Permasalahan belia semakin meruncing

Oleh: Abu Bakar Haji Abdul Rahman

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Khamis, 27 Disember. - Timbalan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (JPM), Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Awang Haji Abdul Wahab bin Juned berkata jenayah yang melibatkan harta benda yang paling tinggi di negara ini ialah curi dan melibatkan belia-belia yang berumur 35 tahun ke bawah selain terdapatnya kes-kes curi yang dilakukan oleh belia-belia yang berumur 17 tahun ke bawah.

Selain dari itu, kes belia-belia yang menyalahgunakan dadah katanya juga meningkat.

Yang Mulia Dato Paduka Awang Haji Abdul Wahab menyatakan perkara tersebut semasa menyoroti antara kenyataan dan statistik permasalahan belia di negara ini pada Majlis Penutup Program Perkhemahan Belia Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB) di Masjid Ash-Shaliheen, Kompleks Bangunan JPM, di sini.

"Dari tangkapan disebabkan kegiatan penyalahgunaan dadah dalam tempoh tiga tahun antara 2009 hingga 2011, dari kira-kira 1,600 tangkapan sebanyak 51 peratus melibatkan belia-belia yang berumur di antara 16 hingga 30 tahun dan ini tidak termasuk hampir dua peratus terdiri dari kalangan penuntut di samping ada yang berumur 15 tahun ke bawah," tambahnya.

Secara amnya, tangkapan yang berkaitan dengan penyalahgunaan dadah ini jelas Yang Mulia Dato melibatkan 86 peratus lelaki, 82 peratus terdiri dari rakyat, 84 peratus ialah orang orang melayu, 50 peratus terdiri dari mereka yang tidak mempunyai pekerjaan, 48 peratus yang masih bujang dan 39 peratus yang sudah berumahtangga.

Dalam pada itu, kes penyalahgunaan dadah ini tambahnya, juga adalah di antara tiga kesalahan tata-tertib yang tertinggi di dalam perkhidmatan awam di samping kesalahan tidak hadir bekerja dan penyalahgunaan kuasa.

Di majlis tersebut, Yang Mulia juga menyentuh mengenai kemalangan jalan raya yang melibatkan kecederaan ringan di dalam tempoh lima tahun mulai 2008 hinga 2012 di mana lebih 50 peratus kemalangan tersebut melibatkan pemandu-pemandu yang berumur 28 tahun ke bawah selain sembilan peratus dari bilangan ini adalah yang di bawah umur termasuk 89 pemandu yang terlalu muda untuk memandu.

Kadar ini tegasnya, adalah hampir sama bagi kemalangan jalan raya yang melibatkan kecederaan yang parah di mana 50 peratus daripada pemandu yang terlibat di dalam kemalangan ini adalah berumur 28 tahun ke bawah dengan sebelas peratus darinya terdiri daripada pemandu yang di bawah umur 17 tahun ke bawah.

"Dalam tempoh empat tahun kebelakangan dari 2009 hingga 2012, 68 pemandu kereta terbunuh di dalam kemalangan jalan raya dalam mana 66 peratus daripada mereka ini berumur 38 tahun ke bawah," ujar Timbalan Menteri di JPM.

Menyentuh tengang isu perceraian, Yang Mulia menerangkan bahawa dalam tempoh tiga tahun kebelakangan mulai 2009 hingga 2011, dari 123 perceraian sebanyak 63 peratus melibatkan mereka yang berumur antara 18 hingga 35 tahun.

Dalam tempoh yang sama jelas Yang Mulia, dari 154 kes persetubuhan haram 77 peratus melibatkan mereka yang berumur di antara 18 hingga 35 tahun dan ini tidak termasuk kira-kira empat peratus mereka yang di bawah umur 18 tahun.

Bilangan gadis-gadis remaja yang mengandung dan belum berkahwin adalah meningkat.

Yang Mulia juga menerangkan bahawa kajian kesihatan menunjukkan bahawa 17 peratus penuntut-penuntut sekolah merokok dengan 15 peratus daripada penduduk yang berumur di antara 15 tahun dan 24 tahun adalah merokok.

Dalam isu permasalahan berat badan, Yang Mulia juga menyatakan bahawa kajian kesihatan menunjukkan bahawa 8.8 peratus kanak-kanak di bawah umur lima tahun mempunyai berat badan berlebihan sementara orang dewasa sebanyak 27 peratus lebih jauh dari kadar global iaitu 12 peratus.

Melihat kepada kenyataan permasalahan belia di negara ini tegas Timbalan Menteri di JPM ternyata permasalahan belia kian meruncing dan 'trend' dan 'pattern'nya hampir serupa di mana-mana.

Dipetik dari - Pelita Brunei

Family Of Five In Need Of New Home

The Family Is Still Awaiting A Response From Government Agencies Who Paid Them A Visit In 2011

Bandar Seri Begawan - A local family of five is currently awaiting a decision on possible relocation away from their dilapidated residence - a wooden stilt house in Kampung Sungai Bakong Lumut - which is no longer safe for habitation. The condition of the house continues to deteriorate day by day due to wear and tear and a termite infestation.

The house was constructed by the siblings of Md Salleh bin Sulaiman in the 1970s and was given to him as most of his siblings had their own homes with their respective families. Md Salleh, 46, is a freelance fisherman and earns a monthly income of between B$300 and $400 from selling his catch at a business stand at Simpang Pantai Lumut.

Md Salleh's family is comprised of his wife Roslina Abdullah - a teaching assistant at International School Brunei - and three of their children who are between the ages of 18 and 24 years.

Two of the children are employed while the youngest is awaiting the release of the '0' Level examination results.

Md Salleh was a recipient of 'Zakat Fakir Miskin' in 2008, which entitled him to around B$300 per month. But he said the money stopped coming in 2009.

"We would not ask for more than just a house. Not a big one, but a house that can fit my family comfortably, which is safe to live in," said Roslina, who has been living in the dilapidated house since she married Md Salleh some 27 years ago.

The family has claimed that an application for housing assistance was sent via the Penghulu of Mukim Liang sometime in 2011 and that after several months, government officials from various agencies paid them a visit to assess the family's eligibility for government assistance.

During the visit, Md Salleh was told that since the house ownership was still under his mother's name and not his own, he was advised to register it under his name so that the application process would become easier.

Md Salleh obliged and has since had the house ownership officially transferred under his name.

However, the family has still yet to receive any feedback from the relevant agencies regarding their application.

The family is becoming increasingly concerned as the wooden flooring of the entire house is rotten and brittle, and there are large gaps in the living room and the kitchen. After years of living in such conditions, Md Salleh and his family wish to relocate to a safer home. ~ Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Dipetik dari - BruDirect.com

Letter from America: The Rohingya Question – Part 3

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

The Burmese history is replete with accusations against the British government of following a policy of divide and rule; deliberately separating the hilly people from the Burmans/Burmese.

According to historian Maung Aung, this policy had the full support of the Christian missions, who wanted to convert the hilly people to Christianity. The British government also kept the racial groups further apart by denying military training to the Burmans and Shans, and giving that privilege to Chins, Kachins and Karens.

The latter fought alongside the British and Indian forces – drawn mostly from the Gurkha (Nepalese) and Sikh population - in campaign against the guerillas. The Burmese also hated that in the Anglo-Burmese wars, the Indian troops had fought side by side with the British in their regiments.

Anti-Indian Riots in British Burma

The race relationship inside Burma worsened after the First World War, especially, after the Great Depression which made most cultivators poor and broke. With the general peasantry feeling victimized by the Chettiars, with nationalist sentiments running high amongst students of the newly created Rangoon University and with the Buddhist monks agitating the population against the non-Buddhists who had settled in Burma – permanently or temporarily - it was a question of time when the mass anger would be directed against not only the Chettiars but also against anyone who looked different than a Burman.

A broad rebellion of Burman peasants led by U Saya San, a disrobed monk and mystic pretending to be the heir to the Burmese monarchy (minlaung), shook the province of Burma in 1930-32. The rebellion handled by Indian, Karen, Chin and Kachin police forces, working for the government, left between 1,700 and 3,000 dead after 18 months of unrest.

A night-long riot on May 26, 1930 stirred up by ethnic Burmans in Rangoon’s Indian quarters left hundreds of people of Indian origin dead as well as nearly 2000 injured. The problem started in the port of Rangoon where a British firm had laid off hundreds of Indian dock workers who had went on strike demanding higher pay. The British firm irresponsibly hired temporary Burmese workers to fill in those positions who were let go when the Indian coolies or dockworkers gave in and ended their strike. Next morning when the Burmese workers came and reported for work they were told by the British firm that their service was no longer needed. Some Burmese workers were angry and started attacking Indians who retaliated.

It grew rapidly into an anti-Indian (including anti-Muslim) riot. Even within the first half-hour at least two hundred Indians were massacred and flung into the river. Authorities ordered the police to fire upon any assembly of five or more who refused to lay down their arms, under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Within two days, the riot spread all over Burma from Rangoon to surrounding towns, and especially to the Hanthawaddy district towns of Kayan, Thongwa and Kyauktan, where a concentration of Indian landowners and tenants had gained footholds among the predominantly Burmese lands.

Anti-Chinese riots led by Burmese mobs erupted in Rangoon’s Chinatown (near the Indian town) in January of 1931 in which 12 Chinese died and 88 were wounded. The rioting spread to parts of Toungoo, Pegu and Hanthawaddy districts. As to the reason behind the riot, Robert Taylor notes, “Though the Chinese population of Burma was then relatively small, and relations between Chinese and Burmese had never suffered from the cultural and economic strains that affected Burmese-Indian relations, the indigenous population felt a mounting hostility toward any group which seemed to be prospering during the current conditions.”

Following the 1935 Government of India Act’s reforms, the British granted Burma a larger autonomous status with the Government of Burma Act.

However, with very few educated Burmese available to do the necessary tasks, most of the government affairs continued to be run by the Indian subjects. This attitude of the British government was resented by most Burmese who started the ‘Burma for Burmese only’ Campaign. The Burmese mob marched to the Muslim (Surti) Bazaar. While the Indian Police broke the violent demonstration, three monks were hurt. Burmese newspapers uses the pictures of Indian police attacking the Buddhist monks to further incite the spread of riots. Muslim properties: shops, houses and mosques were looted, destroyed and burned. They also assaulted and killed Muslims. It spread all over Burma and a recorded 113 mosques were damaged. The Burmese also resented the fact that all the anti-government and race riots were quelled by Indian (and Karen, Chin and Kachin) troops and police forces.

New waves of anti-Indian violence (more specifically anti-Muslim) were stirred up in July-August 1938 by the Burman population in the country’s major cities while general strikes (workers, civil servants and students) paralyzed the economy of the province. Riots began on July 26 in the capital of Rangoon and spread to almost all of southern and central Burma, including Mandalay. The rioting lasted for a month, officially causing the death of 204 people and leaving 1,000 injured. Buddhist monks took a leading role in organizing these riots. On September 2, 1938 another outbreak of anti-Indian rioting occurred in Rangoon. Although somewhat less severe and restricted to Rangoon only, the disturbance lasted for six days.

On September 22, 1938, the British Governor set up an inquiry committee to investigate the reasons behind the riots. The Riot Inquiry Committee found out that the real cause was the discontent in the Ba Maw government regarding the deterioration in sociopolitical and economic conditions of Burmans. In these riots, as noted by historian Moshe Yegar, the real agenda was aimed at British government but the Burmese dared not show this openly. Growing Nationalistic sentiments were fanned by the local media and disguised as anti-Muslim to avoid early detection and notice.

In March 1939 there were serious communal and agrarian troubles in Shwebo and Myaungmya. Later in the same month additional Military Police units had to be sent to Myaungmya because of Burmese attacks on Indians. Military Police units were also sent to patrol Shwebo and parts of Katha in the north because of attacks by Burmese on Muslim and Zerbadi (Indo-Burmese Muslim) villages. The troubles spread to Tharrawaddy district as well. According to an intelligence report, cited by Taylor in ‘The State in Burma’: “In fact, my firm conviction is that the basis of half of the Tharrawaddy trouble consists in the exorbitant rents charged by the Chettyars and moneylenders. This rent will have to come down if we are going to expect even comparative peace here. In fact these Chettyars who live safely in Rangoon and come to the district only to screw the last basket of paddy out of the tenants are the direct cause of crime and should be made to pay for the results.”

By April, 1939, riots had spread to Bassein, Pyapon, Pegu, Lower Chindwin, Shwebo and Myaungmya. The Burmese rioters followed a rick and hut burning campaign in an effort to drive off Indian tenants. The burning of hayricks and field huts continued mostly in Pegu and Irrawaddy divisions. Communal riots continued throughout June, July and August.

The Baxter Report

A commission of inquiry, formed in 1939 by the Governor of Burma, examined the question of Indian immigration into Burma. It was prompted by communal disturbances during the previous year due to “the existence of a serious misapprehension in the minds of many Burmans that Indian immigration was largely responsible for unemployment or under-employment among the indigenous population of Burma” (Joint Indo-Burmese Statement). The Commission was headed by James Baxter, Financial Secretary, Tin Tut, Barrister-at-Law and the first Burmese member of the prestigious Indian Civil Service, and Ratilal Desai MA.

The Report of the Commission, more commonly known as the Baxter Report, was completed in October 1940 and was published in Rangoon in 1941 by the Government Printing and Stationery Office. The Report made recommendations which were generally accepted by the Governments of Burma and India. The Agreement provided that the existing Immigration Order of 1937 would continue at least until 1 October 1945, while Indian immigration into Burma would be subject to the new rules contained in the Agreement with effect from 1 October 1941.

Since the Baxter Report is often cited by anti-Rohingya propagandists, including Myanmar and Rakhine government officials, to claim that the Rohingyas are a product of the British-era influx, it is important to analyze this report in great length to understand the so-called immigration of the Indians, in general, and the Bengalis and Chittagonians, in particular.

Contrary to popular myths today, the so-called Baxter Report, however, found: “Unlike immigrants in general in other parts of Burma who commonly spend periods of three years or thereabouts in the country without returning home, the bulk of the Chittagonian immigrants in Arakan who come to reap the paddy crop go back to Chittagong when the harvesting operations are over. The nearness of their homes and the small amount of money required for the journey make this possible.”

The report also makes it clear that except in 1872 when the census was taken in August 15, in other years – 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1931 - the censuses were taken on a single date, which ranged from February 17th to March 18th, that is when paddy reaping season was nearing its end or had definitely ended and that outbound passenger traffic to Indian ports outnumbered those incoming passengers.

As noted by Michael Charney in his doctoral dissertation, it is unclear who the census takers were in 1872, and there is strong possibility that the census on Muslims was incorrect. It is worth noting here that for the Muslim population to become 58,255 in 1871 from 30,000 in 1826 it would have required a growth rate of only 1.48%, which is well below the norm, suggesting that many Muslims probably were not counted in that census.

As to the census between 1921 and 1931, the report says, “A difference in census dates such as that between the 1921 census (March 18th) and the 1931 census (February 24th) may therefore appreciably influence the record size of the Indian population and its occupational distribution. The numerical effect would be greatest in Akyab District where the large number of Chittagonians who come annually to reap the rice crop would to a considerable extent have gone home by February 17th but to a still great extent by March 18th. In Lower Burma the effect on total numbers would be less marked but the degree to which the Indian population is engaged in agriculture or employed in other occupations would be sensibly different on February 24th than on March 18th.”

As a newer territory under the British Raj, it is not difficult to understand such seasonal migration patterns of skilled laborers to Burma to make up for the internal demand. In the same colonial period, there were also many Burmese and other nationalities who migrated to Bengal and other parts of India. For instance, Calcutta was a favorable destination for many of these Burmese. Very rarely did any of these migrants permanently settle in territories away from their place of birth or rearing.

Consequently, the report says in Section 5, pages 3 and 4, “It is not known what proportion of Indians born outside Burma had settled down in Burma and regarded it as their permanent residence. The attempt made to distinguish between Indians permanently resident and Indians temporarily resident in Burma failed because of suspicion in the minds of many Indians regarding the motive behind the inquiry.

Some part of the “born out” Indian population in Burma will of course have been long resident in the country and have adopted it as their home. But how large or how small this part may be, there is no means of ascertaining. When a special industrial census was taken in 1921 of labourers employed in a number of the principal industries such as rubber, minerals, wood, metals, rice, oil-refining and the construction of means of transport, it was found that out of a total of 62,498 male Indian labourers born outside Burma and engaged in these industries, only 2,598 reported that they intended to reside permanently in the country.

Whether the same proportion would hold good for Indians born outside Burma employed in agriculture, trade, or industries other than those mentioned, it is impossible to say.

Broadly however it will be assumed in this report that Indians born in Burma are permanently settled and that Burma is the country of their adoption whereas Indians born outside Burma will be regarded as constituting a population the great bulk of which regards Burma as a place of temporary residence where under the compelling force of economic necessity many Indians spend a part, sometimes a considerable part, of their lives but with the intention, or at least the hope, of eventually returning and settling down in the country of their birth.”

To be continued...

Dipetik dari - Asian Tribune

Bahagian 1
⇒ http://rumpunsuara.blogspot.com/2012/12/letter-from-america-rohingya-question.html

Bahagian 2
⇒ http://rumpunsuara.blogspot.com/2012/12/letter-from-america-rohingya-question_16.html

Divorce after 10-14 years rises among Muslim couples

Rabiatul Kamit
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

DIVORCE rates in the country continue to rise among Muslim couples who have been married for 10 to 14 years.

The Brunei Darussalam Statistical Yearbook (BDSYB) for 2011, which was released last week, revealed that marriages lasting 10 to 14 years have consistently topped the divorce rates over the past five years.

These couples account for 20.6 per cent or 95 cases out of the 459 divorces registered in 2011. However, overall divorce rates have dropped 4.9 per cent last year compared to 2010.

Citing figures from the State Judiciary Department at the Prime Minister's Office, the report indicated that Muslim couples who have been married for more than a decade are up to five times more likely to end in divorce.

Meanwhile, 65 per cent of divorces occur in couples aged from 25 to 39. High divorce rates are also found among couples aged from 25 to 29 and 40 to 44.

Out of the 4,844 newlyweds among the Muslim community in Brunei last year, 3,105 were from 20 to 29 years of age. People who wed in their thirties account for 1,120 marriages, while 246 teenagers aged 15 to 29 decided to tie the knot.

According to the Minister of Religious Affairs, the common causes of divorce were irreconcilable differences, followed by neglecting responsibilities and providing nafkah (sustenance).

Yang Berhormat Pg Dato Seri Setia Dr Hj Muhammad Pg Hj Abd Rahman said a random survey conducted by the ministry on 583 complaints received found that irreconcilable differences was the top reason for divorce with 193 complaints or 33.15 per cent.

Another leading cause cited was neglecting one's responsibilities and nafkah at 184 complaints or 31.73 per cent, he disclosed during the Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting this year.

He highlighted other reasons for divorce in the country which included infidelity, violence, absent spouse or foreign spouse not returning from the country of origin, polygamy, drug abuse and spouse in detention or prison.

In a move to tackle divorce rates, YB Pg Dato Dr Hj Muhammad said the ministry regularly conducts talks on family institutions for civil servants and new converts.

Other initiatives include pre-marriage courses for future brides and grooms that are held twice a week. Since July, the content of the courses have been extended to cover topics on health and household financial management.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times

Ibu tunggal perlukan bantuan

 

Ibu Tunggal warga emas Dayang Hadijah, sering melinang air mata setiap kali
menemui ketua kampung untuk mengadukan tentang nasibnya yang belum terbela

Oleh Hajah Saemah Zulkefli

KUALA BELAIT, 21 Dis - Seorang ibu tunggal melahirkan rasa kecewa dan sedih kerana usahanya selama ini mengajukan beberapa permohonan kepada pihak berkenaan untuk mendapatkan sebuah berek sementara kerajaan untuk tempat kediamannya sehingga kini belum menerima jawapan dan sebarang tindak balas.

Dayang Hadijah binti Abdullah, 60-an, masih terpaksa menyara dua orang anaknya yang sudah dewasa tetapi belum mempunyai sebarang pekerjaan, dan sumber pendapatan wanita warga emas itu hanyalah pencen gaji tua $250 setiap bulan di samping turut menerima agihan wang zakat Majlis Ugama Islam Brunei setiap tahun.

Ketua Kampung Mumong Yang Berhormat Haji Mohd Yusof bin Dulamin memberitahu bahawa beliau juga turut berdukacita kerana telah berusaha memberikan sokongan dan menyampaikan permohonan ibu tunggal itu kepada pihak berkenaan untuk mendapatkan berek sementara kerajaan untuk tempat wanita itu berserta dua orang anaknya berteduh kerana pada masa ini tidak mempunyai tempat kediaman yang tetap selain hanya menumpang di rumah anaknya yang lain di Kuala Balai yang juga mempunyai tanggungan yang ramai, tetapi sehingga kini belum menjadi kenyataan.

Menurutnya lagi, setiap kali wanita warga emas dan ibu tunggal itu menemuinya dengan linangan air mata mengadu tentang kurang perhatian dan layanan daripada anak-anak tempatnya menumpang pada masa ini, selain kedua-dua orang anak yang masih dalam tanggungannya juga tiada pernah menerima sebarang pembelaan daripada ayah mereka.

"Tapi apakan daya saya sebagai Ketua Kampung dalam menangani masalah sedemikian, selain hanya menyampaikan kepada pengetahuan pihak-pihak agensi berkenaan untuk mendapatkan bantuan sepatutnya, ke atas masyarakat seperti Dayang Hadijah yang sangat memerlukan pertolongan pada masa ini," kata Yang Berhormat Awang Haji Mohd Yusof.

Menurut Ketua Kampung, wanita ibu tunggal itu terpaksa berpindah randah di rumah dua orang lagi anaknya yang sudah berkeluarga untuk mencari keselesaan, ketenangan hidup, dan berharap akan segera ada penghujungnya apabila mendapat bantuan berek sementara Kerajaan untuk menempatkannya dengan tenang bersama dua lagi anak-anaknya yang masih bergantung sepenuhnya kepada ibunya itu.

Dayang Hadijah, merupakan seorang mualaf berbangsa Cina, pemegang kad pengenalan kuning, telah membuat banyak rayuan memohon tempat tinggal termasuk kepada Jabatan Pembangunan Masyarakat, Majlis Ugama Islam Brunei serta bahagian Pusat Da'wah Islamiah Daerah Belait, termasuklah pernah menghadapkan permohonan kepada Pegawai Daerah Belait melalui Ketua Kampung Mumong, tempat permastautinan wanita itu.

Dipetik dari - Media Permata

Pencari kerja berdaftar di agensi pekerjaan KHEDN 2,860 orang

Pg. Hajah Fatimah Pg. Haji Md. Noor

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Isnin, 24 Disember. - Jumlah pencari kerja tempatan yang berdaftar di Agensi Pekerjaan Tempatan dan Pembangunan Tenaga Kerja (APTK), Kementerian Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri (KHEDN) sehingga bulan Disember 2011, terdapat seramai 2,860 yang mana jumlah lelaki 1,277 orang dan perempuan ialah 1,583 orang.

Dari jumlah tersebut, bagi yang tidak ada kelulusan sehingga Tingkatan 6, terdapat seramai 1,088 orang lelaki, manakala perempuan 1,407 orang. Bagi yang lepasan teknikal, vokasional dan universiti, jumlahnya ialah 189 orang lelaki, sementara 176 orang perempuan.

KHEDN menangani perkara ini melalui penubuhan sebuah agensi pekerjaan yang pada masa ini sangat aktif melakukan usaha-usaha ini bukan saja menerima pendaftaran tetapi juga memberikan latihan-latihan kepada mereka yang ingin mendapatkan pekerjaan dan mendapatkan bimbingan perkara ini tidak hanya dilakukan secara bersendirian oleh agensi tersebut tetapi juga dilakukan bersama oleh syarikat-syarikat swasta, di samping beberapa buah agensi kerajaan yang lain.

Isu ini merupakan isu yang ditangani oleh kerajaan melalui peringkat tertinggi di bawah jawatankuasa yang menangani masalah kemiskinan, isu-isu sosial dan sebagainya termasuk isu mengenai pengangguran.

Kalau dilihat hasilnya setakat ini, sehingga September 2010, sejumlah 1,230 orang telah mendapat pekerjaan melalui agensi tersebut iaitu 650 orang di sektor swasta dan 580 orang di sektor kerajaan. Itulah salah satu dari usaha-usaha untuk mengatasi pengangguran dan perhatian daripada angka tersebut bahawa sektor swasta adalah mengatasi sektor awam.

Minggu Peluang Pekerjaan di Sektor Swasta 2012 telah berhasil memberi peluang kepada syarikat-syarikat dan pelamar-pelamar kerja untuk bertemu secara bersemuka. Masing-masing dapat mengetahui masalah berhubung dengan peluang kerja dan pengisiannya.

Menteri Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri, Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Othman dalam ucapannya pada majlis berkenaan menegaskan dalam apa pun kenyataannya, Yang Berhormat melihat memang benar banyak peluang pekerjaan terdapat di negara kita ini. Tinggal lagi anak-anak tempatan tidak dapat memenuhi jawatan-jawatan itu sepenuhnya. Ia berpunca dari bilangan mereka yang tidak ramai, atau kalau pun ramai namun mereka tidak bersedia mengisinya kerana tiada keserasian dengan latar belakang kelulusan dan pengalaman.

Dalam kedua-dua senario itu, maka adalah tepat langkah dan usaha kementerian hal ehwal dalam negeri pada masa ini mengadakan program-program menyediakan calon, mengenal pasti majikan, memberikan kursus pendedahan kerja dan seterusnya menemukan mereka dengan majikan, mengikuti latihan kerja sebelum mereka memutuskan untuk meneruskan bekerja dengan majikan berkenaan itu.

Dipetik dari - Pelita Brunei

Over 800 apply for housing assistance

Nurhamiza Hj Roslan
BRUNEI-MUARA

OVER 800 applications for housing assistance have been received by the "Bantuan Perumahan Golongan Daif, Fakir Dan Miskin" (housing assistance for the poor and destitute) project.

The project is implemented under a committee that has been co-ordinated by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

It is funded by the Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB) via the "Komitmen Baki Wang Zakat" (Zakat Surplus Fund Commitment).

In an interview after handing over the housing assistance certificate to a recipient in Kg Masin, Acting Senior Special Duties Officer from the PMO, Abdul Hadi Hj Husin, said they have received 827 applications for housing assistance for the poor and destitute.

The project is divided into several phases.

Abdul Hadi said, "Alhamdulillah, the implementation of the first phase is running smoothly. The second phase is currently being carried out by the PMO and relevant agencies."

The third phase was being carried out by the committee with ongoing investigations in all four districts.

Abdul Hadi explained that applicants for housing assistance have to be classified as poor or destitute.

After receiving the applications, investigations and a filtering process will be carried out.

The filtering process finally determines who is entitled to receive the assistance.

Abdul Hadi said under phase one, 75 houses have been approved, 42 of which have been completed.

The agencies involved in the project aim to ensure that assistance reaches those in need.

They are also working to make sure that the entitled applicants do not wait too long.

"We try to speed up the process and as of now, Alhamdulillah, the efforts carried out under this project are going well."

A recipient, Norkaidah Hj Mohd Jumat, 39, said before receiving housing assistance she and her family lived in a house in very poor condition for 16 years.

The house had holes in the roof and the floor. She said it was too small for her, her husband and seven children.

They can now live comfortably in the new house they have received. The children do not have to share one room anymore.

"The boys can have a separate room from the girls," said Norkaidah.

Their new home is located in Kg Masin, not very far from their previous house.

The building of her new house began in March. Some time before the month of Ramadhan she was able to move in. She was happy that she did not have to wait too long.

Mohd Amirul Muhd Rasyid, 19, who is Norkaidah's eldest son said he was happy that he and his family have a new home to stay in.

Mohd Amirul said the new house was more comfortable and allowed him and his siblings to study at home with greater ease.

Mohd Amirul then expressed his thanks to the authorities for their help in providing him and his family with a new home.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times

Hot Topics: Single Mother Of Five Waiting For Daily Wages Since July

I would like to share a problem on my living allowance which started with my daily paid job for six years now.

I am a single mother of five school-going children. I have yet to receive my pay although I was supposed to have been paid end of July.

When I asked the relevant authorities about this, the sad thing was that the answer was always the same - the pay is still being processed.

My question is why is this matter still unresolved? I believe anyone waiting for their pay is desperately in need of it, especially to buy things for their schoolchildren's needs.

Those who are entitled, like I am, are hoping this matter will be resolved before schools resume in a few weeks time.

A few days ago, I went to my department as usual to ask about this.

What was surprising was that I was asked about the letter that I was issued on my appointment as a daily paid employee, copies of wage sheets and so on.

These were already submitted months ago and still the matter has not been resolved.

One more thing in the query letter was about service record. Again I was asked about this by my department.

I was told that all sick leave or without pay leave would be deducted. I was wondering why when to my knowledge only electricity, telephone and water bills needed to be settled.

If there were bills to settle, I believe I should be getting a balance.

The telephone bill was already settled in full. As far as I know shouldn't the leave without pay and sick leave be dealt with through TAP when retirement comes?

I'm hopeful this matter would be resolved soon.

Dipetik dari - BruDirect.com

Penghasilan padi domestik capai sasaran

Oleh Mohamad Asyramisyanie

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 18 Dis - Setakat 2011 hasil padi negara berada pada tahap pada 4.4%, meskipun masih rendah pada permintaan peringkat kebangsaan, namun pada perspektif jumlah penghasilan domestik hasil padi itu kini mencukupi dan mencapai sasaran yang dihasratkan.

Perkara itu ditegaskan oleh Agronomis Projek Penghasilan Beras Negara, Dayang Khairunissa Haji Omar Ali ketika ditemui pada majlis menandatangani perjanjian kontrak untuk projek-projek di Dewan Simpur Hortikultur Rimba.

Menurutnya, penubuhan Infrastruktur Utama Penghasilan Baka Projek Padi Daerah Brunei dan Muara itu akan memangkinkan penghasilan anak benih untuk kegunaan domestik yang akan menjana hasil tuaian yang berbaloi.

"Kita memerlukan baka benih yang baik dan berkualiti dan sehubungan itu jugalah Jabatan Pertanian cuba membuat standard kepada penggunaan anak benih supaya tidak bercampur aduk dengan baka lain dalam pasaran domestik," ujarnya.

Beliau menambah bahawa mereka mendapatkan baka daripada projek penanaman anak benih yang terdapat sebelum ini dan ia dihasratkan akan diperkembangkan lagi dengan terbinanya pusat baka padi yang bakal dibina nanti.

Dayang Khairunissa seterusnya menegaskan bahawa ia (Infrastruktur Utama Penghasilan Baka Projek Padi) pastinya akan menyumbang kepada penjimatan kos penghasilan benih serta memastikan kualiti dan kuantiti hasil padi tempatan.

Ditanya tentang paip pengairan pada majlis itu hari ini, seorang lagi Pegawai Jabatan Pertanian yang ditemui iaitu Pegawai Parit dan Tali Air, Awang Mohd Jemin Sura menjelaskan bahawa laluan paip pengairan Pangkalan Batu dan Junjongan yang akan menyalurkan sumber air masuk dan keluar ke kawasan Skim Padi di Daerah Brunei dan Muara di Batong, Junjongan, Bebuloh, Panchor Murai dan Batang Perhentian dalam masa 20 bulan lagi.

Menurutnya selain memberikan sumber air yang mencukupi, ia juga akan menjimatkan kos kepada penguasa padi negara kerana mereka tidak perlu menggunakan pam air peribadi yang terpaksa ditanggung sendiri perbelanjaannya sejurus siap saliran itu pada 31 Mei 2014.

Apabila ditanya mengenai kesan musim hujan dan kenaikan air kepada penanaman padi di negara ini, beliau menjelaskan bahawa kawasan rendah setakat ini tidak mempunyai sebarang masalah, namun bagi kawasan yang sedikit tinggi masih memerlukan sumber air yang banyak.

Dayang Khairunissa pula menambah keadaan banjir di negara ini tidak lama, kerana padi akan musnah jika terdedah kepada air melebih tiga hari.

"Kita masih cuba untuk mencapai ke tahap yang dihasratkan sebagai enam peratus pada 2015 dan dengan penubuhan infrastruktur utama penghasilan baka projek padi bagi Daerah Brunei dan Muara ini akan memberikan ruang untuk penghasilan benih Laila dan cantuman serta mana-mana jenis padi lain," ujarnya Khairunissa lagi.

Menurutnya masih terlalu awal untuk menduga apa jua hasilnya namun pihak Jabatan Pertanian sememangnya terus komited mencapai ke tahap yang dihasratkan itu nanti.

Sementara itu, Awang Mohd Jemin Sura menjelaskan bahawa pembinaan salur pengairan ini dikhaskan bagi ladang-ladang yang berskala besar dan komersial bagi permintaan kebangsaan dan ia juga akan memberikan sumber air ke kawasan terbaru di Junjongan bagi memastikan penghasilan berskala besar juga turut disaksikan di sana nanti.

Dipetik dari - Media Permata

Analysis: Bilateral distrust between US, China at an all-time high

By Matthew M. Burke

SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — A real life game of chess is being played out in the Pacific between China, the United States and its allies.

China is dramatically modernizing its military, especially its navy, and has been engaged in confrontations in recent months with Japan over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea and the Philippines over the Scarborough Shoal. Both Japan and the Philippines have defense treaties with the U.S.

The Chinese also have commissioned an aircraft carrier, landed a J-15 fighter on its deck and deployed drones in exercises near Okinawa, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has recommitted itself to the Pacific and expanded diplomatic ties in the region, courting Myanmar as it emerges from isolation and expanding relationships with Vietnam and Cambodia. U.S. Marines have been stationed in Australia, and there are plans to deploy littoral combat ships to Singapore, moves that some analysts see as a policy of containment.

High-level meetings in Beijing and at the Pentagon, invitations to exercises and tours of military bases for visiting dignitaries have done little to mask that bilateral distrust is at an all-time high and these examples of tit for tat one-upmanship and chest puffing have not been seen — outside of the Korean Peninsula — since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Two major reports this year have detailed an emboldened Chinese government — bolstered by years of economic growth, theft of technology secrets and a navy that is quickly becoming more modern and designed to specifically combat U.S. Navy platforms — that increasingly sees the U.S. as a superpower in decline. China is in a leadership transition, but analysts don’t expect much to change.

The tenuous relationship has been called many things, from adversarial to an arms race.

“There is a new kind of Cold War going on,” said June Teufel Dreyer, a professor in political science at the University of Miami and an expert on the Chinese government and U.S. defense policy.

Teufel Dreyer said it is reminiscent of the chess game played between the U.S. and Soviets following World War II, even though the U.S. government won’t acknowledge it’s happening. Official Chinese military journals that aren’t translated into English say it “implicitly,” she said.

Baohui Zhang, a political science professor at Lingnan University’s Centre for Asian Pacific Studies in Hong Kong, stopped just short of calling it a Cold War.

“I think that at a minimum, a strategic competition has emerged between China and the United States,” Zhang said. “They are competing for influence and leadership in the Asia-Pacific region.”

China began to modernize its navy in the 1990s, according to a Congressional Research report released in March. The reasons largely relate to Taiwan, which is claimed by China but has self-rule and is allied with Washington. The Chinese are believed to be developing an anti-access maritime force that would try to keep the U.S. Navy from intervening if Taiwan declared independence and conflict broke out.

The Chinese also aim to assert territorial claims in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and enforce its view that it has the right to regulate foreign military activities in its 200-mile maritime exclusive economic zone.

China’s naval modernization effort includes anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft, submarines, aircraft carriers, amphibious ships, mine countermeasures ships, hospital ships, education and training, as well as exercises with countries like Russia, the report said.

The Defense Department says the amount of modern units in China’s submarine force has gone from less than 10 percent in 2000 to about 56 percent in 2010. Surface combatants have gone from less than 10 percent in 2000 to about 26 percent in 2010.

“Decisions that Congress and the executive branch make regarding U.S. Navy programs for countering improved Chinese maritime military capabilities could affect the likelihood or possible outcome of a potential U.S.-Chinese military conflict in the Pacific over Taiwan or some other issue,” the paper’s author Ronald O’Rourke wrote.

“In the absence of such a conflict, however, the U.S.-Chinese military balance in the Pacific could nevertheless influence day-to-day choices made by other Pacific countries, including choices on whether to align their policies more closely with China or the United States.”

It is a daunting prospect considering the gridlock in Washington, looming defense budget cuts, and an already-overtaxed fleet of ships. More than one-fifth of Navy ships fell short of combat readiness in the past two years, and fewer than half of the service’s deployed combat aircraft are ready for their missions at any given time, according to congressional testimony.

Another report, “Addressing U.S.-China Strategic Distrust,” released in March by the Brookings Institution in Washington and the Institute for International and Strategic Studies at Peking University, said the Chinese government’s senior leaders believe they will come out on top due to the state of American politics and the economy.

Zhang said the Chinese economy is poised to overtake the U.S. in the next 10 years as the world’s largest.

Wang Jisi, an influential and widely respected expert on Chinese foreign policy who has held positions within the Chinese government, wrote in the Brookings report that the Chinese view themselves as on the rise and the U.S. on the decline. As such, they see the U.S. as trying to disrupt their rise toward becoming the world’s most powerful country.

“In Beijing’s view, it is U.S. policies, attitude and misperceptions that cause the lack of mutual trust between the two countries,” Jisi wrote.

O’Rourke wrote that China’s emerging maritime anti-access force is similar to the Soviet Union’s sea denial force developed during the Cold War to keep U.S. forces from intervening in a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict. The difference, O’Rourke claims, is the Chinese missile capability to strike a moving ship at sea. Military experts have called that a game-changer.

Zhang said the era of globalization could not support a full-scale war between the two powers, but he was still pessimistic.

About the future

“This is why the U.S. position on the issue is so important. If it overextends its commitment, then a U.S.-China stand-off could emerge” from a standoff between China and the Philippines or Japan, he said.

Teufel Dreyer said the Chinese are being careful not to instigate an all-out military conflict but are slowly and deliberately escalating the situation, claiming territory and restricting access.

The Chinese are mining the South China Sea for natural resources like oil to maintain an economic growth rate of 8 percent that some feel is unsustainable. Teufel Dreyer said this is being done to mitigate dissent with the promise of a bright future.

“No country can sustain an 8 percent annual growth forever,” according to Simon Shen, a professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong. “There’s a rise of Chinese nationalism, but the target isn’t only the U.S. In a country where full freedom of speech is lacking, nationalist trends can also go against the regime.”

The U.S. government has pledged to support its allies in the region but does not weigh in on territorial disputes like those that China is embroiled in with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. Analysts fear that an overcommitment by the U.S. could lead to a conflict.

“The U.S. has a national interest in freedom of navigation, the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law and unimpeded lawful commerce in the South China Sea,” a Department of State spokesman said, asking not be identified.

However, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment Nov. 29 to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Japan on the uninhabited islands that Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Daioyu as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2013.

So what will be the outcome?

Chinese economic growth already has begun to slow, Teufel Dreyer said, adding that she believes the Obama administration is playing nice while patiently waiting for China’s rising star to burn out and fall.

“The U.S. is going to try very hard to manage this relationship,” she said. “We have a lot of work to do. China is eventually going to be constrained by the weaknesses in their own system. The U.S. will try to smooth the cracks [in the relationship] without giving anything away while trying to fix our own deficiencies.”

Dipetik dari - Stars and Stripes

Hot Topics: Is Royal Trophy An Exception?

The closing of all businesses, including malls and theatres, from 12pm to 2pm on Fridays as commanded by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in his titah has received mixed responses and people have aired their opinions.

For some who travel two hours to work and can only go out for lunch at 12pm, it was really difficult for us. Even if we go out at 11.30am, some shops are already closed. After weeks, we got used to it and we started ordering food to be delivered to our office before 11am.

But to know that The Royal Trophy Golf Tournament was not totally stopped from 12pm - 2pm and to see activities were still going on yesterday was upsetting.

Why is The Royal Trophy an exception?

Are we not supposed to follow and obey His Majesty's titah?

Are the organisers not aware of His Majesty's titah?

Is this how the organisers try to portray the country to the outside world?

We have expats here who complain that they can't enjoy their lunch time on Fridays, yet privileges are given to these golfers.

To all organisers who wish to organise any activities in future, please be fair to all employees who work on Friday Games and activities can always start after Jumaat prayer, if you still insist of having the games on Friday.

Let's all support His Majesty in making Brunei Darussalam a "Negara Zikir".

Dipetik dari - BruDirect.com

Brunei Darussalam: Efforts under way to boost FDI

The government in Brunei Darussalam is moving to speed up business processes and improve communication between the public and the private sectors amid calls for the introduction of measures to boost foreign direct investment (FDI).

The Sultanate has fared well in recent international appraisals of its business climate, rising four places to 79th in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2013 survey, released in October.

However, observers have highlighted the importance of boosting private sector participation and facilitating FDI as part of a long-term aim to diversify the economy, which remains dominated by oil and gas.

The introduction of a new system aimed at speeding up the approval process for construction permits is thought to have contributed to the Sultanate’s improved rating in the survey, while also compensating for drops in other categories. The 2013 survey saw Brunei Darussalam fall three places in investor protection and drop two spots in its rating for credit access. However, the Sultanate retained its fourth position among ASEAN member countries.

The chairman of the Ease of Doing Business Steering Committee, Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Bakar, was positive about the country’s overall performance, but acknowledged that improvements could be made. Speaking in November on the ease of doing business, Yahya said the indicators were crucial in attracting FDI. He also admitted that the “low scores and deterioration of rankings” caused him concern.

He said the results underlined the need for “more speedy and focused efforts to improve all government business processes”, adding that his committee was studying “new target and catalytic strategies” aimed at improving coordination among private sectors and stakeholders.

In the same month, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) highlighted the need for greater efforts to be made in centralising the Sultanate’s investment promotion activities. Joint investment promotion, carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR) and the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB), would improve consultation and feedback for investors, the institute said.

The ERIA called for local businesses to be included in public-private partnerships and effective dialogue and forums, saying such measures would increase their knowledge and boost private sector involvement.

In-keeping with the ERIA’s proposals to get the private sector more involved, in August the government launched the Brunei Agro-Technology Park project, with one of its key responsibilities attracting more FDI. The park will act as a “one-stop shop” for the industrial community, with the initiative set up following recommendations that the government should establish a free trade zone (FTZ) to enhance foreign exchange earnings, develop export-orientated industries and generate employment.

The government has also identified improved regional relations as a route to improving foreign investment. After launching free trade agreements with Japan and ASEAN, the country this year joined the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. The Sultanate’s compliance with TPP rules on financial services, labour and environmental and intellectual property issues are likely to reassure potential overseas investors.

The Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) has also identified several key industry clusters it plans to encourage within the export-oriented manufacturing and services sectors. A key FDI initiative the BEDB has pursued is creating industry cluster-specific sites for sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food, petrochemicals, renewable energy, and information and communications technology.

The BEDB has also launched initiatives to improve intellectual property (IP) rights. In July the BEDB implemented an international filing system for patents which means local applicants can seek patent protection for their inventions in 145 Patent Cooperation Treaty-contracting countries. In September Vincent Cheong, CEO of the BEDB, also urged SMEs to focus on the creation and protection of IPs to safeguard innovation.

With higher education also identified as a key factor for major investors, the Sultanate has forged key partnerships with international institutions and taken a leadership role in regional education. In June, the University of Brunei Darussalam and the US-based East-West Centre, a research organisation aimed at promoting better relations between the US and Asia, signed a memorandum of understanding to provide English-language instruction in all 10 ASEAN countries.

The Department of Economic Planning and Development has yet to publish its foreign investment figures for 2012. However, data indicates that the petroleum industry received the lion’s share of FDI last year, with wholesale and retail trade coming second.

Dipetik dari - Oxford Business Group

Belia paling ramai terlibat penyalahgunaan dadah

Nooratini Haji Abas

TEMBURONG, Ahad, 16 Disember. - Bahagian Cawangan Pendidikan dan Pencegahan Dadah, Biro Kawalan Narkotik (BKN) dengan kerjasama Jabatan Daerah Temburong pagi tadi menganjurkan Jerayawara Anti Dadah bagi Mukim dan Kampung di Daerah Temburong.

Hadir selaku tetamu kehormat dan merasmikan jerayawara yang berlangsung di Dewan Serbaguna Kompleks Utama Bumiputera, Pekan Bangar di sini ialah Pemangku Pegawai Daerah Temburong, Awang Suhara Fadzali bin Haji Yusop.

Pemangku Pegawai Daerah Temburong dalam ucapannya menjelaskan, golongan belia yang berumur antara 19 hingga 39 tahun menunjukkan statistik golongan yang paling ramai terlibat dalam penyalahgunaan dadah.

Katanya, sememangnya golongan itu yang diharap untuk membangun negara tetapi malangnya golongan umur itu juga yang mudah terpengaruh dan mensia-siakan zaman belia mereka dengan terlibat dalam aktiviti yang amat merugikan bangsa dan negara.

"Ini merupakan satu fenomena yang amat membimbangkan kerana ia mampu menjadikan satu wabak dan bencana yang menakutkan kepada masyarakat dan negara," tegasnya.

Tambahnya, sesungguhnya penyalahgunaan dadah menjadi beban kepada ekonomi negara di mana perbelanjaan banyak digunakan dalam membuat pengawasan terhadap mereka yang terbabit.

Untuk mengatasi gejala ini katanya, ia memerlukan usaha gigih daripada semua pihak dalam mempelbagaikan faedah dan aktiviti yang sesuai seperti yang dilaksanakan pada jerayawara kali ini.

Menurutnya, semua lapisan masyarakat memainkan peranan masing-masing bagi menggembeleng tenaga membanteras gejala penyalahgunaan dan pengedaran dadah.

"Saya menaruh harapan agar jerayawara yang diadakan ini menjadi landasan untuk menggembeling tenaga yang terdapat di satu-satu tempat terutamanya para belia supaya bersama-sama mengambil daya usaha untuk membanteras dadah," ujarnya.

Pada majlis tersebut, tetamu kehormat juga menyampaikan hadiah Perlawanan Futsal Peringkat Akhir dan seterusnya membuat lawatan ke Pameran Majlis Perundingan Mukim dan Kampung serta Pameran Agensi Kerajaan.

Jerayawara bertemakan 'Sayangi Keluarga Jauhi Dadah' adalah untuk memberikan kesedaran dan pengetahuan secara langsung mengenai bahaya-bahaya dan hukuman penyalahgunaan dadah di kalangan masyarakat dan juga negara.

Ia juga bertujuan memupuk semangat untuk sama-sama bertanggungjawab terhadap keluarga, masyarakat dan negara dalam menghindarkan anasir-anasir negatif terutama penyalahgunaan dadah dan pengedaran dadah haram di negara ini.

Dipetik dari - Pelita Brunei

Letter from America: The Rohingya Question – Part 2

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

When the British occupied Arakan, the country was a scarcely populated area. Consequently,

formerly high-yield paddy fields of the fertile Kaladan and Lemro river valleys germinated nothing but wild plants for many years.

It is worth noting here that those valleys in the pre-Burman colonization period used to be cultivated by Rohingya Muslims and Hindus, whose forefathers were abducted from Bengal in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Magh and Portuguese pirates to work as slave labors.

Rice Cultivation, Indian Immigration and the Chettiars

With the overthrow of a despised regime and the emergence of a new friendlier administration promising an era of prosperity and encouraging return of the refugees, the descendants of some of those former refugees to British Bengal (today’s Bangladesh) who had fled Bodawpaya’s persecution were lured back to Arakan.

As noted elsewhere by this researcher and others, the vast majority of these returnees, however, were Maghs and not the Rohingya Muslims and Hindus who had settled permanently in more prosperous southern parts of the Chittagong District and came to be known as the Rohis by the local population. Likewise, most of the Chakmas, many Marmas and other smaller tribes (and even many Maghs) refused to go back to Arakan from Bengal. [The latter enjoy full citizenship rights in Bangladesh.]

As the demand for rice increased – not just in fertile deltas of Bengal and Burma, and the nearby territories of Thailand and Malaysia but also in far away Europe, the British began to develop Burma as the rice bowl for the British Empire.

As noted by Sean Turnell, a political economist, Burma’s entry into the commercial imperatives of the British Empire, the conversion of the Delta into rich paddy-producing land initially required little capital. Britain’s great ‘exchange banks’ took care of shipping, milling and other export-finance needs, and up until the middle of the 19th century the amount of capital required ‘on the ground’ in land preparation was slight.

In the early years of British rule in ‘Lower Burma’ the growth in rice exports was founded on cheap and surplus labor within cultivator families, and upon abundant land that required little more than clearing. That is, in those early years of British occupation, make-up labor from outside was not necessary to grow rice in Burma.

In 1857, after the Sepoy Mutiny in India (or more appropriately, India’s First War of Independence) was suppressed by the British colonial government, the price of rice increased by some 25%. With the increase in rice price, land holdings were extended by cutting down the mangrove forests and by draining swamps, which required money. Thus came the Chettiars from Tamil Nadu to provide the necessary loan for cultivating land, because the British banks would not grant loans on mortgage of rice lands and the British government did not consider it necessary to open land mortgage banks or agricultural loan agencies. The Chettiar money-lenders charged an interest rate that was considered to be exorbitant by vast majority of the loan-seekers. In line with its policy of laissez faire the British government did not attempt in any way to control the usurious rates of interest.

Who are the Chettiars?

Sean Turnell provides some useful information which is worth sharing here. The Chettiars (also spelled Chettyars), or more properly the Nattukottai Chettiars, Hindus by faith, came from the Chettinad tract of what is now Tamil Nadu. Chettinad was a collection of 76 villages which, at the time of their activity in Burma, stretched from Ramnad District and into Pudukottai State of ‘British’ India. The Chettiars were originally involved in salt trading, but sometime in the 18th century they became more widely known as financiers and facilitators for the trade in a range of commodities. By the early 19th century finance had become the primary specialization of the Chettiars, and they became famed lenders to great land-owning families (zaminders) and in underwriting their trade in grain through the provision of hundis and other indigenous instruments. Of course, they became known to the British Imperial authorities as bankers who had been ‘for centuries developing and perfecting to a remarkable degree a system of indigenous banking’.

The first Chettiars seem to have arrived in Burma at the outset of British rule – in

1826 accompanying Indian troops and laborers in the train of the British campaign in Tenasserim during the first of the three Anglo-Burmese wars. By 1880 the Chettiars had fanned out throughout Burma and by the end of the century they had become by far the ‘the most important factor in the agricultural credit structure of Lower Burma’. By 1905 it was estimated that there were 30 Chettiar offices in Burma. According to the Burma Provincial Banking Inquiry Report (BPBE), the most dependable source on the extent of Chettiar operations, this number had increased to 1,650 by 1930. Nearly every well-populated part of Lower Burma there was a Chettiar within a day’s journey of every cultivator. They essentially became the money lenders in the agricultural sector.

One example highlighted by the BPBE was in Prome, where it was estimated ‘that Chettiars lend one-third of all the crop loans directly and finance the Burman lenders to such an extant that Chettiar money forms altogether two-thirds of all loans’. In terms of functional distribution, Chettiar loans were overwhelmingly employed in agriculture. Two-thirds of all Chettiar loans outstanding in 1930 were held by agriculturalists, the remainder roughly categorized as ‘trade’. Chettiar lending was secured against collateral, and mostly against title to land.

The influx of paper money in the Burmese economy brought in temporary laborers, coolies, clerks, mechanics, cooks, etc. from the British Empire. (Even U.S. President Obama's Kenyan born Muslim grandfather served as a cook to a British officer in Burma.) As we shall see below, most of those temporary workers did not live longer than the cultivation-harvest period. The Chittagonians who were even closer and costing the least money to cross the Naaf River did not stay longer than required to finish such tasks as planters and harvesters.

Burma has always been xenophobic, racist and bigotry-ridden. But no other group was probably as much vilified as the Hindu Chettiars were in the British colonial period. Sean Turnell writes, “The economic history of Burma contains a number of contentious themes, but none has been as divisive as the role of the Chettiars. Celebrated as the crucial providers of the capital that turned Burma into the ‘rice-bowl’ of the British Empire, this community of moneylenders from Tamil Nadu were simultaneously vilified as predatory usurers whose purpose was to seize the land of the Burmese cultivator.

The truth, as in so many things, was more nuanced. The Chettiars were the primary providers of capital to Burmese cultivators through much of the colonial period, but the combination of the collapse of paddy prices in the Great Depression, the Chettiar insistence of land as collateral, and the imposition of British land-title laws, did bring about a substantial transfer of Burma’s cultivatable land into their hands. The Chettiars did not charge especially high interest rates and, indeed, their rates were much lower than indigenous moneylenders. Nor did the Chettiars set out to become landlords, fearing that this would only antagonize the local population and lead to reprisals against them. Their fears were prescient, for in the end the Chettiars were expelled from Burma, in the process losing the land they had acquired and much of their capital.”

With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the price of rice soared, which, led to more acreage for cultivation in Lower Burma.

Chettiar success in Burma came to a terrible end with the onset of the global Depression of the 1930s. Paddy prices had been trending downwards across the latter half of the 1920s, but they went into a steep decline in 1930 and remained at unremunerative levels until after the Second World War.

The impact of the collapse in paddy prices was soon felt amongst the cultivators of Burma’s lower delta, whose general situation was summarized by Burma’s Commissioner of Settlement and Land Records in his annual report to the Government for 1930-31: “The year was one of extreme depression for agriculture in Burma. The…agricultural economy had for many years had been based on the assumption that the price of paddy would be Rs.150 or more per 100 baskets. The result was that contracts for wages were made and loans were taken on the same scale as in previous years at the beginning of this cultivating season. Consequently when the crop was harvested, after the labour had been paid for at the rates agreed upon, and the rents paid in kind at the old rates, the tenant though left with the same share of produce, found its value reduced by half, and was unable to repay his loan and often not even able to pay the interest.”

It is worth mentioning here that a handful of British farms entirely controlled the wholesale trade in rice, and Indian and Chinese merchants controlled the retail trade. As noted by Aung, the British farms agreed upon themselves not to buy any rice until the harvesting season was long past and the new planting season was approaching. The farmer, therefore, had no option but to sell the rice at a lower price, and, thus, default on loan payments. Of course, at the end of this cycle of distress were the Chettiars. Unable to collect even interest payments on their loans, let alone the principal, increasingly Chettiars came to foreclose on delinquent borrowers and to seize the pledged collateral. For the most part this was land. By 1936 they have become owners of 25% of land in the 13 Principal Rice-Growing Districts of Burma.

Exposed to the understandable anger of indigenous cultivators and the demagoguery of Burmese nationalists of all stripes, they became easy scapegoats not just for the current economic distress, but the foreign domination of Burma’s economy. According to historian Harvey, “Alien in appearance and habits, the Chettyar was the butt of the Burmese cartoonist, he was depicted as Public Enemy No.1, and the violence of the mob was directed against him, a canalization, a projection of the people’s own faults and failings on to a convenient victim.”

In the vernacular press the demonization of the Chettiars soared to extreme heights, and they were accused of all manner of barbarities well beyond a mere rapacity for land. Forgotten there was the fact that the total Chettiar loans outstanding as at 1939 was £50 million, a figure, which according to Furnivall was ‘the equivalent of all British investments in Burma combined’.

According to Turnell, “The Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 brought with it many harrowing scenes, but few would match that of the flight of the Diaspora of Indian merchants, workers, administrators and financiers who had done much to transform Burma in the colonial era.

Prominent amongst those fleeing the onslaught of the Japanese, just as they had been prominent in the transformational role played by Indians in Burma beforehand, were the Chettiars of Tamil Nadu. Scapegoats then and now for the misfortunes that heralded the breakdown of Burma’s colonial economy, the Chettiars were not allowed to return to their lives and livelihoods following the granting of Burma’s independence in 1948. Portrayed by British colonial officials and Burmese nationalist politicians alike as almost pantomime villains in Burma’s 20th century dramas, they left the stage as unambiguous victims.”

To be continued...


Dipetik dari - Asian Tribune

Bahagian pertama
⇒ http://rumpunsuara.blogspot.com/2012/12/letter-from-america-rohingya-question.html

Brunei marks 50 years of state of emergency

The oil-rich Sultanate of Brunei this month marks a 50th anniversary milestone which may go unnoticed even by its own people. A State of Emergency was declared in the country on December 20, 1962 - and it has remained in place since then. For more about this, Del Irani spoke to Sen Lam - the host of Asia Pacific on Radio Australia.

Dipetik dari - ABC Radio Australia

Brunei - 50 years under emergency rule

This December marks 50 years of emergency rule in Brunei, the small wealthy sultanate on the North Coast of Borneo.

In 1962, Brunei was still a British protectorate and it held elections that were won by a left wing party.

This was at a time when fear about the spread of communism was palpable, prompting the Sultan to annul the election results and declare emergency rule.

But that was half a century ago, so why does the state of emergency still exist today?

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Geoffrey Gunn, Professor of International Relations, Nagasaki University in Japan

GUNN: Well simply that the rebellion is perceived in Brunei today as derhaka, a term meaning treachery against the Sultan. And for this and various other reasons the state of emergency has not been rescinded, and neither has Brunei revived the parliament that was promulgated according to the 1959 constitution. So simply Brunei looks back upon that rebellion as underscoring a threat to the stability of the nation.

COCHRANE: But that threat of course no longer exists 50 years on now. Is the tolerance of this state of emergency tied up in the public's view of the ruler?

GUNN: Well simply for various reasons there has been no challenge to the status quo in Brunei. Legitimacy of the Sultan of course stems from its windfall oil revenues which the Sultanate passes out to its subjects. So no challenge has really been mounted to the Sultan, and why should people do so? Basically they are middle class, they are satisfied with the status quo. So there's simply no push for democratic change in Brunei. It sounds like a contradiction, but it's a fact.

COCHRANE: So people are simply too comfortable to worry about politics?

GUNN: Pretty much so, I mean there are two token opposition parties but they have no seats in any institution so they're marginalised. People can vent their anxieties in letters to the editor or through rumour, and these days of course through internet, but that's about as far as any murmur of discontent goes.

COCHRANE: So if politics isn't a huge concern or at least further democratisation isn't much of a concern amongst the public, and they're fairly economically comfortable, what are some of the main issues that the nation of Brunei faces?

GUNN: Well for the Sultan himself protected by two battalions of Ghurkhas, I mean he's commander-in-chief of the armed forces, so he's pretty much neutralised any threat of say a coup d'etat on the one hand. But on the other hand radical Islam always poses a challenge to these kind of Islamic monarchic establishments. But on the other hand progressively the Sultanate has Islamised over the last 20 years as a way of neutralising any kind of Islamist challenge. Neither has the Arab Spring contagion really entered into the equation in Brunei either. And on the other hand Brunei is now comfortable within ASEAN, as an ASEAN member threats from neighbours has virtually disappeared. And looking ahead Brunei will chair the ASEAN summit from next year further giving it legitimacy within ASEAN and the region.

COCHRANE: As you mentioned though the source of the Sultan's wealth is the country's oil reserves and thus the stability that stems from that. How long is this going to last? How long will the oil last?

GUNN: Well that's a state secret, it's an oil company secret, but it's always been put around that 15 years more reserves remain. But as the technology for deeper sea exploration and development expands so probably the pool of reserves expand. So nobody really knows. Moreover Brunei Darussalam has reaped the benefits of fairly high oil prices in recent years, moreover it's locked into long-term contracts, 15 year contracts with its major markets and clients; Japan, Korea and now China. So it looks good but it is vulnerable, of course oil and gas is a finite reserve, so Brunei simply has to manage its sovereign wealth in clever ways. And that does pose a doubt into the medium term, yes.

Dipetik dari - ABC Radio Australia

Bankruptcy Act Amended

Increase in threshold of debt owed from $500 to $10,000; bankrupt's passport or travel document could be impounded

Bandar Seri Begawan - By command of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) yesterday announced that the monarch has consented to amendments to the Bankruptcy Act (Chapter 67).

In essence, the amendments among others will provide individuals who have been declared bankrupt a "second chance to start anew", which is expected to provide those who have been legally labelled as such with the opportunity to be more financially independent.

A press statement issued by the AGC yesterday explained that the amendments to the Bankruptcy Act (Chapter 67) have come into effect as of December 4, 2012, which has thus subsequently re-updated the decades-old legislature that was initially drafted in the 1960s.

Among the changes that have been put in place by the Committee on the Review of the Legal Framework, Administration and Management relating to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Regime include the discharging of a bankrupt from bankruptcy through the issuance of a certificate as long as the duration is after three years since the date of commencement of the bankruptcy and the individual's debts do not exceed $100,000 and its effects, after discharge.

It was explained that the initial legislation had no such clause and this had made it difficult for a bankrupt person to enter into contract agreements and that it was difficult for such individuals to find employment.

Another feature to the Act introduced by the Committee, chaired by Dato Paduka Haji Hairolarni bin Haji Abdul Majid with close cooperation from officers at the Prime Minister's Office, the Judiciary, the Attorney General's Chambers and the Public Service Commission, also addresses the issue whereby there have been instances when a bankrupt person is able to travel overseas despite declaring that he/she has no funds to clear his/her debts.

The amendments provide a trustee with the power to direct the Controller of Immigration to impound and retain the bankrupt's passport, certificate of identity or travel document as a means "to prevent" the individual from leaving Brunei Darussalam.

The amendments also provide for the Government of Brunei Darussalam to enter into agreement with two nations, Malaysia and Singapore, for the recognition by each government of the Official Assignees in bankruptcy appointed by the other government, with the effect that if a person is adjudged a bankrupt in Malaysia or Singapore, the property of the bankrupt is situated in Brunei Darussalam, would vest in the Official Assignees of Malaysia or Singapore appointed by the respective governments and all courts in Brunei Darussalam shall recognise the title of such Official Assignee to such property.

The amendments also provide for the imposition of a number of duties on the bankrupt to deliver his property under his possession, books, paper and the like to the trustee and disqualifies the bankrupt to act as a trustee or personal representative. The threshold of debts owned by a debtor to a petitioning creditor has been increased from $500 to $10,000.

The Committee, meanwhile, was established by the command of His Majesty in 2008 with the task to review the existing bankruptcy legislation and to promote balances and safeguards to the rights of both creditors and debtors, among others. ~ Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Dipetik dari - BruDirect.com

Asia’s insurgencies rooted in its history

Divide-and-rule European imperialists, favouring one ethnic group and persecuting or neglecting another, originally transformed social and religious differences into political antagonisms within Asian societies

By Pankaj Mishra

It wasn’t an incredible photo-op, and it’s unlikely to be included in this month’s valedictory roundup of 2012 highlights. In fact, it was barely reported. One of this year’s most remarkable events, however, was the agreement between the Philippine government and the insurgent group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

If successful, it may not only terminate decades of secessionist violence in Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines; it may also inspire hope in a wide swath of Asian countries damaged, politically as well as economically, by internecine conflicts. Divide-and-rule European imperialists, favouring one ethnic group and persecuting or neglecting another, or drawing arbitrary lines in the sand or the grass, originally transformed social and religious differences into political antagonisms within Asian societies.

Their local opponents — mostly educated natives — hardened religious and ethnic identities by turning them into a basis of anti-imperialist solidarity. In the end, the principle of self-determination was widely exported from relatively homogenous Europe to multicultural Asia, where it was embraced by rising native elites.

The result was the proliferation of hastily and poorly imagined national communities — unwieldy nation-states where patchworks of relatively autonomous groups and individuals with multiple, overlapping identities had existed. Since then, postcolonial rulers eager to hold on to their inheritance — centralised states, administrations and large, resource-rich territories — have made the map of Asia bleed red.

Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Pattani Muslims in Thailand, Baloch secessionists in Pakistan, Uighurs in China’s Xinjiang province, India’s Kashmiri Muslims and northeastern minorities — there is barely an Asian nation-state where centralising governments haven’t fought, often with brute military force, to hold down religious and ethnic minorities.

The secessionists have occasionally succeeded, if after much horrific bloodshed, as in East Pakistan and East Timor. More often they have looked to be upholding doomed causes. But the tremendous strain of fighting them has had uniformly devastating results, whether in Indonesia, Thailand or Sri Lanka: an enhanced political and economic role for men in uniform, the diminishment of rule of law and the loss of civil liberties.

The imperative to uphold territorial integrity turned the army into the most powerful institution early on in Pakistan, Indonesia and Myanmar, and set back prospects for democracy for decades.

The Javanese leader Sukarno prepared his own demise by frequently deploying the army to suppress disaffection across the Indonesian archipelago. More recently, Thailand’s former General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who had been empowered by then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to crush the insurgency by Pattani Muslims, went on to lead a military coup against his civilian boss.

In India-ruled Kashmir, the local military chiefs openly overrule the state’s elected chief minister. Even in countries with stronger traditions of civilian rule and electoral democracy, such as India and Sri Lanka, an authoritarian-minded nationalism has productively deployed ethnic and religious minorities as a foil.

Racial politics has deeply compromised Malaysia’s great potential. India’s Hindu nationalists rose to power on a programme of demonising Muslims. The more recent success of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, the country’s president, confirms that in large parts of Asia, closely identifying your nation with its racial, religious and ethnic majority can still bring you huge electoral harvests.

Fearing loss of likely support among Myanmar’s Buddhist majority, even Aung San Suu Kyi is reluctant to denounce the disenfranchisement of her country’s Rohingya Muslims. Her stance on the militarised state’s longstanding battles with the Kayin, Shan, Chin and Kayah minorities is not much clearer.

Myanmar’s military ruler, Thein Sein, renewed ceasefires with these obdurate secessionists. But violence in Kachin State in the resource-rich north has worsened. It would be too optimistic to expect improvements as Myanmar’s economy is integrated into global networks of trade and finance.

The promise of quick and great prosperity is likely to deepen, not heal, old divisions. Indeed, what look like ethnic and ancient hatreds often conceal very modern battles over precious resources — minerals and fossil fuels — in ethnic-minority regions.

Pakistan’s Baloch as well as Myanmar’s Kachin separatists claim to fight for a fair share of benefits from the riches extracted from their lands. Furthermore, predatory war economies, from timber and prostitution rackets in Kashmir to gem smuggling on the Thai-Myanmar border, have struck deep roots in many Asian borderlands.

Power here has long flowed out of gun barrels and, until the announcement of the peace accord in the Philippines in October, it wasn’t easy to see how this could change. Brokered by Malaysia, the deal between Manila and the MILF paves the way to radically enhanced autonomy for the Muslim-dominated southern region of Mindanao.

Greater federalisation, which includes clear guarantees on the sharing of natural resources and land, cultural and religious rights, may also be the way out for countries that have frittered away too much national energy and resources in affirmations of sovereignty. The agreement in the Philippines is a timely reminder of the much less fraught relationships that have existed and can exist between the periphery and the centre and between majority and minority communities.

The European idea of the nation-state, realised after much horrific bloodshed in Europe itself, was always a poor fit for Asia’s diverse mosaic. Joseph Roth, who grew up in the multinational Hapsburg empire, was appalled by the imperatives of modern nationalism, according to which “every person must belong to a definite nationality or race” in order to be treated as an individual citizen.

Roth, a Jew, suspected that members of minority groups, like himself, would be relegated to third-class citizenship, and vicious prejudice against them would be made respectable in the new nation-states built on the ruins of multinational empires. The ethnic cleansers of 20th century Europe proved him right. It required a monstrous crime and a repentant political imagination to institute peace between warring European nations and soften attitudes toward minorities. The battle against bigotry is far from over; Europe’s long and violent past today looms over its inevitably multicultural future. For Asian nations beset by their own present and potential ethnic cleansers, it is even more important to remember the relative youth of sectarian nationalism on the continent — and the long centuries when it did not exist.

Dipetik dari - GulfNews.com

Ample US military presence sought in Philippines

MANILA: Representatives of the Philippines and the US on Tuesday opened a two-day meeting in which one of the major items in the agenda is increased American military presence in the country, a ranking official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reported.

Carlos Sorreta, the DFA assistant secretary for US affairs, told reporters that aside from increased presence as well as more visits by American warplanes and naval vessels, officials would also discuss a hike in US military assistance to the Philippine armed forces.

“Foremost in the agenda,” Sorreta pointed out, “is the increase in the rotational presence of US forces in the Philippines.”

The visiting forces agreement (VFA) signed by the two countries allows the presence of American soldiers in the country to participate in annual military exercises or “war games” with their Filipino counterparts.

The VFA also allows the rotational presence of about 600 US military forces in restive Mindanao where they are to train and advice Filipino soldiers in the campaign particularly against the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf extremists who appear to operate with impunity on the island provinces of Sulu and Basilan.

Sorreta assured that during the meeting, officials would not focus on the Philippines territorial standoff in the South China Sea, renamed by Manila as the West Philippine Sea.

“But as public officials, they are answerable to their people and their security, it is very difficult not to discuss the (issue) on the West Philippine Sea,” Sorreta stressed.

The meeting gained significance when Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines favoured the proposal for Japan to drop its pacifist constitution and rearm so it could act as a balance against China’s emergence as a global military power.

Del Rosario made known the country’s stand in an interview with the Financial Times of London in which he was quoted as saying: “We are looking for balancing factors in the region and Japan could be a significant balancing factor.”

Since April, the Philippines has been engaged with a standoff with China over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China, known as Pagasa to the Filipinos and Huangyan to the Chinese.

Dipetik dari - gulftoday.ae

Society, individual also part of security

Koo Jin Shen
BRUNEI-MUARA

SECURITY is not just about national defence. It is about something as mundane as water to the thirsty, a visiting academic from Leeds University said in his keynote address at the 10th ASEAN Inter-University Seminar at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

Victor King, emeritus professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the northern England university said that when it came to security "we tend to think in terms of nations, international relations and strategic matters between nation states".

In an interview with The Brunei Times, King said that a national government might make a decision about public spending or taxation in the national interest from the government's perspective.

However, by doing so it might "cut across" an individual's perception of security.

"It is a complex matter," the visiting professor at the Institute of Asian Studies said.

He added that from his perspective as a sociologist and anthropologist, he was more concerned about security on an individual or community basis.

"We shouldn't just think about human security in national or regional terms, but also in local and community terms as well.

"There is an increasing concern that the world through globalisation is becoming more complex, with all kinds of decisions which affect us."

He observed that while organisations such as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) ensured a reasonable level of peace and prosperity in the region, at the community level there were all kinds of problems.

King said Brunei was not isolated when it came to the issue of human security, even though it has vast natural oil and gas resources and suffered from no overt issues of ethnic conflict and poverty like those afflicting other countries.

He cautioned that the availability of basic resources, such as water, would become increasingly important as the effects of climate change begins to bite.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times

Letters to the Editor: Was it an alleged jump?

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Dear Editor,

THIS is with reference to your article titled "Alleged jump at RIPAS". I was one of the WhatsApp users receiving the unverified photo on the incident day (December 6, 2012).

The comment made by Inspector Pg Hj Yusra Pg Hj Mohammad, a public relations officer from the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF), with regard to the incident has left me dismayed.

How can they leave a comment like that? "An alleged jump?" That's it? They can't even confirm if the individual was a patient when the circulated photo has made it pretty obvious that a male, who is wearing a patient uniform, was lying on the ground, surrounded by an emergency medical team from the hospital.

The PRO also said that the case was currently under investigation but never got back to the public to share details of the incident. Why do I want to know so bad? Because I could've been a distant relative to that person and it would've mattered. And how could such thing happen at a hospital? Aren't patients supposed to be under close supervision of the nurses and doctors on duty? So what's happening authorities? Enlighten us.

As for the news, it was better off unpublished.

Getting bored of government red tapes, BSB

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times

Senior citizen receives new electric generator



Dayang Berasap binti Budai receiving her electric generator

The Belait District Office through the Belait District Charity Fund donated a new electric power generator to help a senior citizen, Dyg Berasap binti Budai from Kg Merangking, Mukim Bukit Sawat who lives in an old house with two other family members.

She was grateful for the help given and added that the family used to depend on an old and unsafe manually operated electric power generator to generate electricity. At times, they had to use candles for light.

The contribution is the first step made by the Belait District Office in helping them while waiting for an approval in the application process of the electrical supply connection at her house.

Present to hand over the generator was Legislative Council member YB Hj Md Yusof bin Dulamin, who is also the Village Head of Kg Mumong in Mukim Kuala Belait.

Also present to witness the handover were Awg Hj Pungut bin Ali, the Penghulu of Mukim Kuala Belait and Pg Mohamad Jeffrynul Hafli bin Pg Hj Ali, Assistant Belait District Officer, as well as officers and staff from the Belait District Office.

Dipetik dari - Boneo Bulletin

Asia's Future Food Security Hinges On Modernisation Of Farm To Market Chains: ADB Study

By Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah

SINGAPORE, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Asia's ability to keep food prices in check and ensure long-term regional food security will require the region's farms to market supply chains to become more efficient and cost-effective, says an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study.

In a statement Monday, ADB said the study, "The Quiet Revolution in Staple Food Value Chains: Enter the Dragon, the Elephant and the Tiger," analysed domestic rice and potato supply chains in Bangladesh, India and China.

"The study, produced by ADB and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in response to the 2008 spike in food prices, found that the rapid modernisation of staple food chains in Asia has allowed farmers to increase control over what they produce and to whom they sell," it said.

ADB said the study found out that the transformation has been particularly dramatic in China, with modern rice mills increasingly buying direct from farmers, cutting out middlemen.

"In India, the study said the spread of modern cool storage facilities has given consumers year-round access to potatoes and delivered substantial price advantages to farmers.

"More isolated rural areas have seen an increase in jobs and incomes from new links with commercial urban centres, and better infrastructure, technologies and policies," it said.

The study said at present the benefits were not always shared equally, however, with large- and medium-sized farmers typically getting the lion's share of subsidies and marginal farmers largely missed out.

It said there was no "silver bullet" to address the challenges facing staples value changes, meaning a variety of policy and programme measures will be required to stimulate the efficiency of staples markets.

"Given Asia's widely different zones, no 'one size fits all' approach will work, requiring tailored solutions," it said.

ADB vice president for knowledge management and sustainable development, Bindu Lohani, said Asia faced a formidable challenge of feeding five billion people by 2030.

"Rising populations and incomes, resource degradation and climate change will keep putting upward pressure on food prices, requiring vast improvements to ensure adequate and affordable food supplies," he said.

One of the authors of the study and senior research fellow at IFPRI, Bart Minten, said the changes in food demand, driven by urbanisation and increasing incomes of consumers, were creating important opportunities for agricultural development and rural poverty reduction in Asia.

Dipetik dari - BERNAMA

India's claim in South China Sea further polarises rows

Hooman Peimani

The ownership disputes over South China Sea islands with potential reserves of oil and gas took a new turn last week as India joined the stakeholders. Indian Navy Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi announced his force's preparedness to deploy vessels to the area to protect his nation's oil interests.

India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp has a stake in an offshore gas field off Vietnam's southern coast.

In his announcement, Admiral Joshi was careful to avoid provoking China as he pointed out that India was not a party to the ownership dispute. Yet, he made it clear India would act to protect its interests in the area should the need arise.

As a large emerging economy with a growing gross domestic product of some US$1.85 trillion, India has large and growing energy requirements dominated by oil, gas and coal, despite its efforts to increase the share of renewables and nuclear in its energy mix.

Its growing demand for fossil fuels cannot be fully met by its depleting reserves, which makes it increasingly reliant on imported oil and gas. Concerned about its energy security, India has sought to diversify and thereby increase its suppliers.

Thus it has been motivated to enter many energy-rich regions, including areas affected by conflict, such as East Africa (South Sudan) and the South China Sea (Vietnam).

India's increasing willingness to defend its energy interests must be seen in the context of its changing regional and global status. Sixty-five years after independence, India has moved from a severely underdeveloped country with a negligible economy to a large economy striving to become a major power, or even superpower. Although it is still decades away from realising this, it has certainly established itself as a major power in the Asia-Pacific region.

India remains far behind China in terms of socio-economic development, international trade, financial strength, technological advancement, infrastructural capabilities, prosperity and military capabilities. Nevertheless, it sees China as a rival in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mindful of the negative impact of major political and military conflicts on socio-economic development, India and China have sought tension-free relations backed by large annual trade. However, they remain concerned about each other's objectives because of past experiences, including the 1962 border war that resulted in India's defeat. Understandably, that has left India suspicious of its large neighbour.

Any conflict between China, the Philippines and Vietnam over the disputed South China Sea islands would inevitably damage all three parties. That may well lead to intervention by an outsider, particularly the US, given its interests in the region. This would internationalise the dispute and legitimise a long-term US military presence in China's proximity, which Beijing has sought to avoid.

Within this context, any deployment of the Indian navy in the South China Sea in defence of its oil interests would also contribute to such "internationalisation" while increasing the possibility of naval clashes.

The ownership disputes are already having a polarising effect in the region, along pro-China and pro-US lines, and the Indian navy's announcement will only intensify this. And that can't be good news for Beijing, which has been trying to prevent the US from further upsetting the regional balance of power, which is already in Washington's favour.

Dipetik dari - South China Morning Post