when he set up a tennis academy at a local club aged just 16, are testimony to that.
By the age of 28, as the youngest-ever head of PC business at computer firm Siemens Nixdorf, he was off again. This time with Phones International Group, his telecoms business that now counts every leading brand in the mobile industry among its business partners, whether as a supplier, customer or collaborator.
You could say he wouldn't know the meaning of the word failure, having been recognised as the 13th fastest growing business within the Sunday Times/Virgin Atlantic UK Fast Track League Table. Peter was named as Emerging Entrepreneur of The Year by The Times/Ernst & Young and came 14th in the Daily Telegraph's young entrepreneurs list in 2005.
3. Have a 'can-do' attitude
When Michelle Mone was just 10 years old, she was already thinking big. Having decided she wanted to become an entrepreneur, she recruited 12 friends and started a company delivering hot rolls with peoples' morning newspaper. The woman who left school at 15 with no qualifications has since been named not only "Businesswoman of the Year", but also "World Young Business Achiever", following the phenomenal worldwide success of her company Ultimo Bras.
Michelle said: "The most important thing, in my opinion, is that can-do attitude. The can-do attitude and have-a-go mentality I believe is what breeds success."
4. You can reinvent the wheel
Fraser Doherty was 14 when he started making jam and selling it locally. Now he runs Doherty's Preserves, a luxury jam company that sells its produce all over the world. He's proof that sometimes the best business ideas are simply improving what we've got.
"I started mine in an afternoon with a dozen oranges and a bag of sugar," he said.
"Since I was about eight I had lots of little projects on the go, trying different ways of making pocket money. The catalyst came when my gran taught me her top secret jam recipe and I had something of a 'eureka' moment. I realised I could make jam myself and sell it door to door in the local area."
5. Give it a go
Simon Woodroffe, founder of conveyor-belt sushi bar Yo Sushi, says the key to success is just to do it.
He said: "Ban your brain from thinking about whether the idea will work and whether you should do it. Most budding entrepreneurs stall at the starting line, thinking 'Shall I? Shan't I?'
"Instead, put in the work of developing and researching the project, knowing that you will not make the decision to proceed until you have more information and awareness."
With those tips for success up your sleeve, the desire and ambition to succeed, and the dedication and drive to meet your goals, there should be no stopping you. Whatever you want to be. Whatever you want to do. Just do it.
Salaam.
Tips to get rich young
By Emma-Lou Montgomery
October 12 2007
You almost never get rich working for someone else, and to give you a helping hand in starting your own business and making it successful here are five tips from people who made it big before they were 30.
An increasing number of young people are defying the traditional view that you need to spend years learning the ropes before starting your own business. Not only that, but they're also proving themselves to be inspirational entrepreneurs in the process.
"Owning your own business is no longer the preserve of older employees with decades of work experience," pointed out Chris Humphries, director general of City & Guilds.
Young people who have already made their mark are providing the biggest inspiration for the next generation. Nearly half of the young wannabe entrepreneurs said they know someone under the age of 30 who has already gone it alone.
Whether you already have a role model or not, here are some valuable tips and insights about starting up in business from five young, and highly successful, entrepreneurs.
1. Know your target audience
When Richard Reed, co-founder of smoothie and fruit drinks company Innocent, started out he took his former boss' advice to heart and made certain he knew his target audience.
"The only target audience we absolutely knew was our friends and family," Richard said.
"And what we identified was a need for something healthy that we and our friends and family could consume despite the long hours we worked and relatively unhealthy lifestyles we had as a result."
To fill this gap in the market he, along with Adam Balon and Jon Wright, bought £500 worth of fruit and turned it into smoothies. They sold them from a stall at a music festival in London in the summer of 1998 and this was the start of a business which now has a £10 million annual turnover.
But before leaping in, they made sure they were making the right move.
"We put up a big sign saying 'Do you think we should give up our jobs to make these smoothies?'. And put out a bin saying 'YES' and a bin saying 'NO'. We asked people to put the empty bottle in the right bin. At the end of the weekend the 'YES' bin was full so we went in the next day and resigned," Richard said.
2. Remember there's no such thing as failure
As a schoolboy, Peter Jones dreamed of running a multi-million pound company. Today he is one of the stars of the TV series Dragons Den and in charge of a £200 million empire as owner, chairman and chief executive of various businesses ranging from telecoms and leisure to publishing and media.
He's had plenty of ups and downs on his way to the top, but Peter says the key to success is to refuse to acknowledge the existence of the word "failure".
"I believe that there are no failures in this world - only events that give you feedback," Peter said.
And his long line of achievements, starting when he set up a tennis academy at a local club aged just 16, are testimony to that.
By the age of 28, as the youngest-ever head of PC business at computer firm Siemens Nixdorf, he was off again. This time with Phones International Group, his telecoms business that now counts every leading brand in the mobile industry among its business partners, whether as a supplier, customer or collaborator.
You could say he wouldn't know the meaning of the word failure, having been recognised as the 13th fastest growing business within the Sunday Times/Virgin Atlantic UK Fast Track League Table. Peter was named as Emerging Entrepreneur of The Year by The Times/Ernst & Young and came 14th in the Daily Telegraph's young entrepreneurs list in 2005.
3. Have a 'can-do' attitude
When Michelle Mone was just 10 years old, she was already thinking big. Having decided she wanted to become an entrepreneur, she recruited 12 friends and started a company delivering hot rolls with peoples' morning newspaper. The woman who left school at 15 with no qualifications has since been named not only "Businesswoman of the Year", but also "World Young Business Achiever", following the phenomenal worldwide success of her company Ultimo Bras.
Michelle said: "The most important thing, in my opinion, is that can-do attitude. The can-do attitude and have-a-go mentality I believe is what breeds success."
4. You can reinvent the wheel
Fraser Doherty was 14 when he started making jam and selling it locally. Now he runs Doherty's Preserves, a luxury jam company that sells its produce all over the world. He's proof that sometimes the best business ideas are simply improving what we've got.
"I started mine in an afternoon with a dozen oranges and a bag of sugar," he said.
"Since I was about eight I had lots of little projects on the go, trying different ways of making pocket money. The catalyst came when my gran taught me her top secret jam recipe and I had something of a 'eureka' moment. I realised I could make jam myself and sell it door to door in the local area."
5. Give it a go
Simon Woodroffe, founder of conveyor-belt sushi bar Yo Sushi, says the key to success is just to do it.
He said: "Ban your brain from thinking about whether the idea will work and whether you should do it. Most budding entrepreneurs stall at the starting line, thinking 'Shall I? Shan't I?'
"Instead, put in the work of developing and researching the project, knowing that you will not make the decision to proceed until you have more information and awareness."
With those tips for success up your sleeve, the desire and ambition to succeed, and the dedication and drive to meet your goals, there should be no stopping you. Whatever you want to be. Whatever you want to do. Just do it.
Salaam.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
The Economics Behind the Fuel Limit
At first I thought I wouldn't write anything until after Raya. However, I'm quite surprised by the bold measure taken by the government regarding the limit to the amount of fuel a foreigner can buy (see Brudirect).
Basically the government is giving a ration to foreigners. The effect of a ration is equivalent to the effect of reducing the price, however with the objective of restricting demand. So, for those of you who are familiar with the Demand and Supply curves, when the price is set below the equilibrium price, there will be an excess demand i.e. the quantity demanded will be greater than the quantity supplied.
The reason why the government is doing this is simply because the government has incurred (I presume) a large amount of losses. In case, many of you do not know, the fuel prices in Brunei are probably among the cheapest in the world. Also, year in year out, the prices you pay stay the same. (For example, here in the UK, the fuel prices are about 95pence p/litre for petrol and 97 pence p/litre for diesel, that's like $3.00 per litre! and the prices we pay vary each day). Why? Well, it is not because we are producing oil (those are crude oil and they aren't the fuel!), it's mainly because the government has subsidized the prices we pay. How much? I don't know, but I believe it's LOTS. Even if the amount of the subsidy is not much (highly unlikely), the government has also made losses in terms of the potential income it can get from selling the fuel, through the various taxes it can impose. (About 70% of the fuel price we pay in the UK are taxes).
Therefore, it is not really fair for the Brunei government to also subsidize the foreigners, many of whom unfortunately have abused our kind system (For e.g. having hidden tanks in their cars for the sole purpose of re-selling the fuel back in their home countries at higher prices - I think the fuel price in Malaysia is fixed at about RM1.90 per litre s so any price below this would be good enough). I don't also buy their excuse that the limited fuel is not enough for them to travel back and forth. Hey! Don't they have have fuel stations across the borders?
The downside of this policy however (as is always the case when there is excess demand) is the emerging of a black market. This time, I'm afraid it will be our own Bruneians who will be abusing the system, taking the advantage of selling fuel at higher price to foreigners. I hope, there is a readily preventive policy and its implementation for such occurrence. If however that happens, I will be more ashamed to call them our Bruneians.
Once again, we all should be grateful with what our government has provided us. Don't abuse this generosity. It may not last forever.
Salaam.
PS. We might also see a reduction in the number of 'tourists' coming to Brunei. This perhaps will give the true number of genuine tourists. And I would also love to hear other views especially those against this policy.
Basically the government is giving a ration to foreigners. The effect of a ration is equivalent to the effect of reducing the price, however with the objective of restricting demand. So, for those of you who are familiar with the Demand and Supply curves, when the price is set below the equilibrium price, there will be an excess demand i.e. the quantity demanded will be greater than the quantity supplied.
The reason why the government is doing this is simply because the government has incurred (I presume) a large amount of losses. In case, many of you do not know, the fuel prices in Brunei are probably among the cheapest in the world. Also, year in year out, the prices you pay stay the same. (For example, here in the UK, the fuel prices are about 95pence p/litre for petrol and 97 pence p/litre for diesel, that's like $3.00 per litre! and the prices we pay vary each day). Why? Well, it is not because we are producing oil (those are crude oil and they aren't the fuel!), it's mainly because the government has subsidized the prices we pay. How much? I don't know, but I believe it's LOTS. Even if the amount of the subsidy is not much (highly unlikely), the government has also made losses in terms of the potential income it can get from selling the fuel, through the various taxes it can impose. (About 70% of the fuel price we pay in the UK are taxes).
Therefore, it is not really fair for the Brunei government to also subsidize the foreigners, many of whom unfortunately have abused our kind system (For e.g. having hidden tanks in their cars for the sole purpose of re-selling the fuel back in their home countries at higher prices - I think the fuel price in Malaysia is fixed at about RM1.90 per litre s so any price below this would be good enough). I don't also buy their excuse that the limited fuel is not enough for them to travel back and forth. Hey! Don't they have have fuel stations across the borders?
The downside of this policy however (as is always the case when there is excess demand) is the emerging of a black market. This time, I'm afraid it will be our own Bruneians who will be abusing the system, taking the advantage of selling fuel at higher price to foreigners. I hope, there is a readily preventive policy and its implementation for such occurrence. If however that happens, I will be more ashamed to call them our Bruneians.
Once again, we all should be grateful with what our government has provided us. Don't abuse this generosity. It may not last forever.
Salaam.
PS. We might also see a reduction in the number of 'tourists' coming to Brunei. This perhaps will give the true number of genuine tourists. And I would also love to hear other views especially those against this policy.
Monday, 8 October 2007
Are We A Responsible Nation?
It saddens me to think that we Bruneians are NOT the most responsible and (probably trustworthy) people in the world. Why do I think that? Well, in Brudirect recently (am not sure if it’s also featured in the RTB news) there was a story regarding a lady who badly needed a house but couldn’t afford to build one and all the while did not have any electricity. However, due to the generousity of an unnamed donor, Insya Allah, the lady would eventually be celebrating her Raya in a proper house.
First of all, I am quite shocked that there are people who actually do not have any access to electricity, in such a rich nation and in this 21st century! Apparently, according to my husband, who has done a lot of remote places visitings, this is not an isolated case. Well, his explanation was that because the houses are not properly built (without the authority approvals), their applications to get electricity are turned down. However, I said the only way for these people to get approvals for their houses, would be through architects, which would be costly. And since they are poor, how on earth would they get the additional money to pay for such service? (something to ponder about).
Then our discussion (during sahur) moves towards the now-discontinued Perumahan Rakyat Jati Scheme (not sure if that’s the real scheme name), you know those wooden brown houses which were given (FOC) to those of low income earners. Why was it discontinued? Well, I believe it’s all related to the selfishness of those who are given houses in the Perumahan Scheme. I remember, I once spoke to an officer from the Housing Department, who told me the dilemma they were facing regarding the Perumahan Scheme. The percentage of people who were paying was very low (and I think still is!) So, this could be the main reason why the former scheme is discontinued.
Well, in case you don’t understand how the two are related, you see, I believe the payment received from the Perumahan scheme, partly will be used to finance the PRJ scheme. If there’s no payment, then there wouldn’t be any money to build the latter. I maybe wrong, but if this is true, then sadly, because of the selfishness and irresponsibility of those in the Perumahan Scheme, people who are in real need (and genuinely cannot afford) of a proper roof, suffer.
I don’t know about you, but we should be grateful with all the facilities the government has provided us. But unfortunately for some people, it is never enough. I’m ashamed with the attitudes of many of us towards work, towards the community and sometimes towards each other; which I sum up as plain irresponsible and selfish. Often you hear people complain about everything! The salary is not enough (despite the recent salary increase and the fact that they are fortunate enough to have a secured job!); it is unfair to stop people from having tea-breaks (reason being some government departments have no canteens! And they probably would die of hunger despite their current physical and health states, which are often obese and diabetic); there is no job (although there are thousands of foreign workers doing hundreds of jobs which could also be done by Bruneians); and etc etc.
These are all examples of irresponsible people. Why the salary is never enough? Because they have just bought bigger cars or buy top-of the range furniture with the ‘Buy now Pay later’ scheme, and as a result they can’t even provide the basic necessities for their family and children. Why is there no job? Well it is the ‘government’ job that is not available and for some reason many Bruneians (and sadly the younger ones) seem to think that it is their God-given right to a government job! As a result, they are putting financial pressure to their families (especially their parents) or even worse, these unemployeds couldn’t even bothered to take the responsibility of having protected sex, which results in many out-of-wed babies, which in the end burden other members of their families (often parents/grandparents). And don't let me even start with those who just love to spend most of their time eating and drinking while at work!
As human beings, we all have responsibilities. And it is through our actions that our responsibilities are carried out. Often we don’t see how our actions will affect others. Unfortunately, many times they do. And that is precisely why we should think twice before we do anything.
Selamat Hari Raya.
Salaam.
First of all, I am quite shocked that there are people who actually do not have any access to electricity, in such a rich nation and in this 21st century! Apparently, according to my husband, who has done a lot of remote places visitings, this is not an isolated case. Well, his explanation was that because the houses are not properly built (without the authority approvals), their applications to get electricity are turned down. However, I said the only way for these people to get approvals for their houses, would be through architects, which would be costly. And since they are poor, how on earth would they get the additional money to pay for such service? (something to ponder about).
Then our discussion (during sahur) moves towards the now-discontinued Perumahan Rakyat Jati Scheme (not sure if that’s the real scheme name), you know those wooden brown houses which were given (FOC) to those of low income earners. Why was it discontinued? Well, I believe it’s all related to the selfishness of those who are given houses in the Perumahan Scheme. I remember, I once spoke to an officer from the Housing Department, who told me the dilemma they were facing regarding the Perumahan Scheme. The percentage of people who were paying was very low (and I think still is!) So, this could be the main reason why the former scheme is discontinued.
Well, in case you don’t understand how the two are related, you see, I believe the payment received from the Perumahan scheme, partly will be used to finance the PRJ scheme. If there’s no payment, then there wouldn’t be any money to build the latter. I maybe wrong, but if this is true, then sadly, because of the selfishness and irresponsibility of those in the Perumahan Scheme, people who are in real need (and genuinely cannot afford) of a proper roof, suffer.
I don’t know about you, but we should be grateful with all the facilities the government has provided us. But unfortunately for some people, it is never enough. I’m ashamed with the attitudes of many of us towards work, towards the community and sometimes towards each other; which I sum up as plain irresponsible and selfish. Often you hear people complain about everything! The salary is not enough (despite the recent salary increase and the fact that they are fortunate enough to have a secured job!); it is unfair to stop people from having tea-breaks (reason being some government departments have no canteens! And they probably would die of hunger despite their current physical and health states, which are often obese and diabetic); there is no job (although there are thousands of foreign workers doing hundreds of jobs which could also be done by Bruneians); and etc etc.
These are all examples of irresponsible people. Why the salary is never enough? Because they have just bought bigger cars or buy top-of the range furniture with the ‘Buy now Pay later’ scheme, and as a result they can’t even provide the basic necessities for their family and children. Why is there no job? Well it is the ‘government’ job that is not available and for some reason many Bruneians (and sadly the younger ones) seem to think that it is their God-given right to a government job! As a result, they are putting financial pressure to their families (especially their parents) or even worse, these unemployeds couldn’t even bothered to take the responsibility of having protected sex, which results in many out-of-wed babies, which in the end burden other members of their families (often parents/grandparents). And don't let me even start with those who just love to spend most of their time eating and drinking while at work!
As human beings, we all have responsibilities. And it is through our actions that our responsibilities are carried out. Often we don’t see how our actions will affect others. Unfortunately, many times they do. And that is precisely why we should think twice before we do anything.
Selamat Hari Raya.
Salaam.
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