How can we turn Brunei into a nation of new ideas?
By Dr. Saad Al-Harran

Part 1

As a newcomer to Brunei, I have observed that there are too many restaurants and catering services in practically every corner of the capital. Undoubtedly, restaurants provide us with delicious food to eat and enjoy, while at the same time it enables us to have the energy to be active citizens in the community.

But to have too many restaurants competing with each other in a small market is something of a concern, that requires serious attention from the policymakers - especially those who want to have a solid foundation for small and medium enterprises (SME) to grow and progress.

A few have succeeded to open not only one but two or three restaurants because they provide quality food and services, such as play areas for children so as to make dining enjoyable. Meanwhile, others struggle because of the tough competition.

The question is: how we can solve this problem of having too many restaurants, and come up with new ideas that will enable small businesses to grow and be sustainable in a highly competitive market place. I am sure the government is keen to support new initiatives that will allow small businesses to grow and succeed locally, while competing in the international market at the same time.

To every human being, Allah the Almighty has given the capacity to think and reflect. Allah says in the Quran:

"Read: In the Name of your Lord who created. Created mankind from something blood clot which clings; Read! And your Lord is the Most Noble; who taught by the pen; taught mankind what he did not know."

(Surah Al-Alaq)

The declaration or proclamation in the verse aforementioned was to be in the name of God the Creator; it was a call from God for the benefit of erring humanity. This declaration clearly indicates that God gave this commandment - through Prophet Muhammad (saw) - to all mankind, regardless of faith, colour or their ability to read and write.

Therefore, reading enables us to learn of Allah's gifts to mankind. Through reading, our limited knowledge will increase, and our viewpoint will widen. Through reading, we will see things that others can't see and reflect.

In a gist, reading is a gift and blessing from Allah that we need to utilise effectively every day.

It is another endowment from God to us, just like the senses of hearing, listening, looking, as well as the spirit and determination that drive us to serve Allah and our society. It is through reading does endless opportunities be opened to us, more knowledge gained - giving us the additional strength and capacity to excel - and more ideas transpiring, making us stand out from the others.

It is also true that the more we read, the more we know, while at the same time, the more we write, the further we go from those who don't read and write. So now we realised why Allah gave a clear command to Prophet Muhammad (saw) to read - so as to gain knowledge.

The benefit of reading is infinite, but mainly it helps expand the mind and purify its thoughts, increases one's knowledge, and enhances both our memory and understanding. Through frequent reading, one develops the ability to acquire and process knowledge, and to learn more about the different fields of knowledge and their application to life.

Why reading is important to children?

Reading is vital for a child's mental development. It is a thinking activity that involves critical thinking (the decoding of words, word parts, phrases and sentences) and creative thinking (the use of imagination, empathy and problem solving). It is through reading that the child becomes involved in processing information, in investigates, in making connections and solving problems.

The discovery process the child passes through does not necessarily utilise the ideas he or she brings to the classroom but it goes far beyond what he or she brought, contributed and take away from the experience. Does the teacher know? Often no, because of outdated teaching methods and practices, like learning by rote.

We need to show our children different ways of looking at the world, the many different ways of patterning their experience, and how to use - in a thoughtful way - different aspects of their intelligence.

Since Brunei is blessed with natural resources, teachers need to take children outside the classroom to augment their knowledge they gained through reading, by giving them a rich and varied experience with words and books. They need to share the meaning of the text by discussing what they learned.

Surely, learning via reading is not just a child-centred experience; it is a process of development, which lasts throughout life. Undoubtedly, fluent readers know not only more words and more about those words, they are able to reason from language. Such children progress far more quickly than those who rely on others for definitions of words.

On the contrary, poor readers are slow to apply thinking to reading and unwilling to make the cognitive effort needed to make sense of difficult texts.

Culture of reading and learning

While we are in the information age, parents, teachers and caregivers have moral duties and responsibilities to empower children through reading and learning by spending valuable times with them at home, school and public parks. Regrettably, children and teenagers today are spending hours on TV watching movies, computer games that teach them how to be violent to their peers or moving around from one shopping malls to another wasting their valuable time.

These teenagers don't appreciate the importance of time and the priceless assets that Allah has given us that is reading and seeking knowledge.

We as parents and caregivers need to be role models and show them the real path of happiness through reading and implant the habit of reading and learning in their minds and create a conducive and healthy environment for the children and teenagers so they love and enjoy the journey of learning through reading by understand the meaning of the texts.

We should encourage them to select the main ideas of the books in order to make a short summary. We need to keep the door open for the child to add one's own thoughts and feelings, predicting what will come next, referring forwards and backwards, suggesting imagery, character responses. That requires modernisation of public and school libraries so children love going to these learning centres where they can do their homework and research a topic of interest to them.

Prophet Muhammad (saw) advises us to seek knowledge even if it is requires us to travel to China in order to learn from their cultures and values. We need to give children cues on how to seek meaning from texts so their reading comprehension will be widen and do appreciate that reading and seeking knowledge are power in the world of today.

Can we succeed to do that?

For a small nation like Brunei I believe the government has given all supports to its citizens to excel it also welcome any new initiatives through new ideas and innovation to see the nation progress in a global knowledge society. We also need to have mobile libraries accessible to children and teenagers in Bandar as well as the rural areas so children will benefit from going to the library and borrow books or stories in order to gain benefits and share their experiences with their peers.

Here we have moral duty to make the journey to the libraries attractive by undertake various programs such as story telling, mathematical games and reading competitions. During summer holidays libraries need to develop programme for children to read books that interest them and give brief summary about it.

In doing so and through time and hard work and conducive environment, nation will succeed in creating a thinking and knowledgeable society that can create wealth and sharing it in the community.

(To be continued)

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin