Japan Enters South China Sea Dispute

By Yoichi Funabashi

Boosting and training coast guards is a civilian-power solution to tensions in the East and South China Seas

In the coming months, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague is set to issue its judgment on the case brought by the Philippines that challenges China’s claims in the South China Sea. Beijing appears to be anticipating an unfavorable ruling and is reaffirming its stance on the illegitimacy of the UN tribunal.

Beijing has long argued that such disputes should be solved bilaterally and rejects international intervention. This non-multilateral strategy to negotiations works in China’s favor, leaving the claimants and other interested nations weak and divided on maritime security issues. But a united regional front is exactly what is needed to uphold the rules-based order and respond to China’s attempts to gradually change the status quo by coercive means.

Mindful of its own tensions with Beijing in the East China Sea, and of the importance of avoiding a split between Asia and the Pacific, Tokyo is now stepping forward to take the lead in strengthening policy coordination on maritime security. Japan is pioneering a civilian power approach that may offer an alternative to military solutions.

With financial backing from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, the nation is trying to strengthen the region’s civilian law-enforcement apparatus. One major initiative is a new master’s program in “Maritime Safety and Security Policy,” jointly administered by the Japan Coast Guard, JCG, and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

The goal of the one-year course is to develop a network of future leaders, by offering an opportunity for junior coast guard officers from Asia to spend half a year studying in Tokyo and the other half at Japan’s coast guard academy in Hiroshima. Students currently enrolled in the program come from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. Desperate for a non-military to disputes in the South China Sea, ASEAN countries are increasingly interested in the JCG role in maritime law enforcement.

The JCG is a civilian force under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism that is tasked with protecting Japan’s territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone – the sixth largest EEZ in the world at approximately 4.47 million square kilometers. Open and safe sea lanes are an existential challenge for Japan, a resource-poor island nation.

The JCG has a successful history of managing threats in the maritime sphere. For example in the 1990s and early 2000s, North Korea’s aggressive espionage operations in Japanese territorial waters were thwarted. Perhaps the most notable incident was in December 2001 when the JCG pursued what was later discovered to be a North Korean spy boat in the sea off south Japan. While fleeing, the North Korean boat attacked the JCG patrol boat with automatic machine guns and a rocket launcher, after which the JCG shot in self-defense. The spy boat soon sank of its own devices, and the rescued crewmembers were later brought to trial. The JCG’s ability to respond has allowed Japan to avoid resorting to military options in maintaining stability.

The JCG is highly trusted in Japan and has strong public support. The JCG even made its way into popular culture with Umizaru, or Sea Monkey, a manga series later adapted into a TV show and movie that follows the life a JCG officer on search-and-rescue missions.

However, over the past decade the JCG has faced unprecedented challenges to its ability to uphold the rule of law. Chinese vessels have increasingly entered into waters claimed by Japan and aggressively contested Japan’s territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands. Tensions have been somewhat diffused since escalations in 2010 when the JCG arrested a Chinese fishing trawler captain for ramming Japanese patrol boats, and in 2012 following the Japanese government’s purchase of the islands from its former private owner.

Despite the fact that China Coast Guard patrol boats now regularly enter the waters surrounding the Senkakus to assert their presence, a mechanism for stabilizing the situation has been built. Known as the 3-3-2 formula, three Chinese patrol boats enter the waters near the Senkakus three times a month for up to two hours each time, and leave after receiving a warning from the JCG.  This is by no means a resolution, but solving disputes is not the JCG’s goal. Its objective is to preserve the status quo through civilian law enforcement, and military options do not feature into the equation. It is a peace-building process that paves the way for diplomatic solutions to be explored.

The China Coast Guard’s massive CCG 2901 patrol vessel recently assigned to the East China Sea division has raised fears that the peace maintained by the coast guard is in jeopardy. The new vessel far surpasses JCG vessels and is equipped with military-type weapons, signaling China’s intentions to intimidate. The danger here is if Japan responds by calling upon its self-defense forces, JSDF, to intervene or by beefing up its own coast guard with larger boats and more powerful weapons.

A coast guard arms race could ensue that may see the coast guard transgress its civilian mandate. Indeed, the CCG 2901 is designed to test Japan’s resolve and exploit the gray areas of remit between the JCG and JSDF.

Similarly, China has launched another “monster” vessel, CCG 3901, which has set ASEAN nations on alert at the prospect of further militarization in the South China Sea. Regardless of such posturing, China has signaled that it does not want to engage in a military conflict over disputed islets and waters. Japan and ASEAN nations must therefore be careful not to react unwittingly to China’s provocations.

The Philippines vs China arbitration case ruling is set to become a defining moment for the future trajectory of China’s engagement with South China Sea claimant nations. One outcome is that Beijing will react by stepping-up its unilateral revisionist behavior as a bold statement of intent. On the other hand, victory for Rodrigo Duterte, president elect of the Philippines, has opened up the possibility of the country using a successful ruling as leverage at a bilateral negotiation table with China.

Current ritualization of interactions between the Japanese and Chinese coast guards in the East China Sea should be further entrenched. An alternative approach to maritime security has evolved – a tacit form of strategic ambiguity that doesn’t disturb the status quo and can steer both nations away from armed solutions towards diplomatic solutions. The success of this coast guard–maintained peace model has significant implications for the South China Sea and offers potential for replication.

In line with its shifting strategic identity towards proactive pacifism, Japan is expanding its military capacity-building assistance to ASEAN countries. But this is not enough, and carries risks of misunderstandings and miscalculations. Based on its own experiences in the East China Sea, Japan’s concept of capacity-building should be centered on rule making and law enforcement by civilian institutions. The JCG-led professional graduate program is one step in the right direction to constructing this new regional architecture.

A non-military approach can also open the path for greater policy coordination between ASEAN members that have struggled to form a shared position on how to respond to China’s great wall-of-sand construction.

As the scope of the JCG increases, Japan should become a forerunner in promoting a vision of a nation and region that pursues “global civilian power” in managing maritime security tensions.


Sumber - Asia Sentinel

Eliminating Statelessness in Southeast Asia

ASEAN can take some reasonable measures to address the plight.

By Michael Caster

The government of Myanmar has come under fire this month following Aung San Suu Kyi’s rebuke of U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel’s reference to the Rohingya, the estimated one million stateless Muslim inhabitants of Myanmar’s Western Rakhine State. Aung San Suu Kyi’s government refuses to fully confront the issue of the Rohingya, who have been denied equal access to citizenship since the passage of the 1982 Citizenship Law. The denial of citizenship has compounded human rights abuses, rising to the crime of genocide, according to an October study by Fortify Rights. The persecution of the Rohingya has deservedly captured increasing international attention in recent years, although greater awareness and mobilization is needed. The plight of statelessness remains a universal challenge.

Around the world, there are an estimated 15 million stateless people. According to the UNHCR, somewhere a stateless child is born every 10 minutes and within the countries hosting the 20 largest stateless populations some 70,000 stateless children are born every year. In 2014, the UNHCR announced its Campaign to end Statelessness in ten years. The same year, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion reported that more people in Asia and the Pacific are affected by statelessness than in any other region of the world. How ASEAN addresses this challenge will be key to achieving the UN’s objective of eradicating statelessness by 2024.

The Right to Have Rights

Hannah Arendt, in The Origins of Totalitarianism, calls citizenship the right to have rights, a sentiment which entered jurisprudence in 1958 through U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, who wrote that the denial of citizenship is the denial of all claims to protection from any nation.

Modern notions of nationality emerged following World War I through a series of League of Nations treaties, which granted States total freedom to determine how individuals obtained or lost nationality. Such absolutism of State sovereignty changed following World War II with the realization of the degree of harm caused by discriminatory nationality laws, such as the Nuremburg Laws. This realization gave rise to Article 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, granting everyone the right to nationality.

Also in 1948, the United Nations commissioned the Study on Statelessness, released a year later. The Study affirmed that eradicating statelessness requires that, “Every child must receive a nationality at birth” and “No person throughout his life should lose his nationality until he has acquired a new one.”

The Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, adopted in 1954, provides the legal definition of statelessness as “a person who is not considered a national by any state under the operation of its law.” The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness followed with more guidance. However, both Conventions remain poorly ratified with only 86 and 65 state parties respectively. The Philippines is the only ASEAN country to have ratified the 1954 Convention.

The right to nationality was further codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). However, Brunei, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Singapore are not State parties. On the other hand, all ASEAN member states are parties to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Together they prohibit gender discrimination in matters of nationality, require immediate birth registration, and place an obligation on states to respect the right of the child to preserve identity and nationality.

Statelessness in ASEAN

The 2009 ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human rights (AICHR) and 2010 ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) are both mandated with developing strategies for the promotion and protection of human rights. ACWC is furthermore empowered “to advocate on behalf of women and children, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized, and encourage ASEAN member states to improve their situation” and “to propose and promote appropriate measures…for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violation of the rights of women and children.”

Stateless people are indisputably among the most vulnerable and marginalized and international norms make explicit reference to women and children’s equal right to nationality. As such, AICHR and ACWC appear to have a mandated obligation to play a leading role in the elimination of statelessness in ASEAN, especially in ensuring birth registration and the elimination of gender discrimination in nationality laws.

One of the challenges to a regional approach is the lack of a unified definition of statelessness in domestic laws. The 1954 Convention provides the legal definition but the failure to ratify or implement in domestic laws provides countries with maneuverability. The Philippines offers the best example, having enacted the Convention and definition into domestic law in 2012. Vietnam and Laos provide a definition for stateless persons but do not go as far as the Philippines in implementing protections. The refusal to implement the accepted international definition in Myanmar, for example, has contributed to the State narrative that Rohingya do not qualify for protection as stateless because they are migrants from Bangladesh.

Birth registration, a human right vital for protecting against stateless, is not equally guaranteed throughout ASEAN. Cambodia provides a best practice in birth registration campaigning. In 2000, only around 5 percent of Cambodian births were registered. The Ministry of Interior, with support from UNICEF and others, initiated a pilot program involving more than 13,000 people who had received specialized training in birth registration. Within the first ten months of the program over 7 million adults and children were registered. Subsequently birth certificates were issued free of charge within 30 days of birth and only a small fee was incurred for late registration.

However, the 1996 Nationality Law offers no definition for statelessness and ambiguity in language implies that Khmer ethnicity may be a prerequisite for citizenship. Despite birth registration campaigning, several thousand stateless people remain in Cambodia.

Prohibitive costs for birth registration, requirements for documents that are sometimes unavailable or nonexistent, and associated costs of transportation or hospital fees, contribute to statelessness as well. Such obstacles often remain even after well-meaning policies have been adopted.

In Thailand, the 2005 National Strategy on Administration of Legal Status and Rights of Persons and 2008 changes in the Nationality Law ostensibly provided undocumented and migrant children, including stateless children, the right to attend primary and elementary school. Unfortunately, transportation or uniform costs continue to make education prohibitively expensive. Similarly, according to Children of the Forest, a child protection organization that works with stateless children and trafficking victims at the Thai-Myanmar border, among the common ways that children there become stateless is that parents will leave the hospital before registration because they couldn’t afford hospital services. Failure to register at the time of birth significantly increases the burden of registration at a later date. In 2015, the Thai government reported that over 18,000 previously stateless people had been given Thai nationality over the preceding three years. However, concerns over remaining obstacles in Thailand and elsewhere remain.

Gender discrimination in nationality laws is a significant contributor to statelessness. In Malaysia, although men and women confer nationality equally, children of Malaysian mothers born abroad only obtain citizenship at the discretion of the Malaysian Government. Mothers in Brunei have no right to pass nationality to their children. In a positive move, Singapore, in 2004, and Indonesia, in 2006, amended their nationality laws to permit mothers to pass citizenship to their children.

Three Approaches for the Elimination of Statelessness

The UNHCR acknowledges that some of the safeguards within the 1961 Convention have been enacted by ASEAN Member States. Still, accession to the two Conventions would provide the clearest framework for adapting national laws and policies to identifying, protecting, and eradicating statelessness within ASEAN. Although this is unlikely any time soon, there are three arguably more achievable measures that would strengthen the efforts to eradicate statelessness: empowering regional human rights bodies; emphasizing birth registration; and eliminating gender discriminatory nationality laws.

ASEAN created and empowered the AICHR and ACWC with a relatively robust mandate but they suffer from the lack of independence and weak enforcement capabilities. ASEAN’s Commitment to human rights, as expressed through the 2004 Vientiane Action Program and subsequent treaties, calls for strengthening such mechanisms.

This includes encouraging and working with States to withdraw reservations and amend laws that violate the right to nationality and birth registration, and localizing the legal definition of statelessness.

While civil society organizations are sometimes invited to regional consultations, the AICHR and ACWC remain under government authority. State representatives are largely coordinated by respective ministries of foreign affairs and not by national human rights institutions. Of course, national human rights institutions are not necessarily independent, as demonstrated in Myanmar and Thailand. However, AICHR and ACWC representatives from Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines have attempted to work around certain political obstacles by involving civil society and individual human rights defenders in the drafting or evaluation process, at times, and should be encouraged to do more so in terms of nationality issues.

Empowering regional human rights bodies to take a more active role in the identification and elimination of statelessness may also require the improvement of complaints mechanisms. Specifically, regional human rights bodies with a mandate over CEDAW and CRC should have specialized training and procedures for hearing complaints of arbitrary denaturalization, denial of nationality at birth or obstacles to birth registration.

The establishment of a regional human rights court would provide another forum for investigating and prosecuting the widespread or systematic arbitrary denial of nationality or grave human rights violations arising from the denial of nationality.

Registration at birth is of paramount importance. The ACWC mandate implies a role for the organization in birth registration campaigning and, in cooperation with child protection and gender experts, it should arguably take a more active role in harmonizing birth registration laws and advising campaigns throughout the region.

Drawing from Cambodia, efforts at raising awareness through television and radio should be maintained while other channels should be investigated and utilized. Public education during popular holidays would likely reach larger audiences. Because of challenges of birth registration campaigns reaching hill tribes or remote regions of Thailand, for example, efforts should be made to identify new strategies for locations or times of greatest community congregation. Registration campaigners should also concentrate around markets, where women may be likely to congregate. Campaigning should be increased around holidays when people from more remote areas are most likely to be present or when weather is more amenable to travel.

In order to address financial and administrative obstacles, a regional funding mechanism could be piloted to offset the costs of birth registration, including associated transportation costs. A period should be designated when birth registration is free, and after that waivers should be made available for the extremely poor.

There is also a role for innovative technology. Digital birth registration programs point to innovation in improving registration and archiving records.

A robust regional investigation into gender-based discrimination in nationality laws is a fundamental component of addressing statelessness. A widespread gender-based assessment of equal access to nationality should be conducted throughout ASEAN. Member states, especially Singapore and Indonesia, should work with Malaysia and Brunei to amend their Nationality Laws to abolish gender discrimination. Based on their mandates, this presents a strong opening for AICHR and ACWC involvement.

Admittedly there remain serious social and political obstacles to eradicating statelessness. Such obstacles have been reproduced through decades of structural violence and historical narratives of exclusion. The involvement of United Nations experts or foreign governments is not always greeted with fanfare. But ASEAN has made specific commitments and empowered regional bodies with a mandate to promote and protect human rights. Identifying and eradicating statelessness in ASEAN cannot be seen as a foreign imposition, as the government of Myanmar claims, but as an obligation inherent in the ASEAN Charter and within the mandate of regional bodies for the full realization of human rights for all.


Sumber - The Diplomat

18,000 dalam pekerjaan tidak formal di Brunei

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, 20 Mei – Bilangan orang yang bekerja dalam pekerjaan tidak formal di Brunei Darussalam dianggarkan 18,000 dan usaha memformalkan mereka yang bekerja dalam pekerjaan tidak formal di negara ini adalah digalakkan menerusi meluaskan rangkaian keselamatan sosial, usaha memulakan perniagaan, peningkatan perkhidmatan kerajaan dan mengukuhkan perkongsian swasta dan awam.

Ini dinyatakan oleh Menteri Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri, Yang Berhormat Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Kerna Dato Seri Setia (Dr.) Haji Awang Abu Bakar bin Haji Apong pada Sesi ke-24 Mesyuarat Menteri-menteri Buruh ASEAN dan Mesyuarat Campur Tiga Menteri-menteri Buruh ASEAN ke-9 di Vientiane, Laos baru-baru ini.

Pada mesyuarat itu, para Menteri ASEAN yang menyelia buruh dan pekerjaan telah mengkaji semula dan bersetuju untuk meningkatkan kegiatan pada masa hadapan untuk melanjutkan lagi kerjasama teknikal buruh antara negara-negara anggota ASEAN.

Para Menteri Buruh ASEAN telah menyokong beberapa rancangan kerja bekerjasama dilaksanakan antara tahun 2016 dan 2020 bagi Jawatankuasa ASEAN Pelaksanaan Deklarasi Perlindungan dan Penggalakan Hak-hak Pekerja Penghijrah (ACMW) ASEAN, dan Kumpulan Kerja SLOM berhubung Amalan Progresif Buruh untuk meningkatkan persaingan ASEAN (SLOM-WG).

Inisiatif program kerja baru menyeluruh juga dibentuk bagi Menteri-menteri Buruh ASEAN dengan matlamat merealisasikan Komuniti Bersepadu ASEAN menjelang 2025.

Yang Berhormat Pehin bergambar ramai bersama delegasi Brunei yang menghadiri mesyuarat berkenaan di Vientiene, Laos

Pada mesyuarat yang bermula pada 15 Mei itu, para menteri bersetuju untuk menyokong “Deklarasi Vientiane bagi Peralihan daripada Pekerjaan Tidak Formal kepada Pekerjaan Formal ke arah Galakan Pekerjaan Yang Memuaskan di ASEAN.”

Deklarasi Vientiane dijangka dikemukakan kepada Sidang Mesyuarat ASEAN ke-28 di Kerajaan Republik Demokratik Rakyat Laos pada bulan September 2016 bagi pembentukannya.

Menteri Buruh dan Kebajikan Sosial Kerajaan Republik Demokratik Rakyat Lao, Dr Khamphaeng Xaysomphaeng yang mempengerusikan mesyuarat itu, melahirkan penghargaannya di atas sokongan yang diberikan oleh rakan sejawatan beliau dari ASEAN sementara juga menekankan pentingnya mesyuarat itu dalam mengkaji semula kemajuan kerjasama buruh antara negara-negara anggota ASEAN.

Menteri Buruh ASEAN juga membincangkan kemajuan yang dicapai dan juga cabaran yang masih dipertimbangkan, draf instrumen ASEAN bagi perlindungan dan penggalakan hak-hak pekerja penghijrah.

Pada mesyuarat itu para menteri bersetuju bahawa had akhir baru bagi memuktamadkan instrumen draf ialah April 2017.

Juga hadir pada mesyuarat itu ialah menteri-menteri dan timbalan-timbalan menteri dari Republik Rakyat China, Jepun dan Republik Korea.

Delegasi Brunei termasuklah Setiausaha Tetap di Kementerian Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri, Haji Mohd ‘Abdoh bin Dato Seri Setia Haji Abdul Salam; Duta Brunei Darussalam ke Republik Demokratik Rakyat Laos, Tuan Yang Terutama Haji Na’aim bin Mohd Salleh; Pemangku Pesuruhjaya Buruh, Haji Rani bin Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Haji Mohd Yusof dan juga para pegawai kanan dari Kementerian Hal Ehwal Dalam Negeri dan Jabatan Buruh.


Sumber - Media Permata

Ambil tindakan tanah terabai

Oleh Hajah Saemah Kepli

SERIA, 20 Mei – Pemaju-pemaju Ladang Kawasan Pertanian Luar Bandar Sungai Lalit, (KPLB) berharap pihak Jabatan Pertanian akan bertindak segera untuk mengambil balik tanah-tanah yang terabai dan ditinggalkan oleh pemiliknya di kawasan berkenaan.

Ini supaya keadaan persekitaran ladang kembali ceria seperti dulu, sekali gus memberikan peluang kepada pengusaha lain yang benar-benar serius.

Ketua Ladang KPLB Sungai Lalit, Haji Mohd Tahir bin Mohd Yussoff, 72, ketika ditemui Media Permata, hari ini, melahirkan rasa kecewa melihat keadaan persekitaran tanah ditinggalkan terabai, dan kembali ditumbuhi lalang dan pokok-pokok liar.

Menurut Haji Mohd Tahir yang telah mengusahakan ladangnya sejak lebih 20 tahun lalu, beliau sendiri pada masa ini tidak begitu berani datang sendiri ke ladang, kerana keadaan usia sudah lanjut, dan khuatir jika berlaku sebarang kejadian dan tiada siapa yang mengetahui kerana ladang jauh dari kawasan penduduk kampung di sana.

Beliau memberitahu, pada tahun 1993, Jabatan Pertanian telah memberikan tanah seluas kira-kira lebih 200 hektar di KPLB Sungai Lalit untuk dimajukan.

Tanaman cili padi yang kering, akibat cuaca panas dan kering yang berpanjangan sejak tahun lepas

Kemudian setahun selepas itu, pada tahun 1994, kira-kira 237 orang yang telah memajukannya dan mereka secara automatik menjadi ahli-ahli Koperasi Ladang Kominat Kampung Sungai Lalit yang juga ditubuhkan pada sekitar tahun tersebut.

“Tetapi pengusaha yang aktif telah menurun sehingga pada masa ini hanya tinggal seramai kira-kira lebih 30 orang sahaja, mengusahakan sendiri dan ada yang dibantu oleh pekerja asing, kerana ada juga pemaju yang sudah meninggal dunia, dan sebagainya dan anak-anak muda tidak berminat untuk menyambung perusahaan orang tua mereka di bidang pertanian ini,” ujarnya.

Menurutnya lagi, beberapa tahun lalu, mereka telah diberitahu bahawa Jabatan Pertanian akan mengambil balik tanah yang sudah ditinggalkan tanpa diusahakan lagi.

“Tetapi sampai hari ini, tiada sebarang tindakan dilakukan, dan keadaan persekitaran ladang semakin banyak yang terbiar dan sunyi, termasuk rumah-rumah kebun yang ditinggalkan kosong dan buruk, yang dikhuatiri boleh mengundang kejadian yang tidak sihat seperti isu sosial dan sebagainya,” kata Haji Mohd Tahir lagi yang juga merupakan bekas guru sekolah rendah.

Beliau dan ahli-ahli KPLB Sungai Lalit yang lain, amat berharap supaya perkara itu diambil serius, sambil menambah “Saya berharap untuk melihat kembali keceriaan persekitaran ladang, seperti yang kami lakukan sekitar tahun 1994 dulu, dan saya sendiri pada masa itu masih bekerja, dengan begitu bersemangat tidak mengenal lelah, apabila pulang daripada kerja, terus mengusahakan ladang”.

Haji Mohd Tahir yang diberikan tanah seluas kira-kira dua hektar, kini mempunyai kira-kira 100 pohon buah-buahan tempatan yang berbuah secara bermusim seperti durian, langsat, cempedak, kembayau, rambutan dan sebagainya.

Hasil daripada tanamannya itu hanya dijual kepada orang yang datang ke ladangnya atau ke rumahnya, selain turut menjualnya kepada pemborong yang berdagang di tamu, pasar dan sebagainya.

Bagaimanapun, beliau mendakwa, penghasilan pada tahun lalu hingga ke tahun ini, agak berkurangan berikutan keadaan cuaca panas dan kering diiringi kemarau panjang dan berharap hampir penghujung tahun nanti, keadaan cuaca kembali baik dan menyuburkan semula buah-buahan dan tanaman mereka di ladang itu.

Pengusaha lain yang ada pada masa ini, juga menanam buah-buahan tempatan, selain terdapat seramai 13 orang pengusaha KPLB di sana yang mengusahakan tanah mereka dengan penanaman sayur-sayuran dan jagung manis.

Terdapat juga pengusaha aktif yang masih bekerja sepenuh masa dan dibantu pekerja mereka dalam kalangan warga asing untuk mengusahakannya.

Melalui catatan Statistik Pertanian dan Agrimakanan 2014, terdapat tiga kawasan KPLB di Daerah Belait yang masih diusahakan dengan aktif iaitu di kawasan Sungai Lalit A oleh seramai 32 orang peladang, KPLB Sungai Lalit B, seramai 50 orang manakala KPLB Pak Natu seramai 32 orang.

Ketiga-tiga kawasan tersebut merupakan KPLB Daerah Belait dengan keluasan 317 hektar, diusahakan oleh seramai 392 peladang, bagaimanapun hanya 133 kawasan yang aktif diusahakan oleh 114 orang peladang.

Melalui pecahannya, KPLB Sungai Lalit A seluas 28 hektar, diusahakan oleh 32 orang pengusaha dan masih aktif, manakala KPLB Sungai Lalit B seluas 120 hektar diusahakan oleh 140 orang peladang, bagaimanapun, hanya seluas 73 hektar yang masih aktif diusahakan oleh seramai 50 orang peladang, dan KPLB Pak Natu seluas 169 hektar diusahakan seramai 211 peladang, kawasan yang aktif seluas 32 hektar dengan diusahakan oleh seramai 32 orang peladang.


Sumber - Media Permata

Masalah Lot Sengkuang menggugat usaha ‘National Food Security'

10 SYA'BAN 1435/17 MEI 2016: PARTI PEMBANGUNAN BANGSA (NDP) sangat terkilan dengan keadaan pesawah-pesawah di Lot Sengkuang Labi yang sering berhadapan dengan masalah untuk terus bertahan memajukan perusahaan mereka dikawasan yang telah diiktiraf sebagai kawasan penanaman padi terbesar di Daerah Belait.

Di sesi lawatan pada 13 Mei 2016 kemarin, rombongan NDP meninjau keadaan di Lot Sengkuang dan mendapati permasalahan yang dihadapi pesawah-pesawah sama seperti yang pernah ditinjau dalam sesi lawatan hampir satu dekad lalu. (Pam air Labi tinggal jadi tugu peringatan)

Lot Sengkuang Mukim Labi telah mula diteroka oleh beberapa penduduk Labi dan pesawah-pesawah dari luar Mukim Labi dan daerah Belait pada tahun 60an dan pada tahun 80an seluas 50 hektar diambil alih oleh Jabatan Pertanian.

Rombongan NDP melawat Lot Padi Sengkuang, Labi

Meninjau sistem saliran air yang kering kontang

Rombongan NDP mendengarkan penjelasan Awang Haji Mohd Sofian yang
masih bertahan dan berharap masalah Lot Sengkuang akan selesai

Lot Sengkuang yang mempunyai keluasa 300 hektar telah dikenalpasti sebagai berpotensi untuk dikembangmajukan menjadi pengeluar padi terbesar negara dan juga dalam konteks memperkasa sekuriti makanan negara, berpotensi sebagai penyumbang terbesar dalam usaha meningkatkan pengeluaran beras ketahap saradiri.

Kearah itu macam-macam perancangan strategik telah diuar-uarkan sejak hampir dua dekad yang lalu untuk menaiktaraf prasarana di Lot Sengkuang termasuklah perancangan bagi penyediaan bekalan air serta sistem pengairan dan penyaliran.

Malangnya tidak semua perancangan dapat dilaksanakan dengan jayanya. Ia hanya tinggal cantik dalam kertas-kertas kerja dan berhasil memberikan harapan tinggi apabila diuar-uarkan dengan bersemangat melalui ucapan-ucapan menteri-menteri, pengarah-pengarah jabatan dan pegawai-pegawai pertanian yang silih berganti.

Hakikatnya menteri bertukar menteri, pengarah bertukar pengarah, ketua jabatan silih berganti namun masalah yang dihadapi oleh pesawah-pesawah di Lot Sengkuang hampir dua dekad lalu masih sama dan belum selesai.

Masih boleh senyum walaupun keadaan menyulitkan untuk terus bertahan

Ada pesawah yang sudah meninggal dunia dan ada pula yang sudah serik dengan masalah yang dihadapi lantas putus harapan dan meninggalkan sawah padi dengan penuh kekecewaan.

Pada tahun 2014 hampir 100 dari 286 pesawah yang berdaftar di Lot Sengkuang gulung tikar. Dari pengeluaran hasil sawah sejumlah 232 tan metric menurun kepada 182 tan metric pada 2014. Pada tahun ini bilangan pesawah dan juga hasil padi di Lot Sengkuang terus menurun dengan drastiknya.

Pihak berkuasa beruntung keadaan yang membimbangkan ini dapat ditutup dengan menyalahkan musim kemarau teruk akibat fenomena El Nino dan setentunya dengan pengunduran pesawah-peswah yang sudah bosan dengan masalah yang dihadapi.

Tetapi pesawah-pesawah yang masih bertahan lebih maklum apa punca sebenar dan faktor-faktor lain yanag menyumbang kearah kemerosotan Lot Sengkuang dan kenapa ramai pesawah-pesawah yang meninggalkan sawah ladang mereka di Lot Sengkuang.

Pesawah-pesawah yang sudah lanjut usia juga maklum apa sebab generasi muda menjauhkan diri dari perusahaan padi sawah negara yang masih berkalut-kalut dengan berbagai alasan untuk memajukannya.

Dalam hal ini NDP sangat bimbang dengan perancangan untuk mencapai tahap saradiri beras negara yang sepatutnya sudah sedikit sebanyak tercapai sasaran 60 peratus pada tahun lepas.

Lebih membimbangkan lagi ialah perancangan untuk memerdekakan negara dari bergantung terus kepada ‘ihsan alam' luar untuk mendapatkan beras nampaknya akan terus terbantut. Pelan strategi dan dasar pertanian negara yang antara lain menjadikan jaminan sekuriti makanan negara (national food security) sebagai salah satu strategi utamanya nampaknya belum dapat dilaksanakan dengan sebaiknya.

NDP juga kecewa melihat sepanjang hampir satu dekad ini harapan Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam dalam hal memperkukuh sekuriti makanan negara khususnya dalam mencapai saradiri beras belum dapat dicapai sepenuhnya seperti yang telah disasarkan.

Untuk itu NDP mengajak kita semua untuk mentelaah semula mesej baginda sultan mengenai kepentingan sekuriti makanan negara dalam petikan titah sempena hari Keputeraan baginda yang ke 62 tahun pada 15 Julai 2008. Mudah-mudahan ianya akan dapat memperbaharui kesungguhan politik kita untuk terus meningkatkan produktiviti industri beras negara kearah saradiri yang diharap-harapkan.

Petikan titah yang dimaksudkan.....

“Selain itu, kita juga perlu peka dengan krisis permakanan dunia sekarang. Krisis ini telah benar-benar menimbulkan kebimbangan global apabila pengeluar beberapa jenis bijiran asasi, termasuk beras, telah mendadak susut di negara-negara pengeluar utamanya.

Dan menambah kalut lagi apabila beberapa negara pengeluar terpaksa mengeluar stok simpanan beras mereka untuk diagihkan kepada rakyat masing-masing.

Kebimbangan semakin meningkat apabila Badan Dunia juga turut mendedahkan hasil pertanian terus susut berbanding dengan kepesatan penduduk dunia.

Pertambahan penduduk dunia diramal meningkat dari 6.5 bilion (2006) kepada 7 bilion (2012). Peningkatan ini sudah tentu tidak seimbang dengan penghasilan permakanan yang terus merosot.

Ini ditambah lagi dengan isu perubahan iklim dunia. Pemanasan global membawa impak kepada persekitaran. Ini juga menjadi ancaman baru kepada kehidupan.

Kemudian dimerata tempat di dunia, terjadi pula bencana-bencana alam yang dahsyat, seperti gempa bumi, angin kencang dan banjir besar, yang semuanya itu, turut menjejaskan pula sumber permakanan.

Kerajaan Beta telah meletakkan beras selaku keperluan asas yang telah diberikan subsidi sekian lama.

Sama seperti minyak kenderaan, perbelanjaan subsidi untuk beras juga telah meningkat sekarang. Namun demi kesejahteraan rakyat dan penduduk, harga beras masih saja ditahap biasa.

Tetapi ini bukan bererti kita terlepas dari senario kebimbangan mengenai hasil makanan. Lebih-lebih lagi beberapa buah Negara pengeluar telah dilihat menghentikan eksport makanan bijiran mereka ke negara lain.

Maka dengan sebab itu, Negara Brunei Darussalam tidak dapat lagi semata-mata bergantung kepada ‘ihsan alam' luar negara untuk mendapatkan beras, walaupun kita mampu mengadakan peruntukan untuk itu.

Sikap semata-mata bergantung kepada wang ringgit untuk mengisi perut sudah tidak relevan lagi dengan terjadinya krisis makanan ini.

Jika ada negara pengeluar beras yang sudah mampu memenuhi 70 peratus keperluannya sendiri, masih sahaja sibuk menggubal dasar untuk sampai ketahap 100 peratus mencukupi, mangapakah kita, yang cuma baru setakat mampu menampung sekitar 3.12 peratus tidak menyingsing lengan meningkatkan industri penghasilan beras negara?

Pada ingatan Beta, perkara ini telahpun berulang kali Beta timbulkan sejak dari beberapa tahun lagi.

Jadi memang wajar untuk kita mempunyai pelan strategi dan dasar pertanian negara yang antara lain menjadikan jaminan sekuriti makanan negara (national food security) sebagai salah satu strategi utamanya”.

Sumber - Laman Aspirasi

Brunei Darussalam expands financial base through sukuk

Brunei Darussalam made headlines in April with the announcement of several sukuk (Islamic bond) offerings ahead of the launch of a standalone stock exchange in the Sultanate.

Efforts to expand the scope of the financial sector are aimed at ensuring a greater diversity of public and private sector financing, specifically in support of businesses and large infrastructure projects.

A roadmap of financial sector expansion is laid out in the Sultanate’s long-term national vision, Wawasan Brunei 2035. Launched in 2008, the programme targets an increase in financial services’ share of GDP from 5% last year to at least 8% by 2035.

Short-term finance

In April the Monetary Authority of Brunei Darussalam (AMBD) issued two sukuk worth a combined $150m. The first, a $50m bond with a rental rate of 1.03%, has a one-year maturity, while the second offering, a $100m sukuk with a rental rate of 0.78%, will mature in July.

To date, the country has issued a total of 130 sukuk, with a combined $9.71bn in short-term offerings since 2006. The government’s stock of outstanding sukuk stood at $575m as of the end of April.

Given its relatively small size, the country accounts for a significant share of worldwide issuances, according to a March report from the International Islamic Financial Market.

In the period from 2001 to 2015 Brunei Darussalam offered 119 short-term sukuk, equivalent to 2.32% of the global market by value.

The Sultanate stands alongside Indonesia and Malaysia as major issuers of Islamic financial instruments in the region and is poised to play a growing role in the issuance of sukuk in coming years, the report noted.

Financing for development

Short-term sukuk have been a major contributor to the country’s development, and may become more important in an environment of increasing uncertainty in international markets.

In the 2008-09 global financial crisis, for example, sukuk were seen as an attractive alternate for investors as they were less exposed to contagion from conventional banks.

Islamic finance is already becoming increasingly important in the development of major infrastructure projects, according to a World Bank report on global financial development issued in September.

Sukuk are particularly well suited for infrastructure financing, as the instrument is based on investment in specific underlying assets or real economic activities.

In practice, sukuk are often structured in a manner more similar to corporate bonds than project bonds, however, “they have the potential to be structured in ways akin to a project bond, where they can either bear the full risk of the project or stand alongside an equity financing tranche, depending on the risk appetite of institutional investors”, the World Bank said.

Sukuk could also have prospects for financing small and medium-sized enterprises further down the line.

The report underscored the success of sukuk in funding a variety of major projects, including a 1-GW coal-fired power plant in Malaysia, with local utility Tenaga Nasional issuing a $1.09bn sukuk with a 27-year maturity to finance the facility’s construction.

More recently, Cahya Mata Sarawak indicated that it was considering raising up to RM1bn ($247.6m) via sukuk this year to finance construction of its portion of the 2083-km Trans-Borneo Highway, which stretches from south-west Sarawak through Brunei Darussalam and on to Sabah.

Instruments for financing larger-scale infrastructure are also under consideration, with the AMDB announcing plans in June of last year to issue long-term sukuk bonds as early as this year.

However, given that the two sukuk issued in April did not exceed one-year maturities, the timing of such a move is unclear.

Looking to the future

The creation of a stock market, which could be launched as early as next year, could give further impetus to sukuk issues.

In mid-March international media reported that the AMBD had enlisted a team to overlook the framework for the Sultanate’s bourse, indicating progress on the long-awaited securities exchange.

Once launched, the bourse is expected to focus on equities trading before adding bonds and sukuk at a later stage, local media reported in April.


Sumber - Oxford Business Group

Nations form pact in fight against terrorism at sea

Taking them on: Teams from the special forces of Brunei, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand
taking part in a military exercise during the ADMM in Bandar Seri Begawan.

Singapore: The Singapore leg of a multinational military exercise kicked off as task forces intercepted and stormed a merchant vessel hijacked by “terrorists” at sea.

The action-packed operation was part of the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-Plus Maritime Security and Counter-Terrorism Exercise in Brunei. It will now continue in Singapore until Thursday.

The 11-day drill, which involves realistic sea- and land-based scenarios, aims to strengthen the capabilities of participating nations in tackling terrorism and maritime threats.

About 3,500 personnel, 18 naval vessels, 25 aircraft and 40 special forces teams from 18 countries are taking part. Participants include the 10 Asean nations, the United States, Australia, China, Japan, India, South Korea, New Zealand and Russia.

The inaugural ADMM-Plus convened in Vietnam in 2010, with the goal of boosting security and defence cooperation among Asean countries and their partners.

Working groups were set up in various areas of cooperation, which include maritime security and counter-terrorism.

This is the fifth ADMM-Plus field training exercise. The first was held in 2013 and focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and military medicine.

This is the first time that the ADMM-Plus’ maritime security and counter-terrorism working groups are collaborating in an exercise.

Its joint operations director Brigadier-General (BG) Desmond Tan, 45, said such a collaboration is important as terrorism can occur out at sea.

“This has the added advantage of (adding) more relevance and realism to the exercise, (as) terrorism and maritime security are sometimes intertwined,” said BG Tan.

He added that collaboration allows for a wider scope of interaction among the troops. Citing piracy issues, BG Tan also described the exercise as timely and relevant.

“I think we all recognise that these are trans-boundary challenges that no one country can tackle by itself,” he said.

In yesterday’s drill, the maritime security task force headquarters in Brunei’s Muara Naval Base and the counter-terrorism task force headquarters in Changi Naval Base were alerted to a hijacked vessel.

After tracking down the vessel, the hijackers were eventually subdued and the hostages rescued.


Sumber - The Star Online

To group or not to group?

Farmers harvesting the Laila rice at Laila padi field in Wasan.

Wail Wardi Wasil
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

A challenge to padi farmers

THE numbers don’t lie. It is undeniable that padi production in the sultanate has improved in leaps and bounds in terms of output with a dramatic increase of 44 per cent with 1,983 metric tonnes of rice last year compared to 1,382 metric tonnes in 2014.

Despite the positive news, there is much to be done in terms of improving the domestic rice production, mainly to ensure increased productivity of padi plantations, rise in profit and cut in production costs as stressed by the Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) YB Dato Padua Hj Ali Hj Apong in his recent visit to the AE Asia Agri-Mart Sdn Bhd in Bengkurong in April.

During the April visit, the minister called for local rice producers to help the government cut its losses at the agricultural sector, which he added was due to subsidies and the rice buy back scheme provided by the government.

While the government is trying to curb wilting in agricultural profits, for the padi farmers the subject of fertilisers and pesticides is the top issue, citing that there are times where there will be lack of chemical input which are subisidised by the government, leaving the farmers to buy the expensive chemical on their own.

Md Said Tundak, the village head of Kg Bebuloh and chairperson of the Kg Bebuloh padi fields, said the government should establish a set price for agricultural products in the country. He said this is necessary due to the large number of farmers who cannot afford the expensive chemical input, since they do not have any salary and only depend on their old age pension to fund their padi fields.

The government’s and farmer’s concerns may be different, but for the authority the key to meet all these challenges, will be the farmers themselves or to be exact - farmers grouping together to help one another.

For Khairunnisa Hj Omar Ali, the Head of Rice Research and Development Unit from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-food, it is time for padi farmers in the sultanate to be less dependent on government incentives and should focus on heightening their productivity in a cost-effective way.

She said that padi farmers should pool their resources together and organise themselves to form farming cooperatives that could efficiently manage their rice plantations as well as their expenditures.

Most farmers, namely in the Pangkalan Batu area, operate their padi plantations individually even though the padi plantations belong under an organisation such as the Kg Bebuloh padi fields which are under the village’s consultative council (MPK), she said.

“As the government, we are sometimes bound by financial restrictions and there will be times where we cannot provide fertilisers or pesticides to the farmers on time,” she said.

“We hope that the farmers are more progressive and not rely on the government assistance by working as a group and not individually because when they buy the chemical input in bulk, it is cheaper,” added Khairunnisa.

She also said that through farming cooperatives, padi farmers would be able to cut their production costs as the shared resources would allow them to also share their assets such as agricultural machinery.

“For example, there are farmers at the moment, who only operate one hectare of land and they have bought one tractor each to till their land, this is not very cost productive,” she said.

“Instead, what they can do is, say there is a group of ten farmers with each operating one hectare of land, they can buy one tractor and share it among themselves as a tractor can service one hectare of land per day,” she added.

Khairunnisa added that padi farmers should adopt the mentality whereby their padi planting should not just be viewed as a way to earn side income but in fact is a business venture that could generate high profits.

Sanah Hj Burut, the Head of Agricultural Development in the Brunei-Muara district, said that currently MPRT was heading to the direction of persuading the village and mukim consultative councils that operate padi fields to convert into cooperatives. This was one of the ways for padi farmers to overcome the expensive price for chemical input as “suppliers for agricultural products in Brunei are not enough, therefore their prices are not competitive”, she said.

Sanah said that if the consultative councils were to convert into cooperatives and operate more than 50 hectares of land, they could apply for permit to import chemical input in bulk for cheaper prices.

The solutions are on hand, but officials realised that persuading the farmers to group together is easier said than done.

“There were a number of padi fields under consultative councils that seemed taken to the idea but they did not follow through, stating the large capital that it requires to set up a cooperative,” she said.

She added that if these padi farmers intend to import their own chemical input they need to get a license to import from the Ministry of Health (MoH) before applying for a permit to import from the DAA.

“Aside from that, the cooperatives would also need to build a storage facility to store the fertiliders and pesticides that they have imported, which will be taken note of by the health ministry,” said Sanah.

Md Said Tundak said that the Kg Bebuloh Consultative Council does not intend to convert into cooperative in managing the Kg Bebuloh padi fields. He said that the hassle of applying for the permit and license from the MoH and the DAA was too much, adding that the capital to build a storage for the chemical input was also overwhelming.

“The store will not just cost two or three thousand dollars, for us to be a cooperative and to import the chemicals, we will need a big storage facility which in turn will need a large amount of capital,” he added.

Meanwhile Mat Noor Maaruf, the village of head of Kg Wasan cum the chairperson of Kg Batang Perhentian padi fields also said that they did not wish to become a cooperative as “they are hard to manage and rarely succeed.”

He also cited large capital as the reason, especially in terms of buying shares for being members of the cooperative.

“Furthermore, we (the Kg Wasan Consultative Council) intend to make our agricultural products as part of our One Village One Product (OVOP) products,” he added.

The government is still trying to convince padi farmers to unite but to group or not to group, at the end will be decided by the farmers.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Hasil padi terjejas teruk

Oleh Hajah Saemah Kepli

KUALA BELAIT, 6 Mei – Para penanam padi sawah di Lot Sengkuang, Labi berhadapan dengan hasil jualan paling teruk dalam sejarah akibat cuaca kering bermula sejak awal tahun ini, ditambah lagi dengan ketiadaan infrastruktur pengairan dan sistem saliran di kawasan itu.

Lot Sengkuang, Labi, merupakan kawasan penanaman padi terbesar di Daerah Belait, selain Kawasan Kemajuan Pertanian (KKP) bagi penanaman padi tunggal yang aktif di daerah ini dengan kawasan seluas 300 hektar, dan menjadi pengeluar terbesar beras di sini.

Bagaimanapun, hasil padi di kawasan berkenaan semakin menurun sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini daripada 192 metrik tan pada tahun 2008 kepada hanya 54 metrik tan tahun lepas.

Walaupun telah diwartakan sebagai KKP oleh kerajaan, kawasan sawah berkenaan tidak pernah mempunyai sistem pengairan dan para petani hanya bergantung kepada bekalan air dari Sungai Rampayoh terus ke Sengkuang.

Menurut beberapa orang penanam padi di sana, air memainkan peranan yang sangat penting dalam sistem penanaman padi, dan banjir pada bulan-bulan tertentu dalam setahun di kawasan Labi sedikit sebanyak telah membantu membasahi tanah.

Haji Mohd Sofian bersama pekerjanya menjemur padi yang sudah dituai.

Ketua yang dilantik bagi Lot Sengkuang, Awang Haji Mohd Sofian bin Mohd Yassin, semasa ditemui hari ini, memberitahu, sebelum ini Sungai Rampayoh telah tersumbat akibat batang balak serta ranting kering, tetapi telah dibersihkan oleh Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) sebagai sebahagian daripada projek tebatan banjir bagi menghalang padi daripada musnah jika arus air terlalu desar mengalir ke kawasan sawah.

“Sebelum ini Sungai Rampayoh telah tersumbat akibat batang balak dan ranting kering, kemudian telah dibersihkan oleh JKR sebagai sebahagian daripada projek untuk mengurangkan banjir di kawasan itu,” katanya.

Menurutnya pada masa ini, pilihan penanam padi untuk mendapatkan bekalan air dari parit hanya menggunakan mesin pam, bagaimanapun paras air telah menurun sejak tahun lalu, dan semua pam milik kerajaan dipindahkan dari Labi.

“Pada masa ini, mereka yang berkemampuan membeli sendiri pam air, tetapi kurang kuasa berbanding yang disediakan oleh Jabatan Pertanian dan Agrimakanan (DAA). Bagaimanapun, saya tidak dapat menggunakan air parit kerana hampir kering,” tambah Haji Mohd Sofian, yang kini sudah berusia 69 tahun.

Beberapa minggu lalu, petani di Lot Sengkuang telah menyerahkan hasil tuaian mereka kepada DAA Stesen Labi untuk ditimbang, di mana ada yang datang dengan hasil serendah satu guni beras sahaja.

“Disebabkan tiada sistem pengairan, kami hanya bergantung kepada hujan, tetapi sejak awal tahun ini cuaca panas dan kering, dan hujan turun kurang daripada yang diperlukan,” kata Awang Jaya Ambun, yang hanya menghasilkan 33 kilogram Beras Laila dari sawah seluas dua ekar yang diusahakan bersama isterinya.

Manakala Awang Jamit Gidang, 50, yang tinggal di dangau berdekatan sawahnya semasa musim menuai, hanya mendapat satu tan padi hasil sawah seluas dua ekar, dan mendakwa keluaran padinya kurang daripada 800 kilogram seperti yang biasa diperolehnya.

“Tahun ini saya cuba menanam BDR5 untuk kali pertama di samping padi tradisi lain yang sepatutnya lebih tahan kemarau, tetapi hasilnya kurang daripada apa yang biasa saya peroleh sebelum ini,” kata beliau.

Haji Mohd Sofian, yang sebelum ini pernah dianugerahkan sebagai petani paling berjaya setelah menghasilkan 50 tan padi empat tahun berturut-turut, mengalami kerugian berjumlah $5,000 tahun ini selepas hanya mengumpul 880 kilogram daripada kawasan seluas 1.6 hektar mengikut catatan DAA.

Beliau turut memberitahu, ekoran bekalan air dari Sungai Rampayoh semakin menurun, hasil padi juga menurun dan ramai petani membuat keputusan untuk meninggalkan Lot Sengkuang.

“Masalah kekurangan air dan ketiadaan sistem pengairan sudah banyak kali dibangkitkan kepada pihak berkuasa, dan sekarang ini kami hanya mampu berharap dan menunggu,” kata beliau.

Infrastruktur menaik taraf sistem pengairan telah dinyatakan kepada umum beberapa kali oleh Kementerian Perindustrian dan Sumber-sumber Utama pada tahun 2013, apabila menteri sebelum ini mengenalpasti Lot Sengkuang sebagai tempat pengeluaran padi berskala besar yang akan dilengkapi sistem saliran dan pembentungan.

Jabatan yang dipertanggungjawabkan telah menilai kawasan berkenaan, bagaimanapun projek penilaian bertajuk ‘Bekalan Air dan Sistem Pengairan di Sengkuang, Sungai Liang dan Labi Baru’, masih belum dilaksanakan.


Sumber - Media Permata

Saudi plans new scheme to reduce unemployment

RIYADH 

SAUDI Arabia’s government plans a new set of labour quotas and incentives to reduce unemployment as it tries to wean its economy off oil exports, Labour Minister Mufrej al-Haqbani said yesterday.

The changes are part of a wider reform plan announced last week by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and reflect the difficulties the kingdom has faced for years in creating jobs for Saudi nationals.

“There is no doubt that unemployment is a looming spectre and we will take all measures, whether job creation, job substitution or even, if required, increasing the Saudisation target,” Haqbani told Reuters in an interview.

He was referring to the possibility of restricting certain jobs to Saudis and pressing companies to employ higher ratios of Saudis to foreign workers.

Cutting the jobless rate to seven per cent by 2030, and raising women’s participation in the labour force to 30 per cent from 22 per cent, are among a raft of targets in Prince Mohammed’s reform plan.

Under a government programme called Nitaquat (Categories), launched in 2011, companies are already encouraged to hire Saudis rather than cheaper foreign workers. Firms employing high ratios of Saudis receive preferential treatment from the labour ministry in processing work permits.

The scheme has had only limited success, however. The official unemployment rate among Saudis is 11.6 per cent and net employment of Saudis rose by only 49,000 in 2015, its slowest increase since records began in 1999, as the government cut spending because of low oil prices.

Haqbani said the government was ready to intervene on both the supply and the demand sides of the labour market. “We expect we will need from 1.1 million to 1.3 million jobs to reduce the unemployment rate to seven per cent.”

He said the government planned a new form of Nitaquat that would not focus merely on the numbers of Saudis hired but also on factors such as women’s employment, the average pay of Saudis, the ratio of the wages of Saudis to non-Saudis, and the sustainability of jobs occupied by local citizens.

“The new Nitaquat is not quantitative, based on the number of Saudis, but it will include other variables... We will announce it in two to three weeks, and it will be into effect within five months,” Haqbani said.

About 10 million foreigners are working in Saudi Arabia, doing many of the strenuous, dangerous and lower-paid jobs shunned by the 20 million local citizens. About two-thirds of Saudi workers are employed by the public sector.

But in recent months, the officials behind the economic reform drive have made it clear that they want the focus of job creation for Saudis to be in the private sector, as the government restrains its spending in an era of cheap oil.

“There are no exceptions from the Nitaquat for any sector, but the quotas are lower for some sectors according to their conditions,” Haqbani said.

“Retailing, for example, will be required to hire a bigger number of Saudis, while the construction sector doesn’t have this capability.”

The new form of Nitaquat could mean fresh pressure on the finances of private sector companies, which have complained of the cost of meeting the quotas. Some say they have found it impossible to find enough qualified Saudis, so they have simply recorded “ghost workers”on their books while continuing to employ large numbers of foreigners.


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Kurang petani, penghasilan padi di Belait menurun

Oleh Hajah Saemah Kepli

KUALA BELAIT, 1 Mei – Penghasilan padi bagi Daerah Belait semakin menurun semenjak tahun 2012 berikutan kurangnya jumlah petani terbabit dalam penanaman padi.

Statistik terbaru yang dikeluarkan oleh Jabatan Pertanian dan Agrimakanan bagi musim penuaian padi pada tahun 2014 menunjukkan hanya 188 orang petani berdaftar di daerah itu berbanding 286 orang petani dua tahun sebelumnya, menghasilkan hanya 182 tan metrik beras, turun mendadak daripada jumlah 232 tan.

Statistik itu dikongsikan oleh Ketua Unit Pertanian Daerah Belait, Awang Mat Rusli bin Haji Abu Bakar yang ditemui Media Permata pada kursus Projek Sekolah Perladangan Padi di sini.

Menurutnya, jumlah petani berkurangan kerana ramai yang sudah berusia dan tidak lagi berupaya mengerjakan sawah padi mereka, manakala anak-anak muda pula kurang berminat untuk mengisikan kekosongan itu.

“Daerah Belait sedang menghadapi cabaran dalam bidang pertanian padi apabila petani semakin tua dan mahu berehat daripada bersawah padi, manakala orang muda di sini tidak menunjukkan minat dalam bidang pertanian, maka hasil padi tidak lagi dapat bertahan,” katanya.

Bagi membantu mengatasi masalah itu, Jabatan Pertanian dan Agrimakanan Daerah Belait terus melaksanakan kursus-kursus kepada para petani dan orang ramai yang berminat menyertainya seperti Projek Sekolah Perladangan dalam usaha mencetuskan minat jangka panjang dalam kalangan petani.

“Kami baru saja selesai bagi edisi pertama melalui Projek Sekolah Perladangan Padi yang dijalankan selama lebih sebulan, namun ia hanya disertai tujuh orang petani meskipun kami mengundang petani-petani yang berdaftar secara berkumpulan, untuk memberikan mereka pengetahuan dan amalan terbaik untuk meningkatkan hasil dan bijak mengatasi cabaran yang dihadapi,” kata Awang Mat Rusli.

Menurutnya lagi, kawasan pengeluaran beras di Lot Sengkuang di kawasan luar bandar Labi yang berkeluasan 300 hektar diwartakan untuk penanaman padi, hanya separuh yang aktif digunakan sehinggakan rancangan Kementerian Sumber-sumber Utama dan Pelancongan pada 2009, untuk menambah sehingga 700 hektar keluasan kawasan penanaman padi belum lagi menjadi kenyataan.

Manakala di kawasan pedalaman lainnya di bahagian selatan daerah ini, penanaman padi diaktifkan secara bersendirian, dan petani-petaninya menjual beras masing-masing. Selain itu penanaman padi juga turut diusahakan di kawasan Sungai Lalit Mukim Liang dengan keluasan 48 hektar ditetapkan sebagai Kawasan Pertanian Luar Bandar (KPLB). Bagaimanapun seperti juga kawasan KPLB lainnya, Sungai Lalit tidak dapat dipadankan dengan bidang komersial atau Kawasan Kemajuan Pertanian (KKP).

Dengan penurunan pengeluaran beras juga turut mencerminkan kekosongan yang lebih luas dalam industri pertanian di daerah ini, yang telah gagal mencatatkan pertumbuhan yang ketara manakala tiga daerah lainnya terus maju.

Dalam musim menuai 2014, Daerah Belait terpaksa menyerah gelaran pengeluar terbesar buah-buahan dan pelbagai tanaman lainnya kepada Daerah Brunei dan Muara.

Sementara itu pada tahun 2013, Daerah Belait telah mengumpulkan sejumlah 1,470 tan buah-buahan, iaitu 38 peratus daripada jumlah hasil tempatan yang bernilai $4.2juta.

Setahun kemudian, pengeluaran mengurang sejumlah 18 tan, dengan nilai runcit jatuh kepada $3.6 juta.

Manakala Daerah Brunei dan Muara menghasilkan lebih dua kali ganda pengeluaran buah-buahannya dalam tempoh yang sama, dengan Tutong dan Temburong juga mencatatkan kemajuan, menyebabkan sumbangan Daerah Belait menurun kepada 24.9 peratus.

Daerah Belait mempunyai kenaikan sebanyak lapan tan dalam pengeluaran pelbagai tanaman pada tahun 2014, yang terdiri daripada akar, rempah, tebu dan sagu, tetapi tidak cukup untuk mengekalkan kedudukannya sebagai penyumbang tertinggi.


Sumber - Media Permata

Brunei faces ageing population by 2030

Photo shows a member of the public registering for the Brunei Darussalam Healthcare
Information and Management System (BRU-HIMS) at the Suri Seri Begawan Hospital in 2012.
A UNDP report urged Brunei to create jobs, channel savings into investments and encourage
more female participation as the country moves toward an ageing population in 2030.

Darren Chin
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

THE United Nations has urged Brunei to create jobs, channel savings into investments and encourage more female participation as the sultanate moves toward an ageing population in 2030.

In the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Asia-Pacific Regional Human Development Report 2016 released earlier this week, Brunei was placed “in the middle of transition” bracket when it came to population demographics.

The report said Brunei, as part of Southeast Asia, will continue to see a large jump in the working-age population until 2030, after which the increase will slowly dissipate and move towards an ageing population as currently seen in countries such as Japan, China and Singapore.

The UN said Brunei needs to take action to make the most of the opportunity for growth in the changing population demographic.

“The region of Southeast Asia as a whole is expected to increase its working-age population by 10 per cent between 2015 and 2030, but only 0.4 per cent between 2030 and 2050,” it said.

“Countries will need to provide enough decent work, stimulate and manage their economies so that growth is inclusive, aligned with human development, expand the scope for savings and ensure people have capabilities, opportunities and freedoms to progress their lives,” it said.

The UN report called for the prioritising of job creation to maximise the outcome of the shift in demographics for countries in the middle bracket such as Brunei headed for an ageing population.

“The time has come to make job creation central to national development strategies, with a strong emphasis on protecting workers’ rights and policy measures to encourage small and medium enterprises.

“Structural transformation of the economy is also needed, to more productive activities, which would open new opportunities for people to find better work and prepare for the time when fewer numbers of workers will be needed to produce more to sustain development for an ageing population,” it added.

Latest statistics from the Department of Economic Planning and Development show that the population currently stands at 411,900 with males making up 51.8 per cent of the population.

The working-age population, citizens aged 15 to 59, make up 69.1 per cent of the population while children under 14 years old and senior citizens above the age of 60 account for 24.1 and 6.8 per cent of the population, respectively.

Statistics in the report projected that Brunei’s population will be around 500,000 people by 2030.

The UN report also advised Brunei as a country in the midst of a demographic transition to prepare for the financial requirements of sustaining development in the future.

“There is a need to widen the availability of financial instruments for investing in savings and one important avenue could be developing bond markets which are potentially a valuable source of income for municipalities aiming to keep up with rapid urbanisation and infrastructure expansion,” it said.

The report also called for action to ensure women are equal contributors to development as the demographic shifts towards an advanced stage when the population is evenly distributed across age groups. “Many women are spending disproportionate time on domestic caregiving, undercutting opportunities to generate an income and policies designed to ensure equal pay, rights for women, work and public safety will be critical for fully realising demographic dividends.

“Women also need to be full participants in political and economic decision-making, otherwise there will be a lower likelihood that policies and plans will fully support their capabilities and contributions to development,” the UN Development Programme added.

Statistics in the report show that Bruneian men currently earn nearly twice as much gross national income per capita ($121,353) than their female counterparts ($72,766).


Sumber - The Brunei Times

Brunei silenced on South China Sea claims

China offers joint deep-sea drilling as oil revenues sink

Brunei is an absolute monarchist, Islamic state of 420,000 people on the north coast of Borneo, wedged into the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Indonesia and Malaysia own 99 percent of Borneo, which is the third largest island in the world, located at the maritime center of Southeast Asia. It has become a key pawn in China’s offense to control the South China Sea.

The United Nations Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague is due to rule on the Philippines’ claim to the Scarborough Shoal – expected end-May or June. China is scrambling to find global and regional support for “direct bilateral negotiations” rather than international arbitration. It refuses to recognize the jurisdiction of the Court and says it will not abide by its rulings.

China is particularly keen to disable ASEAN from uniting against its ‘nine-dash line’ claim to 90 percent of the South China Sea. It has declared that Laos and Cambodia agree disputes should be settled through direct bilateral negotiations. It has now added Brunei to that list, removing three of the 10 members of ASEAN, which works only through group consensus.

‘Resource Curse’ grips Brunei

Over three decades since its independence from Britain in 1984, the kingdom flew on the magic carpet of oil and gas exports. Earnings from this natural resource enabled its society to be tax-free and well-provided with employment, public health, subsidized housing and free education. Its 29th Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah, is one of the world’s richest men, with personal net worth estimated at US$20-27 billion.

The oil price is now off 70 percent from its 2008 peak. Like all countries overly dependent on commodity exports, Brunei suddenly finds itself hostage to a global pricing slump. As 90 percent of government finances come from oil and gas, that has unhinged the entire economy. Plans to diversify from oil dependency are drafted in an ambitious grand plan called Vision Brunei 2035. Almost 80 percent of citizens are employed directly by the government or its statutory corporations.

Brunei’s ground oil reserves are estimated to run out in two decades as well. Deep-sea drilling and exploration for oil and gas, is prohibitively expensive. China has reached out to jointly explore deep-sea opportunities for production sharing. Brunei has accepted the deal and made its peace on overlapping sea claims.

Aside from The Philippines, the other littoral ASEAN states with Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) cutting across China’s nine-dash line are Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) grants an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles off the coasts of maritime countries.

Establishing facts & dishing cash

China’s nine-dash line claim is recognized by no international body. It converts its claim into practical reality through forward deployment and occupation of islands in dispute. It is doing so at speed.

ASEAN states’ EEZs will remain unexploited, without the cash to invest in deep-sea drilling tests, and technology to extract reserves. China has the financial capacity to fund deep-sea exploration and the strategic need for hydrocarbon energy. It is using the cash bait to co-opt littoral ASEAN states into its South China Sea co-prosperity scheme. It also has infrastructure goodies on offer in its ‘Belt and Road’ master plan.

Block passage, checkmate Taiwan

Brunei is an important pawn neutralized on the chessboard, to stymie any ASEAN pushback. The parallel strategic benefit for China in the South China Sea, would be military control over these waters, to choke timely arrival of US Forces to defend Taiwan or Japan – both of whom have defence pacts with the USA.

China calculates that the US would rather avoid confrontation with an assertive power with military assets in place. Its South China Sea militarization is rapidly reaching critical mass. The US has shown no firm resolve to challenge that. The ASEAN nations have no capacity to stop China’s navy, or its rampaging fishing fleets.

The reunification of Taiwan is a highly charged national dream which President Xi Jinping has stoked. He already enjoys huge popularity with the masses – although not in Taiwan – for his sustained anti-graft campaign, which has snagged ‘tigers and flies’ at all levels of the government and party – sweeping away factions and personalities opposed to his unprecedented consolidation of personal power.

He has seven more years left of his two-term limit. If Taiwan is reunited with the mainland under his watch, Xi would be elevated to the level of Mao and Deng, on the altar of historic CCP heroes. Neither of these CCP strongmen could lock-up Taiwan. The last ruler who unified China was Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC.

Control over the South China Sea would bring that glorious day closer. US aircraft carriers just need to be delayed long enough for the PRC to reintegrate Taiwan. Political formulae for a high degree of autonomy and a separate local legislature, are well discussed exchanges in the long-running cross-straits talks.

After all, the US has accepted One-China sovereignty. It would be checkmate and game for China, without a shot being fired. Isn’t that what war strategy is all about – winning without a fight?


Sumber - Asia Sentinel