Sultanate needs to fix poverty line

Rabiatul Kamit
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE absence of an established poverty line is hampering Brunei’s efforts to eradicate poverty, said a senior lecturer from Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali (UNISSA).

Speaking on the sidelines of a public talk on poverty in Muslim countries, Ustazah Hjh Rose Abdullah yesterday stressed the need for an official poverty threshold that will determine the number of people living in poverty in the Sultanate.

“Without the poverty line, we cannot identify who to include in the poverty data. How would we know who to help?” she said.

The senior lecturer explained that the different welfare bodies in Brunei use their own definition of poverty, resulting in varying statistics of people in need of assistance.

She said that, in contrast, a standard definition will ensure no one is overlooked.

A poverty line, widely used in other countries, estimates the minimum level of income an individual or family needs to live on. Those below the poverty line are classified as poor.

Besides the poverty line, she also highlighted the need for more research on the profile of people living in poverty. Ustazah Hjh Rose said such studies would help pinpoint factors that contribute to poverty, such as unemployment and disability.

“From there, you can lay out a good strategy to overcome poverty,” she said, urging the relevant parties to carry out further research on the profile of people deemed poor.

Despite the absence of an established poverty line, she acknowledged that the Brunei government is concerned about helping the poor with the formation of the Special Committee on Poverty Issues and the provision of increased welfare assistance.

Government agencies tasked to address poverty include the Community Development Department (JAPEM) and Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB).

JAPEM offers training programmes, such as PERKASA, to empower individuals to become self-sufficient, while MUIB provides financial assistance for the poor as well as the PROPAZ programme to help zakat (alms) recipients to secure employment.

Ustazah Hjh Rose noted that a number of NGOs, including the Social Welfare Council (MKM) and Katakijau, also play an active role in helping the poor in Brunei.

The senior lecturer in her public talk also underscored the importance of adopting an Islamic approach to tackle poverty. She said that the poor should receive spiritual guidance alongside other assistance such as welfare benefits.

“Those with iman (faith) tend to be more motivated to break the cycle of poverty,” she said, citing an Indonesian study on how spirituality affects people afflicted with poverty.

Held at the Jubilee Hall on campus, the public talk also featured a presentation on financial literacy and its link to poverty delivered by Dr Kamaru Salam Yusof, Deputy Dean of the Business and Science Management Faculty at UNISSA.

The public talk on poverty in Muslim countries was organised by the Business and Science Management Faculty in conjunction with the university’s Fourth Mahrajan Hafl Al-Takharruj convocation ceremony.

Among those present were Legislative Council (LegCo) member Yang Berhormat Datin Paduka Hjh Salbiah Hj Sulaiman and MKM goodwill ambassador Datin Hjh Norlina Dato’ Hj Abu Bakar.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

We're living in the most dangerous region in the world

When a world-renowned geopolitical risk analyst tells you you’re living in the world’s most dangerous place, what do you do?

You blanch and blink.

Ian Bremmer, 44, a political risk expert who founded the Eurasia Group, was sitting in a nondescript room with several newspaper editors from Singapore Press Holdings intent on picking his brains on hot spots in the world.

He was talking about the Ukraine and Russia, which he considered a graver threat to world order than the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The western world’s mismanagement in Ukraine had led to Russia flexing its muscle, Nato displeasure and Russia cosying up to China. The latter was what worried Mr Bremmer, more than the mayhem being unleashed by the ISIS extremists in Syria and Iraq.

But the most troubling conflict zone, the most dangerous place in the world long-term, is this region, he said. He meant Asia.

In the media business, it’s easy to get caught up with the headlines of the week. These days, the news is all about ISIS. It was Scotland’s referendum last week, and Ukraine remains on and off for the past few months. China and disputes in the East and South China Seas have been knocked off the front-page headlines for a few weeks.

But it remains the most worrying conflict zone in the world to this political scientist with a PhD from Stanford.

He shot to fame with The J-Curve: A New Way to Understand why Nations Rise and Fall, on political transition. It was on the Economist’s 2006 list of books of the year.

His recent book Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a GZero World (2012) argued that the world is not a G7, G20 or G2 world, but a G-Zero world.

As he argued in a 2011 article in Foreign Affairs co-authored with Nouriel Roubini, each country has its own interests and it will be hard for any country or group to exercise leadership to forge a global consensus. As the article puts it: “There is no collective economic security in a globalised economy”. It’s the end of the Washington consensus and there’s no Beijing consensus in sight. It’s every nation for itself, and the era of protracted conflict.

So when the guru of G-Zero peers into the future and says it’s gonna be Every Nation for Itself - and by the way, Asia is the global hotspot, you can’t help but worry about what this means for Singapore.

Is it North-east Asia, or South-east Asia that he would worry about most, I ask.

Both, he says. China and Japan remain at loggerheads over disputed islands, spiced by historical animosity. Japan is a treaty ally of America, which might be a way for the United States to be dragged into a conflict in the region.

In South-east Asia, the competing claims in the South China Sea, especially those between China and the Philippines, and China and Vietnam, have already led to incidents at sea. Add nationalism to the mix, and it’s the kind of maritime theatre that could flare up into a full scale skirmish and military conflict.

To folk like Ian Bremmer, the South China Sea disputes are an arena for analysis, a platform on which to build their theories of the world.

For those of us living in South-east Asia, what’s happening in those disputes - the siting then removal of an oil-rig, sending naval patrols to disputed areas - is a living theatre of the future unfolding before our eyes.

How China and the US deal with each other will have an impact on our future, our children, the kind of jobs they have. How China conducts itself with Japan, the Philippines or Vietnam, in the face of disputes over islands or seas, point the way to its future relations with South-east Asian countries as its economic and military might grow.

In Singapore, many of us are prone to a certain navel-gazing, obsessing over domestic concerns. Of course the widow and the tour guide, Tan Pin Pin’s banned film, Central Provident Fund changes, are all matters that matter to Singaporeans.

But sometimes it takes an outsider to remind us of the backdrop in which we operate. And that is that, peaceful Little Red Dot that we are, we remain situated within the most dangerous spot in the world.

Don’t take it from me. Take it from Ian Bremmer.

Sumber - The Straits Times

Five schools of thought about where the world may be headed next

DOUG SAUNDERS

It has been 26 years since Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stood before the United Nations General Assembly and used Woodrow Wilson’s phrase “new world order” to describe the “profound social change” that was about to take place in the relations between the world’s nations and their people. The world, he said, was about to experience a major change driven by “new nations and states, new public movements and ideologies.”

Over the next quarter-century, Mr. Gorbachev’s new world order became, simply, the world order: a world built on a broad agreement among most major countries that democracy and liberal economy were desirable goals; a world with only one superpower; a world where international institutions could govern trade, monetary and financial affairs and military conflicts; a world in which poorer countries gradually adopted the values and institutions first popularized in the West; and a world dominated by the United States, its military and its dollar.

As the UN once again convenes its General Assembly this week – and surprising words emerge from the speeches of Iranian, Chinese, Russian and American leaders – there is a profound sense, among many observers, that the world is once again reordering itself. The old certainties have collapsed or faded, and new threats challenge them.

The United States no longer always calls the shots, and when it tries to, as in the Middle East, it sometimes fails badly. It may no longer be the only superpower, as China expands to become one and uses its military to torment Japan and to bid for control over the South China Sea. Rival models of nationhood, far more economically and politically authoritarian, are increasingly influential, if not united.

The failures of Iraq and Afghanistan and the tumult of the post-2008 economic crisis have left many countries searching for other influences. An authoritarian, territorial and anti-Western Russia has brought back some of the harsh logic of the Cold War. And a group of defiantly anti-democratic states and violent non-state movements are exercising their own influence – most notably in the failed states created by Iraq’s aftermath, where the Islamic State’s well-financed bid for a brutal theocracy is provoking a new, very different sort of international war, one whose bizarre coalitions we saw emerging in New York this week.

Old-style nationalism, from China to Scotland, has become a force once again. And international institutions have failed to solve some of the world’s most damning problems, notably carbon-driven atmospheric change.

In a recent lecture, Michael Ignatieff, now at Harvard University, spoke of the failure of the old institutions and powers to hold together “the tectonic plates of a world order that are being pushed apart by the volcanic upward pressure of violence and hatred.” The old rules don’t seem to apply any more. People who make a living observing the interactions between nations almost all say that some form of an even newer world order is taking shape around us – but there is little agreement as to what it looks like.

Here are five major, competing visions of the emerging international order, and the thinkers who argue on behalf of each. If history is a guide, the world of the next decade will not resemble any one of them purely, but will be influenced by many of them. In 1988, Mr. Gorbachev’s “new world order” seemed to be a fringe prognostication, dismissed by many. What we are witnessing today may be an equally unpredictable shift.

The world becomes rudderless

The United States is declining in power and influence. That may not be true in any way you could measure or prove, but it is what much of the world believes today – and when it comes to power and influence, perceptions are often as important as reality.

At the same time, many believe that no other country, or bloc of countries, is really interested in becoming the world’s cop, banker, supermarket, sugar daddy or scold. Europe is struggling to maintain its own unity and restore its economy, Japan is looking inward, China is mainly interested in China’s interests, and blocs of new powers such as the so-called BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have failed to act in any co-ordinated way. As a result, this argument goes, the world is increasingly fragmented, without a single vision (or a single big bully) to shape its direction. Those who buy this see it as either a good thing or a bad thing.

On the “bad thing” side of the equation are U.S. scholars Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini, who argued in an influential 2011 essay, and in a book by Mr. Bremmer, that “we are now living in a G-Zero world [as opposed to a well-organized G-20 or G-8 world], one in which no single country or bloc of countries has the political and economic leverage – or the will – to drive a truly international agenda.” On crucial issues such as climate change, international trade, facing up to Russian or Islamist threats, or controlling nuclear arms, it has become nearly impossible to reach international consensus, and the result, they say, “will be intensified conflict on the international stage over vitally important issues.”

A less pessimistic version of this rudderless-world is proposed by Stewart Patrick of the Council on Foreign Relations. He sees an “unruled world,” but one of ever-changing coalitions and improvisations, rather than the dark nihilism of the G-Zero vision.

“I see even more ad hoc actions taking place, with more fluid coalitions to deal with global problems and selective use of frameworks – there’s going to be a lot more compartmentalizing of issues,” he says.

But none of it will be permanent: There will be neither guaranteed Western influence over events, nor an organized anti-Western bloc of nations taking shape as there was during the Cold War (because their mutual rivalries and disagreements tend to trump any solidarity).

Mr. Patrick points to Barack Obama’s UN speech this week, in which he called for world order – but in the form of ad hoc coalitions, among countries that might otherwise be enemies, to deal with the threats of Russia and the Islamic State. Other issues, such as the climate threat and Internet governance, may not be dealt with at all. “There’s very little appetite to remake things,” he says, but at the same time the old institutions won’t have the same drivers at the wheel – or, sometimes, any driver at all.

A new Cold War erupts

What if this new world isn’t fragmented by chaos and disharmony, but instead is divided in two by conflict and enmity? A number of influential thinkers believe that the signature event of our age is not the messy ad hoc coalition of the Middle East but rather Russian President Vladimir Putin’s seizure of Crimea and military meddlings in eastern Ukraine and northern Georgia. In this vision, the new world order is being replaced with something a lot like what came before it – a showdown between ideological blocs allied against one another.

In the view of this school of thinkers, Mr. Putin’s Crimean adventures are not simply a regional problem to be dealt with through tough sanctions and military postures, but one event in a longer showdown between either Russia and its allies – often called the “revisionist states,” for their desire to turn back the clock to pre-1989 days – and the West.

“China, Iran, and Russia never bought into the geopolitical settlement that followed the Cold War, and they are making increasingly forceful attempts to overturn it,” Walter Russell Mead, a leading New Cold War theorist, argued this summer. “That process will not be peaceful, and whether or not the revisionists succeed, their efforts have already shaken the balance of power and changed the dynamics of international politics.”

Critics of this view point out that Mr. Putin’s embrace of ethnic nationalism and the military meddling do not appear to be part of some imperial bid to dominate the world, but rather to make the most of decline and weakness – and that there is nothing you’d call a proper alliance between Russia, China (which Moscow often sees as an enemy) and Iran and Syria (given that Russia often sees Islamic states and its own large Muslim population as a principal threat).

But the Russian-provoked violence in Ukraine, including the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, has certainly changed the way people look at international affairs: Russia has not just been kicked out of the G8, but out of the old world of interational co-operation. Edward Lucas, a writer with The Economist who warned of a “new cold war” with Russia in a 2008 book of that title, argues that this can be seen only as part of a major new East-West showdown.

“Russia is a revisionist power. It has the means to pursue its objectives. It is winning; and greater dangers lie ahead,” Mr. Lucas said in testimony to the British parliament this month. “Our weakness over Ukraine (and before that, Georgia) has set the stage for another, probably more serious challenge to European security. … Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are loyal American allies and NATO members. These are our frontline states: The future of the world we have taken for granted since 1991 hangs on their fate.”

A Chinese superpower takes hold

On the other hand, some believe that the end of superpower dominance is really a transition. What if Beijing overtakes Washington not just economically, but militarily and politically as well? A number of people believe this is the major emerging trend.

“The question of whether China is becoming a status quo power, a contented power, a country that’s basically willing to live within the confines of the existing system – it seems to me increasingly that that is not the case,” says Aaron Friedberg, a national-security official in the George W. Bush White House and now a political scientist at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School. “When you look at what Beijing is doing, for example, with the maritime disputes with their neighbours, they’re trying to change the status quo in some pretty significant ways.”

The main critique of this vision is that China does not appear to desire to be a global superpower, in the conventional Cold War sense: Its interests are largely mercantile; its only territorial ambitions seem to involve securing its borders; and it does not seek to impose its ideology or culture on the countries with which it engages – even those in Africa where it has a colonial-like economic role. China depends almost entirely on its economic relations with the wider world and would not dare to jeopardize them.

But a number of influential thinkers – as well as senior Pentagon officials – believe this is changing, especially under Xi Jinping, who since becoming president in 2012 has increasingly brought the military’s voice into Beijing’s discourse. This has led many to argue that China is looking to challenge the United States – certainly within the South China Sea region and the eastern hemisphere, and maybe even more widely. It has become increasingly self-confident and independent – and, because it has eliminated severe poverty and raised living standards within its borders, it is not quite as dependent on outside trade as it once was.

This has led a number of scholars, most on the right, to argue that Western countries should prepare a policy of containment for China, much like that imposed on the Soviet Union during the Cold War. “In his final years in office,” military scholar John Hemmings wrote in an essay this summer, “Obama must decide with regional allies and partners what the red line is for China. And then he must act, if that line is crossed.”

His rhetoric echoes that of Robert Kaplan, the apocalyptic-minded U.S. political scientist, who argued in 2005 that “the American military contest with China in the Pacific will define the 21st century.” That hasn’t come true yet, but there are an alarming number of people, in both the U.S. and the Chinese military, who believe that it will and who are actively preparing for such a conflict – and military timetables have an alarming habit of being put to use.

More hawkish voices argue that Beijing is preparing for superpower status in other ways. “Do they intend to conquer the Philippines? No. But would they like to exercise a dominant influence across their entire region, I’d say yes,” says Mr. Friedberg, whose most recent book is A Contest for Supremacy: China, America and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia. “They’ve never liked or accepted American alliances, and they’re increasingly dissatisfied with those. They’re trying to use economic leverage to strategic ends as well.”

We fight over climate and scarce resources

What if no specific superpower or alliance becomes a major enemy, but the Earth itself does? As petroleum becomes more scarce and valuable, will we have global wars and conflicts over access to it? Will the devastating effects of climate change create new rifts in the global order?

This is not a new model. The idea of dwindling resources or an unstable climate becoming the main sources of global conflict has been around for almost 25 years; just such a resource-and-climate showdown has been predicted by observers such as Mr. Kaplan (in his 1994 essay, The Coming Anarchy) and Canada’s Thomas Homer-Dixon (in such 1990s works as Environmental Scarcity and Global Security and Environment, Scarcity and Violence).

It also has become a theme for environmental historians and activists such as Jared Diamond and Bill McKibben, who argue that climate and resources will soon trump all other politics.

Surprisingly, this has not yet happened. While petroleum rights have played a role in a few conflicts such as the 2011 NATO-supported overthrow of Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, in general, conflicts during the past quarter-century have not been “about oil” – most of the big ones have been about the old motives of territory, religion and ethnicity (although many have been financed with petroleum revenues). And the notion of climate-driven conflict, beyond a few marginal examples, remains largely a hypothesis.

But there is a distinctly new dynamic to the politics of energy and climate, one that could, some believe, create a difficult relationship between the major powers and their people.

“Resources aren’t becoming scarce as much as they’re becoming increasingly problematic – those that were easy to obtain are depleted, and those that are left are difficult, in many respects,” says Michael Klare, the U.S.-based author of such works as Resource Wars and The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s Last Resources.

“Either they’re in contested areas like the South China Sea or the Arctic, or you’re relying more on natural gas, which gives Russia and Iran a lot more clout … or they’re causing a domestic struggle over practices such as hydro-fracking.”

This, he notes, leads to a paradoxical problem: Increasingly, countries see these hard-fought resources as necessary tools for their own independence (a petro-centric belief that afflicts everyone from Vladimir Putin to Canada’s Conservatives to Greenland’s independence-minded Inuit to the militants in the Islamic State). By relying on this tool – at the same time as countries such as Germany walk away from non-polluting technologies such as nuclear power – they are further evading any confrontation with a looming climate crisis.

While the result may not play out like the global apocalypse some members of this group foresee, it is increasingly likely that both energy resources and climate change are going to be major components in the emerging world order.

The world muddles through as it has before

Any of the preceding visions could become the one that people in the 22nd century use to describe our era: as one of chaos, as one of division, as one of a new superpower conflict, or as one of resource panic. But it is just as likely, given recent history, that all four will provide at least some sources of tension in a world order that is not so much new as slightly different – one where the same old creaky institutions, and a new set of compromises, allow the world to muddle through.

What if conflicts don’t drive nations apart, but bring them together? This is not as farfetched as it sounds, a number of scholars say.

That case is made most assertively by political scientist John Ikenberry of Princeton University, who notes that, despite limited-scale regional conflicts, the liberal order established after the Second World War remains robust and unchallenged. Russia and China, he writes, “are not full-scale revisionist powers but part-time spoilers at best.” Both countries are deeply integrated into the liberal institutions of the world: “They are geopolitical insiders, sitting at all the high tables of global governance.” And, he notes, most of the values and principles that 50 years ago were considered “Western” are now truly universal, practised and embraced even by those countries that most aggressively oppose the United States. He feels that the best response from Western countries is not to engage in conflict but to deepen engagement – economic and institutional – between countries.

Daniel Drezner of Tufts University, in a book this year titled The System Worked, noted that the period after the 2008 economic crisis was one of surprising international co-operation: Not only did the major powers (including China and the United States) make important compromises and agreements to avoid global ruin, but the postwar international organizations – the UN, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the G20 – suddenly started functioning well as problem-solving bodies. Problems such as piracy, offshore banking, currency imbalance and lax banking regulations have been resolved in recent years through deep international co-operation – some of it involving countries, such as China and Iran and Russia, that are opposed to one another in other spheres. Tensions and conflicts exist, but they have not led to isolation; the world is not divided in two.

These thinkers could be equally wrong – their views sound like those which were popular on the eve of the First World War. But they provide a reminder that awkward, yet ultimately successful compromise and stumbling, rather than global cataclysm, have been the norm for seven decades, and may still be the cornerstone of the newest world order.


Sumber - The Globe and Mail

Brunei komited Tentang keganasan

NEW YORK, 25 Sept – Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam bertitah menegaskan komitmen Brunei untuk berdiri bersatu dengan komuniti antarabangsa dalam menentang keganasan dalam apa-apa jua bentuk dan menolak ekstremisme.

Tegas Baginda, Brunei menyokong semua usaha serantau dan antarabangsa dalam memerangi keganasan.

“Dan kami akan terus mengambil bahagian dalam inisiatif global seperti dialog antara agama dan dialog antara tamadun untuk menggalakkan persefahaman, toleransi dan rasa hormat di kalangan masyarakat dunia.”

Serentak dengan itu Baginda menyeru semua negara untuk mengambil tindakan bersepadu dalam menyelesaikan masalah yang meluas dan diburukkan lagi dengan kepesatan globalisasi dan saling keterkaitan.

Baginda Sultan berkenan mengurniakan titah pada Perhimpunan
Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu ke-69 di New York.

Baginda Sultan menekankan perkara ini semasa berkenan mengurniakan titah pada Perhimpunan Agung Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu ke-69 di New York hari ini. Berangkat sama Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri Duli Pengiran Muda ‘Abdul Malik.

Dalam titah, Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia turut menyentuh mengenai potensi peningkatan pertikaian dan ancaman kepada keamanan dan keselamatan antarabangsa telah mengakibatkan tragedi-tragedi manusia yang mengerikan seperti penembakan MH17 dan situasi teruk di Gaza.

Walaupun prospek perang habis-habisan kelihatan jauh kini, kejadian-kejadian situasi memburuk, pertempuran-pertempuran kecil dan amalan menempah bahaya telah menunjukkan kita bagaimana ancaman konflik dan keganasan terus menjadi halangan kepada aspirasi jangka masa panjang bagi dunia yang lebih baik.

Mengenai Palestin, kebebasan dan keadilan telah lama lampau tempoh.

Penderitaan berpanjangan yang dialami oleh saudara-saudara Palestin adalah contoh jelas mengenai bagaimana kecilnya makna matlamat perkembangan kita jika tiada keamanan dan kestabilan.

Mereka mesti diberikan hak asasi asas untuk hidup dengan maruah dan menikmati pembangunan ekonomi.

“Kita digalakkan dengan gencatan senjata oleh pihak-pihak yang berkaitan,” titah Baginda sambil menambah,

Baginda menghargai usaha-usaha yang dilakukan oleh banyak negara yang membolehkannya terjadi.

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia dalam titah Baginda turut merakamkan penghargaan kepada pegawai-pegawai PBB, pasukan pengaman dan sukarelawan di lapangan yang sering kali bekerja dalam keadaan yang sukar serta meletakkan nyawa mereka dalam risiko.

Baginda juga memberi sanjungan kepada Setiausaha Agung PBB serta pegawai-pegawainya yang tidak menghiraukan penat lelah mempromosikan matlamat badan dunia itu terutama dalam perkara-perkara penting yang menjejaskan kehidupan serta keselamatan masyarakat dunia.

Baginda berterima kasih kepada Tuan Yang Terutama Ban Ki-Moon atas sokongan peribadi beliau serta penyertaannya pada Sidang Kemuncak ASEAN-PBB ke-5 di Brunei tahun lalu.

“Hari ini adalah hari istimewa untuk Beta secara peribadi dan juga Negara Brunei Darussalam. Ia menandakan ulang tahun ke-30 keahlian Brunei dalam pertubuhan yang dihormati ini.

“Menoleh ke belakang, kita terpisah daripada segi ideologi. Kini, kita dihubungkan oleh globalisasi dan saling-kebergantungan, dalam mencari pendekatan bersama untuk menangani pelbagai cabaran yang dihadapi umat manusia.

“Tatkala kita berdepan dengan masalah-masalah lama dan baru, Beta percaya PBB adalah tempat terbaik untuk menanganinya secara kolektif. Inilah kekuatannya dan hari ini ia terbukti ketika kita berusaha untuk merealisasikan Matlamat Pembangunan Milenium (MDG). Kita sedang hampir sampai ke sasaran MDG.”

Titah Baginda, Brunei amat gembira untuk melihat komitmen bersepadu global serta konsensus untuk membasmi kemiskinan serta menggalakkan lagi keamanan dan pembangunan mapan.

Untuk sekian lama, titah Baginda, Brunei telah secara aktif menyumbang kepada usaha serantau dan antarabangsa dalam latihan dan pembangunan kapasiti seperti menerusi “Inisiatif bagi Integrasi ASEAN” dan “Program Pengayaan Bahasa Inggeris bagi ASEAN” dengan kerjasama Amerika Syarikat.

Usaha yang serupa juga dijalankan menerusi Dana Komanwel bagi Kerjasama Teknikal. Usaha-usaha PBB dan stakeholder yang berkaitan dalam menerajui usaha ke hadapan melangkaui 2015 adalah sangat dihargai.

“Beta amat gembira bahawa kita telah mencapai banyak kejayaan dalam inisiatif-inisiatif semasa. Kita juga telah banyak menimba pengalaman yang berharga. Ini semua memberikan kita asas-asas yang hebat untuk meneruskan perjalanan dalam dekad-dekad mendatang.

“Beta gembira dimaklumkan bahawa perbincangan mendalam serta perundingan yang meluas telah pun dijalankan dalam membentuk rangka kerja universal bagi menyampai dan melaksanakan agenda-agenda pembangunan transformatif selepas 2015.

“Oleh itu, Beta amat mengalu-alukan haluan masa depan yang menekankan kepentingan pembangunan sumber manusia yang bersifat inklusif, berorientasikan rakyat serta berdaya tahan.”

Elemen-elemen ini, jelas Baginda juga merupakan sebahagian daripada Wawasan Negara Brunei Darussalam 2035, yang dihasratkan untuk meningkatkan kebajikan rakyat serta menikmati kualiti hidup yang lebih tinggi.

“Beta juga gembira bahawa terdapat keyakinan yang sepadu terhadap pentingnya penjagaan alam sekitar. Dalam hubungan ini, Beta amat menghargai Sidang Kemuncak Iklim PBB dalam merangsang sokongan kepada usaha menangani impak perubahan iklim dan dalam memastikan satu agenda pembangunan pasca 2015 yang dinamik dan transformatif.”

Bagaimanapun, tambah Baginda lagi, pada masa ini dan lebih-lebih lagi pada dekad akan datang, Baginda melihat terdapat banyak cabaran yang perlu ditempuhi untuk merealisasikan matlamat mulia terhadap usaha bersejarah ini.

Ini kerana situasi serantau dan antarabangsa terus menjadi ancaman kepada ketidakstabilan, ketidakadilan, perbezaan sosial dan ekonomi serta bencana alam yang semakin kerap berlaku.

Walaupun terdapat keamanan dan kestabilan di dunia, perkembangan sejak beberapa tahun yang lalu telah mengingatkan kita tentang isu-isu keselamatan yang kompleks, pergolakan dan ketidakstabilan yang timbul daripada aktiviti manusia yang boleh menghalang kemajuan pembangunan jangka panjang.

“Kami amat bimbang dengan perkembangan isu keselamatan di beberapa buah tempat di dunia ini, di mana peningkatan konflik boleh melemahkan keazaman masyarakat antarabangsa dan keupayaannya untuk mencapai inisiatif seluruh dunia.

“Negara Brunei Darussalam, sebagai peranannya, telah menyertai pasukan keamanan PBB, terutama sekali UNIFIL, dan beberapa misi pemantauan keamanan antarabangsa di selatan Filipina. Kami kekal komited dalam perkara ini.”

Menurut Baginda, tinjauan keseluruhan lebih rumit disebabkan cabaran yang bersifat global seperti kesan perubahan iklim, ekstremisme dan keganasan serta kesan serius penyakit berjangkit.

Dalam memastikan aspek-aspek positif globalisasi, ia memerlukan masyarakat negara-negara untuk bekerja rapat bersama-sama.

“Kita mesti memperbaharui pendekatan kita, tadbir urus dan mengukuhkan kerjasama terutama dalam menyelesaikan isu-isu baru yang memerlukan tindakan kolektif global dengan satu matlamat.

“Beta ingin memberi penekanan kepada keperluan untuk bekerja dengan cara yang komprehensif, terutamanya dalam menjamin keamanan dan keselamatan.

“Kualiti kehidupan rakyat kita hanya boleh dipertingkatkan lagi melalui pembangunan ekonomi inklusif dan kemajuan sosial.

“Dengan aktiviti semberono manusia yang tidak reda-reda, akibat degradasi alam sekitar setentunya memberi kesan negatif ke atas pembangunan keseluruhan.

“Ini adalah bidang-bidang yang memerlukan komitmen, perkongsian dan kreativiti yang diperbaharui di dalam komuniti global kita.”

Baginda juga menekankan mengenai kepentingan mengukuhkan keupayaan dalam pengurusan bencana, ini kerana bencana alam yang kerap berulang dan bertambah kuat dalam tahun-tahun kebelakangan, dan telah menyebabkan kerosakan dan kesusahan kepada ramai orang.

Tahun lalu, Brunei Darussalam telah menganjurkan latihan bantuan kemanusiaan dan bantuan bencana dalam kalangan kakitangan tentera dari negara-negara besar dan kecil di Asia Pasifik, iaitu acara pertama sejenisnya di bawah proses Mesyuarat Menteri-Menteri Pertahanan ASEAN Campur.

“Beta sangat kagum melihat kerjasama rapat dan perpaduan yang ditunjukkan oleh para peserta dari pelbagai latar belakang dalam usaha menyelamatkan nyawa,” titah Baginda, sambil menambah usaha serantau sedemikian hanyalah langkah sederhana.

Lebih penting lagi, tambah Baginda, prinsip saling hormat-menghormati, mempercayai dan penuh keyakinan yang

sangat penting, mengetepikan perbezaan, mendukung kedaulatan undang-undang dan keadilan, dan mempromosikan kerjasama patut menjadi asas dalam menyelesaikan konflik bagi membolehkan kita terus menikmati kedamaian dan kestabilan.

Dalam semangat yang sama, adalah penting kita bertegas dalam mengatasi perbezaan dan bergerak ke depan dalam membuka lagi perdagangan global.

Baginda juga menekankan semula bahawa usaha-usaha dalam merealisasikan MGD akan menjadi sia-sia jika, pada masa yang sama, kita tidak mengendahkan komitmen menggunakan cara aman dalam menyelesaikan pertikaian seperti yang termaktub dalam Piagam PBB.

Melihat kepada masa depan, Baginda kekal menaruh harapan, dan percayai bahawa pertubuhan ini masih diperlukan untuk memastikan bahawa generasi seterusnya akan menikmati kehidupan yang terjamin dan makmur, dan yakin bahawa PBB akan terus menjadi sumber harapan.

Jadi adalah penting semua negara melakukan sedaya upaya untuk membuat sumbangan positif kepada pertubuhan itu.

Apa yang kita putuskan dan lakukan kini akan menentukan masa depan generasi seterusnya.

“Oleh itu, mari kita terus bekerjasama supaya mereka mewarisi legasi kedamaian berpanjangan, kemakmuran dan pembangunan mapan,” titah Baginda.


Sumber - Media Permata

China-Indonesia Territorial Dispute: Chinese South China Sea Occupation Is A "Real Threat"

Indonesia has labeled Chinese claims to the hotly disputed South China Sea waters as a "real threat." Vice Admiral Desi Albert Mamahit, who heads Indonesia's Sea Security Coordinating Agency, told a maritime security focus group that the waters surrounding several of the country’s islands were in jeopardy from an encroaching Chinese presence.

The Jakarta Post reported the maritime areas surrounding the Natuna Islands on the southern part of the Strait of Malacca technically do not lie within China’s proposed territorial claims thus far, but it added China has not clarified its position on Indonesia’s exclusive economic maritime zone. The Strait of Malacca is recognized as a prime strategic location, particularly for military observance of the South China waters.

“This is clearly a real threat for Indonesia,” said Desi, who is also a dean at the Defense University. Desi said Indonesia would need to prepare for moves China may make to further expand its claims in the area.

The forum aimed to establish Bakamla, a sea security organization, in the area to help support a warning system and military coordination in the event of confrontation.

Indonesia’s caution follows faceoffs between China and several Southeast Asian nations involving military ships, fishing boats and oil rigs in disputed waters. “This becomes complicated as there are conflicts between fellow ASEAN member countries and China. It will be difficult to speak in one voice, although so far ASEAN solidarity has always been maintained,” Desi added.

Countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei have been engaged in an ongoing geopolitical power struggle as China focuses on expanding its occupation of the area. Earlier this summer, China and Vietnam faced off about the location of a Chinese oil rig, prompting a standoff between Vietnamese and Chinese ships that led to collisions. Ashore in Vietnam, the oil rig dispute triggered anti-Chinese rioting and violence, driving out thousands of Chinese expats.

China is basing its claims on the resource-rich areas based on what they consider to be historical demarcations as proposed by ancient maps of Asia, despite being thousands of miles from Hainan, China’s southernmost province. The Philippines has been the most vocal in rebuking China’s claims in the disputed waters recently. The Philippines Institute of Maritime and Ocean Affairs posted a series of ancient maps refuting claims of China’s “historical ownership” of the area.


Sumber - International Business Times

Filipino government, separatists to negotiate arms laydown in Malaysia

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Peaceful ASEAN-China dialogue needed

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has reiterated the need to solve the ongoing dispute on the South China Sea through peaceful dialogue and negotiation based on international laws.

Speaking to journalists from members of the Asia News Network (ANN) — an alliance of 22 newspapers from 19 countries in Asia — he said that ASEAN and China must talk responsibly to maintain peace and stability in the region.

“Peace, stability, safety for navigation and maritime security are shared concerns and shared interests not only for ASEAN but also for Asian countries and the international community. This is a dispute of sovereignty between China and several ASEAN countries,” he said during a meeting with the ANN journalists last Thursday.

“ASEAN and China have agreed on the issuance of the Conduct of Parties on the South China Sea and even manifested ASEAN’s six-point principles on the East Sea [South China Sea], which required all parties to abide by international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, implement the declaration on the conduct of parties [DOC] and create a code of conduct [COC],” Nguyen added.

Tension has been rising in the South China Sea since May 1, 2014 following an action by China’s state oil firm CNOOC to drill near the Paracel Islands, which is located near the Vietnamese coastline and is also claimed by the latter country. Other countries, namely Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, also lay claim to the area.

The CNOOC announced on its website that the firm discovered its first deep-sea gas field in the volatile waters on Aug. 18 at a depth of about 1,500 meters, the Associated Press reported last week.

Reuters reported two weeks ago that Vietnam would deploy its latest armada of Kilo-class submarines from Russia, which might make Beijing think twice before pushing Vietnam around in relation to the disputed waters.

Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh was quoted by Reuters as saying that Vietnam would not start a conflict in the South China Sea but, if one began, the country “would not just stand back and watch”.

Bloomberg reported that Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to turn China into a maritime power and make its military a modern fighting force as it is involved in spats with Vietnam, the Philippines and Japan over disputed territory.

During the meeting with the ANN members, Dung also discussed the freedom of the press, saying that it was a fundamental civil right but its implementation must comply with legal regulations to ensure that the freedom would not infringe others’ rights.

“It is also the right of citizens and a legitimate right that should be respected. The freedom of the press must be exercised to serve the interests of the state, the public, society and the people without causing aggression to the freedom of other people,” he said as he concluded the meeting.

Editors from 22 members of the ANN gathered in Hanoi for an annual working meeting on Sept. 18 and 19, to enhance cooperation in order to provide better information about Asia from different perspectives.

Pana Janviroj, executive editor of the ANN and president of The Nation newspaper in Thailand, said the network planned to revamp its main website and explore better ways to share photographs and videos with member newspapers. He said it recently piloted an initiative where subscribers could access four e-papers from four media members of the network at the same time.


Sumber - The Jakarta Post

Malaysia Sambut Baik Pengesahan Indonesia Kepada Perjanjian Jerebu Asean

Oleh Chandravathani Sathasivam

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 Sept (Bernama) -- Malaysia menyambut baik langkah positif Indonesia dalam mengesahkan Perjanjian Asean mengenai Pencemaran Jerebu Merentasi Sempadan.

Menteri Sumber Asli dan Alam Sekitar, Datuk Seri G. Palanivel dan pakar alam sekitar melihat perkara itu sebagai Indonesia serius mahu menangani jerebu merentasi sempadan yang berpunca daripada kebakaran hutan.

Mereka percaya Indonesia bersedia untuk menangani masalah jerebu secara berkesan, yang sekali gus dapat memperkukuh hubungan dengan negara jirannya seperti Malaysia dan Singapura yang turut terjejas teruk oleh fenomena jerebu.

Palanivel berkata Malaysia telah menunggu pengesahan Indonesia agar usaha menangani jerebu yang berlaku setiap tahun di rantau ini dapat dilakukan bersama.

"Ini menunjukkan komitmen dan keazaman kuat Indonesia untuk mengurangkan pencemaran jerebu merentasi sempadan; kerjasama antara negara adalah konkrit dan boleh dilakukan," katanya kepada Bernama.

Parlimen Indonesia pada Selasa mengundi untuk mengesahkan perjanjian serantau itu, 12 tahun selepas kerajaan Indonesia menandatanganinya.

Perjanjian dirangka selepas berlaku jerebu paling teruk pada 1997, yang pencemarannya berpunca dari proses menebang dan membakar hutan di Indonesia untuk penanaman tanaman terutama kelapa sawit.

Sembilan negara anggota Asean yang lain telah mengesahkan perjanjian tersebut pada Jun 2013. Mereka menandatanganinya pada Jun 2012 di Kuala Lumpur.

Naib Canselor Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo turut mengalu-alukan pengesahan Indonesia dengan berkata tanggungjawab bersama dalam kalangan negara Asean adalah perlu untuk menangani pencemaran jerebu merentasi sempadan secara berkesan.

Pengesahan itu memberi harapan kepada negara jiran terutama Malaysia dan Singapura, katanya.

"Ia akan membantu Malaysia menerusi jalinan kerjasama dan kolaborasi lebih baik antara profesional yang terlibat dalam mencari penyelesian. Adalah lebih baik lambat daripada tidak mempunyai kesedaran langsung mengenai alam sekitar," katanya.

Pada 1997, kerajaan Malaysia menghantar ratusan anggota bomba dan penyelamat untuk membantu Indonesia memadam jerebu.

Ibrahim yang menerajui Kluster Sumber Asli dan Alam Skitar, Majlis Profesor Negara turut menyangkal pengesahan Indonesia itu bermotifkan politik.

Beliau berkata langkah bersejarah itu memaparkan hasrat murni Indonesia untuk menangani dan menyelesai masalah jerebu.

"Saya berharap ia akan memperkukuh hubungan dua hala dan diplomatik dengan Malaysia dan Singapura yang terjejas teruk akibat jerebu daripada Sumatera (pada Jun) tahun lepas," katanya.

Indonesia sebelum ini mendakwa syarikat Malaysia dan Singapura yang memiliki ladang di Sumatera dan Kalimantan adalah antara yang memulakan kebakaran semasa membersihkan ladang mereka.

Kebakaran yang berlaku menyebabkan asap melebihi tahap bahaya dan Presiden Indonesia ketika itu Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono memohon maaf kepada Maalaysia dan Indonesia.

Prof Madya Dr Mohd Talib Latif dari Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia berkata perjanjian tersebut akan membantu mengurangkan pencemaran udara akibat pembakaran biomass semasa monsun barat daya antara Jun dan September setiap tahun.

"Pembakaran biomass di tanah gambut di Sumatera dan Kalimantan telah dikenal pasti sebagai faktor utama jerebu di Semenanjung Malaysia dan Sarawak setiap tahun," kata Mohd Talib dari Pusat Pengajian Sains Sekitaran dan Sumber Alam, Fakulti Sains dan Teknologi.

"Pengesahan kepada perjanjian ini menunjukkan komitmen Indonesia untuk menangani masalah jerebu di Asia Tenggara," katanya.

Mohd Talin berkata adalah sukar untuk mengurangkan pembakaran biomass terutama semasa musim kering berikutan paras air yang rendah dan tanah gambut.

"Kita hanya mengalami masalah pencemaran udara semasa monsun barat daya, apabila angin bertiup ke arah kita (Malaysia). Indonesia mengalami masalah ini setiap tahun semasa musim kering.

"Mereka turut menghadapi masalah daripada letupan gunung berapi yang lebih berbahaya daripada pembakaran biomass," katanya.

Pakar ini berkata perlu lebih banyak komitmen dan penguatkuasaan dari agensi kerajaan Asean bagi mengurangkan pencemaran jerebu di Asia Tenggara.


Sumber - BERNAMA

China to oppose India-Vietnam oil deal within disputed South China Sea

BEIJING: China today made it clear that it will "not support" the India-Vietnam agreement to enable ONGC to explore two more oil wells if they fall within the waters of the disputed South China Sea administered by it. 

Asked for his reaction to the agreement signed during President Pranab Mukherjee's current visit to Vietnam, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China has no objection to any "legitimate and lawful" agreement between Vietnam and a third country. 

"We have noted President's (Mukherjee) visit to Vietnam. I would like to point out that China has indisputable sovereignty over Nansha islands and adjacent waters," he said. 

"We hold no objection to legitimate and lawful agreement between Vietnam and a third country. But one thing is to be clear. If such agreement concerns waters administered by China or if such cooperation project is not approved by the Chinese government, then we will be concerned about such an agreement and we will not support it," he said. 

Hong separately clarified to Indian media later that this is China's stand about oil exploration agreements between Vietnam and any other country, not simply India. 

While articulating its stand, China wants to be cautious as President Xi Jinping is starting his maiden visit to India tomorrow which is expected to enhance cooperation between the two countries. 

The reference to Nansha islands is what Vietnam calls Paracel islands which are part of a major dispute between Beijing and Hanoi. 

It is not clear where the two oil wells will be located. China has conveyed similar objections about previous well allotted to ONGC by Hanoi. 

China virtually claims almost all of the South China Sea. Its claims of sovereignty are firmly opposed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. 

The dispute between Vietnam and China over oil exploration flared up last May when Hanoi fiercely resisted Beijing's attempts to deploy a major oil rig. 

It resulted in major anti-Chinese riots in Vietnam leading to the death of four Chinese. 

Over 100 Chinese were injured in the incident. Over 400 foreign factories mostly run by Chinese were burnt down. 

Subsequently China has recalled over 7,000 of its workers from Vietnam over fears for their safety. 

The Communist neighbours however warmed up to each other in recent weeks with the visit of a special envoy from Hanoi who held talks with top Chinese leaders. 

During Mukherjee's visit to Hanoi, India and Vietnam signed seven pacts including a Letter of Intent (LoI) between the ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam). 

The LoI is aimed at further consolidating cooperation between India and Vietnam in energy sector and pave the way for future collaboration between the two countries. 

China has been exerting its influence in these waters which is not taken well by Vietnam and other bordering countries like the Philippines. Beijing has also objected to India's exploration projects in the Vietnamese oil blocks.

Sumber - The Economic Times

Chinese Scholar: World War III Will Probably Be Result Of Maritime Disputes

By Michelle FlorCruz

A professor at one of China’s military universities, the People’s Liberation Army National Defense University, believes that a third World War is a possibility, and China needs to be prepared for it. In an editorial in the state-run newspaper, Global Times, professor and author Han Xudong says that nations are collectively involved in “an era of new forms of global war.”

Previously undisputed territories, like outer space, the digital landscape and the oceans have become part of the international battlefield, Han writes in his op-ed, noting that “the number of countries involved is unprecedented.”

Han points to ongoing maritime disputes as sources of conflict that will eventually escalate into a world war. “Judging from the contention of the global sea space, the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific and Indian Ocean have seen the fiercest rivalry. It’s likely that there will be a third world war to fight for sea rights.”

China is currently embroiled in disputes involving sea rights, particularly in the South China Sea. China lays claim to maritime areas that Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia all also lay claim to. In the East China Sea, China insists that its maritime borders include a cluster of resource-rich islands called the Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan, on the other hand, says that the islands — which it refers to as Senkaku — lie in Japanese waters. With China’s increasing military presence and political rhetoric over these and other islands, some observers predict that maritime claims are something over which China is willing to go to war.

“As the rivalry on the sea grows intense, China’s military development should shift from maintaining the country’s rights on the land to maintaining its rights on the sea,” Han writes, adding that “large-scale military power” needs to be developed in order to prevent being “pushed to a passive position” by strong military forces like the U.S., which is increasingly focusing its attention to the Asia-Pacific region.

This isn’t the first time state-run media editorials have spoken explicitly about wars China would engage in. Last year, pro-government (and hawkish) newspaper Weweipo published an article describing “Six Wars China Is Sure To Fight In The Next 50 Years.” The newspaper estimated that a war over the South China Sea islands would last from 2025 to 2030, driven by China’s desire to “reconquer” areas like the Spratly Islands (which several other nations also claim) and the Scarborough Shoal (claimed by the Philippines). The newspaper unsurprisingly expects the dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku to eventually escalate to a war by 2040.


Sumber - International Business Times

Malaysia Risks China's Wrath By Inviting US Spy Flights

Beijing: Malaysia's reported invitation to the United States to fly spy planes out of East Malaysia on the southern rim of the South China Sea seems likely to intensify China's anger at US surveillance of the strategic waterway and its disputed islands, analysts say.

The United States' chief of naval operations, Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, told a forum in Washington last week that the recent offer by Malaysia for P-8 Poseidon aircraft to fly out of the country's most eastern area would give the United States greater proximity to the South China Sea.

Malaysia, which has had warm ties with China, has not confirmed whether it made the offer. The United States has vowed to maintain its influence in the region in the face of China's rise and this year won an agreement with the Philippines to give US troops, warships and planes greater access to bases there.

Admiral Greenert spoke the day before General Fan Changlong, a vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, warned National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice during her visit to Beijing that the Obama administration should halt what he called the "close-in" surveillance flights by P-8 Poseidon planes over the South China Sea and along China's coast.

As China under the leadership of President Xi Jinping asserts claims in the South China Sea and develops a more sophisticated fleet of submarines, it has increasingly contested the right of the United States to conduct surveillance flights over what it says are China's territorial waters. Among other capabilities, the P-8 Poseidons can detect submarines.

Last month, a Chinese fighter pilot flew within 10 metres of a P-8, causing a near collision, the Pentagon said. That P-8, a new fast, high-flying plane built by Boeing and loaded with digital electronics, was based with a squadron of six P-8s that arrived at Kadena air base in Japan last year. The Pentagon has more than 100 P-8s on order from Boeing.

Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian defence minister, was asked at a news conference whether permission had been given for "US fighters" to operate out of East Malaysia. "That is not true," he said, according to accounts in the Malaysian press. The minister was not asked about surveillance planes.

Discussions between Malaysia and the United States for the use of an air base in Sabah, in northeast Malaysia, have been underway for some time, according to a senior Asian diplomat who is familiar with the talks. The diplomat declined to be named because of the secrecy of the matter.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the reported Malaysian offer.

Malaysia, unlike the Philippines and Vietnam, has enjoyed good relations with China even though it also has territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.

Beneath the goodwill between the two countries, Malaysia has felt China's increasing military power and has been seeking a balance by reaching out to the United States, the senior Asian diplomat said.



Sumber - Sydney Morning Herald

Foreign experts to oversee disarming of MILF rebels

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53pc of Chinese expect to go to war with Japan: poll

Opinion poll also finds 29pc of Japanese see conflict between the countries ahead and paints picture of widespread mutual popular mistrust

More than half of Chinese people think their country could go to war with Japan in the future, a poll revealed yesterday.

A survey conducted in both nations found that 53.4 per cent of Chinese envisage a future conflict, with more than a fifth of those saying it would happen "within a few years", while 29 per cent of Japanese foresee military confrontation.

The survey findings came ahead of today's second anniversary of Japan's nationalisation of the disputed Diaoyu, or Senkaku, islands in the East China Sea - the focus of bilateral tensions. They also come amid reports that the United States may be engaged in discussions with Japan on how to expand its offensive capabilities. The survey was conducted by Japanese non-governmental organisation Genron and state-run China Daily in July and last month.

Some 1,000 Japanese adults, and 1,539 Chinese in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang and Xian, were questioned for the annual survey.

Ninety-three per cent of Japanese respondents said their impression of China was "unfavourable", worsening from 90.1 per cent last year and the highest level since the survey began in 2005. The percentage of Chinese who have an unfavourable impression of Japan stood at 86.8 per cent, an improvement on 92.8 per cent last year.

"The most common reason for the unfavourable impression of China among the Japanese public was 'China's actions are incompatible with international rules' at 55.1 per cent," said Genron and the China Daily.

That was closely followed by "China's actions to secure resources, energy and food look selfish" at 52.8 per cent.

The third reason was "criticism of Japan over historical issues" at 52.2 per cent, while "continuous confrontation over the Senkaku Islands" came fourth at 50.4 per cent, it said.

"On the other hand, 'the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands' (64 per cent) and 'historical understanding' (59.6 per cent) were the two prominent reasons for the unfavourable impression of Japan among the Chinese public," it said.

In another development, reports said that Tokyo was holding informal, previously undisclosed talks with the US about first-strike capabilities to take out North Korean missile bases. The Japanese officials said their US counterparts were cautious about the idea, partly because it could outrage China.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Asian countries had a right to be concerned about moves to strengthen Japan's military considering its past and recent "mistaken" words and actions about its history.


Sumber - South China Morning Post

Peace in South at hand

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Information on conversion

DEAR Editor,

This is in response to the letter ‘Murut student’s need for information on conversion’ published in The Brunei Times dated Sept 6, 2014.

The student asked whether he needs any witness or proper process to become a Muslim in Brunei? What needs to be done? Where to go and when to go? Is it possible to just go to the website called Islamicreligion.com as mentioned in the newspaper to declare himself as a Muslim? Or should he approach the relevant authority regarding this matter.

Registration of converts to Islam in Brunei
1. Any individual who has reached 14 years and seven months of age can be registered as a Muslim convert independently; 2. Any individual who is below the age required shall be registered in accordance with his/her parents’ or guardian’s identification; 3. Any individual whose identification depends on his/her guardian shall bring along certification letters of parents/close family if they are still alive; 4. Any individual who gets registered according to item 1 and 3 shall be registered as an independent convert when he/she reaches the age of 14 years and seven months onwards.

Where to register?
Registration can be made at the Islamic Da’wah Centre’s Conversion and Guidance Section, Kampung Pulaie on Jalan Pusat Da’wah, or Da’wah Unit in Belait, Tutong and Temburong districts respectivley during office hours; Monday to Thursday and Saturday at 7.45am to 12.15pm and 1.30pm to 4.30pm.

Important requirements/documents
1. You are required to bring along your identity card, police or military cards for personnel; 2. Foreigners must provide passport beside identity card; 3. 12 copies of passport/identity card-sized photographs (non-instant). Ladies must wear scarf/tudung; 4. Must be accompanied by two (2) male Muslims as witness if possible.

Place of conversion
1. At the Islamic Da’wah Centre or Da’wah Unit in Belait, Tutong and Temburong districts; 2. Individual residences, mosques, prayer hall, schools, community hall etc, upon prior arrangement with Islamic Da’wah Centre officers;

Officers conducting the conversion
1. Authorised officers of Islamic Da’wah Centre, or Da’wah Unit Belait, Tutong and Temburong districts; 2. Muslim individuals are also allowed to conduct the conversion solemnisation provided prior permission from the director of Islamic Da’wah Centre.

For further enquiries, please contact Islamic Da’wah Centre at:

Islamic Da’wah Centre (main branch) : 2383996, Belait: 3341578, Tutong : 4222425

Temburong : 5221406

Head of Conversion and Guidance Section, Islamic Da’wah Centre, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Brunei Darussalam


Sumber - The Brunei Times

KDYMM: Lahirkan graduan-graduan yang marketable

Titah KDYMM sempena Majlis Konvokesyen ke-26 UBD pada hari Sabtu 11 Zulkaedah 1435 bersamaan 6 September 2014 Masehi.

Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem

Alhamdulillah Rabbil ‘Alameen, Wabihiee Nasta’eenu ‘Alaa Umuuriddunya Wadden, Wassalaatu’ Wassalaamu ‘Ala Asyarafil Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammaddin, Wa’alaa Aalihee Wasahbihee Ajma’een, Waba’du.

BETA bersyukur, kerana dapat pula pada pagi ini, bersama-sama hadir di Majlis Konvokesyen Kali Ke-26 Universiti Brunei Darussalam.

Terlebih dahulu beta dengan sukacita mengucapkan setinggi-tinggi tahniah kepada para graduan yang telah berjaya menamatkan pengajian mereka. Kejayaan ini kita sifatkan, baru sebagai anak tangga pertama untuk mendaki ke tingkat yang lebih tinggi.

Sektor pengajian tinggi adalah nadi pembangunan negara. Kerana itu beta sangat teruja untuk mengucapkan syabas kepada Universiti Brunei Darussalam yang telah mencapai kedudukan dalam QS Asia University Rankings pada tahun ini.

Kejayaan ini menunjukkan UBD adalah semakin matang dan mendapat pengiktirafan antarabangsa. Namun UBD perlu diingat, bahawa dalam pembelajaran dan pendidikan itu tidak ada titik penyudahnya, melainkan semuanya adalah dinamik dan selalu berubah.

Oleh itu beta mengingatkan agar UBD terus berlari, bukannya melangkah dengan langkah longlai, ke arah menempatkan dirinya di antara institusi-institusi tertinggi di dunia. Peringatan ini juga turut ditujukan kepada semua institusi pengajian tinggi di negara ini. Adalah sudah sampai masanya untuk kita mesti bersaing, bukannya setakat menonton orang lain bersaing.

Menyebut tentang persaingan ini, ia tidak mungkin berlangsung tanpa adanya tenaga akademik yang berkualiti tinggi. Kerana itusebagai galakan kepada tenaga akademik tempatan khasnya, beta telah pun memperkenankan Skim Perkhidmatan Tenaga Akademik Bagi Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam. Skim ini dihasratkan sebagai penghargaan kepada tenaga akademik yang berprestasi cemerlang mengikut piawaian antarabangsa.

Beta ingin menyarankan di sini, supaya hanya tenaga akademik yang benar-benar layak sahaja yang diresapkan ke dalam skim ini.

Beta adalah turut memahami, bahawa bukan semua tenaga akademik itu mempunyai status yang diharap-harapkan. Seperti golongan yang lain juga, mereka itu ada yang dedikasi dan ada juga yang tidak. Begitu juga ada yang rajin dan berwawasan di samping ada juga yang sebaliknya.

Mereka yang tidak rajin dan tidak berwawasan itu mungkin sahaja dapat dilihat sebagai cuma tahun mengajar semata-mata sebagai memenuhi jadual, tetapi selesai mengajar, tidak ada apa-apa yang dibuat. Dalam makna, pada setiap hari cuma rutin mengajar sahaja, sedang selebihnya adalah kosong dan tidak ada apa-apa.

Tenaga akademik yang seumpama ini boleh disifatkan sebagai tidak kreatif. Ia adalah jumud atau beku, tidak boleh menyumbang kepada perkembangan dan kemajuan ilmu. Kerana itu tidak pelik, jika seseorang itu, walaupun telah berkhidmat berbelas-belas tahun lamanya selaku tenaga akademik namun tiada sebuah pun buku atau kajian dapat dihasilkan.

Selain tenaga akademik, para graduan juga adalah dinilai dengan penilaian yang sama. Mereka juga boleh didapati dalam kedudukan yang berbeza-beza, sekalipun mereka berada di peringkat dan bidang pengajian yang sama. Misalnya, di antara mereka itu ada yang lebih berminat kepada bidang penyelidikan, sementara yang lain pula, tidak atau kurang meminatinya. Di antara kedua-dua kategori ini, sudah pasti, kualiti mereka adalah berbeza.

Menyebut mengenai penyelidikan ini, kerajaan beta telah menyediakan satu Skim Biasiswa Lepasan Ijazah (Graduate Research Scholarship). Ia ditawarkan kepada pelajar-pelajar tempatan dan antarabangsa. Dan pada hari ini, penganugerahan pertama Ijazah Kedoktoran bagi graduan di bawah skim ini akan menjadi kenyataan. Kita ucapkan syabas kepada penerimanya itu.

Beta sangat ingin melihat skim ini dapat membantu perkembangan penyelidikan dan inovasi dalam bidang yang boleh menyumbang kepada pertumbuhan ekonomi negara.

Dalam perkara ekonomi, UBD juga patutlah merancang untuk melahirkan graduan-graduan yang marketable, yang juga mampu berdiri sendiri melalui keusahawanan. Melalui pendidikan, kita juga perlu berubah dan malah berani untuk mengubah: sikap suka menunggu-menunggu pekerjaan, menjadi budaya proakif: suka berkarih dan berbasah bekaring.

Sehubungan ini, The National Entrepreneurship Agenda dalam pendidikan telah pun bertapak di UBD dan telah berjalan dari awal tahun lagi. Ia bertujuan untuk memupuk keusahawanan dari awal pendidikan sampailah ke pengajian tinggi.

Menyebut lagi berkenaan dengan program pendidikan dan penyelidikan, beta telah pun memperkenankan penubuhan Centre for Advanced Material and Energy Sciences yang bertanggungjawab untuk melaksanakan penyelidikan saintifik inter-disciplinary dalam bidang sains material dan tenaga untuk melatih sumber manusia bagi keperluan industri berteknologi tinggi. Beta mengambil maklum, inisiatif ini adalah kerjasama rapat di antara UBD, Jabatan Tenaga di Jabatan Perdana Menteri dan industri.

Ini semua, adalah merupakan langkah ke arah membina kapasiti dan kualiti pendidikan bagi generasi masa kini dan akan datang. Dalam keghairahan ktia menuju matlamat ini, beta sedikit kecewa apabila mendengar, ada khabar-khabarnya dalam kalangan ibu bapa dan penjaga yang masih kurang memberikan perhatian terhadap kedatangan anak-anak |mereka ke sekolah. Sesungguhnya perkara ini amatlah tidak wajar untuk berlaku.

Ini baru mengenai kedatangan, belum lagi lain-lain perkara, seperti mengawal disiplin anak-anak dan memberikan perhatian atau pengawasan terhadap kegiatan-kegiatan di luar sekolah. Jika dalam perkara kedatangan anak-anak pun ibu bapa boleh terlepas pandang, betapa dengan kegiatan-kegiatan mereka yang memang susah untuk dikesan, seperti kecenderungan melayari internet secara bersembunyi-sembunyi, adakah para ibu bapa dan penjaga juga mengambil berat?

Beta secara telus berpendapat, jika para ibu bapa dan penjaga gagal untuk memberikan perhatian yang sewajarnya kepada anak-anak, maka impian kita dan hasrat negara bagi melihat lahirnya generasi yang cemerlang, tidak akan tercapai.

Oleh itu, semua kita para ibu bapa dan penjaga, perlulah lekas-lekas muhasabah, sama ada ktia sudah menjalankan tanggungjawab kita dengan sempurna, demi untuk satu generasi cemerlang yang terdiri daripada anak-anak kita sendiri.

Akhir kalam, beta mengambil peluang mengingatkan para graduan, supaya mengekalkan identiti kebruneian yang berpaksikan Melayu Islam Beraja. Peliharalah ia, sampai ke generasi turun-temurun.

Beta tidak lupa merakamkan ucapan terima kasih kepada semua warga Universiti Brunei Darussalam yang merangkumi Ahli-Ahli Majlis dan Senat Universiti, Naib Canselor, Pegawai-Pegawai Utama, Ahli-Ahli Akademik dan seluruh pegawai serta kakitangan universiti di atas segala sumbangan dan khidmat mereka. Semoga Allah juga akan membalas mereka dengan ganjaranNya yang berlipat ganda.

Sekian, Wabillahit Taufeq Walhidayah Wassalamu’Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.

Academics not doing enough: HM

HIS Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and the Chancellor of Universiti Brunei Darussalam, yesterday lamented that some UBD academics are not doing enough to develop knowledge.

In his titah during the 26th UBD Convocation Ceremony, the Sultan said some lecturers have remained stagnant as their routine is only limited to teaching.

“Is it not strange if someone failed to produce even a single publication or conduct research, despite being in service for many years,” His Majesty said.

The monarch said those who are not industrious and without a vision can be seen as teaching for the sake of meeting their schedules, and not doing anything else after completing their teaching duties.

“Such an academic staff can be described as uncreative. He or she is static or stagnant, and unable to contribute to the advancement and development of knowledge,” His Majesty added.

The sovereign went on to say that it is time for UBD to compete, and not merely stay as a spectator in witnessing other varsities race ahead.

It is impossible to stay competititive without the availability of academic staff who are of high quality, His Majesty said.

As an encouragement for local academics, His Majesty said he had consented for the establishment of Public Higher Education Institutions Academic Staff Service Scheme.

However, His Majesty suggested that only “deserving” academic staff should be eligible for the scheme as it was intended as an appreciation for academics who have excelled based on international standards.

His Majesty said graduates can also be evaluated using a similar assessment.

“For example, there are those who are fascinated with research, whereas others lack or have no interest at all. The quality of both categories of graduates will be different,” he pointed out.

The monarch further said he was disappointed after learning from the news that there were some parents and guardians who still paid little attention towards their children’s attendance at school.

“If it is possible for children’s school attendances to be overlooked by parents, how can they handle the more difficult task of monitoring their children's other activities, such as the tendency to surf the Internet in secret?” His Majesty said.

His Majesty said failure by parents and guardians to give such attention to their children would not see the realisation of the country's vision and aspiration to see the emergence of a generation with excellence.

He urged parents and guardians to reflect upon and question themselves if they had been carrying out their responsibilities to the best of their abilities, for the sake of a generation that would consist of their own children.

Speaking on the importance of higher education as the heart of national development, the Sultan said he was pleased to congratulate UBD’s achievement in attaining a position in the QS Asia University Rankings this year.

“This accomplishment indicated that UBD is increasingly becoming more mature and gaining international recognition. Nevertheless, UBD must bear in mind that there is no finishing line in learning and education, but that they are dynamic and ever-changing,” the monarch said.

“In this regard, I wish to remind UBD to keep running, and not simply walk ahead with weary steps towards its goal of placing itself among the world’s top universities.

“This reminder is also directed to all other institutions of higher learning in the Sultanate.” His Majesty added.

On the topic of research, His Majesty mentioned the Graduate Research Scholarship Scheme (which is offered to both local and international students), and expressed congratulations to the first batch of doctorate students who had graduated under the scheme.

“I would really like to see this scheme aid in the development of research and innovation in areas that can contribute to the country’s economic growth,” the monarch said.On economic matters, His Majesty further said UBD should also make plans to produce marketable graduates who are able to stand on their own, through entrepreneurship.

“Through education, there is also a need to change and even courage to change: from an attitude of waiting for employment, one that is proactive and willing,” he said.

With regards to this, His Majesty noted the National Entrepreneurship Agenda, which has been running at UBD since the start of this year, with the aim to foster entrepreneurship from earlier stages of education.

Moreover, the Sultan also mentioned the establishment of the Centre for Advanced Materials and Energy Sciences, which is responsible for carrying out interdisciplinary research in the field of material science and energy to train human resources to meet the needs of high-tech industries.

“I have taken note that this initiative will see close collaboration between UBD, the Energy Department at the Prime Minister’s Office, and the industry,” said His Majesty.

The monarch then acknowledged that these were all steps that had been taken toward building the capacity and quality of education for the benefit of existing and future current generations.In concluding the titah, the monarch took the opportunity to remind the new UBD graduates to preserve the Bruneian identity based on the Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIB) concept. “Protect it, and hand it down to generations to come,” he said.


Sumber - The Brunei Times