It’s Now Times To Say Goodbye To 2007 And Welcome 2008
By Yulz. Wednesday, 2. January 2008, 02:36:38
Bandar Seri Begawan - As We have turned over the last page of 2007 and enter a new chapter of our lives with the first day of 2008, we do so still trying to continue living in a world that is both full of an undeterred human spirit of promise, optimism' and hope as well as that overwhelming fear and suspicion that much human misery and suffering still continues everywhere else unabated and unchecked.
In Brunei Darussalam, we continue to be blessed by living in an abode of peace that has been spared much from the hardship and misery that is brought on by declining social, moral and economic factors, such as depression, unemployment and lawlessness that continues to affect almost every other country worldwide.
As a people and nation, we have all continued to take on our individual civic responsibility to ensure that our collective security is always maintained for it truly is in all our common interest and safety that a country that looks after itself will be the one that can fend for itself in. times of crises and troubles.
The government and its entrusted authorities, ever since proclaiming independence, continuously and consistently, facilitated means and ways to improve all our standards of living as well as our continued welfare.
These faceless bureaucrats have carried out a magnanimously tremendous and thankless job for all our benefits, but it is accepted that much more still needs to be done. Similarly, the needs and wants of a people and their lives are never the same yesterday as they will be tomorrow.
What is construed as a good process on how to run things may not necessarily be the best thing for people tomorrow. Some of these processes and systems that have served Brunei Darussalam and its people so well, since 1984, are currently put under review, tested and improved upon to ensure that it is not out-dated or faulty, in order to ensure that the people and the government get the very best out of it.
This introspection is the mantra of many other countries on its government and civil servants. We in Brunei Darussalam are no exception. The only real difference is that things are done to improve upon it elsewhere, where the people are also encouraged to voice out and point out all that is out-dated or faulty with the service and the change is likewise carried out in a transparent manner, to the benefit of the civil servants and the public alike.
Being a relatively young country in this modern day and age, the improvements and changes that are necessary to the betterment of the civil service infrastructure of the sultanate will be a slow going process. One that requires the ardent support and active participation of every stakeholder of society.
How this will be translated into results in 2008 will be the result of exactly that.
A generation ago, it was ingrained into students and society to respect its elders as well as its teachers.
Furthermore, it was also an acceptable social norm for people to keep their mouth shut and to keep their opinions to themselves. This social concept was even more ingrained into the generations that have come beforehand.
But as we enter the New Year, the present generation, who have been brought up with a
user-friendly learning and working environment of IT and technology, that continues to develop and improve, in huge leaps and bounds, with each passing month, have been so adept at voicing out their opinions to their elders as well as being more vocal and expressive, in many other ways, which is something common for youths anyway.
Relations between students and teachers today are very different than what they were five to 10 years ago. Ethics and morality is arguably declining today, with more under-aged sex.
Despite some observers citing the reason behind the encroaching bad influences of MTV and Hollywood to blame, it would be easy and completely wrong to put the blame on something so far-reaching despite the fact, that this reason° may be true, to some extent. Society and thinking has become so open today. The internet has truly opened up to newer and more expansive ways of research and learning that could never be truly imagined twenty years ago.
But everything always comes with a. price. Yesterday, youths would only be considered complete if they have a personal handphone. A couple of years ago, it would be owning a personal computer at home. Then, the social and technological trend changed to owning a personal laptop.
Now, all these ceaseless advancements in technology have made youths only consider themselves complete if they have their own blog, which they maintain as a means to express themselves to an audience that not only consists of fellow Bruneians but one that encompasses the whole wide world.
The youths of the nation have repeatedly be told and reminded with the encouragement that they are the future leaders of tomorrow.
But how we help to support and shape their lives is what will truly determine whether they will be true and effective leaders of tomorrow or whether we fail them and let them fall by the wayside - never to realise their full potential.
The destiny of every society and its youth are always linked and interweaved together as part of the eternal cycle of life.
Society today has truly evolved into a smaller global village, with the advances in security, communications, and transport linkages as well as the global economy.
With all these advancements and changes, news and information are now more readily accessible than ever.
With the growing urgency for more transparency and emphasis placed on creating awareness on the need for social contract, youths, through their blogs, as the main medium of communications, are more accessible, now than ever before, to soak up newer ways and means to improve themselves with knowledge and information.
However, society will still need to play a more active role than ever before to ensure that what our youth of today are picking up from news reports and other articles, from the internet as well as feedback on their blogs will not sway them away with the strong undercurrents of modernisation.
This is where the social norm of expressing oneself needs to be monitored by teachers and parents first and foremost, rather than relying too much on the authorities.
Other than matters on defence and security, the current mindset of the civil service is just to facilitate means and ways for the people. For most of our youths this is still exactly the kind of guidance that they need. And the experts, on the other side of the fence, also need to ensure that the advice that they give is holistic and correct.
As we march on into 2008, full of hope, resolve and determination to ensure that generations worth of hard-work, commitment and dedication are cherished and safeguarded, then we will need to further encourage our youth to take on a more pro-active role and give them the trust and support with which to express themselves and maybe just by doing so, we can also do our government and society justice.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
In Brunei Darussalam, we continue to be blessed by living in an abode of peace that has been spared much from the hardship and misery that is brought on by declining social, moral and economic factors, such as depression, unemployment and lawlessness that continues to affect almost every other country worldwide.
As a people and nation, we have all continued to take on our individual civic responsibility to ensure that our collective security is always maintained for it truly is in all our common interest and safety that a country that looks after itself will be the one that can fend for itself in. times of crises and troubles.
The government and its entrusted authorities, ever since proclaiming independence, continuously and consistently, facilitated means and ways to improve all our standards of living as well as our continued welfare.
These faceless bureaucrats have carried out a magnanimously tremendous and thankless job for all our benefits, but it is accepted that much more still needs to be done. Similarly, the needs and wants of a people and their lives are never the same yesterday as they will be tomorrow.
What is construed as a good process on how to run things may not necessarily be the best thing for people tomorrow. Some of these processes and systems that have served Brunei Darussalam and its people so well, since 1984, are currently put under review, tested and improved upon to ensure that it is not out-dated or faulty, in order to ensure that the people and the government get the very best out of it.
This introspection is the mantra of many other countries on its government and civil servants. We in Brunei Darussalam are no exception. The only real difference is that things are done to improve upon it elsewhere, where the people are also encouraged to voice out and point out all that is out-dated or faulty with the service and the change is likewise carried out in a transparent manner, to the benefit of the civil servants and the public alike.
Being a relatively young country in this modern day and age, the improvements and changes that are necessary to the betterment of the civil service infrastructure of the sultanate will be a slow going process. One that requires the ardent support and active participation of every stakeholder of society.
How this will be translated into results in 2008 will be the result of exactly that.
A generation ago, it was ingrained into students and society to respect its elders as well as its teachers.
Furthermore, it was also an acceptable social norm for people to keep their mouth shut and to keep their opinions to themselves. This social concept was even more ingrained into the generations that have come beforehand.
But as we enter the New Year, the present generation, who have been brought up with a
user-friendly learning and working environment of IT and technology, that continues to develop and improve, in huge leaps and bounds, with each passing month, have been so adept at voicing out their opinions to their elders as well as being more vocal and expressive, in many other ways, which is something common for youths anyway.
Relations between students and teachers today are very different than what they were five to 10 years ago. Ethics and morality is arguably declining today, with more under-aged sex.
Despite some observers citing the reason behind the encroaching bad influences of MTV and Hollywood to blame, it would be easy and completely wrong to put the blame on something so far-reaching despite the fact, that this reason° may be true, to some extent. Society and thinking has become so open today. The internet has truly opened up to newer and more expansive ways of research and learning that could never be truly imagined twenty years ago.
But everything always comes with a. price. Yesterday, youths would only be considered complete if they have a personal handphone. A couple of years ago, it would be owning a personal computer at home. Then, the social and technological trend changed to owning a personal laptop.
Now, all these ceaseless advancements in technology have made youths only consider themselves complete if they have their own blog, which they maintain as a means to express themselves to an audience that not only consists of fellow Bruneians but one that encompasses the whole wide world.
The youths of the nation have repeatedly be told and reminded with the encouragement that they are the future leaders of tomorrow.
But how we help to support and shape their lives is what will truly determine whether they will be true and effective leaders of tomorrow or whether we fail them and let them fall by the wayside - never to realise their full potential.
The destiny of every society and its youth are always linked and interweaved together as part of the eternal cycle of life.
Society today has truly evolved into a smaller global village, with the advances in security, communications, and transport linkages as well as the global economy.
With all these advancements and changes, news and information are now more readily accessible than ever.
With the growing urgency for more transparency and emphasis placed on creating awareness on the need for social contract, youths, through their blogs, as the main medium of communications, are more accessible, now than ever before, to soak up newer ways and means to improve themselves with knowledge and information.
However, society will still need to play a more active role than ever before to ensure that what our youth of today are picking up from news reports and other articles, from the internet as well as feedback on their blogs will not sway them away with the strong undercurrents of modernisation.
This is where the social norm of expressing oneself needs to be monitored by teachers and parents first and foremost, rather than relying too much on the authorities.
Other than matters on defence and security, the current mindset of the civil service is just to facilitate means and ways for the people. For most of our youths this is still exactly the kind of guidance that they need. And the experts, on the other side of the fence, also need to ensure that the advice that they give is holistic and correct.
As we march on into 2008, full of hope, resolve and determination to ensure that generations worth of hard-work, commitment and dedication are cherished and safeguarded, then we will need to further encourage our youth to take on a more pro-active role and give them the trust and support with which to express themselves and maybe just by doing so, we can also do our government and society justice.-- Courtesy of The Brunei Times
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