Are We Poor OR Are We Stupid?

It is sad to see and hear about the events happening in Brunei (i.e. the food clamouring and the coupon stampede) that have even result into human tragedy (courtesy to ranoadidas.com for always bringing the important news). It would be normal if it happened in a third world country, but for it to happen in Brunei, an oil-rich country, is quite extraordinary.

The question, as rightly put by Mr. Brunei Resources, is “What Happened to Bruneians?”

Now, there are 2 schools of thoughts. One says that it is simply because we are poorer and the other says we are too materialistic that we don’t even know how to differentiate between what is right and what is wrong i.e we are stupid.

Unfortunately, we can never truly find out until a proper income gap analysis is carried out. It is imperative that we know how many Bruneians are poor, how poor and why they are poor. Without such analysis, then we can never know and we will only end up having the rich blaming the poor (of being immoral and shameless) and the poor blaming the system (of unfairness).

While I do not doubt the existence of those who are genuinely poor, I also believe that the pool of poor people in Brunei is also largely made-up of those self-made poor, who are spending beyond their means. Regardless of how people become poor, we need to address poverty properly. There are 2 critical issues to tackle. One, how do we lift Bruneians off their existing poverty and two, how to keep the zero poverty (if it is ever achieved).

Now, if I were an economic advisor to Brunei, these are what I would suggest:

1. Get our statistics and figure right. We NEED to know our poverty statistics A.S.A.P.
2. If the finding (whether this is made public or otherwise) is that there are indeed a large number of poor people in Brunei, then we really need to review our economy. If people are poor because there is no job, then we need to pump-up the economy. This is THE time to make use of the oil-money.
3. Lifting people off poverty does not simply mean giving them money. We need to be creative in giving them the means to make money. True, this is easier said than done given the unfortunate attitude of some (most?) of Bruneians who more than many times do not see the rationale behind the self-aid help. But with proper monitoring and perhaps some taught management skill, I’m sure there will be some positive results. The key is for the relevant agency to NOT to give-up. Don’t let one bad apple ruins the whole basket.
4. It is time to differentiate the different types of goods available in the market. There are the luxurious and there are the normal ones. The problem in Brunei is that there are too many ‘high standard’ people who will not make do with just the normal goods and then there are also too many of us who always want to keep up with the Joneses. For many of these people, the euphoria of owning the latest mobile set or a branded watch has blinded their rational judgement and has reduced their mathematical ability to calculate their monthly balance to pre-kindy level. Therefore I believe the good old system of tax can somewhat alleviate this problem of euphoria-blindness. We need to tax (highly) the luxurious goods.
5. A credit monitoring system needs to be put in place. I cannot just go to any store and sign any credit agreement without a thorough check of my credit rating.
6. It is time to review the TAP contribution. There is a need to increase the contribution from the employees. We need to make sure Bruneians save for their own future. And of course, since Brunei coffer by now must have filled with a lot of oil money, I would also say that the government needs also to increase its contribution into TAP not only into the account of those in the public sector but also to Bruneians in the private sector. Afterall, the money is saved for the future. This contribution from the government I believe could be the key to reduce the remuneration gap between the public-private sectors. It would help increase the attractiveness of the private sector and would (hopefully) alleviate the problem of lazy Bruneians who would rather be unemployed than do manual job.
7. We need also to look at our system of income re-distribution. How do we re-distribute the income from the rich to the poor. While income tax may not be accepted in the near future, property tax certainly deserves some high level discussion now.
8. I don’t know how good our police force or those in the NCB are in combating drug wars, but I pray with all my heart for them to be really good.
9. Finally, I think too much subsidy make people too lazy.

Salaam.