We need social security: self-employed

Al-Haadi Abu Bakar
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

IN THIS day and age, there are plenty reasons to be self-employed.

Being your own boss, the chance to earn more money, and the ability to choose work that one can enjoy are some of the reasons why many people choose to go down this path.

But as with any life decision, being self-employed has its drawbacks too.

A self-employed individual may not be able to get access to benefits such as pension schemes, insurance coverage, paid holidays and bonuses enjoyed by employees in the public and private sector. With the omission of social protection mechanisms, uncertainty in business is likely to lead to uncertainty in income.

According to the Department of Labour, the informal sector (which the International Labour Organisation describes as consisting of small-scale, self-employed activities, typically at a low level of organisation and technology with the primary objective of generating employment and incomes) is "understudied" in Brunei.

As part of an ASEAN working group tasked with identifying areas where national policies are falling short when it comes to extending social protection mechanisms to all levels of society, the labour department will be conducting a comprehensive study on the sector and determine whether there is a possibility for the government to extend its social protection policies to the self-employed.

Longtime home-based cake maker Hjh Rubiah Taim strongly agrees that those working in the informal sector deserve to be rewarded in the form of social protection mechanisms, such as the Employees Trust Fund (TAP) and the Supplemental Contributory Pension (SCP) Scheme.

"Even though we are not (formally) employed, we still contribute to the economy," said Hjh Rubiah.

The 38-year-old founder of Rosrubi Enterprise, a bakery based in Brunei-Muara, said she is worried about her future as she nears the retirement age.

"My biggest concern is health. We may have the energy now, but when we reach a certain age where we are no longer fit to run the business, we would not have some sort of a financial safety net," she said.

"Even though we have our own savings from our earnings, we would end up using them should the need arise. It's these unforeseen circumstances that's bound to happen throughout the duration of the business that we need to take into consideration," she added.

Hjh Rubiah said she is not aware of any social protection mechanism in place which safeguards the welfare of the self-employed.

"So far there are only grant schemes to kickstart small businesses, training and networking programmes to support startups from a number of agencies in Brunei, but these are not enough to secure our future welfare."

Hjh Rubiah, who was part of the first intake of the business coaching and mentoring programme LiveWIRE in 2001 and won the first LiveWIRE Awards the following year, credits the organisers of the programme for sharpening her business knowledge, while at the same time giving her the chance to network.

Adezul Suhaimi, co-owner of sandwich business Loko and the Bear's Sandwiches, said he was also "in the dark" on whether Brunei has a social protection mechanism in place.

"We do not know if there is anything out there for us. Our future is bleak at most, and the only thing that can secure our retirement is to grow the business to a sustainable point but even that is not easy," he said.

A former graduate of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports' Youth Development Centre, Adezul said it was the thrill of being his own boss that made him decide to be self-employed.

"I like the sense of being independent, and the opportunities for us to earn more income are wide open, depending on how hard we work for it," he said.

"But I think it would be great if we could also get similar benefits as the government and private sector employees, to have that financial security to back us up during our rainy days," added Adezul.

Adezul's business partner, Ak Kamal Ghadafi Pg Hj Suhaimi, a government civil servant, agrees with the notion that there is a need to formalise the sector as it would encourage more Bruneians to take up entrepreneurship as a profession.

"The government must come up with new schemes tailored for this segment of the population because they are at higher financial risk than those who are employed.

"Not only that they have no access to retirement funds, but being micro-businesses, they have no access to loans from banks, and in addition, there is barely any angel investors in Brunei to support them.

"Unless they have grown into the level of an SME (small and medium enterpise), there is no guarantee for their future.

"The roads are bumpy for most of them so anything could happen along the way," he said.

Local photographer Hj Zailaney Hj Nordin shared his opinion that the need for social security measures may differ from person to person.

Hj Zailaney, who started as a freelance photographer in 2004 and is now the owner of his own fledgling photography studio, said: "For some of us who have a clear target of where we want to take the business to, we don't see a need for such schemes.

"(Some of us) have reached a point where we are able to sustain ourselves (without external aid), and if these micro-businesses can grow and become self-sustainable, they would no longer have to worry about this," he said.

Dipetik dari - The Brunei Times