Wonderful news about scholarships now available to citizens and permanent residents in the private sector granted by the Department of Economic and Development or Jabatan Perkhidmatan Kemajuan dan Ekonomi (JPKE) was released to the public this week. What is important is that these scholarships are offered without requiring that the applicant promise to work for the Government for a number of years in return. That there was hardly a ripple in our public psyche about it, however, which made it rather apparent, just how small our private sector is when compared to the behemoth that is our civil service.
His Majesty's government offering a chance for those working in the private sector to better themselves is a great help to the country. It underlines the acceptance that the private sector plays an important and integral part in wealth and job creation.
I reckon that the move by the JPKE was designed to encourage citizens and permanent residents to work in the private sector because there are now some additional benefits to it. Let's hope that parents can now start encouraging their children to work for private companies as opposed to the traditional aspiration to work in the public sector. Many stories are told of the lament of Human Resources Managers in private companies across Brunei of the high number of turnover with many employees working for them with a temporary state of mind while waiting for a job with the government.
One question to ponder is whether in reality SMEs can afford to give time off for their employees to go off for continuing education programmes that are encouraged by the Government. One online commentator also asked how they would be able to get on a course in the first place if they could not show adequate means? There are also options for part-time courses, which could be difficult for some, especially with families and a tough workload. But we should remember that at the end of the day it is hard work and commitment in itself that is good for the soul (and employment prospects).
What did make a ripple in the public psyche was the vicious rumor of persons being engaged to chop off and collect the heads of young children, sufficient for the purposes of various infrastructure projects. Text messages, FB posts and tweets circulated about how headhunters (or "pengaits" in Malay) needed a couple of hundred heads to build a bridge. The urban legend goes that these heads are needed to be placed in the foundations of new constructions to ensure their strength and safety. Really, I would have thought that in this day and age we should put our faith in good and judicious use of a compass, protractor and spirit level, to ensure sound engineering, as opposed to the other type of spirit(ual) reinforcement.
It got to a point where the Royal Brunei Police Force issued a press release that the rumour is false and warned the public against spreading the false information.
While I'm at it, the Public Order Act states that anyone who creates false reports or statements that can cause the public fear or grief can be prosecuted and punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of $3,000. The Public Order Act goes on to penalise nefarious rumour mongers who, either orally or in writing or in any other way, spreads such information that is known to be false may be prosecuted and punished with imprisonment of up to a period of five years or a fine of $5,000. So I would advise you to think before you text, post and tweet!
The final observation is that it is a little dispiriting to know that the topic that got people talking on this week was not opportunities to be had in the private sector but centered on spurious and dangerous gossip.
@emmagoodegg
Illustrated by no one cos Cuboi Art got his hands full.
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