The Elders Help Has Yet to Reach

At 78, a man who served his district for nearly thirty years has lost his pension and free medical care. Assistance channels exist. He did not know where to ask. When welfare moves online, who finds those without the means or skills to apply? We found him while planning tourism.

 

A 78-year-old in a Temburong longhouse has lost his pension and his free medical care. Assistance channels exist, but he did not know where to ask.

 

By Malai Hassan Othman

We went to Temburong to prepare a day trip. The National Development Party, whose advisory board I chair, plans to bring visitors from Belait as a small contribution to Brunei Visit Year 2027.

 

During the visit, we called on party members at Rumah Panjang Sumbiling Baharu and spent time talking with residents, among them the elders of the longhouse.

 

One issue caught our attention: medical care for permanent residents who hold foreign passports.

 

One of the elders is 78. I will not name him. His wife and children are Brunei citizens. He is a permanent resident with a foreign passport.

 

He told us he worked at the Temburong District Office for almost thirty years, paid by the day. After he retired, he received the $250 monthly old-age pension.

 

He no longer receives it, and his treatment at government clinics is no longer free. He depends on his family to support him.

 

He asked whether any help was available to a man in his position. He did not know there was anywhere to ask.

 

He said his friends face the same difficulty, and he put their number in Temburong at about 800. That is his estimate, not a verified count. It is unclear precisely whom it includes.

 

Two decisions, four years apart

 

The pension went first. From 1 October 2021, the old-age pension was limited to citizens and stateless permanent residents under an amended Old Age and Disability Pensions Act.

 

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports said then that more than 2,000 permanent residents holding foreign citizenship would stop receiving it.

 

Free medical care went second. Since 1 July 2025, permanent residents with foreign nationality and the foreign spouses of citizens have generally been required to pay for treatment at government hospitals, subject to exemptions.

 

Dato Dr Haji Mohd Isham Haji Jaafar, speaking as Minister of Health that month, said the government had spent close to $70 million in a year on their care.

 

He said the ministry's budget had grown from $391 million to more than $652 million in three years, and he cited cases of people marrying citizens to obtain cancer treatment.

 

I do not quarrel with the arithmetic. A small country cannot carry every cost indefinitely, and abuse of that kind deserves a closed door.

 

A man of 78 who served a district office for almost thirty years is a different case.

 

The general charging policy distinguishes by nationality. Long residence and public service do not, in themselves, secure the exemption he previously enjoyed.

 

Help that waits to be asked

 

The Ministry of Health did leave a door open. Patients facing difficulty paying can be assessed by medical social workers and the ministry’s finance division.

 

Help may then come from the Patients' Relief Fund, the Brunei Islamic Religious Council (MUIB), the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation or an instalment plan. Those who cannot afford care, the minister said, should "let us know".

 

The weakness lies in that phrase. An invitation to ask is of little use to someone who does not know whom to approach. Fear of a bill can make that distance greater.

 

The man at Sumbiling Baharu told me he did not know the door was there.

 

Insurance is the other answer on offer.

 

At the same press conference, Dato Haji Ahmaddin Haji Abd Rahman, as Minister of Home Affairs, said Takaful Brunei planned to extend medical cover up to the age of 95, with higher premiums for existing illness.

 

I would like to see the quotation offered to a man of 78 with no pension.

 

Welfare follows the same pattern. Since July 2020, applications for monthly assistance and for zakat, the obligatory alms, have gone through Sistem Kebajikan Negara (SKN), the National Welfare System.

 

SKN is a digital platform. By March 2025, it had received more than 68,000 applications.

 

Digital applications bring another barrier. In my report dated 18 October 2025, participants at a BITAR dialogue in Belait described difficulties applying online.

 

Some had never owned a smartphone or computer. Others were unfamiliar with the internet or struggled with missing documents and unstable connections. These were obstacles they described themselves.

 

An online application may be convenient for someone with a device and the skills to use it. For someone without either, applying depends on finding another person to help.

 

At SKN’s introduction, assistance with registration was announced through officers of the Community Development Department (JAPEM) and village heads. The question is whether that support reaches people who do not know it exists.

 

Application figures tell us how many requests reach the system. They do not tell us how many people need help but have yet to apply.

 

The remedies the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports described to the Legislative Council (LegCo) that month were job matching, skills training and small business grants. They suit people who can still work.

 

Three ministries each hold part of his case. Health set the charges. Culture, Youth and Sports administered the pension and runs welfare.

 

Home Affairs oversees his resident status and the district offices, to which the penghulu and ketua kampung, the heads of mukim and village, answer.

 

A body exists to join them, the National Council for Social Issues. I would like to know whether these elders have ever come before it.

 

In 2021, the ministry said pension payments would stop whether they were made through banks or through village heads.

 

Where a village head handed over the pension each month, he knows which hands stopped receiving it.

 

The former pension rolls offer a starting point for finding those affected. Assistance channels also exist. What remains unclear is whether anyone was tasked with contacting these elders and explaining their options.

 

His account does not establish that no outreach has taken place. It does establish that, when we met him, he did not know where to seek help.

 

Turun padang

 

A familiar phrase describes the approach needed here: turun padang, going down to the field. The practice is on the record.

 

In March 2025, Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman, the then Minister of Religious Affairs, described it to LegCo.

 

In the 1960s and 70s, he said, Welfare Department officers went down to the villages, met the ketua kampung and asked who there should be receiving help.

 

He explained why they had to go. The poorest would not come forward. They were malu, ashamed, to call themselves fakir or miskin, destitute or poor, and relatives discouraged them from applying.

 

The minister believes that reluctance has gone. After 2009, he said, when zakat accumulated over many years was released, applicants came forward in numbers he likened to a floodgate.

 

A rise in applications does not mean everyone knows how to seek help. At Sumbiling Baharu, a man of 78 put his question to a visiting political party.

 

On 24 August this year, His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, addressed members of MUIB on the management of zakat.

 

In that titah, or royal address, His Majesty said MUIB "tidak boleh hanya sebagai pemerhati tetapi mesti berada di barisan hadapan": it cannot be only an observer and must be at the forefront.

 

His Majesty did not wish to hear again of applications left pending or help arriving late, and asked for results that could be seen within four months.

 

Earlier advice, His Majesty said, had been "umpama mencurah air ke daun keladi", like water poured on a yam leaf.

 

In 2020, on an unscheduled visit to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, His Majesty had spoken of applicants returning to the MUIB office repeatedly to settle their cases.

 

The August titah was addressed to the Council, the ministry and the zakat department. It also told them to use the existing machinery of government.

 

The penghulu, the ketua kampung and the district offices are part of that machinery. In my reading, the standard extends to the welfare officer and the medical social worker as well.

 

The principle has an older precedent. Abu Ubaid’s Kitab al-Amwal records instructions from the Umayyad caliph Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz to an official who reported a surplus: find those in debt and settle what they owed.

 

The historical account is no substitute for today’s eligibility rules. It illustrates a duty to seek out need, rather than assume that everyone in need will come forward.

 

A question for MUIB

 

The Ministry of Health named MUIB among the places these residents may turn. I do not know what happens when they do, so I put it as a question.

 

The Minister of Religious Affairs told LegCo that withholding zakat from those entitled to it is wrong in law, "salah bagi negara, bagi kerajaan": wrong for the state and for the government.

 

The National Council for Social Issues adopted a Syariah-aligned definition of poverty: a person unable to earn enough for a decent life for himself and his dependants.

 

As reported, that definition does not mention nationality. Eligibility for particular assistance schemes is a separate question.

 

Can a Muslim of long residence in Temburong apply as asnaf fakir miskin, whatever passport he holds? How many like him are among the more than 14,000 His Majesty cited in August?

 

A second question follows. Not every elder in a Temburong longhouse is Muslim. For those who are not, I would like to know which of the Ministry of Health's four avenues is open.

 

A place to begin

 

In March 2025, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports told LegCo it was reviewing the guidelines for monthly welfare assistance and preparing the next five-year poverty eradication plan.

 

If those documents are still being written, either could provide for elders of long residence whose wives and children are Bruneian. If they are finished, the public should be told what they say.

 

A practical start would be to give one office the task of finding these elders and visiting them. Village heads and district officers could show the way.

 

He gave the District Office almost thirty years of mornings. The pension came and then stopped. The clinic was free, and then it was not.

 

Assistance channels exist, and so do the officers and a council to join the ministries. His Majesty has asked the zakat authorities for results within four months, which runs to late December.

 

The longhouse is not hard to find. We found it on a tourism errand.

 

MIRI HAS THE BUS. BRUNEI HAS THE PAPERWORK.

   

Miri’s buses are running. Brunei’s reform is still unfolding on paper. We subsidise petrol without asking it to pay its way, yet question whether buses deserve support. Who pays for that contradiction? And after twelve years of plans, when will progress finally reach the people waiting at the bus stop?

 

 KopiTalk with MHO

In the weeks Brunei called for proposals, Miri put free buses on the road. Two years on, Brunei’s new service still needs a public timetable and a clear commitment to keep it running.

Malai Hassan Othman | 3 October 2026

 

Drive to Miri on a weekend, as so many of us do, and you will pass a bus worth a second look. It is new and low-floored, with room for a wheelchair.

It runs one of eight routes from half past five in the morning until half past seven at night. It is free.

Miri put fourteen of those buses on the road in October 2024.

In those same weeks, Brunei issued its call for proposals to provide, operate, manage and maintain public transport.

Two years on, Miri’s new buses are running. Brunei’s proposed new service has reached the licensing stage.

The licence is real. The Land Transport Department issued it on 30 April 2026 to a company identified for a demand-responsive service, in which smaller buses are booked by passengers and follow no fixed route. The plan is to begin in two zones and widen from there.

In March the Legislative Council was told the on-demand service “akan dilancarkan dengan insya-Allah pada tahun ini”: it would be launched this year, God willing.

In August members asked whether it would start in early 2027. The answer was that it would begin in stages. As recorded, it named no zones, no fare and no date.

The argument came back this week when a video of two Indonesian travellers walking near the airport drew the comment that Visit Brunei 2027 was coming and public transport had not improved. The video proves nothing of the kind. By their own caption, the men were walking to Makkah.

But the comment drew more than a hundred likes, and nobody needed the video to know what it meant.

After I wrote about our buses in October 2024, one public comment asked for one thing: don’t let people wait three hours for a bus from Berakas to Bandar. I have kept that line. Three hours, for a trip most of us drive without thinking.

Kota Kinabalu announced its own overhaul late last year. By August, all eight routes were operating, with 48 buses, real-time tracking and cashless tickets.

The federal government set aside RM88 million over five years to support the programme. The principle was stated plainly at the launch: the bus has to run whether there are passengers or not.

That sentence puts the passenger first. Twelve years after Brunei’s White Paper, it remains the standard against which delivery should be judged.

We tell ourselves the reasons. Our people are spread out. Cars dominate our journeys. The numbers are too small. Miri and Kota Kinabalu have their own geography and traffic to contend with.

Their experience does not settle every question here. It does challenge the idea that car dependency must be solved before better buses can run.

Technology alone does not explain the delay. Brunei piloted live bus tracking on six main lines in December 2022, with Japanese cooperation. Yet in August 2026 our own application was described as still to come.

The clearest difference in the public record is a funded service people can use. Our neighbours have put buses on the road. Brunei has yet to show how its new service will be funded, when it will begin and what passengers can expect.

The operating model was recognised long ago. The Land Transport White Paper of December 2014 envisaged an annual subsidy for improved bus services, with stronger contracts and monitoring.

In 2024 I called that paper a wish list. That undersold it. The tools were written down.

Beside it sat a master plan for four rapid bus lines on 48 kilometres of bus lanes, reported at BND3.24 billion, with a first line envisaged for 2020. The August update did not say what became of it.

We drew the grand design. The ordinary questions remain: how often will the bus come, how long will it run, and who will pay to keep it reliable?

In March 2025 the companies bidding for the new contract asked what support they could expect, given how few people ride. They were told government would evaluate whether intervention was necessary.

Money was committed to bus stops, interchange terminals and digital systems. By August 2026 the ministry was still examining fares, operating methods and support for operators.

A shelter needs money to build and maintain it. A bus service needs recurrent funding for drivers, fuel, repairs and routes whose fares cannot cover their costs.

Infrastructure commitments matter. A clear operating commitment is what keeps the bus arriving.

Why has reform taken so long to become a service passengers can count on? The public record does not establish a single cause. My reading points to three pressures worth confronting.

The first is who rides. The Land Transport Department’s own description says public bus passengers are mostly foreign workers. How directly are their experiences represented when service priorities are decided?

I do not suggest anyone intends to neglect them. But reform needs to hear the people already waiting at the stop.

The second is us. Our petrol is subsidised, and we do not ask it to pay its way. We treat the bus as transport for someone else, then call it uneconomic.

The cost does not vanish. It moves into our own driveways. A second car in a Brunei household often means two jobs in two directions, not money to spare, and the instalments are paid by the same families already carrying parents and children.

The third is continuity. The franchise system dates from 1995, when five companies were appointed for seven years. Reform extending over twelve years needs clear responsibility and a published timetable. Otherwise, each handover risks slowing delivery while passengers continue to wait.

Now add the visitors. Visit Brunei Year 2027 has a target of about one million arrivals. The Council was told in August that domestic transport is one link in the visitor’s journey, and that one weak link affects the whole.

The department lists public bus hours as six in the morning to six in the evening. On those hours, a visitor who lands at seven in the evening will find the public bus has finished for the day.

It is 2026. Wawasan 2035 is nine years away. On paper Brunei has a white paper, a master plan, a pilot, a tender and a licence. The public needs to see what those milestones have changed in the passenger’s day.

So the challenge is a commitment stated in public: how much the state will pay each year to support buses, under a contract that holds the operator to a dependable timetable whether the seats are full or empty.

Then the two zones, the fare, the hours, and the day it starts.

Miri did not wait until its people gave up their cars. It ran the bus first.

The bus goes to the town that has decided to pay for it.

(MHO/10/2026)

When Rules Matter More Than Size

In a world where power can bend rules, what protects the small? At the UN, Brunei’s message is simple but far-reaching: international law must mean the same thing for everyone. From Palestine to ASEAN, the real test is not what nations promise — but whether those promises are honoured.

When Rules Matter More Than Size

At the United Nations, Brunei makes the case that international law must protect the weak as surely as it restrains the strong

Malai Hassan Othman

NEW YORK, Sept 26 — Brunei Darussalam has told the United Nations that international law must apply equally to all nations, large and small, warning that the world body’s credibility is at stake if its rules bend to power.

Delivering Brunei’s national statement at the General Debate of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs His Royal Highness Prince ‘Abdul Mateen said that, for his country, multilateralism is not a theory but a safeguard.

“For Brunei Darussalam, multilateralism is not an intellectual concept,” he said. “It is the assurance that sovereignty and territorial integrity will be respected; that every nation, irrespective of size, has a voice; and that international law protects the weak as surely as it restrains the strong.”

Prince ‘Abdul Mateen, accompanied by Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Anak Isteri Anisha Rosnah binti Adam, conveyed the greetings of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah to the Assembly, which met under the theme “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All”.

A world short of trust

He began with trust, which he described as something the world is “losing far too quickly”.

“It is difficult to build, easy to fracture and, once lost, very hard to restore,” he said. Without it, “treaties risk becoming little more than words” and institutions “become arenas for accusation”.

The danger, he said, is not only falling confidence between countries but “a growing crisis of faith in the rules meant to bind us together”. When nations believe rules are applied differently depending on power, they turn inward and act alone. That leaves “smaller and more vulnerable States particularly exposed”.

The UN Charter must therefore remain the common foundation for all. “It cannot mean one thing in one crisis and something different in another,” he said.

Why size matters

This is the heart of Brunei’s argument, and it comes from the country’s own position.

The General Assembly is one of the few major world forums where size does not decide a country’s formal voice. Each of the 193 Member States has one equal vote. For a small state with limited military and economic weight, that equality, and the rules behind it, is a key protection. Its security and interests rest heavily on diplomacy, cooperation and respect for agreed principles.

When those principles are applied selectively, small states feel it first.

Palestine: “a defining test”

Few issues show this more painfully than Palestine, the Minister said.

“For generations, the Palestinian people have waited for justice, statehood and dignity,” he said. “They cannot be asked to wait indefinitely for rights that are already theirs.”

In Gaza, he said, the scale of human suffering and destruction is “intolerable”. Civilians, including far too many children, continue to bear the heaviest cost, while medics, journalists, humanitarian workers and UN personnel have lost their lives carrying out their duties. “This suffering cannot become normal.”

In the West Bank, he said, Palestinians continue to endure occupation, expanding illegal settlements, settler violence and displacement from their homes and land.

“There cannot be one standard for some, and another for others,” he said.

A just and lasting peace, he added, requires addressing the root cause of the conflict and realising the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and an independent State of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“Without justice for the Palestinian people, there can be no lasting peace.”

He called the issue “a defining test of the credibility of the United Nations and, particularly, the Security Council”.

Brunei pressed the same message earlier in the week. At the high-level ministerial meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, Prince ‘Abdul Mateen called for a permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access and the protection of civilians, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the annual coordination meeting of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers, he urged coordinated diplomacy and stronger engagement at the UN, particularly on Palestine.

Protecting those who serve peace

The conflict, the Minister warned, is no longer confined to Palestine. In neighbouring Lebanon, UN peacekeepers have also lost their lives.

Brunei co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2823, which strengthens accountability for crimes against UN peacekeepers. “Those who serve under the United Nations flag must be protected,” he said. “But accountability cannot be episodic.”

ASEAN and a 50-year-old treaty

Turning to Southeast Asia, Prince ‘Abdul Mateen offered ASEAN as a practical example. “Despite our differences, ASEAN has chosen dialogue, restraint and continued engagement,” he said.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), signed in Bali in 1976. The Minister said the treaty gives regional expression to the same principles found in the UN Charter: respect for sovereignty, peaceful settlement of disputes, non-interference and cooperation among States.

“In this sense, the T.A.C. does not stand apart from the multilateral system. It reinforces it.”

The lesson, he said, is that institutions stay relevant “when rules are respected, dialogue stays open, and differences are managed peacefully. The same must be true for the United Nations.”

Reform that delivers

Brunei made clear it wants the UN to change, not stand still. “Rebuilding confidence does not mean returning to a world that no longer exists,” the Minister said. “It means equipping ourselves to face the world that is emerging.”

But change must be real. “Reform must not become an exercise in rearranging structures while confidence outside this Hall continues to erode,” he said.

Brunei supports the Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative, he said, adding that reform “must achieve more than efficiency. It must strengthen this Organisation’s credibility and its capacity to deliver.”

From New York to home

The Minister then brought the theme home. A United Nations that delivers for all “must ultimately deliver for the people”, he said. That is the spirit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

For Brunei, this begins with Brunei Vision 2035 and its three goals: an educated, highly skilled and accomplished people; a high quality of life; and a dynamic and sustainable economy.

“A country is strong when its people are strong,” he said. National progress “cannot be measured by economic growth alone”, and “no one left behind” must be “more than a phrase”.

Here the global and the national meet. At both levels, trust is earned by delivery. Promises raise expectations; institutions win credibility only when those promises become results.

A busy week for a small state

The speech capped a full week of diplomacy in New York.

Prince ‘Abdul Mateen deposited Brunei’s ratification of the BBNJ Agreement, the UN treaty on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction. He attended the ministerial meeting of the Global Governance Group (3G), an informal grouping of small and medium-sized states, and the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, where he stressed tackling regional security challenges through diplomacy and respect for international law.

He also held bilateral meetings with the President of the 81st Session, Dr Khalilur Rahman; Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey; and ministers from the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Türkiye, Iran, Russia and Viet Nam.

Such work may look routine. For a small state, however, steady presence is itself a form of influence. It keeps channels open and national interests visible in rooms that might otherwise be dominated by the major powers.

A small voice at a large table

The world will remain unequal in size, wealth and power. Brunei’s message in New York was that this need not decide whose voice counts.

“The United Nations we build today will shape the world the next generation inherits,” the Minister said. “We owe them a world in which cooperation remains stronger than conflict; where dialogue remains preferable to confrontation; where international law does not bend according to size or strength; and where justice is not determined by power.”

He closed with a challenge to the Assembly: “The world does not need another promise that we fail to keep. It needs us to honour the promises we have already made.”

“Brunei Darussalam is ready to play its part.”

Painkillers for patience

 

NICEe’s real test begins after intervention

A child gets screened. A referral follows. Help may arrive. But what happens when preschool begins? Brunei’s new NICEe promises a bridge between early intervention and education. The real test lies beyond its doors: whether support follows every child, across ministries, districts and classrooms, without leaving families to navigate alone.

 

 KOPITALK WITH MHO  |  TEACHERS’ DAY REPORT, PART TWO

A new centre for children aged two to four arrives as demand on existing services rises. Whether support follows each child into preschool will decide its worth.

 

By Malai Hassan Othman

 

BERAKAS, 25 September 2026 — A child is screened, referred and given developmental support. Then comes another question for the family: what happens when it is time for early education?

That is the larger test facing the National Intervention Centre for Early Childhood Education, or NICEe, approved by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, at Wednesday’s 36th Teachers’ Day celebration.

Under the titah, the centre is intended for children aged two to four and is due to begin in 2027. The education, health, culture, youth and sports, and home affairs ministries will jointly lead it.

NICEe arrives amid rising demand. In March 2025, Health Minister Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohammad Isham bin Haji Jaafar told the Legislative Council that referrals to doctors at the Child Development Centre, or CDC, rose from 400 in 2010 to 1,056 in 2024. Dr Hajah Mawarni binti Haji Abdul Hamid, head of the CDC, reported 957 referrals in 2023.

The Minister acknowledged that the increase had affected waiting times, calling it a challenge in ensuring each child receives intervention promptly, and said the ministry would review additional needs, including manpower and space.

At a paediatric symposium in September 2023, Dr Mawarni reported waits ranging from a few days to seven months for a CDC doctor’s appointment. Autism assessments could take longer, she said, and staff numbers had not kept pace with demand.

The strain is felt at home. One parent told KopiTalk of a long wait before their child could be seen at the CDC. For a family, an appointment delayed by months can mean lost time at an age when developmental support may make a difference. The question is whether more capacity can reach children sooner.

In December 2024, Dr Mawarni said about 16 per cent of the roughly 6,300 children born in Brunei each year are referred to the CDC. The figure indicates the scale of demand, although referrals span different ages and cannot establish the proportion of any one birth cohort needing the service. They exclude children referred to the hospital in Kuala Belait.

About 55 per cent of CDC referrals involved speech delay and about 25 per cent involved signs of autism, she said. These were reasons for referral, not confirmed diagnoses.

But waiting for intervention is only one part of a child’s journey. The next challenge is carrying the support a child needs into preschool, without leaving parents to manage each handover themselves.

Brunei already has early intervention services. The Ministry of Health lists an Early Developmental Programme at the CDC in Kiarong, alongside medical assessment, psychology, speech and language therapy, audiology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and medical social work.

The CDC was established in 1999. When it moved into its Kiarong premises in 2021, its early developmental programme was described as serving children with special needs under five. NICEe’s proposed two-to-four age range therefore overlaps work already being done.

That overlap need not be a problem. Dr Mawarni has described the CDC’s approach as one involving the immediate family, education, welfare and non-governmental organisations. NICEe could extend that link between developmental care and education, if each service has a clear role and a child’s support continues across them.

The titah points the same way. His Majesty spoke of strengthening the early intervention system — memperkukuh sistem intervensi awal kanak-kanak — rather than simply adding a facility. A system is judged by how its parts connect.

The Ministry of Education runs assessment, intervention and specialist services of its own. Its primary education pathway includes preschool, generally attended at age five. NICEe would sit in the years immediately before that transition.

That positioning suggests a purpose larger than providing another place for intervention. It could help children build the skills and confidence to learn, while preparing teachers and families for their entry into preschool.

Could is the important word. Details have yet to be announced on whether children will move from the CDC to NICEe, receive support from both, or reach NICEe through preschools and childcare centres.

Nor has it yet been set out who will coordinate assessments, explain options to parents or ensure that relevant support plans reach a child’s next teacher. Those details will determine whether the services form a pathway.

The Ministry of Health has already expanded early detection. By March 2025, the Health Minister told the Legislative Council, 3,127 toddlers had been screened using an autism screening checklist, and 100 had been referred to the CDC for further assessment.

A referral is not a diagnosis. Nor does the figure tell us how many children need NICEe. It does show why a system that identifies needs early must be able to respond to them.

Families may also seek help from non-governmental organisations listed by the Department of Community Development, such as KACA, Pusat Ehsan and SMARTER. Their work broadens the support available, but no published national figure shows how many two-to-four-year-olds need places or where provision falls short.

CDC registrations also point to a continuing caseload. Dr Mawarni reported 7,493 children registered since 2010, with 6,797 holding active appointments in December 2023. Active appointments include ongoing care; they are not a count of children awaiting a first assessment.

That matters when the promise is equitable access. Figures have yet to be announced on how many children NICEe can serve, which specialists will work there, and whether it will add capacity to the system or draw on staff already serving children elsewhere.

Location will matter just as much. The CDC is in Kiarong, and some children in Belait are referred to the hospital in Kuala Belait instead. NICEe’s site and arrangements for families in Belait, Tutong and Temburong have yet to be announced.

A service can be available nationally yet hard for a family to use regularly if travel, appointments and school arrangements must all be managed at a distance.

At the Teachers’ Day celebration, Education Minister Yang Berhormat Datin Seri Setia Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh said four ministries had begun developing a national early childhood care and education framework for children from birth to five: Education, Religious Affairs, Culture, Youth and Sports, and Health.

The framework covers early care and education, health, nutrition, family protection and Melayu Islam Beraja values. It includes NICEe’s age group, but the lead ministries are not identical: Religious Affairs sits on the framework, Home Affairs on the centre. How the two will operate together has yet to be set out.

Timing is why these details matter. Dr Mawarni has said early intervention can bring developmental change while a child’s nervous system is still malleable and responsive.

His Majesty’s aim is clear: inclusive early education should give every child, regardless of background or ability, an equal opportunity to develop. The centre offers a chance to make that commitment tangible.

For parents, the measure will be the whole journey: prompt assessment, suitable help, and support that follows the child into the classroom.

 

Sources

Titah of His Majesty at the 36th Teachers’ Day celebration, 23 September 2026, and the Minister of Education’s address at the same event.

Legislative Council Hansard, 13 March 2025 (Minister of Health on CDC referrals, waiting times and autism screening).

Borneo Bulletin, 11 September 2023 (Paediatric Symposium) and 7 December 2023 (CDC caseload figures).

The Scoop, 2 December 2024 (CDC referral rates and reasons for referral).

Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education websites; Department of Community Development list of NGOs; Pelita Brunei (CDC Kiarong premises, 2021).

Teachers got their applause. Pupils got promising PISA headlines. A new centre got the royal go-ahead. But when a teacher is away, who gets the extra class? His Majesty has called for better management of relief teachers. The real report card begins when the ceremony ends and Monday’s timetable lands.

KopiTalk with MHO

Sultan calls for better relief-teacher management as early intervention centre gets go-ahead

At the 36th Teachers’ Day celebration, His Majesty links teachers’ wellbeing to classroom learning and approves an early intervention centre for children aged two to four.

BERAKAS, 24 September 2026 — His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah called for better management of relief teachers to protect teachers’ wellbeing and the quality of lessons.

Speaking at Brunei’s 36th Teachers’ Day celebration at the International Convention Centre yesterday, the Sultan also approved an early childhood education intervention centre for children aged two to four from 2027.

His Majesty said the burden of teaching and other duties had long received his serious attention. Teachers’ wellbeing would remain a government priority, he said, urging integrated and effective improvements to the management of Guru Relif.

The titah did not spell out the changes envisaged. How relief cover is organised affects teachers called upon to fill gaps, their absent colleagues and pupils whose lessons must continue.

His Majesty linked teacher commitment to pupils’ success. Citing PISA 2025, the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, he said Brunei pupils rated teacher support more positively than the OECD average.

The OECD’s country note bears this out. In science lessons, 85 per cent said teachers gave extra help when needed, against an OECD average of 73 per cent. Eighty-two per cent said teachers continued until pupils understood.

His Majesty also praised Brunei’s showing in computational problem-solving: more than 70 per cent of pupils performed above expectations, placing the country second on that measure. The OECD puts the share at 80.5 per cent, second among 84 systems.

This compares performance with what pupils’ science results would predict. Brunei’s average computational problem-solving score was 496, below the OECD average of 500. The second-place ranking is a relative-performance measure, not an overall subject ranking.

His Majesty said Brunei was among a few countries where performance had improved in science, mathematics and reading. The OECD reports significant gains in science and reading against 2018, Brunei’s first PISA cycle. Against 2022, mathematics fell while science and reading were broadly unchanged.

Congratulating teachers, His Majesty said those gains could not have been achieved without their commitment and sacrifice. Their amanah extended beyond knowledge and technology to forming pupils’ character, conduct and values.

He urged the education and religious affairs ministries to refine the curriculum together and strengthen good values and Melayu Islam Beraja ethics from primary school, when character formation begins.

That emphasis on the early years led to the announcement of the National Intervention Centre for Early Childhood Education, or NICEe, for children aged two to four from 2027.

His Majesty said inclusive early education should offer every child, regardless of background or ability, an equal chance to develop. The education, health, culture, youth and sports, and home affairs ministries will jointly lead the centre.

The titah gave no location, capacity, referral route or list of services. These details will determine how families obtain help and whether children in every district can reach it.

The celebration, themed “Guru Pemangkin Pendidikan Lestari dan Inovasi” (Teachers as Catalysts for Sustainable Education and Innovation), honoured 43 recipients in four award categories. His Majesty presented the awards and toured a nine-booth exhibition on technology, sustainability, green education and financial literacy.

In her address, Education Minister Yang Berhormat Datin Seri Setia Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh said 4,281 teachers had received AI literacy certification through professional development on ethical use. Another 772, including 22 from the Department of Islamic Studies, attended a workshop on guidance for AI in schools.

The Minister said the Brunei Examinations Board was preparing to handle examinations and certification in Bahasa Melayu, Malay Literature and Islamic Religious Knowledge at upper secondary and pre-university levels from 2028. She also cited digital literacy standards, a School Innovation Award and updated procedures for private institutions.

She said four ministries had begun developing a national early childhood care and education framework from birth to age five, covering education, health, nutrition, family protection and Melayu Islam Beraja values.

The framework involves Education, Religious Affairs, Culture, Youth and Sports, and Health. NICEe involves Home Affairs in place of Religious Affairs. How the two initiatives will work together remains to be explained.

For teachers, the immediate test is whether better relief cover eases the working day. For families, it is whether the promised centre turns early help into a service they can actually reach.

The A$20 Gamble, Part 3: A Problem Named Many Times

PART 3 OF 3

Part one of this series examined why young Bruneians are gambling on Australian farm work. Part two considered the mismatch between what graduates study and the jobs available.

This final part asks the plainest question left: what has close to two decades of effort delivered, and what should happen now?

KopiTalk with MHO

Brunei has spent close to two decades measuring this problem. The latest figures show why the debate has not gone away.

Institutions were built. Whether they have opened enough doors is the fair question still left to answer.

The 2024 Manpower Blueprint records initiatives stretching back to 2009.

That year brought the Employment Order and Workplace Safety and Health Order. JobCentre Brunei and the i-Ready Apprenticeship Programme followed in 2017.

The oil and gas Bruneianisation Directive and i-Usahawan programme arrived in 2018. The Lifelong Learning Centre and Manpower Planning and Employment Council followed in 2019.

Sector committees and SkillsPlus funding appeared in 2020, followed by salary guidelines covering 58 job positions in 2021.

That is sustained institutional activity. The fair question is how much lasting difference it made, who benefited and where the remaining gaps require a different response.

What the Numbers Show

The 2024 Manpower Blueprint puts labour underutilisation between 15.7 and 21.9 per cent during 2017-2021. The 2025 Labour Force Survey reports 16.4 per cent.

The latest figure remains within that earlier range. It indicates a continuing challenge, but does not prove that conditions worsened every year or that every intervention failed.

Labour underutilisation is broader than unemployment. It also captures unmet demand for work beyond those formally classified as unemployed.

The Blueprint also reports that professionals, managers, executives and technicians represented 40 per cent of the local workforce in 2021, down from 45 per cent in 2017.

That is a historical comparison, not a verdict on today's workforce. A falling share does not, by itself, prove that the number of people in those roles fell.

Even with that caution, the policy question remains: are enough opportunities being created for people to use their education, build skills and earn a sustainable living?

The 2025 survey offers another angle. Between 2024 and 2025, informal employment among locals fell from 11,800 to 8,500.

Among non-locals, it rose from 11,400 to 18,200, an increase of approximately 60 per cent. Informal employment describes work arrangements and protections, not entry-level status.

The figures show a marked shift in informal employment. They cannot establish whether non-local recruitment displaced local applicants, filled otherwise unfilled positions or reflected another labour-market change.

Nor does the decline among locals automatically mean lost opportunity. Its significance depends partly on whether those workers moved into more secure employment.

The scrutiny belongs on recruitment practices, working conditions and policy outcomes, without turning foreign workers into targets for frustrations they did not create.

From Measurement to Outcomes

Nobody sets out to be detained at an Australian airport, or exploited on a farm without a safe way to report it.

Such choices may emerge when risk abroad appears more manageable than insecurity at home. This series suggests that insecurity has persisted beyond one difficult year.

Domestic programmes need clearer outcome reporting. Alongside placement totals, publish how many participants remain employed after six and twelve months, what they earn and whether their work uses their training.

Where results fall short, say plainly what will change, who is responsible and when progress will be reviewed.

The desire to work abroad should also be addressed openly and practically. Assess a formal, vetted pathway for Bruneians seeking temporary work overseas.

Any pathway would depend on destination-country rules and cooperation. It would require lawful work authorisation, vetted employers, clear contracts, published earnings after costs and an effective complaints process.

If that assessment supports a pilot, start small. Judge it by participants' actual savings, treatment, skills gained and employment prospects after returning home.

A country does not lose its young people simply to another country's farms. It risks losing them to the accumulated gap between national ambition and opportunities they can reach.

Brunei has spent close to two decades measuring that gap. The test now is whether its programmes can close it.

Some Bruneians will still choose overseas work when worthwhile options exist at home. That can be a legitimate choice, provided the work is lawful and properly protected.

When uncertain work abroad appears more promising than what is available or permitted at home, however, that calculation deserves a practical answer.

Sources: Manpower Blueprint for Brunei Darussalam (2024), including its historical timeline and workforce indicators for 2017-2021; Department of Economic Planning and Statistics, Labour Force Survey 2025, published in 2026, including comparisons with 2024.

KopiTalk with MHO — End of Series

The A$20 Gamble, Part 2: The Mismatch Brunei Has Yet to Resolve

 PART 2 OF 3

Part one examined why some young Bruneians consider Australian farm work. This part examines one structural pressure behind that choice: the mismatch between qualifications, available work and expectations.

KopiTalk with MHO

The 2024 Manpower Blueprint recorded 311 vacancies against 2,760 degree-level jobseekers: roughly one vacancy for every nine people in that qualification group.

“Such inclination may influence young people's aspiration, thus affecting labour market outcomes.”

That sentence is not from the online discussion that started this series. It appears in Brunei's own national strategy for education, skills and employment.

The Manpower Planning and Employment Council released the Blueprint in 2024. Among its concerns is a mismatch between education output and labour-market demand.

In its published qualification-level table, the Blueprint recorded 311 vacancies against 2,760 jobseekers holding a first degree or higher.

That is equivalent to roughly one vacancy for every nine degree-level jobseekers in that snapshot. It does not mean nine applicants contested every position.

At the technical and vocational level, it recorded 948 vacancies against 2,085 jobseekers. The imbalance narrowed further among those with secondary education or below.

These are aggregate counts, not a measure of direct competition for each job. Vacancies also differ by occupation, experience, salary, location and required specialisation.

Even with that caution, the direction is difficult to dismiss. In the Blueprint's snapshot, the imbalance was greatest among jobseekers with degree-level qualifications.

Not a Shortage of Graduates

The supply side is substantial. In 2021, 6,208 students graduated from Brunei's higher education and technical institutions, according to figures cited in the 2024 Blueprint.

Business and information and communications technology accounted for a combined 56 per cent of those graduates. Quantity, however, does not guarantee a match with employers' requirements.

A degree category can conceal wide differences in technical ability, experience and specialisation. The figures therefore indicate structural friction, not that every graduate fits every vacancy.

The 2025 Labour Force Survey provides a newer picture of where employment is concentrated. Public administration accounted for 18.9 per cent of employed people aged 15 and above.

Wholesale and retail trade accounted for 12.8 per cent, while construction represented 11.1 per cent. Information and communication accounted for 2.3 per cent.

Those shares describe existing employment, not current vacancies. They nevertheless show an economy where public administration remains the largest single employment category.

A Preference Years in the Making

Numbers alone cannot explain why many young Bruneians pursue the same limited range of jobs. The Blueprint's survey evidence offers part of the answer.

In the jobseeker survey cited by the 2024 Blueprint, 68 per cent of respondents preferred public-sector employment, mainly because of its perceived benefits.

Another study cited in the Blueprint asked Brunei's 15-year-olds about their expected careers. Their answers clustered around a short list of familiar occupations.

Boys most often named soldier, pilot, engineer, police officer and businessman. Girls most often named doctor, teacher, lawyer and soldier.

The lists suggest that secure or established occupations retain a powerful hold on young imaginations. Even “businessman” reveals little about whether respondents envisioned entrepreneurship.

The 2025 Labour Force Survey recorded 5,700 employers and 9,100 own-account workers among 220,800 employed people aged 15 and above: about 6.7 per cent combined.

The Blueprint also cites the World Economic Forum's 2019 Global Competitiveness Report, which placed Brunei 91st among 141 economies for entrepreneurial culture.

That ranking is historical, not a current league table. Its relevance lies in the longer pattern the Blueprint was designed to address.

None of this amounts to a character judgement on an entire generation. Employment aspirations form long before a young person enters the labour market.

Parents model what appears safe. Schools reward particular achievements, while a small society naturally associates certain occupations with security, status and predictable progression.

Young people cannot fairly be blamed for seeking stability. The survey itself links their public-sector preference mainly to its perceived benefits.

The Blueprint itself shows that the Government recognises the problem. Recognition and sustained effort matter, but neither should be mistaken for measurable resolution.

The unresolved question is whether education, economic development and hiring demand are moving together quickly enough for the generation now waiting.

Coming Next

Part 3: why the mismatch persists despite years of genuine government effort, and what the 2025 rise in labour underutilisation says about implementation.

KopiTalk with MHO