Monday, March 31, 2014
OPINION: Prison food budget luxurious
Dear Editor,
THE $3.56 million prison food bill reported in The Brunei Times article dated March 23, 2014, on page A12, begs some outrage.
It translates to a daily food costs of more than $18 on each of the 543 inmates in Brunei. The last time I spent $18 a day on my food was never. That’s the cost of my weekly groceries for two people – and I eat quite well!
The article clearly states that this is strictly a food cost, so one has to wonder what kind of feasts are being served up in Bruneian prisons, or do they hold lavish birthday parties every day for prisoners?
I understand that prisoners, like any member of society, deserve correct and humane treatment even if this means providing three square meals a day and caring for their health and nutrition needs.
Prison sentences are a second chance for criminals and they are no less human than you and I. They are certainly no more, either.
Calculate that amount and you realise that an inmate’s monthly food expenditure comes to roughly $540, which is higher than the salaries of many lower-income workers in this country. A pensioner gets less than half of that.
My feeling is that the food supplier is the culprit, rather than decadent inmates. There has to be a way to at least halve that cost and put the $1.8 million savings into more constructive prison programmes.
Free citizen, Belait
Sumber - The Brunei Times
Philippines Seeks Arbitration at U.N. Over China's Claims in South China Sea
Contested Waters Carry Huge Volume of World Trade
By James Hookway
The Philippines filed an arbitration case Sunday with the United Nations over China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, raising the ante in a long-running dispute over who owns what in the strategic, energy-rich waters.
Manila has been preparing for months to file its challenge to China's claim to control everything within a broad expanse of the sea delineated by its so-called "nine-dash line." The Philippines' submission is nearly 4,000 pages long, includes more than 40 maps and is aimed at countering Beijing's argument that controlling mostly submerged features such as reefs or shoals provides China with sovereignty over the sea, including some 80% of the Philippines' U.N.-declared exclusive economic zone.
The contested waters include areas potentially rich in oil and gas, as well as rich fishing waters such as Scarborough Shoal, where Philippine and Chinese vessels were locked in a standoff for nearly two months in 2012.
China so far has abstained from the proceedings in the matter, which the Philippines first raised in January under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Now that the case for arbitration has been filed, the UN tribunal will decide on what steps are to be taken next.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Sunday that seeking arbitration "is about defending what is legitimately ours" and securing a "just and durable solution grounded on International Law."
China's foreign ministry dismissed the arbitration filing in a statement posted on its website Sunday night, reiterating its position that it considers the dispute a bilateral matter to be resolved through direct negotiations. "Regardless of how the Philippines packages its complaint, the direct cause of the dispute is illegal occupation of reefs in the South China Sea on the part of the Philippines," it said.
The Philippines' challenge comes as Manila engages in another protracted cat-and-mouse game to evade Chinese ships apparently attempting to blockade one of the Philippines' few outposts in the region: a rusting hulk marooned on Second Thomas Shoal.
A Philippine ship managed Saturday to slip past a Chinese vessel to resupply a small contingent of Filipino soldiers aboard the World War II-era Sierra Madre, which was steered onto Second Thomas Shoal in 1999. The wreck is one of the Philippines' few visible claims to sovereignty in the South China Sea, something of a symbolic marker in efforts to withstand China's growing ambitions.
In recent weeks China has attempted to stop Philippine forces from resupplying the wreck, forcing the Philippines to conduct air drops. Journalists from the Associated Press and other news organizations were aboard the Philippine supply vessel and reported hearing a Chinese coast guard ship warning it to stay away by radio. The Philippine ship, carrying some 10 tons of food and water, slipped away after heading into shallower waters where the Chinese vessel couldn't follow.
China's foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday that "China will absolutely not allow the Philippines to occupy" Second Thomas Shoal.
The Philippine legal challenge to China's claims is perhaps a more significant display of resistance.
The waters, which carry around half of the world's trade, are also claimed in part by Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan and tensions have led to a series of confrontations in past decades. Any decision by the U.N. could bear on how the overlapping territorial claims are ultimately resolved and could stir tensions between China and the U.S.
The Obama administration infuriated Beijing in 2010 when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the free navigation of the South China Sea as being in America's "national interest."
China has since attempted to step up control, among other things dispatching nominally civilian coast guard vessels into disputed waters. Beijing argues each territorial dispute should be resolved on a bilateral basis. Washington and the Association of Southeast Asian want a multilateral, rules-based approach.
Sumber - WSJ.com
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Gov’t-MILF peace pact makes history
By Christian V. Esguerra, Jerome Aning
MANILA, Philippines—His country is going through a harrowing crisis, but Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is flying to Manila Thursday to witness the historic signing of the final peace agreement between the government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Malacañang on Wednesday confirmed that Najib will attend the signing ceremonies for the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) to be held on the grounds in front of the Kalayaan Hall at 4 p.m. Thursday, citing information from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“We know that Malaysia is undergoing a crisis owing to the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane, [but] Malaysia is fully aware of its international commitments, and we thank them that despite the difficulty that they’re encountering, they have accepted our invitation to grace the signing of the agreement, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda told a Palace press briefing on Wednesday.
Biggest gathering
According to Lacierda, Thursday’s event will be the biggest gathering so far for the three-year-old Aquino administration.
“We decided to move it to the Kalayaan grounds where we believe we can hold, in our estimate, over 1,500 [guests],” he said.
The MILF contingent alone is expected to number almost 500, he said. Officials at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Wednesday said about 500 Muslim Filipinos arrived at the airport in two batches on Wednesday. They were said to be guests of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos. The officials said they were told that some were members of the MILF and representatives of the Muslim royal families in Mindanao.
The rest on the guest list include members of the diplomatic corps, congressional leaders, the Mindanao bloc in the House of Representatives, and members of the international contact group and the international monitoring team for the peace talks.
Foreign Assistant Secretary Charles Jose, the DFA spokesman, said Najib’s working visit will push through even as Malaysia is coordinating the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8.
As of Wednesday, a multinational search effort had yet to recover what is believed to be debris from the ill-fated jet. Najib earlier announced that the plane, which carried 239 people, had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
The DFA did not release Najib’s flight and arrival details.
Working visit
Malaysia served as the facilitator of the negotiations with the MILF since 2001, hosting negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, the DFA said in a statement. It also heads the international monitoring team observing the ceasefire between the government and the MILF rebels.
Before witnessing the signing, Najib will sit down with President Aquino “to briefly discuss matters of mutual concern between the Philippines and Malaysia,” the DFA said.
Najib last visited Manila in October 2012, to witness the signing of the framework agreement, a crucial initial document in the peace negotiations.
The Malaysian prime minister and Aquino last met during the state visit that the President made to Malaysia on Feb. 27 and 28.
No perceived threats
Lacierda said the signing ceremony would be beamed live from Malacañang. He said a portion of the Kalayaan Hall would serve as a prayer room for the Muslim guests.
He said the Palace was aware of no specific threats intended to disrupt the signing ceremonies.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has placed the entire 148,000 force natiowide on heightened alert for the event.
Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, spokesman for PNP Director General Alan Purisima, said the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) had been on full alert, the equivalent of red alert in the military, since Tuesday night.
“The NCRPO is also directed to provide mobile cars to foreign ministers who will attend the event and provide civil disturbance management personnel (to guard against) possible mass action and to initiate countermeasures,” he said.
Who will sign
The five-page comprehensive agreement will be signed by members of both negotiating panels. Aside from Aquino and Najib, also witnessing the signing will be Teresita Quintos-Deles, the presidential adviser on the peace process, and MILF chair Murad Ebrahim.
Signing for the government will be chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, panel members Senen Bacani, Yasmin Busran-Lao and Mehol Sadain, and consultants Zenonida Brosas and Jose Luis Martin Gascon.
The signatories for the MILF will be Mohagher Iqbal, Michael Mastura, Maulana Alonto, Abhoud Syed Lingga, Abdulla Camlian and Antonio Kinoc.
Abdul Ghafar Mohamed, the Malaysian facilitator, will also sign as witness, according to Ferrer.
Dignitaries
Other Malaysian officials invited to witness the signing include Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, the defense department secretary general and the chief of the Malaysian armed forces, all of whom were to arrive in separate flights Wednesday.
Visiting United Nations Development Program (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, will also witness the signing.
The dignitaries attending Thursday’s signing also include Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Naci Koru of Turkey, State Minister Maria Bohmer of Germany, Director Salem Ali Othman of Libya, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.
Drafting the basic law
The comprehensive agreement will encompass all the negotiated and signed agreements, including the framework agreement signed in 2012 and the four annexes and addenda that came after.
The agreement will be the basis for the drafting of the basic law or constitution of the Bangsamoro region that will be created for the Muslim minority in Mindanao. The basic law, which is now being drafted by a transition commission, will be submitted for approval by Congress, after which it will have to be voted on in a plebiscite in the regions to be covered by the Bangsamoro autonomous territory to be created by the agreement.
Increase ARMM budget
Sen. Ralph Recto on Wednesday called on Malacañang to increase the preliminary P20.4-billion budget for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2015, its final year before it is replaced by Bangsamoro.
In a statement, Recto said that a higher ARMM budget would benefit the new regional government that will take over once it is in place; its budget may not be less than the last appropriation received by the ARMM.
Recto said that even if the ARMM’s 2015 indicative budget would be P840 million bigger than this year’s, “in real terms it is still negative growth.”
“This is because if you add the population growth rate and the inflation rate, the sum is bigger than the 4.2-percent hike in the budget,” he said.
He said the national government has the obligation to give more funds to a region that, though poor, is rich in potential.
“If next year is the ARMM government’s last hurrah, then the best goodbye gift we can give it is a bigger budget, which in turn benefits the successor government because it will be using a higher base in asking for subsequent funds,” Recto said.
That budgetary allocation remains government’s most effective equity in the peace project, he said.
“Peace has a price but from a funding point of view an imperfect peace is still less costly than a just war,” he said.
Sumber - Inquirer News
Power-sharing central to Moro self-rule
By Ryan D. Rosauro
With the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro Thursday, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is abandoning its armed struggle for an independent Muslim state in Mindanao.
For the rest of the country and perhaps the world, this is the heart of the peace process with the Moro rebels.
In exchange, the government is committing to redo a 37-year autonomy experiment whose current version, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), has failed to live up to the Moro people’s aspiration for freedom from an overly centralized government.
The establishment of the Bangsamoro, which has an asymmetrical relationship with the central government, is deemed the remedy for a defective autonomy.
For the MILF and its supporters, this is the crowning glory of their four-decade struggle.
MILF chief Murad Ebrahim has said that even ordinary Moros consider the present instrumentalities of the Philippine state—its agencies and local governments—that they deal with every day as a “government of the aliens.”
17 years of negotiating
After four decades of war over the question of freedom, peace in Mindanao is bought with the grant of greater leeway for the Moro people to decide for themselves.
The historic moment in Malacañang comes after more than 17 years of political negotiations, the last 13 years of which involved neighboring Malaysia as a third-party facilitator.
This breakthrough also comes more than 17 years after the government signed a peace pact with the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the original group from which the MILF broke away in 1984.
The government is confident that the Bangsamoro accord embodies most of the measures that adequately deal with Moro political demands. Hence, its negotiations with the MILF will be the last of such processes.
First, it talked peace with the rebels more than 39 years ago, through the undivided MNLF. The meeting took place on Jan. 18, 1975, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, now the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), according to the book “Bangsamoro: A Nation Under Endless Tyranny.”
Embrace democratic ways
As a sign of embracing democratic means to pursue its political goals, the MILF has agreed to decommission its armed wing, the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF). This will be done in phases, principally following the achievement of milestones defined in a plan for the establishment of a new autonomous region by mid-2016.
Some other conditions for the decommissioning of MILF forces are the redeployment of government security forces within Bangsamoro, establishment of the Bangsamoro police force, disbandment of private armed groups, socioeconomic development aid for former combatants, and the institution of transitional justice and reconciliation measures in a bid to straighten unjust historical narratives, correct historical injustices, and repair relations among conflict-affected communities and peoples.
“We believe that the formula we have agreed with government is the best formula that can be had. We cannot build our institutions in the context of continuing war,” said MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal, a veteran of the four-decade Moro rebellion.
Iqbal said that as previously announced, the MILF would remain a social movement while a political party will be formed as vehicle for its members’ participation in the electoral arena soon.
Redesign autonomy
In the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, the preliminary accord signed on Oct. 15, 2012, the government and the MILF aimed to establish a new autonomous region encompassing predominantly Moro-populated areas in Mindanao.
The two sides concluded that the ARMM lacks the institutional attributes to effectively respond to the Moro people’s longing for self-rule. It needs to be replaced with another autonomous body imbued with far greater political and economic powers.
The ARMM continues to be dependent on economic and financial doles from the central government. Its political dynamics is largely dictated by the tenant of Malacañang; since 1989, those who have become regional governors have been anointed by the President.
The Bangsamoro will have a ministerial form of government. This feature, according to government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, makes for its asymmetric relations with the central government, which follows the presidential setup in political administration.
Bangsamoro constituents will elect the members of the regional legislative assembly, envisioned to compose at least 50 representatives coming from “district, party-list, reserved seats and sectoral constituencies.”
The assembly is to be “representative of the Bangsamoro’s constituent political units, as well as non-Moro indigenous communities, women, settler communities, and other sectors.”
A chief minister will run the Bangsamoro Cabinet, to be elected by assembly members from among themselves. The chief minister will then appoint a deputy and other ministers.
The chief minister will also preside over a council of leaders composed of provincial governors, city mayors, and “a representative each of the non-Moro indigenous communities, women, settler communities and other sectors.”
Power-sharing
Central to the autonomy redesign is power-sharing. Currently, the ARMM charter lists 14 areas that are outside the powers of the regional legislature.
In the power-sharing aspect of the comprehensive peace accord, the parties came up with a list of 81 powers categorized into reserved for the central government, exclusive to the Bangsamoro and concurrent or shared by the two sides.
Of the 81 powers, 58 are devolved to the Bangsamoro, nine are reserved to the central government, and 14 are shared.
In addition, the future Bangsamoro government was given a greater share in revenues collected in the region, a greater share in income from natural wealth, and was granted authority to collect some types of taxes, all in the spirit of enhancing its fiscal capacity.
According to government panel member Senen Bacani, tax collection in the ARMM stood at P1.5 billion annually, while the regional government and its constituent local governments require P30 billion annually to operate.
Sumber - Inquirer News
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Zakat underused anti-poverty tool
Lack of professional management and poor book-keeping are keeping idle billions of dollars worth of assets held by Muslim charitable organisations which could support efforts to reduce poverty, a study released on Tuesday found.
Islamic alms-giving (zakat) and endowments (awqaf) have been in existence for centuries, but have yet to develop efficient use of their assets, a report by the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) and Thomson Reuters said.
These asset pools include vast real estate portfolios that are often poorly managed, which could otherwise help reduce poverty across Muslim communities, the study said.
"At a micro level, institutions in this sector need to address the issue of sustainability in the supply of funds," said Azmi Omar, director general of the IRTI, a unit of the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank.
This would involve professionals who are adequately trained not just in sharia-compliance but also in modern financial management techniques for charity-based and not-for-profit institutions, he added.
The study estimates that zakat donations could contribute significantly to poverty alleviation in countries with sizeable Muslim populations such as Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
Muslim minorities in India and Singapore, for instance, could collect zakat in the range of about 0.26 percent to 0.65 percent of their gross domestic product.
Growth of zakat contributions in these countries has often been in the double digits: Indonesia collected $231.6 million in 2012, up 27.3 percent from a year earlier; Pakistan collected $105 million in 2011, up 34.5 percent from a year earlier.
Malaysia had one of the largest donation pools with 1.6 billion ringgit ($497 million) collected in 2011, a 20.3 percent increase from a year earlier.
While there is no official data for India, the report estimated total annual zakat collections stood at a whopping $1.5 billion.
But it is hard to mobilise these resources because of a lack of standard and globally accepted definitions of what assets are eligible for zakat and how to estimate zakat donations, the study said.
AWQAF
The study also shed light on assets held by Islamic endowments, where India again holds the most untapped potential.
There are about 490,000 registered awqaf in India with a total area of about 600,000 acres and a book value of about 60 billion rupees ($987 million).
Most of these properties are located in city centres and their current market value is many times more than their book value, the study said.
The current annual income from these properties is about 1.63 billion rupees, equivalent to a 2.7 percent return on their book value. Properly managed, the properties could generate returns many times bigger, the study said.
In Bangladesh, a government survey identified 150,593 awqaf properties in the country, although only 15,300 were registered with the government awqaf administrator.
In Indonesia, registered land from awqaf reached 1,400 square kilometres but most of them were idle, while the market value was estimated at 590 trillion rupiah ($52 billion).
Sumber - Reuters
Thomson Reuters Releases the Islamic Social Finance Report in Partnership With The Islamic Research & Training Institute
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Thomson Reuters, the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, released today the Islamic Social Finance Report 2014 in collaboration with the Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group.
The report is the first of its kind study covering Islamic social finance across countries in South and Southeast Asia with sizeable Muslim populations including Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam.
The report studies the historical trends, legal and regulatory environment, supporting infrastructure, success stories, good practices and potential of Islamic social finance by key players in Zakah and Awqaf.
According to the report, Islamic social funds could potentially meet resource shortfalls to alleviate widespread poverty in South and Southeast Asia. The potential of Islamic social funds remains unrealized as actual Zakah (compulsory annual contributions) and returns of Awqaf (endowments) are not fully utilized in most countries. Additionally, most countries in South and Southeast Asia do not have an Islamic microfinance industry, which further diminishes the optimal potential of Islamic social finance.
Both, South and Southeast Asia, account for about 720 million (45 percent) of the world’s Muslim population which totals to around 1.6 billion.
Poverty is widespread in four of the seven countries. Around 76.5 percent of Bangladesh’s population lives on less than US$2 a day, while India is 69 percent, Pakistan is 60 percent, and Indonesia is 46 percent.
Professor Dr. Mohamad Azmi Omar, Director General of IRTI, said: “A sustained flow of social funds demands high degrees of social acceptance and credibility, which in turn, are influenced by levels of integrity, transparency and professionalism in the management of these funds.”
Dr. Sayd Farook, Head of Islamic Capital Markets, Thomson Reuters, said: “Despite overarching goals of social justice and equity, Islamic banking, Takaful and the Islamic capital market are for-profit sectors of the Islamic economy that have been criticised for not doing enough to help the poor. Islamic social finance has a significant role to play in alleviating poverty.”
He added: “The report confirms that transparency and good governance are the fundamental requirements for the success of Islamic social finance institutions. With the increasing calls for corporatization and an increased level of professionalism; the use of a large network of private institutional Zakah collectors is far more efficient as compared to a large number of unconnected private individual collectors.”
According to the report, Zakah collection reached US$1.4 billion in Bangladesh which has the highest poverty level in the South and Southeast Asia region. The report suggests that Zakah collection in Pakistan and Indonesia could fill the resource gap to alleviate hardcore poverty across this region.
With the absence of data on Awqaf data in most of these countries, the study focuses on Indonesia and India as they constitute the largest Muslim populations. Registered Awqaf have an estimated market value of US$24 billion in India and US$60 billion in Indonesia. At a minimum return of 10 percent, Awqaf assets could earn the equivalent of 0.3 percent of India’s GDP and 0.8 percent of Indonesia’s GDP, which is more than the resources required to push the Muslims out of hardcore poverty.
According to the report, there is an overwhelming use of Murabaha among Islamic Microfinance Institutions (MFI) due to the contract’s simplicity and familiarity. However, these sharia-compliant modes offer no in-built protection against exploitation and abuse. The report adds that Islamic MFIs should use profit and risk sharing modes as opposed to debt creating modes to safeguard beneficiaries against a debt spiral.
The report concludes that a professionally managed Zakah-financed microfinance program could potentially serve a much larger population of the poor. Furthermore, the report illustrates with examples from Singapore and Malaysia that state control may not necessarily hamper creativity and innovation in Awqaf development. The report suggests that Waqf development must be a mandatory obligation of the Waqf management and new forms of Waqf should be explicitly covered in the regulatory framework for Awqaf.
To download the full report version of the Islamic Social Finance Report 2014, please visit the link below.
http://www.zawya.com/islamic-finance/isfr/
Sumber - Thomson Reuters
CONDOLENCE
We deeply regret to hear the sad news, as officially announced by the Malaysian Government, that MH370 has, beyond any reasonable doubt, likely ended its flight in the southern Indian Ocean.
Our deepest sympathies to all family members of the crews and passengers of MH 370 for their loss.
May Allah the Most Compassionate grants all family members the serenity and peace that you all need in going through this difficult time.
Our thoughts and prayers to all crews and passengers of MH 370 who presumably perished together with the disappearance of MH 370.
May Allah the Most Gracious give everyone the comfort and peace during this difficult time and may the souls of your loved one rest in peace.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Vast oil and gas reserves discovered
Quratul-Ain Bandial
BRUNEI has discovered potentially vast reserves of oil and gas in the South China Sea that are double current key performance indicators (KPIs), said the Minister of Energy at the Prime Minister’s Office yesterday.
Existing plans, together with new findings from offshore blocks, are expected to deliver 3.5 billion barrels of oil by 2035, it was revealed in the Energy White Paper released yesterday at the launch of “Energy Week.”
“Last year we had a very good discovery. In fact, our discovery exploration result is double than our KPI within the present acreage area (of Brunei’s exclusive economic zone),” said Yang Berhormat Pehin Datu Singamanteri Colonel (Rtd) Dato Seri Setia (Dr) Hj Mohammad Yasmin Hj Umar.
The minister told The Brunei Times that the government plans to increase drilling activity in the coming years to surpass the current production rate of 372,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD). The split is approximately 40 per cent oil to 60 per cent gas.
The Energy Department at the Prime Minister’s Office (EDPMO) is targeting a production rate of 430,000 BOEPD by 2017, and 650,000 BOEPD by 2035.
YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Mohd Yasmin said he was confident the country could recover from a 7.7 per cent decline in oil and gas production in 2013, which was due to ongoing maintenance at the oil refinery and offshore platforms.
Due to the drop in energy output, the economy is expected to register negative growth of 1.4 per cent at the end of the financial year on March 31, compared to 0.9 per cent growth in 2012. “We are doing a lot of rejuvenating of the offshore platforms. The process is going on, but give it another year or two years and we’ll be back,” he said, explaining that some of the facilities were over 40 years old and well overdue for maintenance.
In order for the national economy to reach the six per cent per annum growth target prescribed under Vision 2035, the energy sector must increase GDP output from $10 billion to $42 billion by 2035.
“We can (achieve the target),” said YB Pehin Dato (Dr) Hj Mohd Yasmin. “It’s difficult at the moment but we can.”
According to the Energy White Paper, the two major energy companies awarded offshore concessions have developed “significant exploration plans.”
Brunei must maintain an oil and gas reserve replacement ratio (RRR) of more than one to meet growth targets.
The RRR has been in the range of 0.3 to 0.7 in the past decade but has climbed above one in the past five years.
Sumber - The Brunei Times
Monday, March 24, 2014
Sasaran 60% penghasilan beras sendiri tidak mustahil
Oleh Sim Y. H. & Rafidah Jumat
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 19 Mac – Kadar penghasilan beras pada masa ini adalah kira-kira lima peratus sahaja namun begitu dengan pelbagai usaha yang sedang dilaksanakan termasuk pengukuhan infrastruktur penghasilan padi, kadar penghasilan itu akan dapat ditingkatkan.
Perkara itu dijelaskan oleh Menteri Perindustrian dan Sumber-Sumber Utama, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Haji Yahya bin Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Haji Bakar ketika menjawab persoalan yang dikemukakan oleh Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Negara, Yang Berhormat Dato Paduka Haji Abdullah bin Haji Mohd Ja’afar mengenai kadar pengeluaran padi negara semasa Majlis Mesyuarat Negara yang bersidang untuk hari ke-10, hari ini.
Yang Berhormat Pehin akui bahawa jumlah import bagi beras meningkat namun begitu peningkatan itu bukan disebabkan oleh kurang upaya negara menghasilkan beras tetapi disebabkan keperluan penduduk yang meningkat dari tahun ke setahun dan juga bagi memastikan negara mempunyai bahan-bahan berkenaan melebihi dari asasnya.
Mengulas mengenai sasaran 60 peratus sara diri penghasilan beras dapat dicapai menjelang 2015, Yang Berhormat Pehin menyatakan dan mengakui perkara itu adalah satu perkara yang sukar tetapi tidak mustahil untuk dicapai.
“Setakat ini daripada 2009, kita mula program sara diri kepada 2012-2013, kita dapat meningkatkan dalam lima peratus sahaja tahap sara diri. Walau bagaimanapun dalam beberapa tahun yang akan datang beberapa usaha telah dilakukan untuk meningkatkan keupayaan tersebut sama ada dari peringkat penyediaan ladang kepada peringkat pengeluaran hingga ke peringkat selepas tuai.”
Oleh itu, pihak kementerian berusaha untuk mempersiapkan beberapa prasarana yang lebih kukuh supaya ia akan lebih mantap dan lebih berterusan di mana penyediaan ladang melibatkan banyak penyediaan infrastruktur ladang-ladang yang sesuai dan juga mengajar para peladang mengenai penyiapan ladang-ladang yang lebih sesuai untuk digunakan bersawah.
Sementara itu berhubung dengan pengeluaran, para peladang juga akan diberikan latihan dan mengenal beberapa jenis atau variety padi yang lebih tahan dan mantap untuk digunakan di Negara Brunei Darussalam.
Manakala itu di peringkat lepas tuai pula, Yang Berhormat Pehin berkata bahawa usaha dilaksanakan bagi menyiapkan kilang-kilang pengisaran dan pengeringan yang pada masa ini dalam proses untuk disiapkan di kawasan Wasan, yang boleh menampung keupayaan mengisar negara.
Dengan usaha-usaha yang dilaksanakan di peringkat-peringkat berkenaan, Yang Berhormat Pehin menyatakan harapan bahawa dalam tempoh beberapa tahun yang akan datang, negara akan mampu mencapai jika bukan kadar 60 peratus tetapi lebih daripada lima peratus.
Sementara itu, menjelaskan persoalan yang dikemukakan oleh Majlis Mesyuarat Negara dari Daerah Belait, Yang Berhormat Haji Mohd Shafiee bin Ahmad berhubung dengan Sungai Ingei, Yang Berhormat Pehin Dato Seri Setia Haji Yahya berkata kawasan Sungai Ingei mempunyai beberapa keunikan dan kementeriannya khususnya Pusat Nadi Borneo mempunyai perancangan serta mengenal pasti bahawa kawasan berkenaan akan dijadikan sebagai kawasan perlindungan hidupan liar Ulu Belait (Ulu Belait Wildlife Sanctuary) di mana pusat bagi kawasan perlindungan itu adalah di Sungai Ingei.
Beliau menerangkan lagi bahawa penggunaan kawasan itu dan kegiatan yang boleh dikendalikan adalah terhad dan tidak boleh dimasuki secara bebas. Walau bagaimanapun untuk kegunaan penyelidikan dan eko-pelancongan secara terhad, akan disediakan zon bufer atau kawasan-kawasan yang boleh menerima lawatan daripada pengunjung supaya tidak mengganggu kehidupan liar di kawasan berkenaan.
Sumber - Media Permata
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Lack of interaction between leaders, public block progress
ISSUES requiring urgent attention should be dealt with immediately instead of waiting for the next meeting to highlight the nature of the problem, said the Minister of Home Affairs.
Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Hj Awang Badaruddin Pengarah Dato Paduka Hj Othman said that there seems to be a ‘communication breakdown’ in getting attention and assistance for issues that require immediate attention.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs and the department within it will always welcome any Legislative Council member to get feedback on the welfare of the people and citizens.
“If issues of such nature can be solved at a district level, do not wait for the Legislative Council to meet to finally discuss those issues,” asserted the home affairs minister.
“Especially for Village Heads, I am puzzled with the issues voiced. It is as though there is a communication breakdown between the village heads and the district office? This is an issue that I will look into,” he added.
This was addressed by the minister in response to Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Maharaja Kerna Dato Paduka Seri Hj Yaakub Pehin Orang Kaya Maharaja Diraja Dato Paduka Hj Zainal regarding the potential dangers associated with boat jetties that are not equipped with hand railings for the elderly or facilities to assist those with special needs.
Other issues that were brought up by district level representatives included an allowance for village heads for delivering old age pension, to immediately fill up vacant village head posts instead of having another village head temporarily take over responsibility for the village, and misplaced and absent village signage amongst others.
Sumber - The Brunei Times
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Sebelum menutup mata
Oleh Hajah Saemah Zulkefli
TUTONG, 17 Mac – Bagi pasangan suami isteri warga emas di Kampung Rambai Lamunin, hanya satu harapan mereka, iaitu segera mendapat bantuan perumahan Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB) yang sudah dipohonkan beberapa tahun lalu.
Pasangan suami isteri Mualaf, Awang Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Yakin @ Bungah bin Yakin, 78, dan Dayang Nor Aisyah binti Mohd Ariffin @ Loket binti Abon, 63, sudah merasa tidak selamat tinggal di pondok buruk mereka tambahan lagi setiap kali datangnya musim hujan kerana air akan menaiki pondok mereka sehingga kira-kira tiga kaki.
Pasangan suami isteri itu pada masa ini tinggal di pondok usang yang sudah mumut lantainya, atap yang sudah bocor dan tiang pondok yang sudah rapuh, selain pondok mereka juga bergoyang jika ditiup angin, memang sudah tidak begitu selamat untuk didiami.
Dayang Nor Aisyah semasa ditemui Media Permata berkata, YSHHB sudah membalas surat permohonan mereka untuk bantuan skim perumahan Yayasan yang mereka pohonkan kira-kira dua tahun lalu, tetapi dinyatakan dalam surat itu mereka terpaksa menunggu sebelum giliran mereka tiba.
 |
| Beginilah keadaan pondok pasangan suami isteri itu semasa kejadian banjir beberapa bulan lalu. |
 |
| Wajah penuh harapan….. Pasangan suami isteri itu sering duduk di anak tangga pondok usang mereka. |
 |
| Dayang Nor Aisyah @ Dayang Loket menunjukkan bahagian dapur pondok mereka yang sudah mumut lantainya. |
Manakala Awang Abdul Rahman yang kurang bercakap ketika ditemui kerana kurang pendengaran, hanya menunjukkan surat balasan daripada pihak Yayasan, dengan wajah penuh harapan mereka segera diberikan bantuan untuk pembinaan rumah di atas tanahnya itu, supaya berpeluang merasakan sedikit keselesaan duduk di dalam rumah, ketika usia mereka yang sudah lanjut itu.
Pasangan suami isteri itu tidak mempunyai anak kandung, hanya mempunyai dua anak angkat, yang mana seorang sudah pun berumah tangga dan tinggal berasingan, sementara anak lelaki yang masih tinggal bersama mereka dan bekerja sebagai tukang kayu di hospital merupakan seorang warga istimewa.
Awang Abdul Rahman telah menghadapkan permohonan bantuan skim perumahan Yayasan bagi saudara-saudara baru, pada bulan Jun 2012, dihadapkan melalui Ketua Kampung Rambai, dan tidak lama selepas itu pihak berkenaan membalas permohonan dengan mengirimkan bersama borang siasatan untuk diisikan sebelum permohonan dipertimbangkan.
Kemudian pada bulan Februari tahun lalu, Awang Abd Rahman telah menerima lagi surat yang menyatakan YSHHB telah bersetuju untuk memberikan bantuan membina rumah bagaimanapun proses pembinaan rumah adalah mengikut giliran dan makluman akan disampaikan kepada beliau setelah gilirannya sampai.
Banjir teruk yang menimpa beberapa tempat di Lamunin tahun ini, turut menjejaskan keadaan pondok buruk pasangan suami isteri itu, dan mereka terpaksa hanya duduk dalam rumah tidak dapat pergi ke mana-mana.
Menurut Awang Abd Rahman semasa kejadian itu mereka diberikan tawaran untuk berpindah sementara di rumah teres Bukit Beruang, tetapi pasangan suami isteri itu menolak kerana risau kerosakan barang-barang mereka yang ditinggalkan.
Pasangan itu hanya menerima pencen gaji tua sebulan sejumlah $250.00 selain mereka berdua bersawah padi di kawasan tanah lapang yang sedikit di belakang pondok mereka.
“Cukuplah untuk kami sekeluarga makan, jika musim menuai,” kata Dayang Nor Aisyah ketika ditanya adakah hasil padi yang di tanam adakah untuk dijual. Bagaimanapun ekoran kejadian banjir yang melanda baru-baru ini, padi tanaman mereka juga rosak dan tidak begitu subur lagi buahnya.
Sumber - Media Permata
Elderly couple appeal for assistance to build new house in Tutong
Liza Mohamad
AN ELDERLY couple, who are currently staying in a dilapidated house in the Tutong District, are seeking immediate assistance from Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah (YSHHB).
The couple – both Muslim converts – Awang Abd Rahman bin Abdullah Yakin @ Bungah bin Yakin, 78, and Dayang Nor Aisyah binti Mohd Ariffin @ Loket binti Abon, 63, felt that it is not safe for them to stay in the house, particularly during the rainy season as the water rises up to three-feet high.
“We are aged and cannot afford to carry out any repair works ourselves. We had to continue staying here without power supply for 20 years on a TOL land, and every rainy season, our housxe will be surrounded with flood waters,” said Nor Aisyah.
Meanwhile, Abd Rahman, who is unable to speak coherently due to hearing impairment, showed a letter of reply from YSHHB, hoping that they will receive assistance soon to build a house on their existing land.
 |
| Abd Rahman and Nor Aisyah at their house |
The serious flooding which hit Lamunin this year also affected the couple’s home. According to Abd Rahman, they were offered to move temporarily to a terrace house in Bukit Beruang, but they refused due to fear of leaving behind their valuables and other belongings.
The couple are only dependent on their monthly old-age pension of $250 and for supplementary income, they carry out small-scale paddy cultivation behind their home.
“It is enough to feed both of us when the harvesting season arrives,” said Nor Aisyah, speaking about the revenue generated from paddy farming.
Unfortunately the flooding season this year also destroyed their paddy crop.
Sumber - Borneo Bulletin
Jejak Ehsan HAWA NDP menyusur Kg Rambai
Oleh Hajah Saemah Zulkefli
TUTONG, 17 Mac – Projek Jejak Ehsan 2014 mengunjungi warga-warga emas bersempena Sambutan Ulang Tahun Hari Kebangsaan Negara Brunei Darussalam ke-30, anjuran Himpunan Wanita Parti Pembangunan Bangsa (HAWA NDP) diteruskan lagi dengan menyusur ke kawasan pedalaman di Kampung Rambai Jalan Bang Pangan dekat sini hari ini.
Projek yang dianjurkan dengan kerjasama Biro Pendidikan dan Biro Kemasyarakatan Parti Pembangunan Bangsa, itu telah mengunjungi rumah pasangan suami isteri warga emas Awang Abdul Rahman bin Abdullah Yakin @ Bungah bin Yakin, 78, dan Dayang Nor Aisyah binti Mohd Ariffin @ Loket binti Abon, 63, yang pada masa ini tinggal di sebuah pondok yang agak usang sejak lebih 20 tahun.
 |
| Rombongan menyampaikan sumbangan kepada pasangan suami isteri warga emas di kawasan pedalaman Kg Rambai Lamunin |
Projek Jejak Ehsan tahun ini memfokuskan kunjungan ke beberapa buah rumah di kalangan warga emas termasuk yang dikhabarkan terabai, yang sedang dirawat di hospital dan yang tinggal di pedalaman.
Ia antara lain dihasratkan supaya dapat sedikit sebanyak membantu menggembirakan warga-warga emas dan menunjukkan keprihatinan kepada kalangan tersebut supaya tidak terasa diasingkan dan diabaikan.
Melalui projek ini juga dihasratkan dapat mengeratkan lagi ikatan silaturahim di antara ahli-ahli NDP dengan masyarakat sekeliling dan merupakan salah satu aktiviti yang dilaksanakan oleh Himpunan Wanita NDP sebagai salah satu sayap dalam pertubuhan itu yang mempunyai visi “Negara Brunei Darussalam sebagai sebuah negara Melayu, Islam Beraja, aman dan makmur serta mendapat keampunan Allah SWT”.
Sumber - Media Permata
Senior citizens in rural village taken care of
THE plights of senior citizens living in the rural area of Kg Rambai, Jln Bang Pangan in the Tutong District were taken care of by the Women’s Group of the National Development Party (HAWA) in their latest series of visits recently.
An elderly couple, Awg Abd Rahman bin Abdullah Yakin @ Bungah bin Yakin, 78, and his wife, Dyg Nor Aisyah binti Mohd Ariffin @ Loket binti Abon, 63, has been staying in a dilapidated house in the rural area over the past 20 years.
The group handed over contributions in the form of basic necessities and heard their grievances.
Their project this year focusses on visits to the residence of senior citizens, who are believed to be neglected, undergoing treatment and staying in remote places, to assist and cheer them, demonstrating the caring attitude of the group.
It was also to build closer ties among its members with the local community and part of an activity by the Women’s Group as a wing of the association.
The project runs jointly with the Education Bureau and is led by the Head of Women’s Group, Dyg Hjh Saemah along with Vice President of Tutong NDP, Secretary-General of NDP, Discipline Committee Head, Head of Education Bureau, Community Bureau and exco members.
Sumber - Borneo Bulletin
Flight MH370 Shows Limits of ASEAN’s Maritime Cooperation
The limits of regional Search and Rescue cooperation were evident following the disappearance of MH370.
By Carl Thayer
The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 prompted media commentators and regional specialists to marvel at how regional navies quickly shifted from confrontation over maritime disputes to multilateral cooperation in search and rescue (SAR) operations. There was even speculation that current SAR efforts might become the model for future cooperation.
However, after a few days of concentrated search efforts failed to turn up anything definite about the fate of MH370, Malaysia’s handling of SAR operations became the subject of public recriminations.
On March 15, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak held an international press conference where he officially confirmed that the missing MH370 had changed course deliberately from its last known location and flown west away from the designated search area in the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea. At the time the Prime Minister spoke, fourteen countries, forty-three ships and fifty-eight aircraft were involved in the search.
Malaysian military radar detected what was later presumed to be flight MH370 as it flew over the Malay peninsula towards the Indian Ocean. Information gleaned from commercial satellites revealed that MH370 had likely continued to fly for six or seven more hours headed on either a northerly route over the Central Asian landmass or a southerly route over the Indian Ocean.
Immediately after Najib’s press conference, China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng demanded more “thorough and accurate information” about the new search area proposed by Malaysia.
Xinhua, China’s official news agency, took the Malaysian government to task for its lack of transparency and delays in reporting relevant information. Xinhua declared that the search efforts in the Gulf of Thailand was “a huge waste of valuable time and resources… Given today’s technology, the delay smacks of either dereliction of duty or reluctance to share information in a full and timely manner.”
Xinhua further editorialized that Boeing, the manufacturer of the 777-200 aircraft, Rolls Royce, the manufacturer of plane’s engines, and the United States, an “intelligence superpower,” all had access to vital information and should “have done a better job” sharing it with China.
Whatever the veracity of China’s criticism, it is apparent the ongoing MH370 saga has exposed serious shortcomings in efforts to establish an effective regional SAR emergency management regime.
For example, as long ago as April 1972 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation reached an Agreement for the Facilitation of Search for Aircrafts in Distress and Rescue of Survivors of Aircraft Accidents. This agreement established mechanisms for states to request/offer assistance and coordination of emergency joint operations.
Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia acceded to the 1972 agreement when they became members of ASEAN. In November 2006, seven ASEAN countries carried out a three-day Search and Rescue Exercise.
ASEAN-China cooperation on search and rescue has been marked by procrastination. For example, on December 7, 2004 China and ASEAN agreed to establish a Joint Working Group on the Implementation of the Declaration on Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). This group was charged with implementing, among other activities, search and rescue cooperation.
The DOC was agreed to between China and the ten members of ASEAN in November 2002. Despite the creation of the Joint Working Group in 2004, no guidelines were drawn up to implement the DOC until 2011. It was only in June last year that ASEAN and China held a workshop on strengthening cooperation in search and rescue at sea.
At the sixth China-ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting and the ninth Joint Working Group Meeting on the Implementation of the DOC, held in China in September 2013, China proposed a “maritime emergency help line” and a joint maritime search and rescue sandbox exercise.
A review of ASEAN efforts to forge SAR cooperation reveals agreement on policy objectives, progress in implementation and capacity building but few large-scale practical exercises. None of ASEAN’s SAR activities addressed the kinds of issues that emerged following the disappearance of flight MH370.
In 2009, the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint, a major policy statement, recommended that action be taken to promote cooperation in maritime search and rescue, but restricted its recommendations to “information sharing, technological cooperation and exchange of visits by authorities concerned.”
In October the following year, ASEAN adopted the Declaration on Cooperation in Search and Rescue of Persons and Vessels in Distress at Sea. This Declaration encouraged members to designate a national Rescue Coordination Center, to establish direct communication channels to share information and assist in search and rescue, and to promptly extend support upon request to assist in SAR operations.
The Declaration further encouraged members to intensify cooperation in capacity building for SAR missions at sea, to promote cooperation with ASEAN’s dialogue partners, and to maintain a directory of all national Rescue Coordination Centers.
Finally, the Declaration called for developing and strengthening coordinated regional approaches and for establishing or upgrading “regional policies, operational mechanisms, plans and communications system to prepare for and ensure rapid and effective response to distress situation.”
It should be noted that the focus of ASEAN SAR planning is mainly on ships in distress at sea. For example, the chairman’s statement issued after the twenty-third ASEAN Summit in Brunei in October last year declared that ASEAN leaders looked forward “to developing the ideas of establishing hotlines of communication to further enhance trust, confidence and to respond to emergency situations at sea and cooperate in the area of search and rescue for vessels in distress at sea…”
The ASEAN Maritime Forum, which was founded in 2010, has held four meetings. None of these meetings has explicitly addressed SAR missions, capacity building or practical exercises.
As the MH370 incident revealed, military assets are invariably committed to SAR missions, especially in their initial phase. ASEAN Defense Ministers, however, have not made SAR a priority. For example, the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM), established in 2006, began to conduct tabletop exercises in 2011, but they have not included SAR.
ASEAN Naval Chiefs, in contrast, have begun to address SAR issues, at least tentatively. In July 2012, the Singapore and Indonesian navies co-hosted the inaugural ASEAN Maritime Information Sharing Exercise at the Changi Command and Control Center in Singapore. During this exercise national control centers were electronically networked with the Changi Center to exchange information on maritime security. While this exercise did not address SAR directly, it demonstrated the utility of a region-wide electronic communication network. Later, in September, the ASEAN Chiefs of Navy Meeting held in Brunei agreed that the center in Singapore should add SAR to its responsibilities.
In September of last year, the seventh ASEAN Chiefs of Navy Meeting, held in Makati City, the Philippines, endorsed the idea of establishing hot lines to deal with maritime emergencies but made no explicit mention of SAR exercises or capacity-building.
The 2010 ASEAN Declaration on Cooperation in Search and Rescue of Persons and Vessels in Distress at Sea, as well as other ASEAN policy documents laid the foundations for the Malaysian-directed SAR effort to find the MH370. In doing so, it showed serious weaknesses in ASEAN’s SAR planning.
ASEAN SAR planning appears to be based on the assumption that there will be actionable information about the location and causes of an aircraft in distress over the sea. Planning protocols assume that a search and rescue effort conducted from the last known location of the aircraft would either render assistance to the survivors or locate the wreckage of the downed aircraft. All of these suppositions were absent in the case of MH370.
ASEAN’s past experience providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) to the victims of the 2006 tsunami and Cyclone Nargis in 2005 indicate that it will study the lessons learned from the search for MH370 and incorporate them into future SAR policy planning. ASEAN Ministers of Transport and national civil aviation authorities, for example, are likely to strengthen the protocols dealing with aircraft as they transit from one control zone to another, and speed up the response if there is any glitch in the plane’s ability to communicate while crossing into another zone.
Malaysia should review its management of the MH370 incident, study the lessons to be learned, and make recommendations to relevant ASEAN bodies about how to process and verify information coming from such diverse sources as civil airline authorities, military radar, commercial satellite information and information from intelligence-gathering satellites.
Malaysia should also review its handling of the international media, identify any possible shortcoming or deficiencies, and draw up draft guidance for consideration by other ASEAN members. It is clear that a balance must be struck between providing timely information and ensuring that the information is accurate. Some guidance must be drawn up to manage the expectations of the media about what they can expect in an emergency situation.
This Indonesian Navy is due to host the first joint ASEAN and dialogue partner naval exercise this year, which will focus on military operations other than war. This exercise is scheduled to include an SAR component. This joint exercise provides the opportunity for SAR to be incorporated into the work program of the ASEAN Defence Ministers and their dialogue partners (ADMM Plus). The ADMM Plus has six working groups, responsibility for SAR could be delegated to either the joint working group on maritime security or the joint working group on HA/DR.
The larger implications of the MH370 incident on future multilateral regional cooperation are less clear. The initial search area of the missing MH370 took place in the Gulf of Thailand/South China Sea in a semi-enclosed area outside the maritime zone enclosed by China’s nine-dash line. All of the ASEAN littoral states, except Cambodia, followed Malaysia’s lead and offered assistance despite minor disputes over maritime boundaries.
Extending multilateral SAR cooperation to cover the South China Sea proper is another matter. There, the International Maritime Organisation has allotted the area north of ten degrees north latitude and west of 116 degrees east longitude to China as its area of responsibility for SAR operations. The IMO’s zone overlaps with the national maritime boundaries claimed by littoral states. This could cause difficulties for effective cooperation in the event of a plane crash in a disputed area. This is one area where the ASEAN-China Joint Working Group to Implement the DOC should give priority attention.
Sumber - The Diplomat
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Hina undang-undang Syari’ah akan dikenakan tindakan
Oleh Normazlina M.D & Ak Fairol RMF
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 13 Mac – Perbuatan mencemuh Perintah Hukum Kanun Jenayah Syari’ah 2013 dan perbuatan menakut-nakutkan orang ramai dari memberikan sokongan terhadap Perintah Kanun Jenayah Syari’ah boleh dilihat sebagai dua perbuatan yang berbeza.
Ia boleh ditangani secara berasingan melalui peruntukan undang-undang sedia ada oleh agensi-agensi berkenaan seperti Penguat kuasa Ugama, Pasukan Polis Diraja Brunei, Jabatan Keselamatan Dalam Negeri, AITI, dan sebagainya.
Perkara tersebut telah diterangkan oleh Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama, Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato Seri Setia Dr. Haji Mohammad bin Pengiran Haji Abdul Rahman (gambar) semasa menjawab persoalan daripada Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Negara, Yang Berhormat Awang Haji Mohd Shafiee bin Ahmad mengenai tindakan pihak berkenaan terhadap individu atau kumpulan yang mencemuh serta menakutkan orang ramai tentang undang-undang Allah ini sama ada melalui media sosial elektronik, mahupun surat-surat khabar di luar dan di dalam negeri.
Menurut Yang Berhormat Menteri lagi, dari segi perspektif Perintah Kanun sebagaimana yang telah diberigakan secara meluas di negara ini, Perintah Kanun akan dikuatkuasakan dalam tiga fasa dan dalam fasa pertama, ia akan menangani perbuatan mencemuh yang sedang dibincangkan.
“Pada masa ini, Perintah Hukum Kanun Jenayah Syari’ah di Negara Brunei Darussalam masih dalam tempoh pemberigaan. Malah pemberigaan ini mungkin sahaja berlanjutan jika ia diperlukan kerana tujuannya adalah untuk mendidik dan memberi kefahaman kepada orang ramai dengan sebaik-baiknya,” jelasnya.
“Perintah Kanun merupakan undang-undang jenayah Syari’ah yang bersumberkan dari Al-Quran, As-Sunnah, Al-Ijmak dan Al-Qias. Perbuatan mencemuh perintah Kanun boleh dianggap menghina ugama Islam dan si pelakunya boleh disiasat dan didakwa,” jelas Yang Berhormat Menteri Hal Ehwal Ugama.
Jika hasil siasatan bahawa si pelaku disahkan melakukan penghinaan terhadap Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia dalam kedudukannya sebagai ketua ugama rasmi atau terhadap Majlis Ugama Islam dalam kedudukannya sebagai badan yang bertanggungjawab bagi menyembahkan Majlis Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia mengenai ugama Islam, maka si pelaku boleh didakwa sama ada di bawah Akta yang berjalan pada sekarang ini, atau di bawah Perintah Kanun Jenayah Syari’ah ini yang akan dilaksanakan nanti.
Perbuatan mencemuh perintah Kanun ini dikhuatiri boleh membawa si pelakunya jika ia seorang Muslim kepada melakukan kesalahan Irtidad apabila Hukum Kanun Jenayah Syari’ah dikuatkuasakan sepenuhnya nanti. Jika si pelakunya bukan seorang muslim, maka kesalahan yang sebanding dengan kesalahan Irtidad boleh dikenakan terhadapnya.
Perbuatan mencemuh Perintah Kanun atau perbuatan menakut-nakutkan orang ramai dari memberikan sokongan terhadap Perintah Kanun boleh memberikan bidang-bidang berkuasa seperti Penguat kuasa ugama, Pasukan Polis Diraja Brunei, Jabatan Keselamatan dalam Negeri, AITI, dan sebagainya untuk menjalankan siasatan di bawah mandat atau portfolio masing-masing.
“Begitu jua halnya dengan perbuatan mencemuh perintah Kanun boleh menyebabkan imej negara terjejas dan boleh mempengaruhi dan mengelirukan orang ramai. Akibat perbuatan ini, ianya boleh menggugat keselamatan dan kestabilan negara. Tindakan terhadap si pelaku boleh diambil tindakan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri.”
Menurut Yang Berhormat Pengiran Dato lagi, perbuatan menakut-nakutkan orang ramai dari memberikan sokongan terhadap Perintah Kanun, maka kerjasama Pasukan Polis Diraja Brunei bagi menyiasat perbuatan tersebut amatlah dihargai.
Manakala kesalahan yang dilakukan di luar negara juga boleh didakwa di dalam negara kita sendiri tetapi ianya memerlukan agensi-agensi yang berkenaan di negara terbabit untuk menyerahkan tertuduh didakwa menurut undang-undang di negara ini.
Sebagai kesimpulannya, perintah kanun merupakan Undang-undang Jenayah Syari’ah yang boleh memberikan kesejahteraan dan keamanan jika peruntukannya dapat difahami dan dihayati dengan baik oleh setiap lapisan masyarakat di negara ini.
Sumber - Media Permata
Countering China in the South China Sea
Prashanth Parameswaran
On March 18, officials from China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Singapore to discuss steps towards an elusive code of conduct in the contentious South China Sea dispute. If the past is any indicator, China will ensure that such diplomacy will produce little significant progress even as it continues to coercively change realities on the ground in its favor. While cooler heads hope diplomacy will prevail, hope is not a strategy. Southeast Asian officials and other external partners like the United States and Japan need to use the full range of instruments at their disposal to persuade Beijing about the urgent need for a diplomatic solution, dissuade it from undertaking further destabilizing moves, and prepare for a range of crises in the absence of Chinese cooperation.
Since 2009, China has displayed a growing assertiveness towards ASEAN states in the South China Sea, using a combination of diplomatic, administrative and military instruments to impose unilateral fishing bans, harass vessels, and patrol contested waters. Despite the so-called ‘charm offensive’ by China’s new leadership in the region in 2013, Beijing’s conduct in the South China Sea has remained largely unchanged, with a new fishing law promulgated in January, invasive patrols and encroachments into waters of other claimants, and foot-dragging at talks over a code of conduct it finally agreed to discussing last year. Meanwhile, the specter of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea also continues to loom large. Yet, as former CIA senior analyst Chris Johnson told a forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies earlier this year, unlike most other observers China’s leaders continue to see no contradiction between seeking better relations with Southeast Asia and assertively defending their sovereignty claims at the expense of other ASEAN claimants.
Given this, it is now up to ASEAN states and their partners to craft an integrated strategy in the diplomatic, legal and security realms geared towards both steering Beijing away from its assertiveness if possible, and preparing to counter it effectively should it continue or intensify. In the diplomatic domain, ASEAN states and other parties should continue to consistently emphasize the cardinal principle that all countries – including China – need to resolve their disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law. The principal means to reach this objective is a legally binding code of conduct. In spite of Chinese stalling, ASEAN states should remain united in insisting on both its speedy conclusion and meaningful content, including key mechanisms like a crisis management hotline.
While all ASEAN countries ought to be united in pursuit of a code of conduct, the four ASEAN states that have claims in the South China Sea – namely Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam – should also take additional steps together given their greater stake in the issue at hand. The main objective would be to thwart China’s efforts to divide the ASEAN claimants (most clearly by isolating the Philippines) by banding together in spite of certain differences in their positions. Greater coordination looks more promising now than it did in the past, with the recent hardening of Malaysia’s stance along with the birth of the ASEAN Claimants Working Group Meeting held in the Philippines last month. Additionally, external actors beyond just the United States, including the European Union and Australia, need to do their part by speaking out against Chinese transgressions to raise the cost of noncompliance. A rules-based approach to resolving the disputes ought to be a shared global interest, and a greater coalition explicitly calling for this will help increase the pressure on Beijing without it being framed as just a U.S.-China issue.
Even if a code of conduct does come to pass, it will at best be a diplomatic tool to manage tensions in the South China Sea. The sustainable path to actually resolving them lies in the legal realm, with all parties codifying their claims in line with international law which could then open the door to shelving sovereignty disputes and initiating joint resource development. The burden here rests largely with China, whose deliberate ambiguity on the basis for its indefensible nine-dash-line claim submitted to the United Nations in 2009, which covers up to 90 percent of the entire South China Sea, is inconsistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by any stretch of the imagination.
However, Southeast Asian states and the international community have roles to play as well. ASEAN countries should continue challenging China’s nine-dash line claim in legal circles to expose its egregiousness, as the Philippines is now doing via the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). To add weight to such initiatives in the Chinese mind, other ASEAN members and external actors should support them either through direct participation or strong public statements, which can be done carefully without explicitly taking sides on sovereignty questions. Finally, the four ASEAN claimant states should also continue to codify the specifics of their own claims in multilateral fora as well as domestic legislation. Greater clarity among ASEAN claimants could both reveal greater congruence in certain areas as well as further expose Beijing’s deliberate ambiguity.
But ASEAN countries and their external partners should not just continue to hope that their efforts will change China’s ambivalence on the code of conduct or its blatant disregard for international law in the South China Sea. They also need to think critically about how to manage tensions if Beijing’s assertiveness continues unabated or grows over time and spills over into other issue areas as well. While the specific decisions eventually made will depend on each individual country, in general ASEAN claimants and other willing Southeast Asian and external states should prioritize increasing coordination, cooperation and crisis management at the domestic, regional and international levels in three specific ways.
First, ASEAN claimants need to redouble efforts to foster greater coordination between the various military and civilian government agencies considered maritime stakeholders. This is crucial not only to promote interagency cooperation in the complex domain of maritime security that touches several areas from fisheries to immigration, but to formulate an integrated approach to rival China’s adroit strategy of using a variety of nonmilitary instruments to enforce its claims in a calibrated way, including coast-guard vessels. Efforts by the Philippines and Brunei to establish national coast-surveillance programs are a useful step, as are more collective endeavors like a seminar on interagency coordination held in October 2013 between Vietnam the United States.
Greater integration at the national level should also be supplemented by more cooperation at the regional and global realms to at least mitigate the asymmetry in capabilities between China and individual ASEAN states. This is particularly necessary with respect to crisis-management mechanisms and scenario-planning. For instance, bilateral-security hotlines can be one useful instrument in managing crises if they are properly resourced, structured and utilized. While discussions have already begun at the regional level, they will likely take time to advance and this should not prevent countries from establishing security hotlines on a bilateral basis, as Malaysia and the Philippines are now reportedly considering.
ASEAN claimant states should also intensify contingency planning related to the South China Sea both nationally and in concert with relevant partners. Broader initiatives are already underway with several countries, including further acquisitions and coast guard cooperation with Japan and increased maritime security cooperation with the United States. But additional focus should be placed on planning for specific crisis scenarios ranging from rogue fishermen who may provoke an unintended bilateral crisis all the way up to potential Chinese economic coercion or blockades. These plans ought to reflect the sophistication of China’s strategy in the South China Sea in terms of the various instruments used and the different levels of military and non-military coercion employed. They should also incorporate current Chinese thinking. For example, one China expert recently told a conference at the Center for New American Security that China is working on a concept called ‘extended coercive diplomacy’ focused on how to coerce an adversary that is aligned with a great power, with U.S. allies Japan and the Philippines being case studies.
Critics will claim that elements of this overall strategy make little sense because it is too risky for weaker ASEAN states to antagonize a much more capable China. But the evidence suggests that is precisely what China is banking on – that the glaring asymmetry in capabilities, coupled with its rising regional influence, will make ASEAN states think twice before risking rupture in relations as long as Beijing’s assertiveness is calibrated to both divide various claimants and avoid drawing in other external players. It is up to Southeast Asian states and other interested actors like the United States and Japan to now think critically about how to counter the full spectrum of Chinese assertiveness proportionately and to do what is necessary make clear what their red lines are. Because in getting Beijing to commit to a peaceful, lawful resolution on the South China Sea disputes, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, it is not enough that all parties do their best; but that they do what is required.
Sumber - The National Interest
Brunei Darussalam to build ICT opportunities
Proposed regulatory reforms are set to give a boost to Brunei Darussalam’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector, an area of the economy that the government has targeted for growth.
In mid-February, Hj Yahkup Hj Menudin, CEO of the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI), the state agency charged with both developing and regulating the ICT sector, said his organisation was looking to boost competition in the market.
A review of policies is under way, with the objective of streamlining the process for licence applications, as well as improving licensing terms and conditions for telcos and broadcasters, both of which fall under the purview of AITI.
According to Hj Yahkup, a new licensing framework would allow the regulator to introduce a new competition code, which would facilitate entry by smaller entities and boost innovation in the market.
“This is AITI’s vision to create vibrant ICT industry with more new players coming into the markets providing more new innovative services and more choices for consumers,” he said.
A chance to grow
Giving a boost to the ICT industry is among the goals of the government, which is hoping to raise the sector’s contribution to GDP from around 2% today to 6% by 2015.
Of the roughly 200 registered ICT firms operating in the Sultanate, the majority are resellers, distributors and hardware vendors, mainly importing hardware and software.
A report issued in mid-February by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showed that imports of ICT products totalled $147m in 2012, equivalent to 4.12% of merchandise imports. On the positive side of the ledger were ICT exports, which rose to $36m in 2012, almost four times the figure from 2006.
Local demand is evident, as uptake of ICT products within the community is extensive. Mobile phone penetration rates reached 120% in 2013 and at least 80% of homes have one laptop. These figures will continue to rise, the Ministry of Communications has forecast, with both computer and phone ownership rates set to climb as more homes and businesses are connected to the new fibre optic network and telecos step up the roll out of 4G services.
As of the end of 2013, almost 12,000 households had been linked to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service, with a total of 45,000 to be wired up within three years, as part of a $180m upgrade of the network infrastructure aimed at boosting internet speeds and reliability.
Another significant advancement in 2013 was the doubling of average download speeds, a result of expansions in the country’s international bandwidth and the extension of fibre-based high-speed broadband services. In early February, AITI reported that the average download speed had improved from the 2012 rate of 2.27 megabytes per second (Mbps) to 4.83 Mbps, while upload speeds had increased from 0.96 Mbps to 3.29 Mbps.
Ready to rise
These advances have been recognised by the World Economic Forum in its annual Network Readiness Index, with Brunei Darussalam steadily climbing up the global rankings. Since 2010 it has risen from 63 out of 144 countries on the index, which measures the impact of and access to ICT on a society and its economy, to 57 last year.
Developments such as the roll out of the FTTH, 4G services and higher phone and computer penetration rates will help promote the cause of the indigenous ICT industry, with the stronger infrastructure backbone and improved speeds and access likely to encourage greater usage by both the general public and businesses. This in turn is expected to boost sales of ICT products.
Though the opportunities are there, not all of Brunei Darussalam’s ICT firms have fully embraced them, according to Minister of Communications Pehin Dato Hj Abdullah Bakar. Addressing a business forum on January 25, the minister said local ICT suppliers needed to do more to build on the existing network readiness. Both the commercial and retail segments offer potential for growth, he said, something industry players can leverage and develop.
Sumber - Oxford Business Group
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Expenditure to double if govt assists private sector staff
THE expenditure of the government will double if it were to fund or provide assistance to the private sector employees and this issue should be taken into consideration particularly in terms of government financial capacity in the long run.
YB Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim, Minister of Finance II at the Prime Minister’s Office, said this as he responded yesterday to a question raised by Legislative Council (LegCo) member YB Awang Haji Jumat bin Akim on Monday at the ongoing 10th LegCo meeting.
The issues raised were a proposal on government assistance for private sector employees, including living support allowance (Elaun Sara Hidup), special gift allowance (Elaun Kurnia Khas) and any convenience provided to government officers and staff to be extended to the private sector employees in order to attract more locals to work in the private sector.
“In looking into this recommendation, there are some private sector employees who are given better benefits and packages in comparison to public sector staff such as higher bonus rate, better overseas airfares and so on.
“This is a matter that should be taken into account if the government and private sectors are to be balanced in terms of benefits,” he added.
The minister also shared several regulations that have been implemented by the government which are also beneficial and enjoyed by the private sector employees in an effort to preserve their well-being.
Among the regulations stated by the minister were maternity leave where the government pays full salary for a period of five weeks after eight weeks of paid leave by their employers; educational allowance for courses at the tertiary level for active members of the Employees Provident Fund (TAP) including those who work in the private sector; and the establishment of the Supplementary Contributory Pension (SCP) scheme.
He also said that the government should not be solely burdened in attracting locals to work in the private sector. Employers in the private sector should also have the responsibility to assist the government in achieving the objective.
“Among others efforts should also be made by employers in offering attractive salary packages, enhancing a conducive working environment, providing appropriate facilities and others in order to reward the dedication and services of private sector staff,” he concluded.
Sumber - Borneo Bulletin Online
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Lives at stake in TPP trade deal
By Martin Khor
GENEVA - If you or some family members or friends suffer from cancer, hepatitis, AIDS, asthma or other serious ailments, it's worth your while to follow the negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement and other similar bilateral trade agreements. It's really a matter of life and death. For the TPPA can cut off the potential supply of cheaper generic medicines that can save lives, especially when the original branded products are priced so sky-high that very few can afford them.
Recently, a cancer specialist in New Zealand (one of the TPPA counties) warned that the TPPA would prolong the high cost of treating breast cancer because of new rules to protect biotechnology-based cancer drugs from competition from generics. And this will affect the lives of cancer patients.
Some cancer medicines can cost a patient over US$100,000 for a year's treatment. But generic versions could be produced for a fraction, making it possible for patients to hope for a cure and a reprieve from death.
In India, local companies are leading the fight to make medicines more affordable to thousands of patients suffering from breast, kidney, liver and gastrointestinal cancer and chronic leukemia.
For example, an Indian company produced a generic drug for kidney and liver cancer 30 times cheaper than the branded product ($140 versus $4,580 for a month's treatment) after it was given a compulsory license.
India has a law that disallows patents for a newer form of drugs or known substances unless it improves the medicine's efficacy or effectiveness. Under the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, countries are free to set their own standards for novelty, or whether a product is novel enough to be eligible for a patent.
Also, in many countries, the patent law allows for companies to obtain compulsory licenses to import or make generic versions of original medicines. Governments grant such licenses if the branded products are too expensive and the original companies do not offer attractive terms for a voluntary license to other firms.
Multinational companies have strongly opposed compulsory licenses or the Indian-type laws that allow for patents only for genuine innovations.
This is where the TPPA comes in. Mainly at the insistence of the United States, countries are being asked to accept standards of intellectual property that go beyond the rules of the WTO's.
Especially noteworthy is the US insistence that the TPPA countries agree to give a type of intellectual property known as "data exclusivity" for five years to companies producing original medicines.
This is extended to eight or 12 years for "biologics", or medicines made with biotechnology. Many of the new medicines for treating cancers are biologics.
This will cause immense problems for patients waiting for cheaper medicines because "data exclusivity" prevents generic companies from relying on the safety and clinical trial data of the original company to get safety clearance for their generic products.
Thus, even if a generic company can prove that its medicine is bio-equivalent to the original medicine that has already passed the safety standard required by the health regulatory authorities, it will not be allowed to sell its medicine unless it comes up with its own safety and clinical trial data.
This goes against the current practice of generic medicines and safety standards. But the US is insisting on this in the agreement.
Few generic companies have the funds or technical ability to do their own clinical trials, and thus generic medicines could well be prevented from being used in TPPA countries for five to 12 years - even if the medicines are not patented.
That is the most significant aspect of the trade agreement, and this is why so many groups of patients, health organizations and independent medical experts have been outraged and outspoken in their opposition to the deal.
According to Jamie Love of Knowledge Ecology International, an expert on drugs and patents, the average cost of eight biologic cancer drugs registered with the US drug authorities in 2011-2013 is $128,000 (for a year's treatment), with the most expensive being over $390,000. At such prices, hardly anyone in developing countries can afford these medicines.
In mid-February, eight prominent organizations including Medicins Sans Frontieres, Oxfam, Public Citizen, Health Gap and Knowledge Ecology International, issued a strong statement on their deep concern about the public health implications that the TPPA's measures will have for millions of patients in need of access to affordable medicines around the whole Asia-Pacific region.
Said the groups: "The negotiations must take into account the health needs of all patients living in TPPA countries, and the US must halt its efforts to limit countries' freedom and flexibilities, otherwise the TPPA will jeopardize many, if not millions, of lives."
Developments in India, which is not a TPPA country, [1] show the patient-friendly policies that can emerge when public health concerns are given priority.
For instance, an Indian company is producing a generic version of the drug Gleevac, which is used to treat a chronic form of leukemia as well as gastrointestinal cancer, bringing the cost of treatment down from $70,000 a year (in the US) to $2,500 a year in India.
This was possible because the Indian government denied the original company a patent on Gleevac because it was not judged to be novel enough, and an objection to that decision was rejected by the Indian Supreme Court.
Countries that join the TPPA will find it very difficult or impossible to undertake policies and practices similar to India's, should the US proposals in the intellectual property chapter be accepted.
Moreover, countries that don't produce the generic drugs have the option to import them from India and other generics-producing countries. But if the TPPA imposes data exclusivity rules of the type desired by the US, it would be difficult to import and sell them.
Some countries are opposed to some of the US proposals. The views and positions that defend public health must prevail, for after all, it is a matter of life and death.
Note:
1. The TPPA countries are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.
Sumber - Asia Times Online
Women’s right protected under Syariah law
Syazwani Hj Rosli
THE implementations of the Syariah Penal Code Order 2013, which will begin to be enforced this April in phases, certainly preserved and protected the well-being of women.
This statement was highlighted by Hajah Norhatijah binti Haji Puteh, an officer from the Legal Syar’ie Office at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, while delivering a talk in a forum concerning women’s matter which was held in conjunction with the celebration of International Women’s Day held at the Sejahtera Hall of Sumbangsih Bahagia in Beribi.
In her presentation, Hajah Norhatijah focused on the general offences of women which will be implemented during the first phase of the Order such as Musahaqah (lesbian), out of wedlock pregnancy, having sexual intercourse out of wedlock, close proximity (Khalwat), indecent act and other matters related to the welfare of women.
During her talk, Hajah Norhatijah also stressed on the issues which have always been raised by the public on offences under Section 197 of the Order, ‘Indecent Behaviour’ in which offenders will be guilty of an offence and will be convicted with a fine not more than $2,000, imprisonment within a term not exceeding six month or both.
According to her, Muslim and non-Muslim women who wear indecent clothing that tarnish Islamic images in public settings, indecent behaviour that causes anger of those who witness, brings upon negative influences and corrupts moral values, will be considered committing offences under the section.
She also gave an emphasis on Section 198 of the Order for cross-dressing offenders, women who dressed up like men or vice versa. These offenders will only be convicted if they are wearing it without any reasonable or immoral purposes.
She highlighted that if the purpose of wearing the specified attire required for the job such as artist then it will not be considered as an offence. On the case of men who dressed like a female, if they are inherently soft then it would not also be considered as an offence.
Hajah Norhatijah also touched on offences made relating to family issues, acts as meidators and social issues as well.
“With the implementation of this order, it is hoped that it will stimulate positive changes among the youths, especially female teenagers, to not fall into the offences described.”
Siti Noraziah Haji Asli, Assistant Officer from the Dakwah Dissemination Section of the Islamic Dakwah Centre, also took the opportunity to deliver a muslimah talk which mainly highlighted on performing one’s Solat (prayers), punishments in the Hereafter for those who do not perform as well as importance of covering the aurah (aurat) and the right attire to be worn by a Muslimah.
The forum was well-received by the 500 women who were invited to participate and gain knowledge from the panelists of the forum which is expected to be shared with their family, friends and children.
Sumber - Borneo Bulletin Online
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)