I found this article from the Wall Street Journal dated some time in 2005 (click HERE). Honestly, I have a lump in my throat reading it but I guess it's reality and reality often bites. It may not be entirely true but to me it just shows how others think of us *sigh*.
So, WHAT shall we do to prove them wrong?
Salaam.
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7 comments:
Most of the articles are totally biased. firstly, the very first line is totally overstated. oil is not king in our country. It may be contributing a "very high source" of income, but certainly it is not 'king'
secondly, it says many ppl live in ramshackle stilt house. I beg to differ!
thirdly, interviews are conducted to young teens who obviously 'lives under their parents arms' and has not really taste true life yet hence opinions from them are somewhat irrelevant to portray the country's image on working. i quote,"jobs are the last thing on minds" which is ridiculously untrue. Education is the very first thing on our young minds. People are racing for who gets the best results nowadays. Statistically more percentages of students are now entering the local and overseas universities. [Education=better job opportunities=job is on youth's mind)
fourthly, i quote (another unreliable opinions to picture the country's view) "they say there will be more oil" however, recent results showed brunei continued to be blessed (thanks to Allah) with more new oil rigs built and in addition, more oil explorations including those in Tutong.
fifthly, recent economic development statistics (correct me if i'm wrong) showed brunei's dependencies on oil reduced from 90% to nearly 70% while the rest comes from foreign investments, retails, etc etc.
sixthly, where does this author get his statistics of more young people spilling out of the local university each year? for all i know, graduated students numbers continued to rise each year and never heard of rising university's dropouts.
seventhly, with regards to the "alcohol" as a strategy to increase tourism is totally pointless. Economists knew introducing alcohol causes other sorts of problems : health issue (more risk of heart and liver failure) hence costs money, social issue (drunk ppl late at night risks security, drunk drivers etc etc), budget issue (need further spending to curb these issues)... etc. Also, there are no statistics that says a consumption in alcohol leads to an increase in % of tourists. You'll never heard of a tourists that says, "oh that country has alcohol, lets visit there and try their alcohol"
eightly, nothing happens with economic diversification? 3 yrs after this article proved it to be untrue. see point #5. with regards to comment from the singaporean i believed, brunei is number 2 behind singapore in terms of its GDP in the region.
finally, i agreed with the jerudong park, thoug lately sum lights displays attract attention, more shud be done there...albeit minus the booze thingy).
p/s: i like your blog coz you offer 'kritikan yg membina' to offer personal insights and views. keep up the positive criticism. i agreed with your recent post... what shud parents do if they are goin juz to pick up from tuition.... etc etc
Hi, I have been following your blog since late last year. I finally just decided to leave you a comment. I was wondering if you could do me/us a favour. I'd like to know your personal insights about the retail banks available here in Brunei.
Which bank do you feel offers the best service here in Brunei? I just started working and have been using the bank (TAIB) that my parents have allocated - which is basically the normal you get the card - passbook, withdraw your money but non-interest being accredited if I'm not mistaken.
I realised, the non-abundance of ATM machines available for TAIB which annoyed me to some extent especially when the nearest TAIB ATM machine has been out of cash. So I started to think about the competition, and did some research of my own by getting the tariff of charges, services offered through each banks' website.
I found out that HSBC and Baiduri Bank have the most ATM machines here in Brunei. But then again when I check the tariffs/service charges for HSBC, it is shockingly steep! Just having an ATM card is BND 20 per year, and if your balance falls below the minimum thats another charge.
Standard Chartered offers considerably less, with BND 12 per year for the ATM card. Baiduri Bank however did not disclose their tariffs/service charges - sometimes it makes me wonder if that is why they have been cited as the "Bank of the Year" by the Banker's magazine. "Bank of the Year" in this context is which Bank gets the most profits in the country - typically from ATM charges, services charges and foreign exchanges transactions - possibly from Investments, I'm not quite sure.
Should I just stick to TAIB Bank, no-frills account with the free ATM card, no penalties whatsoever for having only the minimum balance?
I would be happy to know your views - it could be insightful to read.
I second that. :)
For anonymous #1, I have to disagree on some of the things you wrote. I actually found the WSJ article to be quite informative, and not at all biased (some of the things he wrote were just inaccurate, under-informed, outdated and simply normative, but not biased).
1. Yes, the statement might have been overstated, but IMO, what he meant by 'king' was probably the way in which our country used to be almost-ultimately dependent on the income we obtained from oil. Oil is, afterall, what made Brunei such a rich country in the beginning. Although, it's safe to say that this dependency has decreased over time, but oil still remain as a huge and significant source of income for Brunei, as other industries are still growing.
2. I agree with you.
3. From what I know, no way is education the very first thing on our young minds; only for some, but surely not for all. Plus, how can you say that people (everyone?) are racing to get the best results nowadays? Prove to us how you came to those conclusions. I'm a student (are you one too?), and I can't help but notice how many teenagers from other schools (even from mine) are very complacent about their current state and are just lazy enough to not study, and remain with the worrying mindset that education isn't the most important thing. It might have been so in the case of our parents and grandparents, but teenagers today are just so spoilt! Thank god there are young students who do care about their future!
4. I agree, but maybe, by that time the writer wrote that article, it might not have been so (what you stated).
5. I agree, non-oil sectors in the economy are growing! :D
6. I think, what he meant by "spill out" wasn't "drop out", but in general, students that got out (graduated) from the university(s). I think, his point was that the number of post-graduates continued to increase, but local job opportunities are not growing at the same rate. I'm sure you've read BB articles about UBD post-graduates unable to become employed.
7. Did he actually come to a point that changing the current rules about alcohols in Brunei would be beneficial for the country's well-being?
8. From what I know, the Brunei government has always been tagged as "Becakap pandai, tapi membuat inda" (incase you can't understand that, in English: "Talk big, but act small". However, I'm sure that economic plans for the country take time to be implemented. Although I hope the government would waste less time!
Hmm yeah, probably in terms of GDP, but not in terms of the GDP's growth rate.
9. I agree with you. JP really needs to get spiced up!
Disclaimer Notice: I'm only an A-level student. I might be immature on the things I wrote. And everything that I wrote are based on what I think and from how I perceive Brunei and it's people.
P.s. To Rogue Economist, I'm glad to have found your blog, though I regret not coming across your blog earlier! HAHA.
Love your blog!!! How i wish i found ur blog earlier. hehehe . Must be very helpful for my studies. Now m reading it for the passion of Economics & my beloved country, Brunei Darussalam :)
That was a very good read. While it might offend those who are blinded by misplaced patriotism *cough*anonymouscommentornumber1*cough* , it should be noted that there does not seem to be any malicious intent in the content. Two years on and these criticisms still hold ground.
Ouch! xD But hey, at least he's showing some patriotism and love for our country, though I'd recommend him to be a bit more open-minded about Brunei.
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