Brunei frets about youths as govt aims for diverse economy
Brunei frets about youths as govt aims for diverse economy
By Bill Tarrant
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (Reuter): Some young people in Brunei are lazy and too choosy about jobs, Moslem clerics have declared in recent Friday sermons around the tiny oil sultanate.
"The unemployment trend in the country is worrying," one said in a February 28 sermon, a message also heard in other mosques around the capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.
"This worrying trend is partly due to the lazy attitude of some of our youths. Some are very choosy about the jobs."
That there is any unemployment at all is odd in Brunei, where half the labor force is foreign, working in the oilfields, driving taxis, staffing clinics, doing menial jobs.
More than 60 percent of the country's 296,000 people are under the age of 30. They grew up at a time when high oil prices gave Brunei one of the highest standards of living in the developing world.
The rainforest kingdom on the South China Sea is sometimes called "the Shellfare state" because the oil, Brunei's main asset, is managed by a 50-50 partnership between the government and the Royal Dutch Shell group.
Bruneians pay no taxes. Many enjoy interest-free loans for houses, cars and consumer items. Medical care and most of their schooling is free. Even the grandiose, 90-acre (36 ha) Jerudong amusement park outside the capital has no admission charge.
But the oil is running dry, and as it does, the monarchy is opening up Brunei and its cocooned population to the world.
As a birthday present to the nation in 1995, Sultan Hasanal Bolkiah decreed an "open skies" policy, allowing almost unfettered access to satellite television broadcasts.
Satellite dishes can be seen everywhere, from the stilt houses in Kampong Air (water village) to new condominiums sprouting up in the capital.
Several firms are supplying dishes, which can give access to up to 50 television channels, for as little as $300 to $700 industry officials said.
The sultan, who rules with absolute powers, has been more cautious about opening up the political process.
Hassanal, who lives in the world's biggest palace, has a fleet of Rolls Royces and maintains a private polo team.
He is by some reckoning the world's richest man. But diplomats here say that is true only if the $40 to $60 billion in the Brunei Investment Agency is included as part of his personal wealth.
He is prime minister, defense minister and finance minister. Most of the other cabinet positions are held by members of the royal family.
No polls
The country has not had polls since 1962, when the leftist Bruneian People's Party swept to power in a surprise result. Hassanal's father, then the king, annulled the elections and crushed a subsequent short-lived rebellion.
Party leader Zaini Ahmad, who was among about 2,000 people arrested at the time, was released from jail last July along with the last remaining political prisoners.
The Brunei Solidarity Party, the only political group still allowed to operate, has all but disbanded due to public apathy, said former acting president Salleh Abdul Samat.
"The young people don't want to be committed because they don't think it is a suitable time," he told Reuters.
With no elections in the offing, people don't see the point, diplomats here said.
But Brunei is aiming for a more open and diverse economy as it weans itself off petroleum.
The 1996-2000 five-year development plan, published this month, says Brunei aims to be a hub for tourism and trade in Borneo, which is rich in minerals, timber and wildlife.
Brunei is the only independent country on Borneo, the world's third largest island, which is also shared by Malaysia and Indonesia.
Tourist attraction
Tourism department chief Sheik Jamaluddin Sheik Mohamed said the government can bring its considerable resources to developing Brunei as a tourist attraction and gateway for trade and services on the island.
Developing the country's human resources is crucial to the task, "particularly as the nation is embarking towards regionalization and globalisation", the plan document says.
Diplomats said one factor in Brunei's recent negotiations with British Aerospace to buy a dozen advanced Hawk fighters and its commitment to buy three corvette-sized naval vessels with advanced weapon systems from GEC Plc was to acquire technology.
"Training and transfer of technology will have a knock-on effect on the education system," a Western diplomat said.
The new armaments would be a quantum leap for such a small country, whose airforce consists of 13 helicopters and a navy that has several 15-metre patrol boats.
"It's also partly to be able to sit down at various tables, put down their cards, and show they have the kind of projection their financial resources commands," the diplomat said.