How small businesses in Brunei are surging

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM — Royal Brunei Airlines BI 736 landed UNESCO Commissioner Dr. Nona Ricafort (also CHED Commissioner) and me at the Brunei International Airport straight from Jakarta at noontime last February 20. The Jakarta two-day mission was to formulate the UNESCO Country Programming Document for the Philippines in collaboration with Jakarta Regional office headed by Dr. Hubert Gijzen. Meantime, we were scheduled to meet with the Brunei Darussalam National Commission for UNESCO officials regarding the Philippine bid for the Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development (SEA-CLLSD) to be a UNESCO Category 2 Center.

Ruled by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanah Bolkiah, Brunei is a new Member State of UNESCO. A country of 400,000, it is geographically at the edge of Malaysia between Sabah and Sarawak. It was discovered and recorded in history by Antonio Pigafetta, an Italian historian in the crew of Ferdinand Magellan in 1521 – the same year the Philippines was discovered.

Amb. “Gie” Benavidez introduces Brunei education officials to us

In the Philippine Embassy residence, known as “Ang Bahay” at Bandar Seri Begawan, Ambassador Virginia “Gie” Benavidez, prepared a Filipino-Brunei dinner for Dr. Ricafort and me: Chicken Binakol Soup; Flat Bread with Balsamic Dip; Alpha Salad; Mango Sorbet; Smoked Bangus with Salted Egg Spring Roll; Beef with Mushroom; Chicken Royale with Mango and Tomato Salsa; Fresh Fruits in Ice Dome; and special “Ang Bahay” Carrot Cake.

Officials of the Ministry of Education, who would meet us for the LLSD consultation were also invited. Among them were: Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary Ms. Dk Hjh Mastoli Ismail; Secondary Education Senior Education Officer Hjh Noor Ehsan bte Kaseh; Human Resource & Development Section Head Haji Abdul Hakip; Research & Development Head Haji Samat bin Jamahat; and Youth & Development Center Assistant Head Haswandy Haji Osman. From the Department of Technical Education (DTE) – Acting Director “Noor” Haji Mohd Mosbi and Filipino wife, Cynthia; and Continuing Education Section Head Mrs. Hjh Erie bte Abdullah. Consul Jaime Ramon T. Ascalon and Ms. May Ofrasio, who accompanied us all the time, were also present.

The next day, we met the full assembly of officials of the Ministry of Education, under which is the new UNESCO Brunei NatCom, led by Acting Permanent Secretary Haji Mohd Daud. Although, the new UNESCO Secretary General is Sheikh Adnan and the NatCom Chairman is Yang Beshormat Pehin Dato Haji Awang Abd Rahman, the non-government commissioners have not yet been appointed.

The Primary School Section was represented by Acting Assistant Director Aidin Haji Abu Bakar, with Department of Planning, Research and Development Acting Director Mrs. Hjh Rokiah bte Taha. From the Department of Schools – Acting Assistant Director Koh Hong Puah, with Senior Education Officer Mrs. Hjh Ainah bte Haji Ibrahim. For DTE –Assistant Director Ibrahim bin Haji Abd Rahman and Senior Education Officers Dennis Ho Mun Tai and Haji Asri bin Haji Ahmad.  

Efforts to diversify the economy through technical education

Brunei is best known as an oil producing country. The mineral fuel accounts for 95% of its export earnings providing its citizens with free education and health care. (Its citizens do not need to pay personal income tax.) Petroleum revenue supports a large civil service employing a substantial percentage of the population. This dependency on petroleum has made the government accelerate efforts to diversify the economy.

With the full blessings of His Majesty Bolkiah, the 6th ASEAN Skills Competition was hosted by Brunei last September 2006 at its convention center at Bandar Seri Begawan. His Majesty fully realized that the future of the majority of young Bruneians lay more in technical education than in higher education.

The Competition were held in three huge buildings by the convention center, which included restaurant service, cookery, computer aided drawing & design (CADD), electronics application, I.T., automobile technology, commercial wiring, ladies dressmaking, plumbing, cabinet making, welding, and bricklaying. Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand competed in all activities, but the Philippines had no entry for plumbing, cabinet making, bricklaying and automobile technology, while Lao PDR joined the bricklaying and IT competitions only.

Why most Bruneians can engage in small businesses

Brunei is home to four major technical vocational learning schools: the SEAMEO VOCTECH Center, the Department of Technical Education, the Youth Development and the Continuing Education Department.

The SEAMEO VOCTECH Center with its third “five-year development plan” provides training of trainors for its Southeast Asian member countries:   the regular programs are six to eight courses per year, while ten to 12 courses are given in the country. Special customized programs are paid for. Trainees for full scholarship of two to three weeks are selected by the SEAMEO Member States. They are required to submit “action plans” based on I.T. modules by the Center. Unfortunately, these training programs do not link to the well-equipped workshops of the DTE (Maktab Teknik Sultan Saifal Rijal, Maktab Kejuruteraan Jefri Bolkiah, Sekolah vokasional Nakhoda Ragam, Sekolah Vokasional Sultan Bolkiah, and Pusat Latikam Mekanik).

These five DTE institutions employ 270 administration staff and 564 instructors and teachers, many of whom are Filipinos. About 3,895 students are taking these programs, which also include Aircraft Engineering, Geomatics, Construction, Property Management, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning and Marine Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Automobile Vehicle Body Engineering (Body Repair, Motor Mechanics) Radio and Television Technology, Business and Finance, Travel and Tourism Service.

The quality assurance of Brunei technical education

Mr. Ismail is the DTE Director of Examinations, while the Quality Assurance Division head is Dr. Ahmad. The Brunei DTE has succeeded in relating to accrediting, validating and awarding overseas such as WORLDSKILLS.

The following diplomas are awarded by the Board of Technical Vocational Education Commission (BDTVEC): National Vocational Certificate; National Trade Certificate Grade 3, Grade 2, and Grade 1. There is a Pre National Diploma before receiving the National Certificate, the National Diploma and the top Higher National Diploma.

Recognizing the needs of Brunei adults who were illiterate, the Continuing Education Section was established in 1958. Today, this two-story school complex serves school leavers whether they are already working or not. There are 48 learning centers all over Brunei providing evening business classes in addition to Foreign Languages (Filipino, Mandarin, Japanese, English, Arabic, French, etc.). Skills training include self-development courses. Graduates are assisted in landing jobs. Of 171 trainees yearly, 70% are employed — mostly in Food Service and I.T.  

We watched women of all ages doing very fine work on dressmaking and embroidery, most useful in sewing the traditional kebaya (long sleeved blouse and skirt using very colorful silky materials) in addition to western dresses. They also engage in sewing the velvet “Songkok” hats for men.   Large class enrollment is found also in the Cookery course, which includes both Bruneian dishes, desserts and Western cookies. Weekly session of 3 hours lasts one year.

Vision of Brunei 2035

At the recently concluded Regional Workshop on Lifelong Learning at Legend Hotel, DTE Assistant Director Rahman and Senior Education Officer Ahmad presented the “Strategic Education Program for Lifelong Learning” of Brunei. Rahman stated that “The Brunei Darussalam 21st Century National Education 2007-2011 aims to professionalize small businesses, as well as provide quality and excellence in teaching. The structure provides multiple pathways for students to choose from.”

“In 2007 – 2017 (the first phase of Brunei Vision 2035), the   following directions will be taken: (1) Early childhood education; (2) International best practices in teaching and learning; (3) First class secondary and tertiary education including vocational schools, that produce experts in industry; (4) Strong competency in ICT; (5) Programmes that promote lifelong learning; (6) Research, development in government-funded institutions through international partnerships; (7) Cost-effective methods through the use of technology; and (8) Improve educational management.”

When asked why there are so many Filipinos in Brunei, Rahman replied:   “In addition to 60,000 Filipinos, there are 40,000 Thais and 200,000 foreigners from different countries. Brunei has no problem with unemployment, but we have 6,000 job seekers. The problem is – they are so comfortable with well provided basic needs including cars that they lack interest in working.”

The annual measure of the entrepreneurial climate of the world

World Bank measures yearly the entrepreneurial climate of 175 nations in two ways: starting and operating a business. The top four – New Zealand, the US, Canada and Australia – place few hurdles in the path of business owners. It takes two to five days to start a business and requires five or fewer steps to do so. These nations impose relatively low marginal tax rates, too. They also have a common legal system that protects intellectual property, enforce contracts and provide relatively rapid adjudication of disputes. Poland, which at no. 44 tops the bottom ten, is notorious for its sclerotic courts to settle a claim of unpaid receivables takes upwards of 1,000 business days.

With its effort to diversify its oil-based economy, it will be wise for the Brunei government to heed the World Bank’s criteria to make it easy for Bruneians to start their small business and therefore foster a dynamic entrepreneurial class.

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