Nakhoda Has Cast Off. Now What?

Brunei has launched Nakhoda to steer tourism into a digital future. But a platform cannot sail on promise alone. Will Visit Brunei Year 2027 create bookings, livelihoods and lasting jobs—or become another polished launch remembered mainly through photographs? The captain has cast off. Where are we really heading next?

KopiTalk with MHO

Somewhere between the flag-hoisting for His Majesty's 80th birthday, the parade along Jalan Tutong and the fireworks that lit up July, another launch passed with less public attention.

It may end up telling us more about Brunei's economic direction than any of the pageantry did.

On 20 June, the government held the pre-launch of Visit Brunei Year 2027 at Jerudong Park Garden — logo, mascots and campaign identity duly unveiled, canapés duly served.

Just over a week later, on 30 June, Nakhoda was launched.

Developed by Dynamik Technologies in partnership with the Tourism Development Department, Nakhoda is a digital marketplace where travellers can discover, plan and book Brunei experiences.

Local operators can list tours, accommodation and other services, accept cashless payments and reach customers through one platform. An artificial intelligence-powered trip planner can also prepare itineraries based on a traveller's interests and budget.

The name is well chosen. A nakhoda, a Dynamik Technologies representative explained at the launch, "was the captain who guided our vessels across the seas" — and the platform, in that same spirit, is built "to guide and connect our tourism ecosystem." It is the person trusted to know the destination, read the conditions and keep the vessel moving.

For years, Brunei's tourism sector has looked less like one coordinated voyage and more like a flotilla of rowing boats, each paddling hard in its own direction, mostly out of sight of the others.

Nakhoda could, in theory, help change that.

It is a genuinely good idea. It arrives at the right time, with Visit Brunei Year 2027 approaching and tourism expected to play a larger role in economic diversification.

But a platform, logo and pair of mascots do not constitute a tourism strategy on their own, however nicely they photograph.

Once the launch photographs have done the rounds and the speeches are filed away, one simple question remains.

So what happens next?

Credit should first be given where it is due. Something is genuinely moving, and it would be churlish to pretend otherwise.

Royal Brunei Airlines restored its twice-weekly Beijing service in April 2025, while its direct Chennai route began in November 2024. Both connections widen Brunei's reach into important Asian markets.

Nakhoda, meanwhile, addresses a problem familiar to many small tourism operators. They may have a worthwhile product, but travellers cannot easily find, compare or book it.

That is especially true for smaller operators outside the hotel and travel-agency network: homestays, river guides, community attractions, food businesses, craftspeople and independent tour providers.

The wider tourism message is also, at least on paper, becoming more inclusive.

Tourism is no longer being presented simply as something that happens in hotels. Farmers, fishers, artisans, transport providers and young entrepreneurs are being encouraged to participate in the same visitor economy.

That is the right instinct. The harder test, as it usually is in Brunei, is whether a good intention survives contact with a spreadsheet — whether it turns into bookings, income and jobs, not just applause.

Brunei recorded 678,037 visitor arrivals by air, land and sea in 2024. Of these, 268,282 arrived by air, almost double the 133,630 recorded in 2023.

The recovery is encouraging. But overall border arrivals and air arrivals do not, by themselves, tell us how many people came for holidays, how long they stayed or how much they spent.

The distinction matters.

Sabah recorded 3.79 million domestic and international visitor arrivals in 2025, generating RM8.74 billion in tourism receipts. It is targeting four million arrivals in 2026.

Brunei should not try to copy Sabah or Sarawak. Their scale, domestic markets, geography and tourism infrastructure are different.

But their experience carries a lesson: tourism growth requires sustained investment, reliable access, strong products and consistent promotion. A booking platform, however elegant, cannot carry those responsibilities alone.

Brunei is not short of attractions.

We have rainforest, river communities, Islamic heritage, food, safety and hospitality. We also have a national airline and a location between larger Bornean destinations.

The problem has never been the complete absence of tourism assets.

The problem is turning those assets into experiences that visitors can find, buy and recommend.

Price competitiveness also matters. The Brunei dollar's parity with the Singapore dollar means visitors comparing regional destinations may find accommodation, transport and food more affordable elsewhere.

That does not make tourism impossible. It means Brunei must compete through quality, convenience and experiences that cannot simply be duplicated across the border.

Investment remains the more uncomfortable concern.

During the 2024 Legislative Council session, the government said B$7.32 million had been allocated for tourism development projects over five years under the Twelfth National Development Plan.

That allocation must support product development, infrastructure and visitor experiences across the country. Spread over five years and across the whole country, it works out to roughly B$1.46 million a year — modest is a generous word for it, beside the scale of Brunei's tourism ambitions.

Regional comparisons must be treated carefully. Spending on airports, roads, conservation and destination promotion does not come from identical budget headings.

But the wider point remains: Brunei cannot expect regional results without financing the products, people and promotion needed to produce them. Ambition is free. Delivery rarely is.

There is also a deeper question of how government sees tourism.

Brunei still tends to treat it as an industry promoted by one department. In reality, tourism is an ecosystem.

A visitor's experience begins before arrival and continues through airline schedules, immigration counters, transport, accommodation, food, heritage sites, digital payment and the quality of local service.

A weakness in any one of those areas affects the entire journey.

This is why arrival numbers and hotel occupancy are not enough.

We also need to know how much visitor spending reaches ordinary Bruneians: the homestay operator in Temburong, the boat driver in Kampong Ayer, the food vendor near a heritage site or the young guide building a business around local knowledge.

Arrivals may measure movement. Participation measures economic value.

Yet participation is the one figure nobody in this system has ever bothered to publish.

How many active tourism businesses are locally owned? How many young Bruneians work in the sector? How much do community operators earn? How many businesses survive beyond their first year?

These are not secondary questions. They are the ones that tell us whether tourism is becoming part of the real economy, and they are the ones government has been quietest about.

And this is where the story becomes bigger than tourism.

It is also a jobs story.

Brunei's overall unemployment rate was 4.7 per cent in 2024. That sounds manageable, right up until you look at who is being left out of the average: the young.

The World Bank's International Labour Organization-modelled estimate placed unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 at about 17.9 per cent in 2024. The estimate rose to approximately 18.2 per cent in 2025.

Different datasets use different age groups and methodologies, so regional comparisons should be made carefully. But no statistical qualification changes the central concern.

Too many young Bruneians are struggling to move from training into stable employment.

Many complete one programme, attachment or short-term contract only to find themselves searching again a few months later.

It is experience without exit.

Tourism and the wider services economy — hospitality, guiding, transport, food and beverage, retail, crafts and creative services — are labour-intensive sectors.

Developed properly, they can provide entry-level work, practical skills and pathways into small business. They can also create employment outside the civil service and an oil and gas sector that everyone already privately agrees cannot absorb every jobseeker forever.

Seen in this light, Nakhoda and Visit Brunei Year 2027 are not merely tourism campaigns.

They carry an economic obligation.

Their value should eventually be measured by the number of active operators, completed bookings, visitor spending and sustainable jobs they help generate.

None of this is an argument against what has been launched.

It is an argument for taking the launch seriously enough not to let it join the long shelf of Brunei initiatives that photographed beautifully and were never heard from again.

Nakhoda will only be useful if travellers find enough worthwhile products on the platform. That means helping operators prepare those products properly.

A homestay owner or river guide joining Nakhoda may need assistance with photography, pricing, translation, safety standards, digital payments and customer service — not merely a username and password.

The platform should also be connected to existing business-support and training programmes. Small operators should not be sent from one agency to another, collecting forms and photocopies, to assemble the help they need.

Promotion must follow connectivity.

The Beijing and Chennai routes offer access to large markets, but flights alone do not create demand. Packages, partnerships and targeted promotion must give travellers a reason to choose Brunei and stay longer.

Brunei should also play to its strengths rather than chase regional volume.

Eco-tourism, river tourism, Islamic heritage, halal travel and carefully managed community experiences offer more credible opportunities than mass tourism.

Our safety, halal dining and prayer facilities provide a natural foundation for attracting Muslim travellers, including visitors from the Gulf and wider Islamic market.

Most importantly, the results should be published.

The public should be able to see how many operators are listed on Nakhoda, how many remain active, how many bookings are completed and how much business the platform generates.

Over time, the government should also report the employment and community-income effects.

A digital platform designed to collect tourism information should make better measurement possible. There is little reason for that information to remain hidden behind the occasional press release and a well-lit launch photo.

Legislative Council members also have a role. They should ask not only how many visitors arrived, but how tourism spending is distributed and whether local operators are benefiting.

That is how a promising launch becomes accountable public policy.

Brunei has many of the raw ingredients needed to build a tourism sector worth supporting — culturally, economically and as a source of decent work.

Nakhoda and Visit Brunei Year 2027 provide a promising start.

What happens between now and 2027 will depend far less on the mascot than on whether government, industry and communities can turn the campaign into real experiences and lasting livelihoods — not just a very good launch party.

The captain has cast off.

Now we need to know where the vessel is going, who is on board and whether ordinary Bruneians will share in the journey.

That is worth a proper kopi session — not just another press release. Let's have it.

The Appointment I Never Knew I Had

Have you ever read a Qur'anic verse a hundred times, only to discover one day that it was speaking directly to you? A simple Subuh taddabur on Surah Al-Baqarah changed the way I look at life, purpose and my place in Allah's story. Perhaps it may change yours too.

Reflections on Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 30–34

There are moments in life when a simple sentence changes the way we see everything.

For me, that moment came unexpectedly during a taddabur session after Subuh prayers on Surah Al-Baqarah. I had read these verses many times before. I knew the story of Prophet Adam AS, the angels and Iblis. Like many Muslims, I thought I was already familiar with them.

Yet that morning, something happened. Not around me. But within me.

As the discussion unfolded, it felt as though Allah was gently opening another window in my heart. For the first time, I stopped looking at these verses as the story of Adam alone. Instead, I began asking myself a question that had never crossed my mind before.

Where am I in this story?

It was a question I could not answer immediately, but perhaps that was exactly where the journey needed to begin.

For almost seventy years, I have lived through different seasons of life. I have been a student, an employee, a journalist, an editor, a husband, a father and now, in the twilight years of my journey, someone who finds joy simply sitting quietly and reflecting on Allah's words.

Looking back, I realised that every important chapter of my life began with an appointment. Someone believed in me. Someone entrusted me with a responsibility. Someone expected me to carry out a task. Every appointment came with duties, expectations and accountability.

Then another thought quietly entered my heart. Long before I received my first appointment letter from any organisation, had I already received a far greater appointment?

As the ustaz reflected on Allah’s words: "Indeed, I will place upon the earth a khalifah." (Surah Al-Baqarah:30), I suddenly realised that Allah was not merely telling us what happened at the beginning of humanity. Perhaps He was also reminding every one of us why we are here.

Until that morning, I had never looked at the verse from that perspective. I had always admired the story. I had never really seen myself inside it.

Perhaps that is why the Qur'an never grows old. We may read the same verses for decades, yet when Allah wills, they speak to us as though we are hearing them for the very first time.

As I listened further, another realisation quietly settled in my heart. Life is far more than simply growing older. It is more than earning a living, raising a family, building a career or counting the years until retirement. These are all blessings from Allah. But perhaps they are not the reason we were created. Perhaps they are merely the setting in which we fulfil something much greater: the trust of being His khalifah.

That single thought changed how I looked at my own life. I began thinking about the countless mornings when I had rushed into another busy day without ever asking why Allah had granted me another sunrise. Another day was never just another day. It was another opportunity to honour the trust He had placed upon me.

Suddenly, even ordinary moments seemed different: speaking kindly, keeping a promise, being honest when nobody was watching, helping someone who could never repay the favour and choosing forgiveness over pride. This was what living as a khalifah looked like.

Allah taught Adam the names of all things before asking him to carry the responsibility. Before responsibility came knowledge. Before leadership came learning. Before service came understanding. How often, in our haste to achieve something, do we forget that Allah first prepared Adam before entrusting him? Perhaps He is still preparing us too.

Then came another scene. The angels acknowledged what they did not know. There was no arrogance. Only humility. Then came Iblis. He saw the same command. He heard the same words. Yet pride blinded him. As I reflected on these verses, I realised that perhaps every human heart quietly carries both possibilities. The humility to submit. Or the pride to resist. The choice is renewed every day.

For years, I had thought these verses were introducing the story of mankind. Now I wonder if they are introducing the story of my own heart. Every morning I choose whether to remember the trust or to forget it; whether to serve or merely to seek recognition; whether to become softer before Allah or harder before my own ego.

That is why these verses moved me so deeply. They did not merely answer a question. They gave my life a deeper sense of purpose. No longer did life appear as a journey from birth to death, collecting achievements along the way. Instead, it became a journey of trust—a journey of becoming worthy of the responsibility Allah had already entrusted to every one of us.

I do not claim that I fully understand these verses. Far from it. In truth, I feel as though I have only just begun discovering them. And perhaps that is the greatest gift the Qur'an gives us: not the feeling that we have mastered it, but the joy of realising that there is always another door waiting to be opened.

As I walked home after our Subuh taddabur session, the streets were still quiet. The walk took only a minute or two, yet it became one of the longest journeys my heart had ever taken.

The verses of Surah Al-Baqarah continued echoing gently in my mind. I had not found all the answers. If anything, I was carrying home more questions than when I had arrived. But something had shifted quietly within me.

Allah had entrusted me long before I ever understood that trust.

Perhaps the rest of my life is simply learning how to be worthy of it.

Perhaps that is what this journey of the heart has always been about.

— Malai Hassan Othman

Titah Ulang Tahun Keputeraan Ke-80: Perpaduan Sebagai Ukuran, Delivery Sebagai Bukti

Titah telah menetapkan ukurannya: perpaduan, integriti dan disiplin delivery. Apabila MMN kembali bersidang pada 3 Ogos, persoalannya bukan lagi apa yang telah dijanjikan — tetapi apakah hasil yang dapat dibuktikan? NDP mengemukakan enam soalan penting bagi memastikan titah diterjemahkan kepada tindakan.

Titah sempena Ulang Tahun Hari Keputeraan Ke-80 meletakkan perpaduan, integriti dan disiplin delivery sebagai ukuran sebenar kekuatan bangsa. Mesyuarat Kedua Dari Musim Permesyuaratan Ke-22 Majlis Mesyuarat Negara, yang bermula pada 3 Ogos, menyediakan ruang rasmi pertama untuk menguji sejauh mana ukuran itu diterjemahkan kepada tindakan.

Oleh Malai Hassan Othman

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah Ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ’Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan dan Yang Di-Pertuan Negara Brunei Darussalam, menyambut Ulang Tahun Hari Keputeraan Ke-80 dengan satu titah yang menetapkan ukuran kekuatan sesebuah bangsa dengan cukup jelas.

Kekuatan bangsa tidak diukur daripada kemewahan yang dinikmati, tetapi daripada keikhlasan rakyat untuk bersatu padu menghadapi cabaran.

Setelah hampir enam dekad menaiki takhta, Baginda Sultan menyatakan bahawa hanya satu perkara kekal tidak berubah sepanjang peredaran zaman itu — kepercayaan, kesetiaan dan perpaduan — bukan pembangunan mahupun kekayaan hasil bumi.

Titah turut menegaskan bahawa Baginda Sultan tidak akan berkompromi dengan mana-mana pihak yang cuba memecahbelahkan perpaduan rakyat. Tiada tempat juga bagi gejala rasuah dan ketidakjujuran yang boleh mengancam kesejahteraan serta kemajuan negara.

Penegasan itu, walaupun disampaikan secara ringkas, membawa makna yang besar dan tidak sepatutnya dibiarkan berlalu begitu sahaja.

Parti Pembangunan Bangsa (NDP) berpendirian bahawa ini bukan sekadar titah sempena perayaan. Titah tersebut menetapkan satu ukuran yang digariskan sendiri oleh Baginda Sultan — dan ukuran itu perlu disandarkan kepada bukti serta hasil yang dapat dinilai.

Baginda Sultan turut menyeru generasi muda supaya tidak lagi menjadi penonton kepada perubahan atau sekadar pengguna teknologi ciptaan orang lain. Mereka digalakkan untuk bangkit sebagai pencipta, pemikir dan pemimpin berwawasan.

Usaha ini akan mendapat sokongan kerajaan menerusi kemudahan pinjaman mikro daripada Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam, Perbadanan TAIB dan Bank Usahawan.

Seruan ini perlu dibaca bersama realiti pasaran pekerjaan. Hampir 60 peratus majikan dilaporkan menghadapi kesukaran mencari dan mengekalkan pekerja tempatan yang sesuai — satu petunjuk adanya jurang struktur antara apa yang dihasilkan oleh sistem pendidikan dengan apa yang diperlukan oleh ekonomi.

Jurang itu turut tercermin dalam kadar pengangguran keseluruhan yang mencecah 5.2 peratus pada 2025. Pengangguran dalam kalangan wanita jauh lebih tinggi berbanding lelaki, iaitu 6.7 peratus berbanding 4.2 peratus. Kadar pengangguran wanita itu meningkat daripada 5.6 peratus pada tahun sebelumnya.

Seruan supaya belia menjadi pencipta tidak akan mencapai potensi sebenarnya sekiranya jurang kemahiran dan peluang ini terus dibiarkan tanpa sasaran masa, tanggungjawab institusi dan ukuran kejayaan yang jelas.

Titah turut mengakui secara terus terang bahawa cabaran fiskal negara masih memerlukan perhatian berterusan. Kerajaan akan terus memperluas sumber pendapatan bukan minyak dan gas, mengurus perbelanjaan negara dengan berhemat serta memperkukuh kemudahcaraan perniagaan.

Penegasan ini datang ketika defisit belanjawan bagi tahun kewangan 2026/2027 dijangka mencecah BND2.72 bilion berbanding unjuran hasil BND3.53 bilion. Hasil minyak dan gas pula menyusut daripada BND1.93 bilion kepada kira-kira BND1.50 bilion.

Dalam keadaan sedemikian, usaha memperluas hasil bukan minyak dan gas bukan lagi pilihan dasar biasa. Ia telah menjadi satu keperluan mendesak yang memerlukan disiplin delivery — iaitu keupayaan menterjemahkan dasar, arahan dan komitmen kepada hasil yang nyata serta boleh diukur.

Baginda Sultan turut menyatakan keyakinan terhadap peranan setiap Menteri Penyelaras — Menteri yang diberikan mandat untuk menyelaraskan kementerian dan agensi merentasi sektor tertentu — dalam memastikan jurang serta halangan pelaksanaan dapat ditangani dengan berkesan.

Data pemantauan yang tersedia memberikan konteks nyata kepada keyakinan tersebut.

Indeks Sentimen Perniagaan Bank Negara Brunei Darussalam bagi April 2026 mencatatkan subindeks guna tenaga pada 43.6, manakala jangkaan sebulan ke hadapan berada pada 44.6. Kedua-duanya jauh di bawah paras neutral 50, menunjukkan penguncupan guna tenaga dan sikap majikan yang masih berhati-hati dalam pengambilan pekerja.

Perniagaan bersaiz sederhana pula mencatatkan bacaan 22.3, yang terendah antara semua kategori saiz perniagaan. Sektor Perdagangan Borong dan Runcit jatuh mendadak daripada 66.9 kepada 20.7 selepas berakhirnya kemuncak perbelanjaan musim perayaan.

Data ini diterbitkan secara rasmi setiap bulan, namun kesedaran awam terhadapnya masih minimum. Sekiranya petunjuk awal yang jelas seperti ini tidak diterjemahkan kepada tindakan atau makluman berguna kepada perusahaan kecil dan sederhana yang paling memerlukannya, keberkesanan saluran penyelarasan dan tindak balas dasar wajar dinilai semula.

Titah telah pun disampaikan. Seluruh negara telah mendengar mesej Baginda Sultan kepada rakyat serta seluruh jentera pentadbiran negara.

NDP turut mendengar dan menerima tanggungjawab moral untuk membantu memastikan hasrat yang dititahkan diterjemahkan kepada tindakan. Ini selaras dengan peranan NDP sebagai rakan strategik kerajaan dalam merealisasikan aspirasi negara — bukan sekadar menyambut titah dengan penuh penghormatan, tetapi turut menyumbang melalui pandangan, penelitian dan cadangan yang membina.

Di sinilah pentingnya Mesyuarat Kedua Dari Musim Permesyuaratan Ke-22 Majlis Mesyuarat Negara, yang bermula pada Isnin, 3 Ogos 2026 bersamaan 19 Safar 1448 Hijrah.

Ia merupakan ruang rasmi pertama MMN selepas titah tersebut untuk menilai sejauh mana ukuran yang digariskan oleh Baginda Sultan benar-benar diterjemahkan dalam dasar, tadbir urus dan pelaksanaan.

Pengumuman rasmi menyatakan bahawa persidangan ini akan memberikan tumpuan kepada soalan, kenyataan menteri dan usul mengenai pelbagai perkara berkepentingan negara. Ia turut dijangka meneliti isu dasar, tadbir urus dan pembangunan negara selaras dengan keutamaan semasa.

Justeru, NDP menggesa Ahli-Ahli Majlis Mesyuarat Negara memanfaatkan ruang tersebut dengan mengemukakan soalan yang khusus, terukur dan berorientasikan hasil.

Pertama, kepada Kementerian Kewangan dan Ekonomi: Apakah garis masa, sasaran dan mekanisme sebenar untuk memperluas hasil bukan minyak dan gas, memandangkan defisit BND2.72 bilion dijangka berlaku serentak dengan penyusutan hasil daripada sektor minyak dan gas?

Kedua, kepada kementerian yang bertanggungjawab terhadap guna tenaga dan pembangunan kemahiran: Apakah pelan khusus untuk merapatkan jurang antara sistem pendidikan dengan keperluan sebenar majikan, memandangkan hampir 60 peratus majikan dilaporkan menghadapi kesukaran mendapatkan dan mengekalkan pekerja tempatan yang sesuai?

Jurang ini akan menentukan sama ada seruan titah kepada generasi muda untuk menjadi pencipta, pemikir dan pemimpin berwawasan benar-benar dapat direalisasikan.

Ketiga, kepada setiap Menteri Penyelaras: Apakah petunjuk prestasi utama yang khusus, terukur dan boleh disemak oleh orang ramai untuk membuktikan keberkesanan penyelarasan merentasi kementerian, jabatan, daerah dan agensi sejak struktur tersebut diperkenalkan?

Keempat, kepada agensi yang bertanggungjawab terhadap pemantauan ekonomi: Apakah langkah konkrit untuk memastikan data seperti Indeks Sentimen Perniagaan diterjemahkan kepada makluman awal dan tindakan bersasar untuk membantu perusahaan kecil dan sederhana, bukan sekadar kekal sebagai data teknikal?

Kelima, kepada Kementerian Pendidikan serta Kementerian Kebudayaan, Belia dan Sukan: Apakah dasar semasa dan tindakan konkrit yang telah dilaksanakan untuk mewujudkan persekitaran yang benar-benar kondusif bagi belia berkembang sebagai pencipta, pemikir dan pereka inovasi?

Apakah ukuran kejayaan yang akan digunakan untuk menentukan bahawa seruan titah supaya generasi muda tidak lagi sekadar menjadi penonton perubahan atau pengguna teknologi ciptaan orang lain telah mula menghasilkan perubahan?

Keenam, kepada Biro Mencegah Rasuah dan agensi berkaitan: Apakah inisiatif baharu yang telah atau akan diperkenalkan bagi memperkukuh usaha membanteras rasuah dan ketidakjujuran, susulan penegasan titah bahawa tiada tempat bagi gejala ini dalam masyarakat kerana ia mengancam kesejahteraan dan kemajuan negara?

Soalan-soalan ini bukan bertujuan mencari kesalahan. Bagi NDP, ia adalah cara paling jujur dan konstruktif untuk memastikan perpaduan, integriti serta disiplin delivery menjadi asas kepada perbahasan dan penelitian MMN.

Tahun 2027 akan menyaksikan Jubli Intan Pemerintahan Baginda Sultan dan Tahun Melawat Brunei — dua peristiwa penting yang sememangnya akan diraikan dengan penuh penghormatan.

Namun, sebagai rakan strategik kerajaan, NDP memandang lebih jauh daripada keraian itu.

Ukuran sebenar bukan hanya terletak pada kemeriahan majlis yang bakal diadakan pada 2027, tetapi pada sejauh mana perpaduan, integriti dan disiplin delivery yang dititahkan pada usia 80 tahun ini telah berakar dalam pentadbiran negara sebelum tarikh bersejarah itu tiba.

Titah telah menetapkan ukurannya. Kini, setiap institusi negara memikul tanggungjawab untuk membuktikan hasilnya.

— • —

Sumber: Titah Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia sempena Ulang Tahun Hari Keputeraan Ke-80, 1448H/2026M; pengumuman Jabatan Majlis-Majlis Mesyuarat mengenai Mesyuarat Kedua Dari Musim Permesyuaratan Ke-22 Majlis Mesyuarat Negara; data BDKI 2025, Jabatan Perancangan Ekonomi dan Statistik; Indeks Sentimen Perniagaan April 2026, Bank Negara Brunei Darussalam; serta laporan dan analisis penulis dalam KopiTalk with MHO.

From Users to Creators: Is Brunei Ready to Answer the Sultan's Challenge?

Brunei has built the broadband, launched 5G and drawn up an ambitious digital future. But infrastructure cannot create innovators by itself. His Majesty has challenged young Bruneians to move from users to creators. The harder question is whether our schools, banks, businesses and government contracts are ready to let them build.

Brunei has spent a decade wiring itself for the future. The Sultan's call for young people to become creators now poses the harder question: what will Brunei build upon it?

By Malai Hassan Othman

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam, has set Brunei's young people a challenge that is easy to applaud and considerably harder to fulfil.

In his 80th birthday Titah, His Majesty expressed the hope that they would no longer remain spectators of change or merely use technology created by others. They must rise, in his words, as “pencipta, pemikir dan pemimpin berwawasan”—creators, thinkers and visionary leaders.

It is a stirring aspiration. It is also, on the Government's own evidence, a challenge Brunei is not yet fully equipped to meet.

The infrastructure is not in question. Internet penetration is approaching 99 per cent. A baseline fixed-broadband speed of 100 megabits per second is available nationwide, 5G is live, and the restructuring around Unified National Networks has centralised the wholesale telecommunications grid to accelerate upgrades.

Three flagship platforms have also moved into operation. The National Information Hub enables secure data-sharing between government agencies. BruneiID, launched in January 2026, provides single-credential access to government services. TARUS has processed interoperable digital payments since going live in March 2025.

BruHealth proved that a nationally deployed digital service could be adopted rapidly when it answered a real public need. The Cybersecurity Order 2023 and Personal Data Protection Order 2025 have meanwhile strengthened the foundations for security, privacy and digital trust.

Brunei, in short, has built the rails.

What is running on them is another matter—and the Government has said so itself.

The paradox the ministry acknowledged

At the Digital Economy Forum in late 2025, the Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications did something governments rarely do: it publicly named the gap between its digital investment and the results produced.

Officials described a series of “digital paradoxes”, with high connectivity paired with strikingly low economic output chief among them.

Despite the infrastructure, the information and communications technology sector contributed only about 2.3 per cent of gross domestic product—BND484.8 million in 2023, against the Brunei Darussalam Economic Blueprint target of BND1.3 billion by 2035.

Most companies used only basic digital tools. Barely one in 10 had reportedly adopted cloud computing, data analytics or automation.

More than seven in 10 Bruneians had mobile wallets, yet only a minority used them frequently, with cash continuing to dominate day-to-day transactions.

The ministry's diagnosis pointed to resistance to change, insufficient leadership within industries and low workforce readiness.

Strip away the diplomatic phrasing and the message is blunt: Brunei has developed an extraordinary capacity to consume digital services, but comparatively limited capacity to produce economic value from them.

His Majesty's call to become creators is therefore not merely a rhetorical flourish. It speaks directly to a national weakness the Government has already acknowledged.

Where the gap begins

If Brunei is to close that gap, the search should begin in the classroom—not the data centre.

The Ministry of Education's Digital Transformation Plan 2023–2027 is substantial on paper. It encompasses learning-management systems, smart classrooms, digital resources, education data, online services and digital assessment.

An EdTech Centre oversees educational technology and digital content. The Ministry has also introduced guidance to help teachers and school leaders use artificial intelligence responsibly in education.

But there is a crucial difference between digitalising how education is delivered and teaching students to create technology themselves. It is not yet clear how consistently Brunei is doing the latter.

A school can install smart boards, introduce electronic assessments and deploy AI-assisted learning without fundamentally changing the relationship between pupil, teacher and the one approved answer.

That may produce confident software users. It does not, by itself, produce creators.

The results suggest that the gap deserves serious attention.

Brunei's scores in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, were 442 in mathematics, 429 in reading and 446 in science—below the averages of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development across all three subjects.

Yet Brunei improved in all three domains between 2018 and 2022, an achievement the Ministry of Education said placed it among only four participating education systems worldwide to do so. It was a genuine and under-reported success, particularly amid the educational disruption caused by the pandemic.

Less encouragingly, only 3 per cent of Brunei's students reached the top two proficiency levels in mathematics, compared with an OECD average of 9 per cent.

Fewer than a third of students felt confident interpreting mathematical solutions in the context of a real-life challenge, according to OECD survey data.

Those are precisely the intellectual muscles upon which a creator economy depends: interpreting ambiguous problems, applying knowledge beyond familiar exercises and working without a model answer.

Publicly available information does not readily show how many Bruneian students learn coding or computational thinking through the core curriculum rather than after-school clubs; how many teachers are qualified to teach computer science or robotics; or how many student projects survive beyond the exhibition table and develop into viable products.

Nor is it easy to determine whether comparable opportunities exist across government, private, religious and rural schools.

That absence is not proof of failure. It does mean that people outside government cannot properly judge the scale, consistency or results of the effort—which is a problem in itself.

Who gets to build for Brunei?

Even a brilliant graduate needs somewhere to sell what he or she creates.

That is where government procurement enters the story—and where the questions become uncomfortable.

Government is among Brunei's most consequential purchasers of complex digital systems. Yet no readily accessible public breakdown appears to show how much of that spending is retained by Bruneian companies rather than passing through to overseas contractors.

It is similarly unclear how often local developers participate in core design and engineering, rather than installation, maintenance and technical support.

Do contracts with foreign technology companies contain measurable requirements for knowledge and skills transfer?

When a government system is completed, who owns its intellectual property?

Does Brunei retain the expertise to examine, modify and repair the system—or must it return to the original vendor whenever something fundamental needs to change?

None of this is an indictment of foreign partnership. A market Brunei's size cannot go it alone, nor should it try.

The issue is the quality of the partnerships and how much productive capacity they leave behind.

Buy sophisticated systems without insisting on meaningful local design participation, and the country risks becoming more digital without becoming more capable—modernisation without mastery.

The sovereignty test

The release of Digital Brunei 2030 on 2 June has brought these questions into sharper focus.

The five-year national plan combines four strategies: Digital Government, Digital Society, Digital Business, and Data and Artificial Intelligence.

Its proposed projects include the Gov.BN SuperApp and Citizen Portal, National Business Services Portal, further expansion of BruneiID and digital payments, an AI-capable data centre, a National Sovereign Cloud with artificial-intelligence computing capacity, and a national large language model grounded in the Brunei context.

These are not peripheral technology projects. They could become part of the country's strategic digital infrastructure.

Their announcement sharpens rather than settles the question arising from His Majesty's Titah.

Will young Bruneians help design, engineer and eventually own these systems—or will they principally be trained to operate technologies built for them by others?

Digital sovereignty does not require Brunei to manufacture every component domestically or shut out foreign technology. No small country can—or should—attempt complete technological self-sufficiency.

It means retaining enough command over critical data, digital identity, cybersecurity, essential infrastructure and strategic decision-making to protect the national interest.

It also means possessing sufficient local expertise to understand the systems upon which the country increasingly depends.

Data centres can operate on Brunei soil while their technology, expertise, ownership and profits reside elsewhere.

A sovereign cloud can carry the word “sovereign” in its title while its underlying architecture remains beyond meaningful local control.

A national large language model can reflect Brunei's language and culture, but the deeper test will be who trains it, who governs its data, who audits its behaviour and who owns the resulting intellectual property.

The Government's plans are ambitious. The challenge is ensuring that their delivery creates Bruneian engineers, cybersecurity specialists, data scientists, researchers and entrepreneurs—not merely another generation of technically competent users.

What Digital Brunei 2030 must prove

Digital Brunei 2030 correctly moves the national conversation beyond infrastructure. Its stated emphasis is on tangible and sustainable outcomes for government, business and society.

That is the right direction. But outcomes must be measured publicly if they are to remain distinguishable from activity.

Broadband speed and internet penetration are yesterday's scoreboard. They show that the foundations exist, not what the economy is producing from them.

The more revealing indicators now would include:

● the number and survival rate of Bruneian technology start-ups

● the value of exported digital products and services

● high-value digital jobs held by Bruneians

● locally owned intellectual property

● business adoption of cloud computing, automation and data analytics

● local participation in government technology contracts

● the number of students receiving sustained computer-science education

● the number of school and university innovations successfully commercialised

Workshops, launch events and hackathons generate good photographs. They do not, on their own, reveal whether a country is building an industry.

Nor does the existence of a plan guarantee that its benefits will be distributed widely.

If advanced digital opportunities remain concentrated among selected schools, exceptional students, large companies and well-connected institutions, Brunei may produce isolated success stories without creating a broadly capable digital generation.

That would fall short of the transformation His Majesty's words appear to demand.

The challenge belongs to everyone

His Majesty has placed the challenge before Brunei's young people.

But whether they meet it will depend partly on decisions made by people who are no longer young.

Schools will decide whether curiosity is encouraged or contained.

Universities will determine whether research ends in academic publication or proceeds towards working products.

Banks will decide whether an untested but promising idea deserves patient capital.

Established businesses will determine whether local innovators receive their first serious customers.

Government departments writing the next technology tender will decide whether public spending merely purchases another system—or deliberately builds Bruneian capability in the process.

Young people cannot become creators simply because they have been told to create. They need knowledge, opportunity, financing, institutional trust and a market willing to buy what they build.

Brunei has spent a decade laying fibre, building platforms and writing master plans. Digital Brunei 2030 has now given the country its clearest instructions yet.

What it has not given Brunei is a guarantee. That will be written not in the plan, but in whether a generation of young Bruneians is handed the tools, trust and market access to build something the country can genuinely call its own.

Sultan at 80: Unity, Not Wealth, Is the Measure of a Strong Nation

At 80, His Majesty delivered more than a message of celebration. He reminded Brunei that national strength rests not on wealth alone, but on unity, integrity and shared responsibility. As the economy changes and new challenges emerge, the titah asks every institution and citizen to rise together—so that stability is preserved, progress is sustained, and no one is left behind.

His Majesty couples a warning against division and corruption with a sharper demand for youth initiative, economic resilience and delivery across government

By Malai Hassan Othman

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam, marked his 80th birthday with an unusually direct warning: Brunei’s strength will not be measured by the wealth it enjoys, but by whether its people remain sincerely united when the country is tested.

In a titah delivered on the royal milestone, His Majesty said he would not compromise with any party seeking to divide the people. He added that corruption and dishonesty had no place in Brunei when they threatened national welfare and progress.

The language was restrained, but the message was not. Nearly six decades on the throne, His Majesty identified trust, loyalty and unity — rather than prosperity itself — as the constants that had carried Brunei from basic development into the modern age.

That distinction matters. In a country where oil and gas wealth has long softened economic shocks, the titah placed moral cohesion and institutional integrity above material comfort. It was less a celebration of what Brunei possesses than a reminder of what it could lose.

His Majesty also turned pointedly to the younger generation, saying they should no longer remain spectators of change or merely users of technology created by others. They must rise as creators, thinkers and visionary leaders.

The call came against an economy that is growing, but only narrowly. Official figures show real gross domestic product expanding by 0.3 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, largely because oil and gas activity rose by 4.1 per cent.

The non-oil and gas sector still accounted for 54.9 per cent of gross value added, confirming that diversification has changed the shape of the economy. Yet it contracted by 3.0 per cent during the quarter. Services fell by 3.1 per cent, construction by 8.0 per cent and business services by 7.8 per cent.

The figures expose the harder truth beneath the encouraging headline. Brunei’s economy is becoming more diversified in composition, but its immediate growth remains heavily dependent on hydrocarbons.

That gives greater weight to His Majesty’s pledge that the Government will continue supporting young people who wish to enter and expand in business across all sectors. He highlighted microfinancing available through Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam, Perbadanan TAIB and Bank Usahawan.

But access to finance is only one part of the equation. Young entrepreneurs are being asked to take risks in an economy where finance contracted by 6.6 per cent, construction by 8.0 per cent and several service industries recorded declines. The challenge is no longer simply to produce more entrepreneurs, but to build an environment in which viable firms can survive.

His Majesty reaffirmed his commitment to lead Brunei towards Wawasan Brunei 2035 — a developed, sustainable and resilient nation supported by the combined efforts of all sectors.

On social development, he highlighted Projek Teduh, under which the Government and BIBD have used the bank’s business zakat fund to build homes for vulnerable groups. His Majesty encouraged more public-private partnerships of this kind to raise the living standards of those in need.

The initiative places Islamic social finance alongside public efforts to address housing vulnerability. It is modest in scale, but significant in principle: social protection need not be left to the state alone when institutions with resources can be brought into the national effort.

Energy security also featured prominently. His Majesty said Brunei remained in a comparatively sound position despite global uncertainty, with the Government prioritising strategic reserves of petroleum fuel and LPG cylinders to meet daily needs.

He also placed responsibility beyond government, urging all parties to use energy resources prudently. It was a quiet but important shift in emphasis: national resilience depends not only on what the state stores, but on how society consumes.

His Majesty announced approval of the Disaster Management Strategic Policy Framework, intended to strengthen risk management and coordinated action among agencies during emergencies.

The titah then moved to the issue that may prove most consequential: the country’s fiscal position. His Majesty acknowledged that fiscal challenges still require sustained attention and said the Government would widen non-oil and gas revenue, manage public expenditure prudently, strengthen business facilitation and ensure government processes are investor-friendly.

The pressure is already visible in the latest national accounts. Government final consumption fell by 12.2 per cent in real terms in the first quarter, while household consumption rose by 9.1 per cent and gross capital formation increased by 6.3 per cent.

Those figures do not by themselves prove austerity. But they underline why the call for fiscal responsibility was more than ceremonial language. Brunei is attempting to restrain public demand while expecting households, investors and private enterprise to carry more of the economy’s forward momentum.

His Majesty expressed confidence in each Menteri Penyelaras, or Coordinating Minister, to ensure that gaps and obstacles are addressed effectively. With weakness extending across finance, business services, construction, transport and public administration, that reference carried an unmistakable message about delivery.

Policies may be announced at the centre, but implementation often succeeds or stalls in the spaces between ministries, regulators and agencies. The titah appeared to put those gaps on notice — diplomatically, but firmly.

The year 2027 will bring two major national occasions: the Diamond Jubilee of His Majesty’s reign and Visit Brunei Year. The ceremonies will be substantial. The more enduring test will be whether the commitments outlined now — on youth enterprise, vulnerable households, economic diversification and government delivery — are felt beyond the official programme.

His Majesty closed by thanking the people, the Civil Service, the security forces, the private sector and the national and district celebration committees.

Yet the central message had already been delivered. At 80, after nearly six decades of rule, His Majesty was not asking Brunei merely to celebrate continuity. He was asking whether the unity, integrity and institutional discipline that built the country remain strong enough to carry it through the next test.

Sources: Full text of His Majesty’s 80th birthday titah; Department of Economic Planning and Statistics, Gross Domestic Product, First Quarter 2026.

Hijrah Penyelamat Aqidah: Faith in the Age of the Algorithm

His Majesty’s Ilal Hijrah 1448 titah named the algorithm as a threat to akidah. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are being formed online faster than our institutions can respond. And 2035 is not far away. #KopiTalkMHO #IlalHijrah1448 #Brunei

KopiTalk with MHO

Analysis & Commentary

His Majesty’s Ilal Hijrah 1448 address named the threat plainly. The question now is whether Brunei’s institutions — and its families — are listening.

By Malai Hassan Othman  |  KopiTalk with MHO  |  Majlis Sambutan Ilal Hijrah 1448  |  4 Julai 2026

It was sometime in the early years of the new millennium. A friend at the coffee shop — a member of parliament, as it happened — was talking about young Bruneians and the internet, which had just arrived in most homes and was already making itself comfortable in ways nobody had quite anticipated.

He said something I have not forgotten. A Bruneian, he said, is like belacan. No matter what dish you put it in, it gives the dish its character. But if you pound it too fine, if you lose its texture entirely, it becomes something else. You can still smell it. But it has lost its form.

He was talking about identity. About what happens to a generation when the environment shaping it is no longer the home, the surau, or the school — but something borderless and ungoverned that arrives through a telephone line and carries no particular loyalty to Brunei or to Islam.

That was the era of dial-up internet and early chat rooms. There was no smartphone. No TikTok. No algorithm that knew your child better than you did.

Those were the themes I wrote about in the early years of this column, when KopiTalk first appeared in the Borneo Bulletin. The concerns were real then. But they were, in the scheme of things, early warnings — raised in a newspaper column, circulated at the coffee table, and largely absorbed into the general noise of a country moving fast into a new era.

What felt like a coffee shop concern then is now the subject of a royal address.

At the National-Level Majlis Sambutan Ilal Hijrah 1448, held on 4 July 2026 at the International Convention Centre in Berakas, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, spoke under the theme Hijrah Penyelamat Aqidah — the Hijrah as Saviour of Faith.

The choice of theme was not ceremonial. It was diagnostic.

The titah identified the rapid development of digital technology as one of the defining challenges facing Muslims in this era. The concern was specific: the digital world has created a space without borders for ideas and opinions that contradict akidah. If these are allowed to spread without check, they carry the potential to disturb religious harmony in Brunei.

His Majesty then named something that deserves more attention than it has received in the commentary that followed. He named specific practices he does not want questioned: tahlil, talqin, ziarah kubur, the celebration of Maulidurrasul. These are practices of the Ahli Sunnah Wal Jama’ah tradition. They have, in recent years, come under quiet pressure from stricter interpretations, including Salafi-influenced views, that travel freely through YouTube channels and WhatsApp forwards produced far beyond Brunei’s borders.

This is not a theological dispute. It is a question of sovereignty — over the religious formation of an entire generation.

The titah called for a holistic approach to developing a generation that is not only academically excellent but possesses sound akidah and noble character. It named the symptoms of what is already going wrong: children who do not obey their parents, who reject advice; bullying and breach of discipline in schools. These are not new problems. But they are accelerating, and the titah is pointing at the accelerant.

Gen Z and Gen Alpha are the first generations for whom the digital environment is not merely an addition to life. It is the environment itself. Their religious formation is happening — whether institutions acknowledge it or not — through content produced by people who have no stake in Brunei’s future and no knowledge of its tradition.

These are the young people who will be in their twenties and thirties when Wawasan Brunei 2035 arrives. They will staff the civil service, run businesses, raise families, and shape the next generation. What they believe, how they reason morally, and whether they feel grounded in who they are as Bruneian Muslims are being shaped now, largely outside the institutions built to do that shaping.

The Hijrah, the titah reminds us, was not simply a change of location. It was the deliberate construction of a new environment in which faith could take root and grow. The Prophet migrated not to escape difficulty but to build something — a community, a moral order, a civilisation — in conditions where it was possible to do so.

That is the instruction embedded in the theme. Brunei cannot and should not wall itself off from the digital world. But it must build within it and alongside it — in families, schools, mosques, and communities — an environment strong enough that its children know who they are before the algorithm decides for them.

The titah directed this responsibility at everyone: government agencies, educational institutions, mosques, scholars, youth, and all levels of society. That breadth is deliberate. The digital threat to akidah does not enter through one door. It enters through every connected device in every home. The response cannot come from one ministry. It must come from the whole fabric of Bruneian life.

His Majesty expressed hope that the spirit of Ilal Hijrah would be genuinely lived — not observed as an occasion but internalised as a commitment to the strengthening of Ahli Sunnah Wal Jama’ah through balanced human development. That is a specific and demanding aspiration. It is not a wish. It is a standard.

My friend at the coffee shop was not wrong about the belacan. But he was describing a slow process.

What we are living through now is not slow.

The algorithm is fast, relentless, and indifferent to everything except engagement. Brunei’s children are growing up inside it. The families, the schools, the mosques, and the institutions that are supposed to give them roots before it gives them everything else — they are running out of time to decide whether they are paying attention.

The Hijrah was an act of urgency.

So is this.

Malai Hassan Othman is a veteran journalist and political analyst. KopiTalk with MHO is published on Substack.

THE UNFINISHED AGENDA

Brunei’s ‘Belacan’ Factor

Brunei’s ‘Belacan’ Factor

By Malai Hassan Othman  |  KopiTalk, Borneo Bulletin  |  First published: early 2000s

Editor’s note: This piece was written to mark Brunei’s National Day anniversary, when the theme that year focused on national identity and the need to strengthen it. It appeared in KopiTalk in the Borneo Bulletin. References to specific internet technologies have been lightly updated; the argument is reproduced as written. — MHO, July 2026

We in Brunei marked our National Day anniversary that year with a theme focusing on national identity and the need to strengthen it. It was fitting indeed, coming at the start of a new millennium — an era supposed to bring along a glut of great challenges and opportunities.

In this new era, the so-called globalisation process — driven by the rapid evolution of information technology — is slowly stripping down geographical boundaries and merging different nations into a borderless global village. Technology is revolutionising the way we do business, the way we trade, invest and interact with each other.

But with this rush of the IT era sweeping the world, we are also witnessing a revolutionary change in our way of thinking, our mindset, for better or for worse. Never mind all the good things that can happen to us as a result of this rapid IT development and the globalisation process. What clearly worries us, and our leaders, are the adverse effects these developments can have on our society.

We are not just talking about what damages IT and globalisation can do to our business sector. These can be actually addressed effectively by making some financial adjustments. But what worries our nation is the adverse influence of technology on our society. IT development is not only transcending geographical boundaries — it can also strip down the social fabric, erode cultural and religious values of a community.

This is already happening in many developed and developing countries. Brunei is at the crossroads, and the path we are taking leads us towards the mainstream of the globalisation process. So for us in Brunei, as we continue with our march into the new millennium, we must not allow ourselves to stray from our spiritual, cultural and social values and our national identity.

However, to uphold and strengthen our national identity as Bruneians, we also need to understand what it means to be a Bruneian.

But unfortunately, in today’s modern environment, the younger generation in particular tends to mistakenly identify itself with other alien cultures and values. Even some families have misplaced their family pride. Misplaced in a sense that they were overzealously proud of their adoption of alien values dictated by this materialistic world.

As one of my friends in Parliament observed at the time, Bruneians, it seems, have lost their real identity as Bruneian Malays. He said we were living in an era where life begins with ‘e’ — e-commerce, e-style, e-prayer — and we were slowly witnessing the erosion of self-esteem and identity among our younger generations.

“Susah… susah… udang sudah jadi belacan!” he lamented — referring to how some people have lost their self-esteem and identity in this headlong rush of the IT age. He said an udang — a prawn — will always be a prawn, no matter what one does to it, except when it is pounded and reduced to belacan — paste.

“We can fry it, and yet it will be called a fried prawn. We can make curry out of it, and yet it will be called a prawn curry. So you see my point — the identity of the prawn is only lost when we make a ‘belacan’ of it,” he added. Although everyone laughed at the analogy, his message hit home. Everyone agreed that it is indeed important to do something now to ensure that the Bruneians don’t become ‘belacan’ like the ‘udang’.

The other day I became witness — or to be more precise, an ‘e-witness’ — to our young people or to our community e-chatting over in a virtual chat room on our social media platforms. They were chatting satirically about what it means to be a Bruneian. Their definition, or rather their perception of what it means to be a Bruneian, was provocatively revealing in a sense that their positive views on what it takes to be a Bruneian leave much to be desired.

If their aim is to make sure Bruneians erased all the negative traits that distinguish us from other nationalities, then they deserve all the plaudits. At first I found their list of what defined a true-blooded Bruneian rather ludicrous. But on second thought, I believed we should make use of it as a reflection on ourselves and try to mend our ways.

Here are some of the characteristics of a true Bruneian I found in that virtual chat room:

•  You think other Asian countries are poorer than yours

•  Your local McDonald’s serves rice and sambal

•  You have tried passing Malaysian coins in a vending machine or pay phones

•  You have smuggled electronics, CDs and other items into Brunei

•  You do your shopping in Singapore, United Kingdom and Miri

•  You realised that money is everything before you were six

•  You think the Liga Perdana is equal to a Super Bowl

•  You talk loud thinking everyone is deaf, but actually YOU are

•  Your clothing has brand names printed on it that are visible from 50 feet away

•  You have paid more than BND100 to get your own private car license plate

•  Sago (ambuyat) is your staple food and it is a necessity to have loads of it even when staying overseas

•  You act like a rich tycoon in Miri even if your average income is below BND1,000

•  You furnish your home luxuriously even if it means eating rice and kicap for the last two weeks before the end of the month

•  Hutang — debt — is your best friend

•  You make sure that everything you consume at home is halal but eat everything else when you are overseas

If the way young Bruneians identify their countrymen is anything to go by, we can expect the future that our generation is building to end up in a worse state than belacan.

It is not too late. But it is time — well past time — to ask ourselves honestly what kind of Bruneians we are raising, and what kind of Brunei we are building for them to inherit.

These two columns were first published in KopiTalk in the Borneo Bulletin in the early 2000s. They are reproduced here on Substack as part of an ongoing archive series. A new KopiTalk essay engaging with these themes in the context of His Majesty’s Ilal Hijrah 1448 address — ‘Hijrah Penyelamat Aqidah: Faith in the Age of the Algorithm’ — is available in the current issue. — MHO

Malai Hassan Othman is a veteran journalist, political analyst, and Executive Director of Barakah Bioindustries Company. KopiTalk with MHO is published on Substack at kopitalk.substack.com

Teaching Our Children to Be Good, Virtuous Adults

KopiTalk with MHO

From the Archiv

By Malai Hassan Othman  |  KopiTalk, Borneo Bulletin  |  First published: early 2000s

Editor’s note: This column was first published in KopiTalk in the Borneo Bulletin in the early years of this millennium — at the dawn of the internet age in Brunei. It is reproduced here substantially as written, with light updates where specific technology references have dated. The concerns raised then have, if anything, grown more urgent since. — MHO, July 2026

People lamenting over what they see as a serious deterioration of moral values among our young people as we rapidly move forward into this era of globalisation is becoming a familiar refrain. We now often hear sighing with concern over such moral deterioration among the young. It is indeed worrying. A growing number of youths continue to fall into the cauldron of social evils such as drug abuse, housebreaking, theft and illicit sexual behaviour, despite various nationwide efforts to arrest such problems.

I too share their concern. But not so much on the moral degenerations of our young people, but more on our moral standards as adults — as the elder citizens of this society, and as the people with the power to chart the future of this lovely nation and its young generation.

But this does not mean that the problem of falling moral values among the young is less important or does not deserve serious attention. It is indeed a worrying problem that demands our utmost attention.

Whether we like it or not, we have to admit that as individuals, business people, teachers, shopkeepers, executives, clerks or government officers, Bruneian or not, we are all directly or indirectly responsible for the way our young people grow up. As the saying goes, children are the products of the homes that society and the nation build for them through adults.

Like those before them, they too came to this world pure and innocent. The homes, the environment, and the society where they grew up would put colours to them — the good colours or the bad colours. Whatever it is, it would reflect the true colours of our society.

As adults we are well aware of the moral problems afflicting our young people. But are we that well aware of the prevailing moral problems in the adult world — the world where our children, the future caretakers of this very same world, are also living?

We know well that drug abuse, especially among our Muslim youth, teenagers and schoolchildren, is growing at a worrying rate. But have we already put in enough effort — as individuals, as families, and as a community — to help curb the problem?

We have grown such thick skins that we are no longer shocked to hear news about babies born out of illegitimate relationships being abandoned, and in some cases left in rubbish dumps. Cases of rape, theft, and burglary involving youths and teenagers are no longer shocking stories to many of us. But does our strong demeanour still have the soft spots to sense the root cause of many of these problems?

Remember how our society would normally rationalise the unemployment problem? How our community leaders, educators, policymakers and even employers, with their various explanations, usually addressed this problem?

“Ah… our young people are too choosy. They only want to work in the government and offices. They do not have the right qualifications, or they do not have the right attitude towards work,” and so on and so forth.

It seems that when it comes to explaining problems involving our young people, we seem oblivious to our own failure to address the root causes. But have we ever cared to ask ourselves if we have done enough to address these problems — say, by creating more job opportunities for our young people, by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of wealth through our national economic development programmes, by being honest and impartial in carrying out our duty to serve the nation and the people?

Have we really been caring, not selfish, and not self-centred in doing our part in building the nation? This too is the way some of us look at other social problems. We blame and give one reason after another to justify our prejudiced views on youth problems when looking at many of these social issues.

For many of us, it seems the easy way out is to simply blame someone else — parents, schools, the government, or even the world. There was a time when people who seemed troubled by the current state of social problems afflicting our young people had even gone to the extent of questioning the credibility of our MIB framework for nation-building.

Sadly, with our foolishness and our reservation to appreciate our own virtuous culture, religion and system of governance, we still have the audacity to be critical of what we would often shrug off as ‘irrelevant ancient philosophy’ for building a modern nation.

At our own convenience, and of course to fit our narrow perception of what ‘modern’ progress should be, we would often question whether MIB could really provide a conducive atmosphere for modern progress to effectively take place. Perhaps it is now time for us to be truthful and honest with ourselves. We need to look at ourselves before we pass judgement on the state of affairs of our youths.

We need to accept that it is we the adults who corrupt our children. We are the ones who pollute the beautiful world of our young people’s future. It was our self-interest that ruins the future, and our hypocrisy that destroys what our young people are building for themselves and for the nation. In the process we emptied the hearts of our children of the pure and beautiful spirit that longs for true and eternal happiness.

We have created for them a new way of life devoid of real happiness. We thought we were giving them the world but the truth is we have surrendered them to the world. We have gone against the will of God the Almighty that made us His slaves and sent us to this world as His vicegerents — not as slaves of the world and slaves to our lust and greed for money, position and other worldly matters.

We thought the Arabs of the Jahiliyyah — the age of ignorance — were cruel as they buried their baby girls alive. But actually we are even more ignorant and cruel than the Arabs of that era. We lovingly killed the pure and beautiful spirit of our children that longs for true and eternal love and happiness. We teach them that the minute they came into our world, selfishness, money, high position and power are the ultimate goals for achieving happiness in this world.

And what we are seeing now are the consequences of our work.