‘Complete collapse’ in east coast flood response, NSC concedes

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 30 — The National Security Council's (NSC) disaster management suffered a "complete collapse" at the district level in the peninsula's east coast, as its staff were among the hundreds of thousands beset by arguably the worst flooding in decades.

NSC secretary Datuk Mohamed Thajudeen Abdul Wahab was quoted by English daily The Star as saying that they were unable to execute their disaster management plan on the ground as their district level teams could not deploy.

"In the districts, the frontliners of our disaster management machinery include the village headman and district officers. But due to the magnitude of the floods, most districts were completely inundated.

"Our entire district machinery collapsed as they had become victims themselves," he was quoted as saying in the report.

Thajudeen said they were severely disadvantaged during the peak of the floods between December 23 and 27, when it had been virtually "impossible" to access many areas, especially with the lack of communication as power was cut to avoid electrocution.

He said their biggest problem was figuring out where help was needed and the extent of the damage caused by the floods in each district, despite having managed to stockpile donations of food and supplies from the public and companies.

"We could not use heavy vehicles; the currents were too strong to use boats and the winds were too turbulent to go by air," he said of the five-day period.

Thajudeen said the situation has become "slightly better" with the receding flood waters, allowing aid to be delivered by air and on the ground, but noted that there were still several areas where helicopters could not land.

A total of five deaths were recorded in Kelantan, three in Pahang and two in Terengganu to date, according to data published by the NSC on its website.

As at 8am today, a total of 235,218 people have been evacuated from their homes in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Perlis, Selangor and Kedah.

Although floodwaters are gradually receding in Kuala Krai and Kota Baru, meteorologists have warned that the worst is not yet over in Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.

Reports continue to pour in on overcrowded shelters; intermittent communications services;  shortage of food and water supply; rescue efforts hampered by power outages; and roads that have been washed away by the floods.

The extent of the worst flooding in decades has been such that Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is overseeing the government’s flood relief efforts, has warned that floods are worse than anticipated, saying that assets currently deployed were inadequate to face the floods of such proportions.

Sumber - Malay Mail Online

ASEAN economic integration faces tough road ahead

SINGAPORE — The Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) has set a goal of merging the economies of its member states into an integrated economic region by the end of next year, but questions remain over whether the project, known as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), will be fully achieved come its end-2015 deadline.

The work that remains over the next year is expected to be much tougher as the effort shifts towards reviewing each country’s laws to open up domestic markets and allaying the protectionist concerns of local businesses and industries.

Analysts said much will depend on the political will of the countries to ensure that progress remains in sight, cautioning that the deadline should be seen more as a milestone in the integration effort to make the bloc a competitive economic region.

“The analogy is that we are waiting for a train of complete integration. The train will probably be a bit late and it’s running slower than we had hoped, but it has not been knocked off of the rails,” said Mr Simon Tay, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. “But if we try driving it too fast, we will also have a derailment. So I think a steady, step-by-step process is needed.”

The AEC aims to create a single market and production base with free movement of services, goods, capital, investment and skilled labour. Given the project’s ambitious goals, analysts said, it is hardly surprising that it faces tremendous challenges.

But the opportunity is there for the 10-nation bloc, which groups Singapore with Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. They have a combined nominal gross domestic product of US$2.4 trillion (S$3 trillion) and a population of more than 600 million people.

First mooted in 2003, the AEC is the economic plank of ASEAN’s three-part vision of political-security and sociocultural integration by the end of next year. The project aims to produce a highly competitive economic region of equitable economic development that is fully integrated into the global economy. To help it achieve its goals, the AEC provides a blueprint and a scorecard to track progress.

ASEAN leaders provided an update on their progress at the ASEAN Summit last month, with the chairman’s statement released after the meeting revealing that the bloc had implemented 82.1 per cent of the overall measures under the AEC. Noting that ASEAN was “at the tail end” of the implementation, it would prioritise fast-tracking the implementation of the remaining measures over the next year, the statement said.

So far, much of the success has been in the reduction of tariffs and the progressive liberalisation and removal of barriers to trade. But the remaining areas, which include issues such as eliminating non-tariff barriers, services liberalisation, labour migration, and the involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprises, are likely to be challenging to implement, said analysts.

“The remaining measures will be harder to achieve ... because if you want them to be achieved, it’s going to involve domestic adjustment. It means these countries have to adjust their domestic laws and regulations to comply with the AEC agreement,” said Dr Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, an assistant professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ Centre for Multilateralism Studies, who studies the AEC.

With the issue of labour migration, for example, she said that while the AEC provides for the free movement of skilled labour within the region under the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), there are hurdles in the form of domestic regulations.

The MRA covers several professions, including medical and dental practitioners, engineers and architects. However, its implementation has been slow, particularly in the Philippines, due to curbs in the Constitution and other legislation which restrict the practice of professions to Filipino nationals.

Meanwhile, concerns about rising economic nationalism are also apparent in Indonesia, where laws do not allow foreign firms to list on the country’s stock exchange and regulations limit the percentage of foreign-owned businesses within industries, all of which pose obstacles to cross-border integration.

Because most of the changes that need to be enacted are domestic, analysts said the way forward will depend on the political will of member states to review their laws.

“There’s going to be a lot of convincing to do. Each country has to convince one another that if we work together, the AEC would bring mutual gains to all of us,” Dr Kaewkamol said.

Given that the grouping operates under the principles of the “ASEAN way” — which prefers non-interference in domestic political affairs — there are also questions over the level of enforcement that can help ensure the AEC project stays on course. Unlike the European Union, ASEAN is not a supranational union and the ASEAN Secretariat serves to coordinate rather than oversee the enforcement of measures.

The ASEAN Business Outlook Survey 2015, released in August by the United States Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the widespread scepticism that the AEC would meet its deadline for the end of next year. In fact, the report said most US businesses believed the AEC goals would not be realised until 2020 or later.

However, analysts noted that the ASEAN blueprint makes it clear that member states see the 2015 target more as a marker on the road towards regional integration and have already begun making preparations for the AEC’s post-2015 agenda.

“ASEAN has been sending signals early that 2015 is no longer a deadline, it’s a milestone on the road. So it’s not going to affect their reputation if they can’t meet the 2015 target,” said Ms Sanchita Basu Das, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies who studies the AEC.

As chair of ASEAN next year, Malaysia has stated its commitment to take the lead in developing plans for the post-2015 vision, with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak saying last month it was “conscious that the formation of the ASEAN Community will happen on our watch and we will work tirelessly towards that ambition”.

Malaysia estimates that at least 95 per cent of the measures under the AEC blueprint will be achieved by the end of next year, said the Minister of International Trade and Industry, Mr Mustapa Mohamed.

Although it still faces significant challenges, the AEC initiative has been welcomed by major economic partners such as the US.

“The AEC is good for ASEAN and it is good for the US. It has already (opened) and will continue to open investment and trade opportunities, while reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers,” said a spokesperson for the US Mission to ASEAN. “ASEAN integration is also in the strategic interest of the US. A more unified and central ASEAN will be even more able to foster peace and stability in South-east Asia,” the spokesperson added.


Sumber - TODAYonline

Anguish as bodies, debris found from AirAsia Flight 8501

A grim discovery in the waters off Indonesia on Tuesday dealt a heartbreaking blow to families whose loved ones were lost on AirAsia Flight QZ8501, and their anguish was felt around the world.

Debris from the plane was spotted about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the aircraft's last known location over the Java Sea, off the coast of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province on Borneo.

Three bodies were recovered -- two women and one man, Indonesian search and rescue chief Bambang Soelistyo said, according to the Indonesian state-run Antara news agency.

"To the relatives, I feel your loss, and all of us pray that all of the families are given the strength and fortitude during this incident," Indonesian President Joko Widodo told journalists. He then went to meet with families.

"We are sorry to be here today under these tragic circumstances," said Sunu Widyatmoko, head of AirAsia Indonesia. "We would like to extend our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of those on board QZ8501. Our sympathies also go out to the families of our dear colleagues."

"My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ 8501," AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes tweeted. "On behalf of AirAsia my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."

Later, speaking with reporters, Fernandes said there is now "at least some closure" for families that might have been "holding out hope."

Hospitals in the Indonesian city of Surabaya are being prepared to help house and identify bodies being recovered off the coast of Borneo.

As families watched a live news conference about the discovery of the debris and saw video of a helicopter lowering a diver to what appeared to be a floating body, some people fainted. Stretchers were brought into the room.

Family members burst into tears, dabbing their eyes as officials passed out tissues. Some sat with their eyes full of tears, hands covering their mouths or heads buried in their hands. Others had phones jammed against their ears.

Military crew spotted an object's shadow

Soelistyo, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency, said the debris was discovered when a crew on a military aircraft spotted the shadow of an object that looked like a plane in the water.

Further searching found floating objects believed to be the bodies of passengers, and then what appeared to be an emergency exit of the plane. Officials sent other search teams racing to the area.

Several nations are contributing resources to the effort, including the United States. The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Sampson arrived Tuesday.

The USS Fort Worth is also being prepared to deploy from Singapore, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby told CNN on Tuesday. It "can be ready to sail in a day or two to get on station and can be there very quickly," he said.

The United States is also preparing maritime patrol aircraft that could help, he said.

The flight, which was lost Sunday on its way to Singapore, was carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members. The overwhelming majority were Indonesians. There were also citizens of Britain, France, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

Search and rescue teams are diverting all their resources to where the debris is, in the Karimata Strait, about 110 nautical miles southwest of the Indonesian city of Pangkalan Bun, AirAsia said.

Divers and ships with sonar equipment are being sent to the site, where the water depth varies between 25 and 30 meters (about 80 to 100 feet), Soelistyo said.

How can a modern airliner vanish?

Unanswered questions

Fernandes said the focus for now must remain on the recovery effort, and no sweeping changes were planned for the airline, which has 1,000 flights a day. "But rest assured," he said, that once the investigation is done, if "there are things we need to change, that we will change it."

The Airbus A320-200 lost contact with air traffic control early Sunday shortly after the pilot requested permission to turn and climb to a higher altitude because of bad weather, according to Indonesian officials.

Authorities mounted a huge effort to find the aircraft, mapping out a search zone covering 156,000 square kilometers.

Questions remain unanswered about why Flight 8501 lost contact with air traffic control and what happened afterward.

Some experts have said the aircraft might have experienced an aerodynamic stall because of a lack of speed or from flying at too sharp an angle to get enough lift.

Analysts have also suggested that the pilots might not have been getting information from onboard systems about the plane's position or that rain or hail from thunderstorms in the area could have damaged the engines.

The key to understanding what happened is likely to be contained in the aircraft's flight recorders.

"Until we get the black boxes, we won't know what's going on with the engines," Bill Savage, a former pilot with 30 years of experience, told CNN.

'It was to be his last vacation with his family'

Details have emerged about some of the people on board the plane.

They include Alain Oktavianus Siauw, whose fiance says she was on her way to the airport to pick him up when she heard the plane had gone missing.

Louise Sidharta said Siauw was supposed to be enjoying a family vacation before the two got married. "It was to be his last vacation with his family," she said.

Siauw's Facebook page says he lives in Malang, a province in Indonesia.

The disappearance of Flight 8501 also stirred painful memories of the families of people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over the South China Sea in March.

Nearly 10 months later, searchers are still combing remote reaches of the southern Indian Ocean for any trace of the Boeing 777 that had 239 people on board.

"The lack of ability to close things down emotionally is just exhausting," Sarah Bajc told CNN on Monday night. Her partner, Philip Woods, was on board Flight 370.

When news broke that another plane had disappeared this week, Bajc said, "I just started to shake."


Sumber - CNN.com

Indonesia Keen On ‘Big Brother’ Role in ASEAN and Beyond: Official

The country’s army chief says it wants to play a bigger role in promoting order in Asia

By Prashanth Parameswaran

The Indonesian military is keen on playing the role of “big brother” within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and beyond to promote order in the Asia-Pacific, the head of the country’s armed forces (TNI), General Moeldoko, said yesterday.

In remarks delivered before officially opening a meeting of senior Indonesian military leaders, Moeldoko said that he had used Indonesia’s rising power and influence in various regional fora such as the ASEAN Chiefs of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM) to advance the military’s goal of making itself a “big brother” in Southeast Asia.

“As head of TNI, I have brought a strong mission for it [the Indonesian military] to be the ‘big brother’ in the ASEAN region. We are now trying to do this and everyone [in ASEAN] has recognized the military’s growing power,” Moeldoko said in his remarks, which were delivered in the country’s military headquarters in East Jakarta in the local language Bahasa Indonesia.

Indonesia’s “big brother” role – a more informal characterization of its status as first among equals in ASEAN given its heft – tends to be viewed with mixed feelings in Southeast Asia. Some see Jakarta’s leadership as useful in directing the region and logical given its weight, while others regard it with suspicion due to historical animosities and future worries about how Indonesia may use its growing power. That lingering suspicion has only been compounded by some uncertainty about the new Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s foreign policy and what it means for Jakarta’s role in the region.

Nevertheless, Moeldoko said that with Indonesia’s growing might and status being widely recognized within ASEAN, the Indonesian military was now seeking similar recognition in the broader Asia-Pacific region.

Moeldoko’s focus on the expansion of Indonesia’s role into the broader Asia-Pacific is consistent with his previous remarks on the subject. For instance, in March this year, Moeldoko told the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times in an interview that he had proposed that the ACDFIM be expanded into an “ACDFIM Plus” to include counterparts from key players like the United States and China to better manage regional tensions in the Asia-Pacific.

Looking ahead, Moeldoko said that beyond the Indonesian military’s quest for “big brother” status within ASEAN, there would be other challenges for Indonesia and other ASEAN states as the Asia-Pacific becomes a region of focus in the 21st century and emerges as a global center of economic gravity.

One of those challenges that ASEAN states are grappling with now, and which Moeldoko addressed, is the South China Sea issue. Moeldoko revealed that he had told the chief of the Chinese armed forces in recent talks that while he and his ASEAN counterparts understood China’s ongoing military modernization, they “could not accept” if its growing prowess gives rise to instability in Southeast Asia.

While Moeldoko emphasized he was only conveying a message from ASEAN military chiefs, he is also known to personally harbor a more hawkish view of China. In April, Moeldoko advanced a hardened Indonesian position on the South China Sea in the Wall Street Journal, noting that Jakarta was “dismayed” that Beijing’s infamous nine-dash line in the South China Sea had included “parts of the Natuna Islands” which Indonesia claims, and that his country would “strengthen its forces” in response. The piece stoked broader concerns not just about a potential change in Indonesia’s approach to the South China issue, but the extent to which its position was truly coordinated between different interest groups including the military.

However, in his remarks on Monday, Moeldoko also reiterated that Indonesia was looking to cooperate with China on several matters as well, for instance in exploiting potential synergies between the “global maritime fulcrum” doctrine that Jokowi has advocated and the Maritime Silk Road idea that China has advanced. Chinese and Indonesian officials and advisers have been emphasizing the compatibility of these two visions since Jokowi was inaugurated in October.


Sumber - The Diplomat

Unlocking Asean’s potential

By Kishore Mahbubani and Fraser Thompson

CAN 10 countries with different cultures, traditions, languages, political systems and levels of economic development act in concert to expand their collective potential? That is the question the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has been wrestling for decades. Judging by their leaders’ ambitious vision for cooperation, the answer may be yes.

What began as a straightforward push to reduce trade tariffs has evolved into a blueprint for a dynamic open market of 600 million consumers and a production base that can compete directly with the world’s largest economies. Once in place, the so-called Asean Economic Community (AEC) will transform Southeast Asia and its role in the global economy.

Asean’s economic potential is undoubtedly impressive. Taken together, the group’s members — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam — would comprise the world’s seventh-largest economy. Moreover, Asean’s international trade has almost tripled over the last decade. And foreign-direct investment has been flowing into the region, with multinationals hoping to capitalise on its rapidly expanding middle class and strategic location at the intersection of China, Japan and India.

The AEC plan aims to build on this momentum by removing barriers to the movement of goods, services, capital and people throughout the region. The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) estimates that, by implementing this integration strategy fully and capturing a larger share of global manufacturing, the Asean countries could gain US$280 to US$625 billion (RM978 billion to RM2.1 trillion) in annual gross domestic product by 2030.

Part of that growth stems from encouraging local companies to expand beyond their home markets. By making exporting more efficient and less costly — up to 20 per cent cheaper in some sectors — a range of goods and services would become attainable for millions of new consumers. This could boost consumption across Southeast Asia, leading to a circle of growth.

But Asean’s quest to become a unified market is far from complete. While average tariff rates in the original five member states (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) have been virtually zero since 2010, some barriers must still be dismantled. An MGI survey of regional businesses identified restrictions on foreign investment and ownership, inconsistent standards and regulations and inefficient customs procedures as the biggest remaining barriers to trade.

Though full integration appears unlikely by Asean’s target date next year, lately the effort has been imbued with a renewed sense of urgency. As wages in China rise, Southeast Asian economies have a window of opportunity to become the next “factories to the world”.

Of course, competing on the basis of low wages alone would be inadequate to raise living standards in the long term. Asean will also need to compete on productivity, an area in which countries like Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam are at a disadvantage. Excluding Singapore and Brunei, average labour productivity in Asean remains about 40 per cent lower than in China.

For Asean to become a real manufacturing powerhouse, its lower-income economies will need to focus on modernising equipment and processes and building their workforces’ skills. They must also increase and sustain investment to address glaring infrastructure gaps and bring down high logistics costs. Some critics insist that, even with such efforts, Asean members vary too widely in terms of their level of economic development to create a smoothly functioning single entity. But Asean, unlike the European Union, is not attempting to form a monetary union.

In fact, Asean’s focus on trade makes diversity an advantage, as companies seek to benefit from low-cost labour in some countries and intermediate manufacturing capabilities in others, all while gaining access to one of the world’s most sophisticated financial and logistics centres. Though member states may sometimes have to compete with one another for market share and multinational operations, their areas of specialisation would largely be complementary.

Asean’s lower-income eco-nomies have expressed concern that they will miss out on many of the benefits of deeper integration. But this does not have to be the case. Mexico, for example, has arguably enjoyed greater economic benefits from the North American Free Trade Agreement than the United States or Canada has.

Nonetheless, this uneasiness reflects a central challenge facing Asean. From its inception, the group has fundamentally been a top-down project, driven by the region’s leaders instead of its people. But, as member countries have become more democratic, solidifying public support has become increasingly important, meaning that Asean leaders must work to communicate the benefits of integration more effectively.

At the same time, Asean governments must urge businesses — many of whose leaders, according to MGI’s survey, have limited awareness of the opportunities that integration presents — to expand into neighbouring markets. Here, removing a handful of key administrative barriers could go a long way.

As it stands, restrictions on foreign investment and trade barriers continue to shield many domestic industries from competitive pressures. Now, Asean countries must decide whether to retreat into protectionism or reaffirm their commitment to a more open approach. Though the latter option would create winners and losers, it could also stimulate the region’s overall productivity growth.

As a regional grouping, Asean does not have the kind of deep institutional ties and infrastructure links that bind together the EU’s members. Nor has it built the kind of seamless supply chains that funnel massive trade flows through North America. But, if Asean can execute the vision outlined in the AEC plan, it could exceed the sum of its parts.


Sumber - New Straits Times

Thailand stems human trafficking into Brunei

Quratul-Ain Bandial
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THAILAND will focus on increasing preventive measures to halt the trafficking of Thai nationals into Brunei, said the country’s outgoing ambassador.

In an interview with The Brunei Times, Apichart Phetcharatana expressed concern over the rising number of trafficking cases he has seen during his three-year tenure as ambassador.

He disclosed that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on human trafficking between Thailand and Brunei is “70 to 80 per cent complete”, aiming to facilitate better information sharing between law enforcement agencies of the two countries.

“It will focus more on preventive measures and will be very useful in terms of raising awareness and sharing information through law enforcement – this is very crucial. The more people know about the law and regulations, the less and less cases will be coming here,” he said.

Apichart explained there have been several cases of women trafficked to Brunei for sex work, as well as other victims of forced labour.

“Some victims were working in homes or companies and were exploited by employers. The income was not according to the agreement and they worked longer hours and with less attention to their welfare.”

Once the victims are repatriated to Thailand, they would again be interviewed by authorities to retrieve intelligence on trafficking syndicates.

He added that the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) has been very active in trying to promote awareness of the issue, and has approached the embassy to co-organise a briefing for the Thai community. Similar events were also organised for the Philippines and Indonesian communities recently.

According to police statistics, the RBPF investigated 183 cases of suspected human trafficking in 2013.

However, since 2004 only three cases have been prosecuted in court owing to lack of strong evidence and victims being uncooperative in providing testimony.

Several criteria must be proved to obtain a conviction — such as the use of threats, deception, abuse of power and recruitment or transport of an individual for the purpose of exploitation.

However, the Attorney General’s Chambers said it is currently reviewing the Trafficking and Smuggling of Persons Order as part of efforts to improve laws combating trafficking in persons.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

China's Ignores International Arbitration in South China Sea Dispute

Don't Be Fooled by China's Cooperation Lately. Xi Jinping Wants to Reform the International Order.

By Claire Groden

Last month, China showed its cooperative side to the international community. It struck an ambitious climate deal with the U.S. that President Xi Jinping announced alongside President Obama. It took a seat at the P5+1 talks in Vienna to negotiate a path forward for Iran’s nuclear program. And it responded to the United Nation’s call for aid to Ebola-ravaged West Africa by sending an elite unit of People’s Liberation Army troops and aid workers. “That’s global leadership, and that’s important, and that cooperation with us is more than welcome,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in early November of China’s increasing role in international crises.

But this doesn't mean China’s buying fully into the West's international order. This week, the country ignored a deadline to submit a response to a case filed by the Philippines in international court that contested Beijing’s broad territorial claims in the South China Sea. For decades, China has staked out a huge swatch of the valuable seascape, ignoring the territorial claims of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. In March, fed up with stalled negotiations and fishing boat scuffles, the Philippines filed a 4,000-page memo to the U.N. requesting arbitration of the contested territory. Beijing had until Monday to submit a response in The Hague, and by refusing to do so it scuttled the potential for international arbitration of the conflict.

The missed deadline was not a surprise. On December 7, Beijing issued a position paper that denied the international court’s legitimacy in arbitrating the disagreement. China argued that a series of agreements dating back to 1995 bound Manila to engaging in bilateral negotiations to solve the dispute, and that finding alternative solutions—even almost 20 years later—was impermissible. At a press conference on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Qin Gang elaborated, “The Chinese side specifies in the position paper that it will neither accept nor participate in the so-called South China Sea arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines, and that the arbitral tribunal does not have jurisdiction over this case.”

China has exclusively pursued bilateral negotiations over the South China Sea because it allows Beijing to intimidate, one by one, the smaller countries with competing claims to the region. And though the other claimants have tried to present a united front via the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the majority of the ten-member association doesn’t have a direct stake in the territorial conflict and would rather preserve relations with China. Beijing’s refusal to participate in international arbitration parallels its history of only negotiating in situations where it has the upper hand.

Xi’s hardline stance in the South China Sea shows that China is interested in international cooperation when it serves its own interests. For example, Beijing has expressed greater interest in fighting terrorism abroad because it increasingly worries about homegrown terrorism in its restive Xinjiang province. Chinese aid to Ebola-stricken African countries was surely incentivized by massive amounts of Chinese business investments in the region. And aggressively scaling back carbon emissions falls in line with the CCP’s goals for China, anyway. Beijing hopes to transition the Chinese economy away from manufacturing to industries higher on the development chain, and air pollution has become an uncomfortable domestic political issue.

Of course, Beijing is hardly alone in pursuing international engagements with its own best interests in mind. But global actors must remember that the Chinese ideal for an international system is not the same as the current, Western-designed one. In a wide-ranging speech Xi delivered on November 29, he mentioned his desire to “reform the international system and global governance, and increase the representation and say of China and other developing countries.” Beijing’s ideal U.N. would place an even higher premium on sovereignty—which benefits a country that doesn’t think much of human rights and has enough economic clout to bully its neighbors. As friendly as Beijing has been recently to the international community, it is certainly no friend of the international order.


Sumber - The New Republic

Mega trade pacts and the fight for Asia's trade future

Fiona Chan

As christmas approaches, Singapore's trade negotiators look set to end another year without the top item on their wishlist: a resolution to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The ambitious free trade agreement (FTA), which seeks to break new ground in removing trade barriers among 12 Asia-Pacific nations, has already missed several deadlines starting from last year.

Each delay is rooted in the same reasons. The United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in the deal, are still quibbling over opening up their industries to more foreign competition.

Other perennial sticking points in the TPP talks, which began in March 2010, include how to deal with "21st century" trade issues such as intellectual property protection and state-owned firms.

But, this time, the stakes for the TPP's completion are higher.

Other mega Asia-Pacific trade pacts have started to gain momentum in recent months, propelled by major economic players that are not part of the US-led TPP - notably China.

One such parallel deal is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which covers all 10 ASEAN nations plus the bloc's six FTA partners of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

When RCEP talks are completed by the end of next year - a commitment the 16 countries reiterated in August - it will be the world's largest FTA, although not nearly as in-depth as the TPP.

Then there is the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), a mammoth arrangement that was first mooted in 2004, but that China finally lifted out of limbo during last month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Beijing.

Making the FTAAP the centrepiece of its summit agenda, Beijing persuaded the 21 Apec leaders to commission a "strategic study" into the trade deal - a move China's President Xi Jinping said symbolised the "official launch of the process towards the FTAAP".

Rivals for the trade prize

Depending on which agreement prevails, trade in fast-growing Asia could flow in different directions, bringing with it the power to shape economic agendas in the region.

The US is well aware of the stakes. It has recently been supplanted by China as the main trading partner of many Asian countries - last year, the US bought only 14.2 per cent of Asia's merchandise exports, down from 23.7 per cent in 2000, according to Asian Development Bank data.

That may be why Washington is trying to quash Beijing's attempts at kickstarting the FTAAP and to refocus attention on the TPP, the economic cornerstone of its rebalance towards Asia.

The US reportedly pushed back on China's original draft of the Apec communique that called for a "feasibility study" into the FTAAP - which would have implied the start of negotiations.

It also managed to prevent Beijing from setting a 2025 deadline for the FTAAP. The final communique states only a meek timeframe of 2016 for the completion of the strategic study.

On its part, Beijing is pushing hard for the FTAAP, in what some say is an effort to extend its influence in the Pacific Rim and counterbalance the bigger role the US is likely to play in the region once the TPP is a done deal.

To a smaller extent, China is also seen as one of the lead drivers of the RCEP, alongside ASEAN.

While all three trade pacts will enlarge the region's economy, they involve different countries and represent varying benefits to each, which is likely to translate into different levels of motivation for them to conclude each deal.

China, Indonesia and South Korea are among those in the RCEP and FTAAP but not the TPP. The United States and Canada are in the TPP and FTAAP but not the RCEP. India is in the RCEP but not the other two.

Only seven countries are included in all three agreements: Singapore, Australia, Brunei, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Vietnam.

Even then, countries like Japan and Vietnam are more likely to see immediate gains from the TPP than the RCEP, since they do not have an existing FTA with the US.

The US also stands to reap the most benefits from the TPP, since its intellectual property provisions offer the greatest perks for US companies, says Mr Jayant Menon from the Asian Development Bank Institute.

"But the region as a whole will gain the most from an agreement that includes all of the key players, such as the FTAAP."

Experts see it as unlikely that the TPP and RCEP will ever merge, given that the former holds all countries to the same ambitious standards while the latter allows special treatment for developing country members.

"The TPP can be broader and deeper in part because it's a voluntary agreement - members choose to join," says Ms Deborah Elms, executive director of the Singapore-based Asian Trade Centre.

"The RCEP countries got 'drafted' by virtue of existing agreements. They therefore have differing levels of enthusiasm for the whole exercise."

Assembling the puzzle

An alternative version of events, however, frames the spaghetti bowl of Asia-Pacific trade deals as a jigsaw puzzle, with the different trade deals eventually expanding or being combined to encompass the whole region.

In this scenario of a region-wide FTA, there are two possibilities. The first is that the TPP and the RCEP develop in parallel towards an overarching FTAAP.

If successful, the FTAAP would be by far the largest FTA in the Asia-Pacific region, covering all TPP members and the world's three largest economies of China, the US and Japan.

One oft-cited study published in May by the East-West Center, a US-based institution promoting diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region, has estimated that the economic gains from a concluded FTAAP could reach nearly US$2 trillion (S$2.6 trillion), adding 2 per cent to the global economy.

This would be more than eight times the US$223 million boost from the TPP, and about three times the RCEP's US$644 million estimated gain.

But even if the FTAAP fails to materialise, a second region-wide FTA is possible. This would entail expanding the TPP to include other countries that have expressed some interest to join.

The addition of China, Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines and Thailand to the TPP could boost its projected gains to more than US$1.9 trillion, nearly equal the gains from the FTAAP, the East-West Center study showed.

These countries are now excluded from the TPP not due to economic rivalries, but because they are reluctant or unprepared to meet the high standards of the "21st century" pact, which aims to blaze a trail for the next generation of FTAs.

Ms Elms is among those who expect China to eventually join the TPP. "Chinese firms are increasingly in supply chains and not just as a final assembly point. The benefits for firms inside the TPP will be substantial," she says.

But Mr Menon believes the FTAAP is a more likely route than an expanded TPP.

"It is difficult to imagine conditions under which China may join the TPP, if and when it is concluded, or indeed the US coming into RCEP," he says, noting that new entrants have to accept the terms agreed to by existing members.

"It would be easier to start from scratch, and the FTAAP provides one such opportunity."

Dr Mireya Solis of the Brookings Institution adds that entry into the TPP would not grant China the same clout as spearheading its own initiative like the FTAAP.

"China would have to abide by disciplines negotiated by others and would have to make significant concessions to ensure its accession," she noted in a commentary last month.

Still, any expansion of the TPP or convergence of the existing mega trade agreements will have to overcome a few obstacles.

One is the disparity in economic development between different Asia-Pacific countries, which will make it difficult to implement a one-size-fits-all FTA. A way around this could be a step-up FTA, where the least developed economies initially achieve RCEP standards, with a view to eventually meeting FTAAP and then TPP requirements.

Another, perhaps more crucial, hurdle is the political conflict between major economies - not just between the US and China, but also among the East Asian powers of China, Japan and Korea.

That will be trickier to negotiate. But concluding each individual mega trade pact, which should continue to be the focus for now, would provide some practice and perhaps give the countries in question a preview of the benefits they can expect if they set aside their differences.

Sumber - The Straits Times

MILF takes next step to polls, seeks Comelec nod for party

COTABATO CITY—The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has taken the next step to its foray into politics, submitting an application for accreditation at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for a political party formed by MILF leaders and members.

MILF on Tuesday announced that it had already submitted its application for accreditation at the Comelec for the political group United Bangsamoro Justice Party (UBJP).

Sammy Al-Mansoor, MILF’s military chief, did not say when the accreditation documents had been submitted but that the group had already registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), one of the requirements of the Comelec for accreditation.

Al-Mansoor, also UBJP secretary general, said the MILF-led political party’s first task is to campaign for ratification of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which would create a new autonomous system to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

The proposed law, if passed by Congress and signed by President Aquino, would be put to a vote in a plebiscite before its provisions, especially on creating a new autonomous region, could be implemented.

The creation of a new autonomous region is the key feature of a peace agreement between MILF and the administration of President Aquino.

Al-Mansoor said UBJP would have a general assembly on Dec. 23-25 which would be open to even non-MILF members.

He said MILF is organizing the assembly “to prove that UBJP is now in business.”

UBJP, he said, would gather at least 25,000 MILF members “to educate them on the country’s electoral system.”

“If we want to sustain this political party, we need to prove that it is really existing,” he said.

MILF had announced the creation of a political party as early as March.

Mohaqher Iqbal, the MILF chief negotiator and chair of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), said the UBJP might affiliate with a national political party.

He said the party would field candidates in the elections that would be held for positions in the future Bangsamoro region.

Al-Mansoor said MILF, through UBJP, is establishing a network of supporters, even as it expects to enlist more community-based volunteers in Basilan, Lanao Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Simeon Datumanong, former Maguindanao representative, said in a paper submitted to members of the House committee studying the BBL that the proposed law would pass legal and constitutional scrutiny.

In his paper, Datumanong said the Constitution allows Congress to determine the kind of government—parliamentary or unitary—for the autonomous region.

“The choice of Congress to create a parliamentary form of government within the Bangsamoro is well within its plenary authority,” said Datumanong’s paper.

“It is an exercise of its absolute legislative discretion and wisdom,” it said.


Sumber - Inquirer News


MILF to disarm in January

The number of firearms that will be decommissioned by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front will be “much, much more” than what was turned over by Banda Aceh rebels in Indonesia, government chief negotiator Miriam Ferrer said on Wednesday.

“The MILF already submitted a list of all its weapons as well as combatants in a confidential letter to President Benigno Aquino III. The total number of firearms that will be decommissioned will not be like Banda Aceh with only 1,000 firearms. It will be much, much more,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer said the first batch of weapons—55 high-powered firearms and 20 crew-served weapons—will be decommissioned in January.

The MILF also offered to decommission 150 combatants during the symbolic turnover ceremony.

“The decommissioning of the first 150 combatants was a proposal from the MILF. Under the agreement that we signed, the MILF is only required to turnover weapons in the first batch of decommissioning,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer could not yet give a definite date for the ceremony, but said it will be after the visit of Pope Francis in January.

Presidential peace adviser Teresita Deles, for her part, said the government and the MILF are “not quibbling” over numbers in so far as the decommissioning process is concerned.

“Numbers do not matter. What we want is to be able to give the opportunity to as many as possible to start afresh as civilians,” Deles said.

Ferrer said six acknowledged MILF camps will also be turned into productive civilian communities with intervention from various government agencies, led by the Department of Agriculture.

“We will take a look at how to improve the socio-economic conditions in the areas surrounding the MILF base camps,” she said.

“The interventions will be in the form of delivery of quick-impact projects such as farm implements, fishing boats, seedlings, and livestock, among others, to pump prime the livelihood of the communities,” Ferrer added.

Deles, for her part, remained optimistic that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law will be enacted  by Congress within the first quarter of 2015 to ensure that a plebiscite is held by the middle of next year.

“When you’ve gotten to where we’ve gotten, your frame of mind changes. You just want to see this through to the end,” Deles said.


Sumber - Manila Standard Today

Study says countries lost $1 trillion to corruption in 2012

Brunei ranks 21st by largest average annual illicit outflows 2003 - 2102.

Download full report - Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2003-2012

A global anti-corruption group said Monday that nearly $1 trillion was illicitly drained from developing countries in 2012, representing a record level of corruption, money laundering and false trade documentation.

The Washington-based group Global Financial Integrity said illicit financial flows around the world grew at 9.4 percent a year in the decade to 2012, around double the pace of economic growth, draining funds especially from impoverished countries.

The largest outflows came from giant, still poorly-regulated economies like Brazil, China, India and Russia, GFI's new report says.

Money illicitly streamed out of China at a rate of about $125 billion annually over that period, for instance.

But also in the top 10 country sources of illegal capital outflows are a number of dynamic middle-sized economies: Malaysia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

Mexico is third on the list of largest outflows at an average $54 billion a year.

In total, the report put the total illegal capital movements from developing and emerging economies in 2012 at $991.2 billion, greater than the combined sum of incoming foreign investment and foreign aid in those countries.

"Emerging and developing countries hemorrhaged a trillion dollars from their economies in 2012 that could have been invested in local businesses, healthcare, education, or infrastructure," said the study's co-author, economist Joseph Spanjers.

"This is a trillion dollars that could have contributed to inclusive economic growth, legitimate private-sector job creation and sound public budgets."

Over a decade, the total was $6.6 trillion, the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of the entire global economy. In terms of the relative size of the impact, the countries most hurt by the flows were in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The main way the money flows out of the countries is misinvoicing in trade transactions, which can allow exporters and imports to keep money out of the country.

GFI said individual countries and the United Nations need to focus on cutting down such flows to fight poverty and boost growth.

"It is simply impossible to achieve sustainable global development unless world leaders agree to address this issue head-on," said GFI president Raymond Baker.

"That's why it is essential for the United Nations to include a specific target next year to halve all trade-related illicit flows by 2030 as part of post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda."

The top 10 developing countries for illicit capital outflows in 2012:

China....................................... US$249.57 billion
Russia...................................... US$122.86 billion
India....................................... US$94.76 billion
Mexico...................................... US$59.66 billion
Malaysia ................................... US$48.93 billion
Saudi Arabia............................... US$46.53 billion
Thailand.................................... US$35.56 billion
Brazil...................................... US$33.93 billion
South Africa...................................... US$29.13 billion
Costa Rica................................... US$21.55 billion


Sumber - Yahoo Finance UK

Semarakkan Semangat Kekitaan Warga ASEAN

Oleh Ainul Huda Mohamed Saaid

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- Chomreabsuor! Kumoosta! Hello! Sawatdee! Apa Khabar! Chao! Mingalaba! Sabaadii!; ini adalah senarai ucapan salam mewakili 10 negara anggota ASEAN dengan tiga - Malaysia, Indonesia dan Brunei - berkongsi ucapan "Apa Khabar".

Seseorang akan dapat mendengar ucapan-ucapan berkenaan apabila berada di negara-negara anggota ASEAN ini yang terdiri daripada; Malaysia, Singapura, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos dan Kemboja, apabila konsep Komuniti ASEAN secara rasmi ditubuhkan pada 31 Dis 2015.

Variasi bahasa, agama, budaya serta taraf ekonomi antara negara-negara anggota tidak menjadi penghalang kepada pertubuhan dengan jumlah penduduknya 620 juta ini mengorak langkah dalam satu persamaan identiti sebagai Komuniti ASEAN.

Konsep Komuniti ASEAN bermatlamat untuk menyemarakkan lagi semangat kekitaan bagi semua rakyat negara-negara anggota ASEAN terhadap organisasi ini, selain membawa ASEAN lebih dekat kepada rakyat.

Ini akan dilakukan menerusi tiga tunggak utama iaitu; Komuniti Politik dan Keselamatan, Komuniti Sosio-Budaya dan Komuniti Ekonomi dalam semangat Komuniti ASEAN bagi meleraikan segala perbezaan yang wujud dan berusaha bagi menjalin kerjasama dalam bidang yang berkenaan.

KOMUNITI POLITIK DAN KESELAMATAN

Sedar atau tidak, rakyat ASEAN, khususnya Malaysia, sebenarnya sudah lama menikmati faedah daripada kerjasama menerusi tunggak politik dan keselamatan.

Antaranya ialah 'open sky policy' bagi pesawat penumpang selain kebebasan bergerak ke negara-negara ASEAN yang lain tanpa visa kecuali Myanmar.

"Kestabilan politik di rantau ini wujud hasil kerjasama dan kesefahaman antara negara-negara ASEAN.

"Apabila wujud satu suasana politik yang stabil, maka kita rakyat dapatlah menikmati pembangunan ekonomi dan menjalankan kerja-kerja seharian kita," kata Ketua Pengarah Sekretariat Kebangsaan ASEAN-Malaysia (AMNS) Datuk Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaacob kepada Bernama baru-baru ini.

Dalam menghadapi era Komuniti ASEAN, isu keselamatan serantau akan terus diperjuangkan ASEAN terutama dalam isu nuklear iaitu meminta negara-negara kuasa nuklear menandatangani perjanjian Zon Bebas Nuklear Asia Tenggara (SEANWFZ).

KOMUNITI SOSIO-BUDAYA

Antara keutamaan yang diberikan dalam aspek sosio-budaya ialah warisan budaya, alam sekitar dan sumber asli, peningkatan kualiti hidup dan pembangunan sumber manusia.

Ini termasuk aktiviti melibatkan golongan belia menerusi Program Pertukaran Belia ASEAN dan Program Sukarelawan Belia ASEAN (AYVP) yang memberi tumpuan kepada kemahiran, kepimpinan, keusahawanan dan kesukarelaan.

Sukan juga, yang menjadi medan penghubung rakyat ASEAN seperti Kejohanan Bolasepak Piala AFF Suzuki, Sukan SEA dan Sukan Universiti ASEAN, akan terus dianjurkan.

KOMUNITI EKONOMI

Dari segi ekonomi, Malaysia sebagai pengerusi ASEAN tahun hadapan, menyasarkan pembangunan sektor perusahaan kecil dan sederhana (PKS).

Kerajaan sendiri menggesa 643,000 usahawan PKS tempatan untuk berusaha menembusi pasaran ASEAN.

Menteri Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamed berkata pembentukan Komuniti Ekonomi ASEAN (AEC) kelak menawarkan peluang besar kepada PKS Malaysia.

"Sebagai satu pasaran tunggal, jumlah perdagangan ASEAN bernilai US$2.5 trilion (US$1=RM3.34) dengan unjuran pertumbuhan KDNK tahunan lebih lima peratus," katanya semasa majlis anugerah 'The Enterprise 50' baru-baru ini.

ASEAN dan negara-negara jirannya juga sedang berunding untuk membentuk Perjanjian Perkongsian Ekonomi Komprehensif Serantau (RCEP).

"Apabila dimuktamadkan kelak, RCEP akan membentuk satu kumpulan dagangan dengan saiz pasaran lebih tiga bilion dan gabungan KDNK lebih US$21 trilion, menyumbang kepada hampir separuh daripada perdagangan dunia.

"Syarikat Malaysia harus menerima dengan terbuka AEC dan integrasi Asia Timur. Integrasi ekonomi akan membuka peluang perniagaan baharu dan mewujudkan nilai yang lebih besar kepada perniagaan kita," katanya lagi.

PENGERUSI ASEAN

Malaysia, seperti yang diketahui umum, akan menggalas tugas sebagai pengerusi ASEAN tahun hadapan. Meskipun kepengerusian itu adalah berdasarkan sistem giliran, tugas yang menanti negara bukanlah mudah.

Dua tanggungjawab penting sebagai pengerusi adalah memastikan visi ASEAN selepas 2015 didokumenkan, selain memantau pelaksanaan pelan-pelan tindakan di bawah halatuju ASEAN 2009-2015.

"Kita sebagai pengerusi kita cuba untuk menerajui, memberi kepimpinan kepada proses itu, tetapi harus diingat ASEAN berdasarkan konsensus bersama, ataupun muafakat, jadi kita perlu kepada kerjasama yang rapat daripada negara anggota ASEAN yang lain," jelas Muhammad Shahrul.

Malaysia bersiap sedia untuk menggalas tugas sebagai pengerusi ASEAN 2015 dengan membuat persediaan dari awal di samping berjumpa dengan kumpulan-kumpulan berkepentingan yang terdiri daripada wakil-wakil pertubuhan badan bukan kerajaan (NGO), kumpulan pemikir, kumpulan belia dan kumpulan media.


Sumber - BERNAMA

Outlook 2015: Which countries will grow fastest in Asia?

By Arno Maierbrugger

Improving fundamentals, successful reform programmes and, last but not least, lower oil prices will make emerging Asia once again the fastest growing region in the world in 2015, according to forecasts by international economic institutions such as World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Studies show that the region will enjoy average GDP growth of nearly 7% in the coming year, which is by far stronger then the forecast for the entire Asian continent at 4.5%.

This is mainly driven by growth expectations for China, which – although slightly reduced to 7.2% from 7.4% – are still crucial for the region’s entire economy.

Besides that, Southeast Asia is seen as a particular bright spot in terms of stronger economic development due to various other factors. Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has introduced widespread economic reforms and generally sees robust private consumption.

Malaysia has caught up due to improving exports and a strong labour market, and Thailand is expected to overcome its politically induced economic slowdown in 2015 due to higher government spending in infrastructure and attempts to create room for productivity-enhancing investments.

The winner in Southeast Asia, however, seems to be the Philippines. The formerly “sick man of Asia” has obviously recovered well under the presidency of Benigno Aquino III and is expected to be among the fastest growing countries in the region.

The Philippines posted 5.3% GDP growth in the third quarter of 2014, behind Malaysia’s 5.6% and Vietnam’s 6.2%, but is expected to post 6.7% GDP growth in the coming year. This is due to the country’s improved economic fundamentals, increased inflow of foreign direct investments and buoyant remittance activity from Oversea Filipino Workers which pushes up private consumption.

Rating agency Moody’s last week raised the Philippines’ credit rating a second time in 14 months to Baa2 with a stable outlook from Baa3, citing the country’s “ongoing debt reduction and improvements in fiscal management, favourable prospects for strong economic growth and limited vulnerability to the common risks currently affecting emerging markets.”

The growth outlook for Myanmar has been originally slightly higher than the forecast for the Philippines as per ADB figures, but economists believe that the country’s growth will slow down due to its increasing trouble to contain inflation and the devaluation of its currency.

However, institutional and policy reforms, along with continued strong foreign investments, are expected to keep Myanmar on track.

Growth in the 5 to 6% range is expected for Vietnam, while GDP expansion in Cambodia and Laos should be around 7%, albeit from a significantly lower level.

Singapore and Brunei will be the slowest growing countries in the region.

Singapore’s growth forecast for 2015 has just been cut by the city state’s largest bank DBS to 3.2% from 3.6%, citing continued exposure to divergence in global monetary policies. Lower oil prices, however, should benefit the manufacturing sector in the country, DBS said.

The latter is not the case for oil-rich Brunei. The 2015 GDP growth forecast for the tiny sultanate is a meagre 1.2%.

In comparison, growth expectations for the Middle East remain subdued. Growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries is projected by the IMF to average about 4.5% annually in 2015, with non-oil GDP expanding 6% and oil GDP rising just 0.5%, if at all, i.e. unless oil price are remaining that weak or are falling further.


Sumber - Gulf Times

Brunei Darussalam increases ICT push

Plans to stimulate Brunei Darussalam's ICT industry have been stepped up with the launch of a new broadband policy and the opening of a software development academy as the Sultanate works towards diversifying its economy away from oil exports through the creation of a knowledge-based economy.

In a bid to increase ICT usage and boost the sector’s contribution to the economy, Brunei launched its National Broadband Policy in November after work on the four-year strategy for broadband development began in May 2013.

With the policy, the government is hoping to increase the household penetration rate of broadband to at least 80% by 2017, from 31% for fixed broadband at present. Brunei's communications minister, YB Pehin Dato Abdullah Bakar, said earlier this year that the government is aiming to reduce prices for household high-speed internet to less than 3% of the average monthly income by 2016.

Cultivating start-ups

Like many other oil producing countries, Brunei as the third largest oil producer in Southeast Asia is working to diversify its economy, a move which has been compounded by the recent drop in global oil prices. The government has targeted increasing the ICT sector’s contribution to GDP from less than 2% at present to 6% by 2015. Currently, revenues from crude oil and natural gas exports account for more than half of GDP.

Brunei is also heavily investing in the sector. In the 2014/15 budget, transport and communications received the third-largest allocation of BN$226.6m ($177.81m), or 19.7% of total planned expenditures.

However, the government is keen to foster private-sector investment and partnerships, as well as drive research & development (R&D) in the space. One such initiative is the launch of the Brunei Solutions Development Centre (BSDC) in December, which will develop new software and application solutions for the government as well as serve as a training centre for the ICT industry, part of a broader government strategy to encourage more start-ups and rebrand Brunei as a regional force in ICT.

The ICT centre, which will be managed by a team from Microsoft, is expected to help overcome a skills shortage that has held Brunei's industry back. Demand for technology has exploded across Southeast Asia thanks to booming sales of smartphones and tablets, but only a few companies in the entire region have the expertise to offer high-end IT solutions.

“Our vision for the BSDC is that the local ICT industry can also start finding solutions outside the Brunei market,” said Mohd Norshafiee, director of the E-Government National Centre, at the launch of the centre where local ICT graduates and vendors will be trained under senior Microsoft architects.

"Made in Brunei" gets more funding

The training facility at the centre will feed into a range of government initiatives designed to rally Brunei's ICT sector as a strategy to diversify from the heavy reliance on local government ICT projects, as the wealthy Sultanate tries to leapfrog regional rivals that have made considerable progress in ICT, such as Malaysia and Singapore.

In June, the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI) announced it had signed an agreement with Singapore-based consultancy IDA International for services to develop a national ICT manpower master plan in a bid to accelerate the development of ICT professionals. Although the government has done an impressive job of laying down modern infrastructure and providing incentives for IT start-ups, one of the primary hurdles that remains is attracting and retaining enough qualified workers in the private sector.

Meanwhile, it is striving to introduce more "Made in Brunei" products. AITI opened another round of funding to promote research & development (R&D) activities by local businesses in November with 12 ICT companies in Brunei having received grants under the scheme since its inception in 2010.

There are concerns, however, that local ICT businesses are too reliant on the government and foreign expertise, while "Made in Brunei" products are few. "The majority of these companies are resellers, distributors and hardware vendors, which import hardware and software from overseas, and resell them to consumers in Brunei," said Siti Zaraura Hj Mohammed, senior manager at AITI's Industry Development Group.  She added that the remaining half of the ICT companies – around 200 in total − are in dormant state or inactive, prompting a sector-wide accreditation scheme.


Sumber - Oxford Business Group

Jokowi’s Tough New Maritime Policy Takes Shape

Fishing boat captures send a message to China

The news that Indonesian authorities captured three Vietnamese fishing boats in Indonesian waters last week and later sank them puts new teeth into President Joko Widodo’s vow, enunciated at his Inaugural address and again in mid-November, that he intends to make his nation into a regional maritime power.

On Saturday, officials sank three Vietnamese vessels captured for fishing illegally in Indonesia’s waters, which some observers have construed as a message to China, which has made unprecedented intrusions into Indonesian waters around the Natuna Islands and which yesterday reiterated its right to South China Sea areas also claimed by the Philippines.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno told reporters that they intended to demonstrate “stern government action” against illegal fishing. Another five Thai vessels have been held since No. 2 after being captured near West Kalimantan and, authorities said, they would also be sent to the bottom.. More than 150 small craft are also in Indonesian custody.

The new president has complained that Indonesia loses as much as Rp300 trillion (US$24.2 billion) annually from illegal fishing and currently as many as 5,400 ships operate illegally in territorial waters because the government has taken little action to stop them.  That isn’t quite true. In the five years between 2007 and 2012, authorities confiscated and sank 33 of 38 illegal fishing craft, the majority from Vietnam, in waters near the Natuna Islands.  It has also conducted territorial standoffs with Malaysian naval vessels.

In major speeches in China and Myanmar, Jokowi, as he prefers to be known, unveiled a major diplomatic agenda outlining what he called a “maritime axis” and serving notice that Indonesia would raise its profile in the South China Sea. He first alluded to plans to turn his country into a maritime nation during his five-year term of office in his inaugural address in October.

He expanded on that message on Nov.13 at the East Asia Summit in Myanmar when he said the sea will have an increasingly important role in Indonesia’s future. In short, he said Indonesia intends to become a force between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In a brief five-minute address, Jokowi said Indonesia must protect its own archipelago of 18,200 islands, only 8,800 of them even named, in a sea of 8.8 million sq.km.

His Maritime Axis doctrine, he said, rests on five pillars that include ensuring regional security as well as safeguarding navigational safety and maritime security, a regional role that the US has played since World War II. One of those pillars, he said, is “maintaining and managing its sea resources and establishing sovereignty over sea-based food products, which currently are poached almost with impunity by international fishing interests.”

The question is what happens when this muscular new maritime policy runs up against China’s own maritime aims, let alone the hundreds of ships plying Indonesian waters from Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. According to a Spring, 2014 article in Washington Monthly by Alan Dupont and Christopher G. Baker, “Chinese fishing boats are also appearing in unprecedented numbers around Indonesia’s Natuna Island group,” nearly 2,000 km from the Chinese mainland, illustrating how far south the Chinese fleet is now sailing and the extent of its fishing and territorial claims.

The Indonesian Navy has detained Chinese fishermen in the past for illegally fishing in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone, which provoked a “typically blunt demand from Beijing for their immediate return.” The Chinese response raised fears in Jakarta that China’s expansive claim to the South China Sea might cut across the northern edge of the Natunas’ EEZ, even though Indonesia is not a claimant to any of the disputed features in the Spratly Island chain, the authors wrote.

A more dramatic example of what China might do is contained in the same article, describing a 2012 incident in which a Philippine maritime surveillance plane discovered eight Chinese vessels at anchor within its waters at the Scarborough Shoals. A ship, the Gregorio del Pilar, was dispatched to inspect the vessels and discovered a large amount of coral, giant clams, and shark among their catch, which the Philippines condemned as illegal.

The Chinese counter-claimed that their fishing vessels were sheltering from a storm when the Philippine navy started harassing them, Dupont and Baker wrote. As the Gregorio del Pilar attempted to arrest the fishermen, two Chinese maritime surveillance ships showed  up to defend the fishing vessels, preventing arrests.

In a bid to defuse the situation, a small Philippine coast guard search-and-rescue craft replaced the Gregorio del Pilar— only to have China send one of a new class of armed fisheries patrol and law enforcement ships, the 2,589-tonne Yuzheng 310 and pushing the Philippine craft out. Despite that, China intensified its patrols, sending a clear message that it would not withdraw its claim to the shoal and its adjacent fishing grounds.

Jokowi, in his earlier speeches, has indicated he would shift defense spending from the army to the navy. It is uncertain what challenges Jokowi will face in turning his vision into reality. The Army continues to receive the bulk of a defense budget that amounts to about only about 1 percent of GDP. While the country has the largest navy in Southeast Asia, it is only slightly larger than that of Thailand, with two operational submarines and three under construction, six frigates and two under construction, 10 corvettes, 55 aircraft, 21 missile-carriers, 12 minesweepers and assorted other craft. It will be interesting to see if he dares a confrontation with a much larger and more modern Chinese military fleet as well as its huge fishing fleet in the Natunas over fishing rights.


Sumber - Asia Sentinel

The Great South China Sea Hydrocarbon Grab

By Llewellyn King

In all of the struggles for territory in history, none has been quite as ambitious or unusual as a country trying to steal a whole ocean.

But that is what China is actively doing in the ocean south of the mainland: the South China Sea. Bit by bit, it is establishing hegemony over this most important sea where the littoral states -- China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam -- have territorial claims.

The importance of the South China Sea is hard to overestimate. Some of the most vital international sea lanes traverse it; it is one of the great fishing areas; and the ocean bed, near land, has large reserves of oil and gas. No wonder everyone wants a piece of it -- and China wants all of it.

Historically China has laid claim to a majority of the sea and adheres to a map or line -- known as the nine-dash map, the U-shape line or the nine-dotted line -- that cedes most of the ocean area and all of the island land to it. The nine-dash map is a provocation at best and a blueprint for annexation at worst.

The mechanism for China’s filching of one of the great seas of the world is control of the three island archipelagos, the Paracel, Spratly and Pratas islands, and several other smaller outcroppings, as well as the seamounts, called the Macclesfield Bank and the Scarborough Shoal. Between them, they consist of about 250 small islands, atolls, keys, shoals, sandbars and reefs. Very few of these are habitable or have indigenous people. Some are permanently submerged, and many are only exposed at low tide.

Yet if China can claim title to them, it can use them to extend its hegemony into the area around them. First, it can claim the standard 12 miles of territorial waters around each land mass and it also can claim an economic zone of influence of 200 miles from the most dubious “island.” Ergo, China can connect the dots and grab a large chunk of the South China Sea.

China is reclaiming land – actually building a new artificial island -- in the disputed Spratly Islands. The two-mile-long island will have an airfield that, China's foreign ministry claims, will be used for air-sea operations. The other claimants think otherwise, especially Vietnam. The United States has called for China to halt the island project.

China has been both stealthy and obvious about its strategy. It has increased its trade with the claimants; and in some cases has made generous contributions to their infrastructure development, but not in the South China Sea. In its maritime provocations, China has been careful to use its coast guard, not its navy, as it extends its grasp on the archipelagos, and inches forward to total domination of anything that looks like land in the waters off its southern coast.

The Philippines has sought international legal redress under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a treaty which the United States has not ratified, limiting its legal manoeuvring, according to Barry Nolan of the Boston Forum, a policy analysis group that has studied the South China Sea crisis this year. China denies the legitimacy of international law in what is says is an internal matter.

To my mind, what we are seeing is a new kind of imperialism from China, a gradual annexation of whatever it wants; quiet aggression, just short of war but relentless. This is China's modus operandi in Southeast Asia, Africa and other places. It squeezes gently and then with greater strength, like a lethal constrictor snake.

Southeast Asian countries are arming, but China’s naval forces are growing faster. Also, it has the cash and the people to do what it wants. The U.S. “pivot to Asia” has done little to reassure China’s neighbors. Their nervousness is compounded by the ease with which Russia was able to annex Crimea and is proceeding into Eastern Ukraine unchecked. What’s to stop China grabbing some useless islands, and then a whole sea?

The ancient concept of oceans as commons is under threat. The Chinese dragon walks and swims.


Sumber - OilPrice.com

Democracy and Southeast Asia are Not Incompatible

By Jarno Lang

Despite historical difficulties, Southeast Asia has come a long way on the road to democratization.

The Arab Spring that started in 2011 brought the world’s attention back to the diverse nature and processes of democratization, with more recent events in Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia putting the Asia-Pacific region under the spotlight of democratic developments. While news from Southeast Asia remains on the periphery of global media, the democratic shortcomings in the region are too often analyzed and explained through a Western lens.

Grounds for Optimism?

A look at statistical data on the development of democracy in the region offers some ground for optimism. Today, more than a decade into the 21st century, among the 11 Southeast Asian countries there are fewer authoritarian regimes than there were in the early 1990s. Here, the most notable example is set by Indonesia that shed the three-decades long dictatorship under President Suharto at the turn of the millennium, and has recently successfully completed another round of presidential elections. With East Timor regaining sovereignty in 2002, the slow but steady opening up of Myanmar’s political system to the international community after 2010, together with Malaysia’s relative political stability over the last few years, marked more successes for democratic processes in the region.

Today, seven of the Southeast Asian nations are counted as at least “partly free” by Freedom House. In addition, when looking at long-term development, Southeast Asia’s education and media systems have shown an overall improvement over the last few decades, as increasingly more people have access to information and the prevalent use of social media in the region has allowed greater transnational communication. Hence, judging from a quick glance at the numbers alone, and based on the global discourse of Asian nations taking charge of their own political futures, Southeast Asian democracy should be a promising story of success.

However, if one risks a closer look at the details, it quickly becomes apparent that not all that shines is golden. The 2014 World Map of Reporters Without Borders shows that in all Southeast Asian countries, with the only exception of East Timor, freedom of information is in a “difficult” or even “very serious situation”, the two worst categories of a total of five. Besides, the unstable political situation in Thailand has led to an increased censorship of the country’s media, and Indonesia – Southeast Asia’s largest country in terms of population and area – actually lost its 2012 Freedom House status of “fully free.”

It is thus worthwhile to take a look behind the scenes and what mainstream global news media usually offer as information on Southeast Asia.

Why Democracy Might Not Work in Southeast Asia

The academic, journalistic and political discourse of the last four decades has developed three main explanations why democracy and Southeast Asia might not be a natural fit. First, there is the historical explanation: Similar to other parts of the non-Western world, the Southeast Asian colonial experiences automatically led to the development of authoritarian regimes after the suppressed populations gained independence. Therefore, even Thailand – the only Southeast Asian country that did not experience colonial rule – could not escape the inherently systemic, all-encompassing vacuum that replaced the pre-World War II power structure. As a consequence, political strife has been constant and coup d’états have been a frequent characteristic of the Thai political order.

Second, there is the explanation based on an ideological perspective. Here, the Asian value debate that started in the 1980s can be seen as the main case in point. The argument goes that the value systems of Asian countries stand in direct opposition to Western ideals such as democracy, a line of thought that is similar to the argument that Islam and democracy do not go together. Following this logic, the development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the region’s multilateral institution, cannot follow the example set by the European Union (EU). In the past, some politicians referred to the concepts of mushawara and mufakat, which loosely translate into consultation and consensus, when arguing for an ASEAN way that was different from others. On a national level, Singapore and Brunei serve as perfect examples, since their argument for limiting individual rights such as press freedom or democratic participation, in order to guarantee the safety and security of the many, is based on the same logic.

Third, and lastly, there is the pragmatic explanation that argues that national economic development or nation-building is much more important than democracy development — a post-colonial argument, if looked upon strictly, that is still often repeated today. From this point of view, although democracy could be an ideal worth striving for, so long as the countries in the region have closed the gap to the economic achievements of industrialized Western nations, lofty ideals are much lower in ranking than economic development. Naturally, until today, this logic allows many elites in Southeast Asia to publicly proclaim their belief in democracy, while actually enforcing the status quo of insecure democratic rights, thus mollifying the middle classes mostly content with the little political freedom as long as economic progress is not hindered.

Aside of Brunei and Singapore, which have developed stable political systems without granting too much freedom, Myanmar and Indonesia provide a good example of sharing a characteristically strong military and a democratization process that very much lags behind the legislatures’ promises. Of course, it needs to be conceded that these countries are on two different levels of democratic development. Even considering its many flaws, Indonesia’s democracy can show for accomplishments on a level that Myanmar has yet to reach. Although the junta is slowly opening up the country’s economy to foreign investors and seems to be willing to allow free elections some time down the road, Myanmar’s regime is still counted among the world’s most repressive.

What Next for the Region?

Looking at the arguments elaborated above, the conclusion seems fairly straightforward. As a historical fact, following the worldwide power vacuum after the Second World War and the Cold War respectively, Southeast Asian countries seemed bound to end up in political turmoil and many in the West predicted that authoritarianism would be the logical outcome. Furthermore, the values of Asia are in fundamental opposition to the Western concept of democracy and even if some social groups opt for democracy, the economic elites are likely to limit their appeal by curbing individual freedoms in order to secure national (economic) development. Thus, Southeast Asia and democracy seem to be two poles in an antithetic relationship.

This conclusion disregards the nature of democratic processes and is based on false premises: democracy is neither an “ideal type” state in the sense of Max Weber, nor is it a straightforward process without any ups and downs. Even in the long-established Western democracies like the US, Great Britain or France, democracy is constantly under pressure from various social actors. The acquisitiveness of Big Data proponents in general and espionage networks in specific are a case in point. Some people might even argue that since 9/11, particularly the US and UK have developed into police states, moving away from the rule of law.

These considerations need to be borne in mind when evaluating the progress of democratization in Southeast Asia, particularly as the waxing and waning of democratic principles is amplified in new democracies. It is as wrong to argue from an extreme clash of cultures position, seeing democracy and Asian values as incongruent, as it is to regard Southeast Asian democracies from a Eurocentric perspective, assuming that the Western world already completed its democratization process. Germany, for instance, seen as synonymous with democracy today, whereas from the middle of the 19th century and until the end of the Second World War, the concept was viewed by many social groups as fundamentally non-German and alien.

Although it might not just be a matter of time, it is also not only a matter of historical, ideological or pragmatic antitheses. Democracy and Southeast Asia are not simply two opposing poles, although this simplification is often used by those who benefit from the current status quo. For the democracy-bound Southeast Asian societies, this means that they not only aspire to build states following the examples of Western democracies, but they also need to cope with the current demands on the rule of law that change much faster than they used to in the 20th century. The historical setting and the socio-political developments have allowed the Southeast Asian elites to suppress many calls for more political rights and freedoms. It is thus right and necessary to criticize Southeast Asia for its democratic shortcomings, but this should not lead to the dismissal of the region’s many successful contemporary democratic movements that started with the 1980s People Power Revolution in the Philippines and continues until today.

The relationship between Southeast Asia and democracy should, therefore, be a matter of perspective, taking into consideration the difficult situation the region’s democratic movements have had to overcome. It should be acknowledged that there has been an overall advancement of individual rights since the middle of the 20th century, given the region’s experiences of European colonial suppression, Japanese aggression, being the site of proxy wars during the Cold War, and putting up a good fight in the struggle to catch up with the West’s industrialized achievements. Although there is much to be achieved in the process of democratisation across the region, one can see that Southeast Asia has indeed come a long way on the road to democracy.


Sumber - Fair Observer

UCAPAN TYT PRESIDEN SEMPENA ISTIADAT PENAIKAN BENDERA SANG SETIA KE-10

UCAPAN TYT MAHMUD MORSHIDI OTHMAN, PRESIDEN NDP

SEMPENA ISTIADAT PENAIKAN BENDERA SANG SETIA KE-10

PADA 8 SAFAR 1436 BERSAMAAN 1 DISEMBER 2014,

DI DATARAN LIMBARUH HIJAU, MARKAS PUSAT NDP, JERUDONG

Yang Berusaha Saudara Pengerusi Majlis,
Tuan Yang Terutama Timbalan Presiden,

Yang Di Hormati Tuan Pengerusi Tetap dan Timbalan,
Naib-Naib Presiden,
Setiausaha Agung,
Ahli-Ahli Lembaga Penasihat,
Pengerusi Jawatan Kuasa Sambutan Istiadat Pengibaran Bendera Sang Setia ke 10,
Para Jemputan dan seluruh warga NDP.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Selamat Sejahtera.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

Sebelum saya meneruskan ucapan ini, ingin saya sejenak mengajak Saudara Saudari sekalian yang beragama Islam untuk menghadiahkan bacaan Al Fatihah ke atas roh Almarhum Ayahanda Presiden pertama kita Awang Hj Muhammad Yassin Abd Rahman @Yasin Affandy, para pemimpin dan anggota NDP yang telah kembali kerahmatullah.

Bacaan Ummul Quraan ini juga kita khususkan buat Almarhum Ayahanda Sh Salleh bin Sh Mahmud seorang pejuang kemerdekaan Brunei yang pernah ditahan selama 10 tahun di Khemah Tahanan Berakas 1963-1973 dan berada dalam buangan selama 41 tahun 1973-2014 hingga akhir hayat beliau. Almarhum baru kembali kerahmatullah di Kuala Lumpur pada 17 Oktober lalu.

Alfatihah...

Saudara Saudari sekalian,

SANG SETIA

Tanggal 1 Disember, di pagi nan ceria dan indah ini adalah Hari Ulang Tahun Perasmian Pengibaran Sang Setia, nama jolokan kepada bendera dan panji Parti Pembangunan Bangsa (NDP).

Pertama kali Sang Setia dikibarkan dan dipamerkan buat tatapan umum oleh Ayahanda Yassin Affandy pada 14 September 2005 di dataran Limbaruh Hijau ini. Pada tahun berikutnya iaitu 1 Disember telah diisytiharkan sebagai hari Sang Setia dan sambutannya diperingati pada setiap tahun hingga ke hari ini.

Di awal-awal sambutan pengibaran Sang Setia dataran Limbaruh Hijau ini begitu ceria dan bersemangat dipenuhi oleh ratusan ahli dan bukan ahli, serta barisan diplomat-diplomat asing. Semua hadirin berdiri tegak dan turut sama memberikan tabik hormat apabila Sang Setia dinaikkan perlahan-lahan sambil menyanyikan lagu rasmi Sang Setia yang dicipta khas oleh Ayahanda Hj Mahdi Hj Suhaili.

Hari ini walaupun tanpa ketiadan Ayahanda Yasssin Affandy, ketidak hadiran barisan diplomat asing, tiadanya ratusan pemimpin, ahli dan bukan ahli, Istiadat Pengibaran Sang Setia tetap juga disempurnakan dengan penuh istiadat. Ini adalah berkat pegangan kita agar melakukan apa jua tugasan yang diamanahkan itu sebaiknya dan sedayanya. Ada seribu orang buat cara ada seribu, ada seratus buat adanya cara seratus dan jika cuma ada sepuluh orang pun, buatlah cara adanya sepuluh. Alhamdulillah pagi ini kehadiran lebih sepuluh orang.

Sepuluh tahun dahulu Ayahanda Presiden berucap di atas tapak saya berucap ini, iaitu pada Majlis Perasmian Limbaruh Hijau, Markas Pusat NDP dan Perasmian Penaikan Bendera Sang Setia.

Markas Pusat NDP telah disempurnakan perasmiannya oleh Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Kerma Negara, Ahli Majlis Diraja dan Ahli Majlis Mengangkat Raja.Sementara, Ayahanda Yasin Affandy telah menyempurnakan penaikkan pertama kalinya bendera Sang Setia.

Dalam ucapannya, beliau telah menyuntik semangat kita, antara lain beliau berkata "...secara simboliknya, saya berharap apabila bendera rasmi parti berkibar megah sebentar lagi, maka rasa kemegahan yang sama harus menyerapi seluruh sanubari kita justeru kerana kita berada dalam satu harakah perjuangan yang sama. Setiap kibaran bendera itu hendaknya menjadi kipasan yang memerahkan bara perjuangan dan menyemarakkan semangat setiap ahli dan penyokong Parti Pembangunan. Jadi bendera dan logo ini hendaklah sentiasa segak berkibar dan jangan sekali-sekali dibiar tersungkur menyembah bumi."

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

PERSEPSI YANG SALAH

Kibaran Sang Setia yang menyemarakkan perjuangan kita untuk membantu Kebawah DYMM, menegakkan yang maaruf dan mencegah kemungkaran, memperjuangkan keadilan dan memerangi kezaliman itulah yang tidak disenangi oleh banyak kalangan lantaran persepsi yang salah. Tidak berhenti disitu, lalu dirancanglah agenda terusun rapi untuk membatasi pergerakannya dan melemahkanya dengan dendangan nada-nada sumbang ke cuping telinga warga parti dan khalayak agar mereka menjauhkan diri dari pergerakan politik.

Ketidakmampuan kita untuk menepis serangan yang bertali arus itu, telah menatijahkan keberhasilan agenda besar mereka yang sekian lama membenci dan memusuhi NDP. Kini NDP longlai seperti tiada bermaya bak tiupan angin sepoi-sepoi bahasa yang membuat kita terbuai lena olehnya. Walau apa pun keadaannya, warga yang masih setia ini tidak seharusnya turut terbuai malah sewajibnya hendaklah menyalakan obor perjuangan menjunjung titah membangun bangsa sesuai makna warna dan bentuk bendera dan panji parti kita.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

BENDERA DAN PANJI DALAM PERLEMBAGAAN NDP

Sekadar kita ingat mengingatkan bahawa,

Menurut Perlembagaan NDP, Artikel 6: Bendera Parti Pembangunan

Warna latar belakang bendera Parti Pembangunan ialah hijau pucuk pisang, sebagai simbol kecintaan Parti Pembangunan dan seluruh anggota-anggotanya kepada keharmonian, keamanan dan kedamaian sejagat sesuai dengan visi, misi dan objektif utama Parti Pembangunan;

Garis kuning yang mengelilingi bendera tersebut melambangkan ketulusan dan keikhlasan Parti Pembangunan dan anggota-anggotanya mendukung konsep Ketuanan Kesultanan Melayu Brunei dan tanpa berbelah bahagi menyokong Kerajaan Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam dan usaha-usaha Baginda untuk membangun negara dan membina keutuhan bangsa;

Logo dalam bendera ini adalah tulisan Jawi bentuk khat dari huruf-huruf pertama pada perkataan "Parti" dan perkataan "Pembangunan" (Fa Fa) yang terletak di tengah bendera;

Lebar bendera ialah dua kali ganda dari ukuran tingginya.

Artikel 7: Lambang Parti Pembangunan menerangkan bahawa,

Tulisan Jawi bentuk khat dari huruf-huruf pertama pada perkataan "Parti" dan perkataan "Pembangunan" (Fa Fa) yang dibentuk seperti setitik minyak adalah menjadi simbol kepada sumber pembangunan negara;

Latarbelakang bulatan berwarna hijau pucuk pisang itu adalah simbol kecintaan Parti Pembangunan dan seluruh anggota-anggotanya kepada keharmonian, keamanan dan kedamaian sejagat sesuai dengan visi, misi dan objektif utama Parti Pembangunan;

Bulatan kuning disekeliling latar berwarna hijau pucuk pisang adalah simbol kepada tekad yang bulat dan tulus ikhlas Parti Pembangunan dan seluruh anggota-anggotanya dalam mendukung konsep Ketuanan Kesultanan Melayu Brunei dan tanpa berbelah bahagi menyokong Kerajaan Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam dan usaha-usaha Baginda untuk membangun negara dan membina keutuhan bangsa.

Saudara Saudari sekalian,

HARGA SEBUAH PANJI

Dalam sejarah Cina semasa pemerintahan dinasti-dinasti yang termasyhur misalnya, kita akan temui panglima tertinggi ketenteraan membawa panji-panji atau bendera dalam peperangan. Selagi panji-panji itu tertegak, maka selama itu para anggota tentera akan terus berjuang bermati-matian, dan perjuangan itu akan berakhir apabila panji-panji tersungkur menyembah bumi.

Semangat juang yang ada bersama bendera dan panji dinasti-dinasti tersebutlah yang menyemarkkan perjuangan merayakan negeri Cina menjadi sebuah empayar yang besar dan luas hingga ke hari ini.

Dalam sejarah perjuangan Islam juga tidak terkecuali, bendera dan panji digunakan sebagai pembakar semangat para perjuang untuk mengejar dua kejayaan, gugur sebagai syahid atau kemenangan mengalahkan musuh.

Marilah kita renungkan sejenak satu peristiwa di zaman kegemilangan Islam iaitu ketika peristiwa perang Mu'tah pada tahun 8H/629M. Dalam peristiwa itu, kepimpinan tentera Islam telah diserahkan kepada Zaid bin Harithah ra.

Rasulullah SAW berpesan - sekiranya Zaid gugur maka Jaafar mengambil tempatnya dan seandainya Jaafar turut gugur syahid, maka Abdullah bin Rawahah pula tampil mengambil teraju kepimpinan tentera Islam.Rasulullah seterusnya menyerahkan sebuah bendera putih ke tangan Zaid.

Di bumi Mu'tah kedua-dua kumpulan bertemu dan peperangan sengit pun bermula - 3,000 tentera Islam menghadapi serangan 200,000 tentera musuh. Panji peperangan dipegang oleh Zaid, beliau merempuh serangan musuh dengan penuh keberanian dan terus mengasak hinggalah beliau terkena tikaman musuh, lalu terkorban sebagai seorang syahid.

Dengan itu panji Islam terus diambil oleh Jaafar bin Abi Talib ra. Beliau juga segagah Zaid, hingga apabila beliau terasa berat bertempur diatas kuda, beliau melompat dari kudanya dan terus bertempur di bawah, hinggalah tangan kanannya terputus maka panji Islam itu dipegang dengan tangan kirinya.Setelah kehilangan tangan kirinya pula, diapit bendera itu dengan dua belah lengannya.Dalam keadaan begitu beliau terus menjulang bendera Islam hinggalah beliau gugur syahid.

Imam Bukhari meriwayatkan bahawa setelah Jaafar syahid, di badannya terdapat kesan-kesan pukulan dan tikaman sebanyak lima puluh liang, tidak ada satu pun di sebelah belakangnya.

Setelah Jaafar gugur maka bendera Islam diangkat pula oleh Abdullah bin Rawahah ra. Dengan itu beliau pun memecut kudanya mara ke hadapan sambil menghunus pedangnya dan terus bertarung hingga akhirnya gugur sebagai syahid.

Kemudiannya tentera Islam dipimpin pula oleh Khalid bin Al-Walid ra. Dengan memegang bendera beliau terus mengharungi kancah pertempuran yang sedang sengit. Imam Bukhari meriwayatkan bahawa sembilan bilah pedang telah terpatah di tangan Khalid dalam pertempuran tersebut.

Perang tersebut telah membawa kesan yang amat signifikan, kerana para pejuang Islam yang hanya seramai 3,000 anggota berjaya mencabar musuh berjumlah 200,000 orang itu tanpa mengalami korban yang besar. Peristiwa ini menunjukkan betapa hebat dan hangatnya semangat bendera yang dijulang. Sesungguhnya tentera Islam telah mendapat bantuan Allah SWT, dan ia juga membuktikan kedudukan Muhammad SAW sebagai RasulNya yang benar.

Hadis Nabi SAW merakamkan:

"Bendera perang dipegang oleh Zaid lalu dia terbunuh kemudian dipegang oleh Jaafar lalu dia terbunuh kemudian dipegang oleh Abdullah bin Rawahah namun diapun terbunuh, dan nampak kedua mata Rasulullah SAW berlinang. Akhirnya bendera dipegang oleh Khalid bin Al Walid tanpa menunggu perintah, namun akhirnya kemenangan diraihnya." (Riwayat Bukhari)

Saudara Saudari sekalian,

CABARAN SANG SETIA

Demkianlah nilai dan harga sebuah bendera dan panji...yang kita istiadatkan pengibarannya pada pagi ini. Sang Setia adalah harga sebuah perjuangan NDP dan demikian juga, bendera rasmi Negara, adalah dinilai harga sebuah Negara.

Dalam konteks parti kita, bendera dan panji parti dirangkum ke dalam sebuah perlembagaan, justeru membawa makna besar, tuntutan komitmen yang besar, tanggungjawab yang berat dan amanah teramat berat yang wajib ditanai, dipertahan dan diberigakan oleh sekalian ahli parti.

Hari ini kita membaharui ikrar bahawa Sang Setia akan terus membantu Kebawah Duli dan Kerajaan Baginda, "mewujudkan sistem pemerintahan, pentadbiran dan pengurusan yang adil dan saksama, telus, bersih, cekap, amanah, penuh ihsan dan kebajikan"seperti di dalam objektif utama parti Artikel 5:3.

Hari ini juga kita membaharui ikrar untuk bersama-sama Baginda dan Zuriat Baginda, "mempertahankan dan mengekalkan kemerdekaan, kedaulatan dan keamanan Negara Brunei Darussalam" Artikel 3:5.

Mungkin pada pandangan awam, apa yang kita sentuh ini bukannya masalah, jauh sekali ancaman kepada survival Negara. Namun hakikatnya yang kita peringatkan ini adalah mengungkap kembali akan bai'ah yang pernah kita lafazkan.

Ini perlu bagi menyedarkan ahli-ahli parti bahawa, sekarang ini kita berada dalam suasana politik dunia yang gawat sekali gus turut mencabar kekuatan, perpaduan dan kerjasama serantau. ASEAN berhadapan cabaran dan ujian ketulusan dan keikhlasan kerjasama di kalangan anggota terutama sekali di bidang politik, ekonomi, kebudayaan dan keselamatan.

Brunei yang berada di tengah-tengah ASEAN tidak mungkin dapat meminggirkan diri dalam isu keselamatan misalnya, bagi menghadapi ancaman keselamatan berbagai bentuk yang datang dari berbagai arah, antaranya, kemunculan kumpulan-kumpulan ekstrimis, jenayah rentas sempadan, kegawatan ekonomi, dan kerancakan politik demokrasi yang mempunyai takrif dan keperluan berbeza-beza.

Kita perlu berhati-hati dan cermat menyambut kedatangan komuniti ASEAN 2015, terutama sekali komuniti ekonomi ASEAN. Kita bimbang, pada hakikatnya kita tidak ada apa-apa persiapan pun untuk menghadapi agenda-agenda komuniti ASEAN baru, jangan sampai kita menjadi mangsa keadaan dan kejahilan sendiri.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

DATA KRITIKAL

Isu serius dalam negeri yang juga mungkin bukan ditanggapi sebagai isu atau masalah bagi sesetengah kalangan ialah isu kemiskinan, isu yang kita lihat seperti tidak berkesudahan bak ombak mengejar ombak.

Menurut Ustazah Hjh Rose Abdullah, pensyarah di UNISSA, ketiadaan garis kemiskinan yang ditetapkan adalah penghalang kepada usaha pihak kerajaan dalam membasmi kemiskinan. Kata beliau, tanpa kewujudan garis kemiskinan, kita tidak dapat mengenalpasti siapa yang hendak dimasukkan dalam data kemiskinan, justeru bagaimana pula kita mengetahui siapa yang layak mendapat bantuan?

Kajian yang dijalankan di Kg Ayer mendapati 46 peratus penduduk berpendapatan di bawah $1,000 manakala 43 peratus tidak mempunyai pendapatan tetap. Faktor utama kemiskinan merupakan pengangguran dan tahap pendidikan yang rendah.

Antara masalah serius yang dikenalpasti dalam kajian tersebut ialah kesukaran menghantar anak-anak ke sekolah, di mana 71 peratus penduduk meluahkan kesukaran yang berpunca daripada ketiadaan kenderaan dan kekurangan wang.

Didorong oleh pelbagai masalah, 15 peratus terpaksa berhenti pada peringkat sekolah menengah. Secara langsung, keadaan ini tentunya memberi kesan negatif ke atas gagasan membangunkan modal insan dan rakyat berpendidikan tinggi sesuai kehendak negara maju.

Pada tahun 2010, Majlis Ugama Islam Brunei (MUIB) mengklasifikasikan 1,457 penduduk Kg Ayer, iaitu 12.5 peratus dari jumlah keseluruhan sebagai asnaf fakir miskin. Manakala data daripada JAPEM dan MUIB pula memaparkan sejumlah 20,790 orang miskin pada 2012.

Saudara saudari sekalian,

PAPARAN STATISTIK

Oleh kerana statistik yang digunapakai oleh badan-badan kebajikan di negara ini berbeza dalam menentukan definisi kemiskinan, satu kajian oleh pihak berkenaan telah dilakukan pada tahun 2011, antara lain mendapati, sejumlah 27,360 orang daripada 5,472 keluarga yang hidup di bawah paras kemiskinan.

Warga Emas

Dalam isu berkaitan, kerajaan dijangka akan membelanjakan $80 juta untuk pembayaran pencen tua kepada 27,166 warga emas tahun ini. JPKE menganggarkan bilangan warga emas akan meningkat dari seramai 25,900 pada 2013 (6.4 peratus penduduk) kepada 64,158 pada 2030.

Kebarangkalian, sebahagian besar penerima pencen tua ini terdiri dari kalangan berpendapatan rendah dan mereka yang tiada mempunyai sebarang sumber pendapatan tambahan. Justeru barang sudah tentu sebahagian besar mereka itu juga jatuh dibawah asnaf fakir miskin.

Penggangguran

Menurut sumber JPKE, jumlah penganggur pada bulan Ogos sebanyak 12,275 orang meningkat 0.8 peratus berbanding 12,173 pada Julai tahun ini, mengikut laporan itu, 58 peratus daripada jumlah tersebut merupakan wanita iaitu golongan pendidik awal kanak-kanak, yang membentuk syaksiah anak-anak.

Pecahan berdasarkan umur menunjukkan jumlah penganggur yang teramai adalah mereka yang berusia di antara 20 - 29 tahun iaitu sebanyak 50.7 peratus; suatu peratusan besar yang berpotensi memainkan peranan utama dalam menggulingkan kerajaan, seperti yang sudah termaktub dalam sejarah di sebilangan negara dunia!

Dalam konteks lain, sejumlah lebih 12,000 pengganggur ini selayaknya menerima bantuan kewangan sara diri atau "unemployment benefit" seperti yang diamalkan di kebanyakan negara maju bagi meringankan tekanan dan bebanan kehidupan mereka dan keluarga.

Dari segi pengagihan zakat, mereka sewajarnya dikatagorikan sebagai "miskin" kerana mereka tidak mempunyai pendapatan sara diri yang cukup. Ada ulama' mengkategorikan pengganggur, terutama lepasan sekolah dan pengajian tinggi tergolong di bawah asnaf misikin yang berhak menerima zakat. Di samping itu, kita tidak tahu pula berapa jumlah mereka dibawah asnaf al gharimin (mereka yang menanggung hutang yang membebankan).

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

KEHIDUPAN DHAIF DAN KEBANGKITAN MASSA

Keadaan ini mengingatkan kita akan dapatan sebuah teori yang telah diuji, iaitu berlaku korelasi antara kehidupan yang dhaif dengan kebangkitan massa. Antara lain perkataan, telah teruji bahawa kadar pengganguran dan kemiskinan yang tinggi adalah punca utama kebangkitan massa.

Sejarah telah merakamkan bahawa kejayaan PRB meraih sokongan massa ketika zamannya ialah kerana keadaan masyarakat Brunei yang rata-rata dalam keadaan susah dan dhaif ketika itu, justeru kehadiran PRB dengan agenda kemerdekaan, membawa harapan baru bahawa kehidupan rakyat akan berubah kepada lebih baik.

Adalah benar, dalam konteks kemerdekaan Brunei, Negara merdeka ini telah berjaya mengangkat taraf hidup rakyat berbanding kehidupan generasi terdahulu, namun tahap kemiskinan dan ketidakcukupan yang dirasai oleh sebahagian rakyat itu sama saja, cumanya berlainan wajah.

Kita bimbang, jika pengisian kemerdekaan dan pengurusan khazanah Negara merdeka terus lemah seperti yang dirasai pada hari ini, tidak mustahil sejarah kebangkitan massa akan berulang, mungkin protes dalam bentuk yang lain.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

PERINGATAN ALLAH DAN RASUL

Semua isu ini bak buah yang hampir ranum yang menunggu masak dijulok gugur. Apa yang kita luahkan ini pastinya didengar pahit, tapi Islam mengajar kita supaya berkata benar walaupun pahit. Kita kongsikan kebimbangan ini atas dasar politik Islam yang didorong oleh keimanan yang menuntut untuk menjalani kehidupan aman, baik dan selesa yang tidak hanya untuk dirinya sendiri tetapi juga mengambil berat terhadap permasaalahan dan kesukaran yang dialami oleh orang lain terutama sekali di kalangan orang orang mukmin.

Allah SWT berfirman, "innamalmukminuna ikhwah", maksudnya: "Sesungguhnya orang-orang mukmin itu adalah bersaudara."

Dalam satu hadith, Baginda SAW bersabda maksudnya, "Sesiapa yang tidak memperdulikan masalah kaum muslimin maka dia tidak termasuk dalam golongan mereka, sesiapa yang tidak memberi nasihat untuk Allah, Rasulullah, para pemimpin kaum muslimin dan kalangan awamnya maka dia tidak termasuk dalam golongan mereka. Sesiapa yang tinggal di satu kawasan perumahan dan terdapat di dalamnya seseorang yang kelaparan, maka dia telah terlepas daripada perlindungan Allah dan RasulNya." (Riwayat at-Tabrani)

Ini membawa maksud bahawa para penguasa Negara Zikir, mesti menunaikan keperluan rakyat dan mengutamakannya ketika mereka memerlukan, dengan tidak mengelak daripada menunaikan permintaan mereka. Jika tidak berbuat sedemikian, boleh saja membawa kepada keruntuhan Negara.

Penguasa dan penjawat awam yang diamanahkan oleh Kebawah Duli hendaklah merubah segera mindset dan paradigma dari "malas tah ku ingau" kepada lebih pemedulian dengan rasa takut akan seksaan Allah dan kebencian Baginda Rasulullulah.

'Amru bin Murrah telah meriwayatkan daripada Rasulullah SAW maksudnya: "Sesiapa yang diberikan tugas memimpin sesuatu urusan kaum muslimin oleh Allah SWT tetapi dia mengelak daripada membantu mereka, tidak menunaikan hajat mereka serta tidak menghapuskan kemiskinan, maka Allah tidak akan menunaikan hajat keperluannya serta tidak membantunya menghadapi kemiskinan." (Hadith sahih diriwayatkan oleh Abu Daud, Al-Hakim, Al-Baihaqi dan At-Tabrani)

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

KEMISKINAN ANCAMAN KESELAMATAN

Bagi kita, isu kemiskinan, penggangguran dan tidak kecukupan rakyat ini adalah ancaman keselamatan nombor satu ke atas survival Institusi Kesultanan, Negara dan Bangsa. Isu yang mungkin dipandang remeh oleh sesetengah kalangan ini sebenarnya amat membimbangkan kita kerana ia sudah berada ditengah-tengah kita.

Pejuang-pejuang kemerdekaan yang masih terbuang bukannya ancaman keselamatan kepada Negara. Sh Salleh yang ternafi haknya untuk menghidu kemerdekaan sehingga mengakhiri hayatnya dalam buangan bukannya ancaman keselamatan, demikian juga Othman Latif, Yusof Ibrahim, Jais Abbas dan Sh Adnin Sh Azahari bukannya ancaman keselamatan, dan NDP juga bukannya ancaman keselamatan Negara tetapi adalah rakan strategik pembangunan negara.

Saya berseru kepada sekalian yang ada kuasa membuat keputusan, penjawat awam dan rakyat untuk saling menunaikan tanggungjawab untuk membantu Kebawah DYMM. Ingatlah akan peringatan dalam doa Rasulullah untuk para umara' dengan bersabda maksudnya:

"Ya Allah! Barangsiapa yang dilantik menguruskan sesuatu perkara untuk ummatku dan dia menyusahkan mereka maka Engkau sukarkanlah urusan mereka, tetapi sesiapa yang dilantik menguruskan sesuatu perkara untuk ummatku dan dia memudahkan mereka maka Engkau mudahkanlah urusannya." (Riwayat Muslim)

Takutilah akan doa Baginda Rasulullah SAW dan kutukan Allah SWT keatas kita...

Semoga kita semua termasuk dalam doa kategori orang-orang yang bekerja untuk memudahkan urusan kehidupan Ummat Nabi Muhammad dan bukannya untuk menyusahkan dan menzalimi mereka, Allah berjanji akan memudahkan urusan kita pula.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

KECELARUAN FIKIRAN

Dalam konteks yang lain, pada pengamatan kita, pemikiran rakyat tampak seperti celaru, ada yang bertanya kepada kita, ke mana sistem pemerintahan, pelbagai dasar dan peraturan yang dimuntahkan hendak membawa mereka seperti dasar pendidikan, dasar pembangunan hartanah, pembangunan usahawan, dasar keselamatan permakanan, kesamaran pada beberapa bahagian perundangan, apa dia dasar dan program membasmi kemiskinan, apa dia program ekonomi bagi membela peniaga di tepi jalan dan di pasar-pasar tamu, dan banyak lagi...

Kita bimbang, rakyat sudah seperti pasrah, bersyukur saja apa yang ada padanya, jika tidak kecukupan boleh meminta, lalu diberi. Fikiran rakyat sudah seperti tersekat (mental block), tidak kritis, nilai-nilai jati diri bernegara sudah pudar, masyarakat seperti longlai tidak lagi bermaya untuk mengangkat darjat diri.

Betapa sedihnya kita, masyarakat "sakit" inilah yang sentiasa berada di barisan hadapan untuk mengahadapi agenda cabaran-cabaran Negara maju 2035 dan agenda besar ASEAN komuniti bermula 2015 yang amat mencabar. Kalau kita lalai dan tidak ambil perhatian serius dan segera untuk memperbaiki keadaan pada umumnya, nescaya kita akan laboi-laboi ditengah-tengah 600 juta rakyat ASEAN.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

PERANAN NDP

Sebagai sebuah organisasi politik, seharusnya kita diberi ruang berperanan sewajarnya di dalam membantu Kebawah DYMM dan kerajaan, malangnya untuk memegang jawatan sebagai ahli JK MPK/MPM pun kita dihalang.

Walaupun demikian, sebagai ahli parti, hendaklah terus istiqamah dalam mendukung perjuangan parti seperti termaktub dalam perlembagaannya sambil membangunkan keupayaan kita sesuai dengan kehendak perjuangan semasa.

Parti menuntut komitmen semua ahli. Semua daripada kita mesti berkerja keras ke arah itu dan bukannya sebahagian bekerja keras sebahagian lagi jadi penonton dan pengkritik semata-mata.

Begitu juga, kita berharap dan berseru, kerja besar di hadapan kita ini akan turut mendapat suntikan semangat dari teman-teman di luar sana, terutama sekali para elit dan cendekiawan. Insya Allah jika semua pihak menyedari akan keperluan pembangunan politik sebagai kuasa ketiga yang boleh membantu Kebawah Duli, Kerajaan dan rakyat, selama itulah Sang Setia akan terus berkibar megah di bumi tercinta ini.

Saudara Saudari Sekalian,

PESANAN

Sebelum saya mengakhiri ucapan ini, saya ingin mengambil kesempatan untuk mengingatkan seluruh ahli-ahli parti supaya bersiap sedia menghadapi Konges Agung Tahunan yang ada pemilihan pada tahun 2015 mendatang ini. Kemaskinikanlah organisasi di semua peringkat, lakukanlah kerja-kerja pemutihan keahlian, siapkan laporan-laporan kongres dan mesyuarat agung. Yang terpenting, rapatkan saf-saf makmum di belakang sesuai dengan bai'ah yang telah di lafazkan.

Sebelum saya mengakhiri ucapan ini sekalong tahniah saya ucapkan kepada Pengerusi JK Istiadat Pengibaran Sang Setia ke 10 dan seluruh keluarga JASA di atas kerjasama menjayakan majlis kita pada hari ini. Terima kasih juga kepada semua yang hadir.

Tidak lupa setinggi-tinggi penghargaan kepada kekanda TYT Timbalan Presiden yang selama ini menjalankan tugas-tugas Presiden sewaktu Presiden berhalangan.

Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Walillahhilhamd