Borneo Bulletin Opinion
| When will Belait see
water again? It's been just over a week since the first interruption of water supply to most of the Belait district. There was a quick response to the initial report of faulty electric cable to the Badas Pump House and hopes were raised when it was reported that the faulty cable had been repaired. However, hours, and even days went on, and the water supply has still not been fully restored, especially in the Pandan/Mumong areas. Now, whenever the water services department is contacted, various excuses are given, among them being low water pressure from the pumps, water stock in the water tower had to be fully restored before water can be distributed effectively and last but not the least, what seems to be a 'personal favourite', a water pipe had burst in someplace. We, the people of the Belait district, feel that the relevant departments have failed us in this matter. It's been 7 days and counting, but we can only get intermittent water supply and even that is pathetically of low pressure. We cannot believe that though it is now the 21st century and we still have to go to the water works to get our water and store it in containers! We sincerely hope that the water supply can be fully restored quickly. The 22nd National Day is around the corner and we would not want to remember it as the time when we had no water and resorted to collecting rainwater! - Anak Brunei, Belait District |
| Students need to
receive their allowance on time We still haven't yet received our last month's allowance. Why has it started taking such a long time again? Will it take another month again to come out? We have been in this situation not once or twice but more than 14 times already or we could say innumerable times as it happens all the time. We feel neglected and left out when we see others receive their allowance on time while we struggle with no money? We believe that we are the only intake in the college to face this problem. Though its not the recommended thing to do we have little choice but to borrow money from others till we get our allowance. We do feel sad and ashamed, when we are forced to do so. We hope the authorities would look into this matter and put an end to this really poor and slow service that drags us down every month. - Still Waiting |
| Why does 151 ignore
the subscribers? For several days last week, I have been calling DST phone lines as listed in the telephone directory and guess what? Not one line was attended to. I also tried the much-coveted 151 line and an answering machine kept telling me that I was on queue - yes, on queue for the next following 5 consecutive days. I just wanted to check the status of my accounts for both mobile phone and Kristal Astro. With the technological tools we have now, do I need to leave my office and drive 17 kilometres from Seria to KB to find out? Being a mobile-phone company itself DST would certainly have ready solutions to this kind of requests. I believe that this is not the first letter on such a subject in the Borneo Bulletin complaining about DST's indifference to calls and feedback from the public. As a local, it really saddened me that here is a home-grown high-profile company with a household name and products but it is managed in a haphazard way. DST seems to have ignored upfront the very people who have supported them over the years. Simple day-to-day activities like answering calls from the public seems to have become more of a nuisance than a business opportunity. Come on DST, pull up your socks. The general public is your source of business (rezeki) and like most good thing uncared for, it only comes once and will never return. - Wary DST Customer |
| Irresponsible road
works pose threat to road users The Government through the Public Works Department has started various projects to improve the water supply through out the country. What I'm concerned about is the safety of road users, while this exercise is being carried out. After cutting and digging the road in Kapok Kanan then they filled the trench with coarse aggregates and just left the area without putting any order to it before repairing to its original condition. After a few days, these aggregates tend to spread on top of the road surface resulting in causing vehicles to skid and posing a threat to road users. As concerned citizens, we had earlier brought this matter up to the contractor but still no action is being taken to rectify the situation. We hope the concerned authority would take serious note of this danger that has been posed to road users. Don't wait until an unexpected accident happens. Please take necessary action now. - Concerned Citizen, Kapok Kanan |
|
Query over speed limit |
| Crying foul over
smelly car park The underground car park at a leading shopping complex in Gadong is in a terrible condition. It stinks and is full of garbage irresponsibly thrown near the stairs and almost everywhere else. It reminded us of the badly kept toilets also in this building. Eventhough it was because of the busy lunch hour, chokerblock with traffic that we were forced to park the car there, I saw more rubbish than cars in the car park. Most people were obviously put off by its bad state and had decided to go elsewhere for a meal and to shop. Would it really be asking too much to make sure we have a clean place to park our vehicles? Surely the fee that is charged can be utilised to create a better atmosphere for car park users. Having parked our car there to go for a quick meal during the mid day break, needless to say we felt like throwing up before we could enjoy our short meal. We really regretted parking there. This place reminded one of a ghetto - a place where one is forced to go because of social and economic pressure. It's an insult to customers to be given this kind of treatment and at a fee too. - Disgusted Car Park User |
| Should we be paying
for notes? I am a student currently studying in a government school. I am probably one out of a thousand students in the school wondering why we students don't get a complete set of notes. We are now supposed to pay to get our notes. Are we the only ones who have to pay for it in Brunei? What does the school do with its budget, if it can't provide a basic necessity as notes to its students? I see new gates being erected and a garage being built. While a fountain which was built last year near the school auditorium and now not functioning, is yet to be noticed. We don't mind if the school builds something useful. Another topic that causes concern is Physical Education and CCA being enforced this year for those who are in upper school. We have never seen it done before. Both of the activities happen a day after the other.Therefore, those who take sports on both days would have a really tiring time. What more those who are staying back for extra-classes would be extra tired too. It would be more convenient for these poor students if these activities were spaced out than put close to each other. - Worried Students |
| Asking for long
sleeved PE shirts As we all know, Brunei Darussalam is a Muslim country. Therefore the school uniforms are styled according to Islamic rules of concealing the aurah of both men and women. If this is so, then how come the PE uniforms at some schools don't follow that rule? As a new student I was quite surprised to see that my school's PE uniform has short sleeves. Aren't we supposed to cover our arms until our wrists? Surely, the short sleeved PE shirts can be sold to non-Muslims as it is not compulsory for them to wear long sleeves. I hope you'll see my point. - Muslim Student |
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