Borneo Bulletin Opinions

Borneo Bulletin Opinion

Poser on subsistence allowance

I have an honest query regarding the eligibility of the "Daily Subsistence Allowance" (elaun sara hidup) for officers who are undergoing the In-Service Training.

I don't have any idea as to whom to address this matter so I would be very grateful if the relevant authorities of the relevant departments could respond to my query.

I understand that when an officer pursues further studies under the Full In-Service Training Scheme, he will not be entitled to the daily subsistence allowance as well as "elaun kurnia".

Instead, he will receive daily subsistence allowance in the country where he is currently studying which varies from country to country.

However, if this officer decides to go back to Brunei, he is to inform an official from the Brunei High Commission of the country to study so that his daily subsistence allowance will be duly cut.

That means, when the officer goes back to Brunei, he will not receive ANY daily subsistence allowance.

The irony is, once in Brunei, the officer is required to report for duty.

So, what about his eligibility for the daily subsistence allowance for the length of period especially when he is in Brunei for a month or longer? Shouldn't he be entitled to it?

I hope that the relevant authorities will help shed some light on this matter.

- Curious

Why not TAP money for wedding expenses?

My fiancé and I have been planning to get married by March next year and of course our wedding expenses are about to be funded by our personal loans.

Both of us had taken up loans to purchase a car and renovate our parents houses. Since loans are now restricted to 12 months salary amount, it is impossible to have our loan top up to cover our wedding expenses.

Our savings are impossible to cover all expenses. My side shouldn't have any problems to hold a wedding reception but definitely it would be a burden for my fiancée since he also have to provide money at his wedding reception and not to mention to pay for my 'wang hantaran or belanja hangus'.

Of course, our parents maybe helping out a little but we would prefer if we could do this by our own.

Believe it or not, after calculating over and over again, the cost of both our wedding receptions are reaching B$15,000.

It's shocking to say that B$15,000 are only meant for 'SIMPLE' wedding receptions.

- $5,000 for the 'belanja hangus' at the bride reception to cover;

- $3,000 to cater 500-600 guests;

- $1,500 for the pelamin;

- $500 for the invitation cards;

- $1,000 for the guests souvenir;

- $2,000 for the bride's room;

- $1,000 to cater 200 guests at the nikah reception;

- $5,000 for the groom's reception;

- $1,000 for the guests souvenir;

Total: B$15,000

Therefore, I would like to enquiry whether it is possible to withdraw our TAP money for our wedding purposes.

It was also stated in the paper that banks would continue to provide loans for people to purchase automobiles, finance children's education and house renovation.

Maybe they should consider to provide loans for individuals to cover wedding expenses. I would appreciate it if any authorise personnel from TAP department and Brunei Banks Association could look into this matter and provide me the responses at their earliest conveniences.

- To-Be-Married, Kuala Belait

Protect endangered species

We must be thankful to the Brunei Museum Department and the Royal Brunei Police for the recent raid conducted at the Rimba market against peddlers of protected wild life.

Such action in the past too has helped reduce the incidence of shameful sale of these poor animals of the rainforest.

Brunei has already listed a number of endangered species that need protection. And they must be protected and not sold in the open market as some vendors have been doing.

Apparently there are buyers who seek these protected animals for various reasons. Some may even be smuggling them to be sold abroad, while others could well be consuming them just like they do with turtles.

Those guilty of selling or buying these protected species should be dealt with severely if this sordid trade is to end. Meanwhile we must be thankful to the relevant officers who conducted the raid this weekend.

- Environmentalist / Berakas

Sheer commitment takes women to the top

It is with mixed reactions that we read your news about women bosses.

Veteran journalist Ignatius Stephen referred to just a handful of women chiefs mainly in the hotel industry as well as in the banking sector.

Most of these female bosses he mentioned are not strictly local.

But he did refer to the rising trend of women taking control in high echelons.

I fully agree with that news. And I salute the rising trend where women are getting into the forefront of activity in the private and public sectors here.

Very soon they are bound to soar higher, just like the female Para-glider who set the pace last weekend. As a woman but not yet a boss, I am really proud about this development.

I am sure the day will soon dawn that we will have more local women taking over the baton so to say.

Last week we also read about a female holding high office in the military. Who knows very soon we may also have the first female minister.

Most of this has been made possible due to sheer enterprising spirit and committed educational aspirations of our women.

- Superwoman, Seria

Dirty chicken sellers

I went to shop for poultry in a big store in the capital on Monday night.

The man serving at the poultry counter was touching his feet/shoes as I was asking for some fresh chicken.

He didn't have gloves on but he used tongs to get the chicken for me.

Before cutting up the chicken, I thought he would actually wash his hands!

But he just took a kitchen knife and touched the chicken with his bare hands!!

I just left in disgust. I bet the next poor customer bought that specific piece of chicken , as I am sure he placed it back on the tray. He even had long nails.

I talked to the supervisor about this and emphasised the need to be hygenic when serving customers.

Customers ought to be as blunt as I was when being served at food counters.

Every store should take this matter seriously.

People should wash their hands before preparing food.

- Disgusted chix

Penalise double parkers

Whatever happened to the reported installation of traffic lights at the Beribi roundabout?

Hopefully someone must have had second thoughts.

As one of your readers mentioned in this column recently the frequent traffic snarl at the roundabout is caused mainly by the congestion at a school nearby. No traffic lights would resolve that.

What needs to be done in my opinion too is to ensure that patrolmen are stationed at this spot to maintain a smooth flow of traffic. Above all double parking by parents and guardians who drive in to fetch children should not be allowed, as this impedes the smooth flow of traffic.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to overcome this double-parking habit by our motorists. Is this not a punishable offence?

- Civic minded Motorist

Our road too needs repair

Regarding the article "Bukit Udal Road Needs Repairs" on 25th May 2005, I totally agree with it because I am also one of the resident in Bukit Udal but from a different simpang. Mine is Spg 50.

In the same way, we as residents of Spg 50 applied for a few times already as well as our head village, but no action is yet taken.

So I hope the authorities will take action as soon as possible to minimise our cost of repairing our vehicles.

- Spg 50 Resident

No response to my query

I recently sent in an email to RBA with a query. After waiting for five working days and hearing nothing from them, I decided to send in another email.

Still no reply and it's been a week since I first wrote in to them.

Honestly, shouldn't there be someone attending to customer's query? This is not looking good for our national carrier's image.

- Nikita

More fruits please

To me, Brunei has the most wonderful and most interesting fruit produce.

You can always find many fruits available for example strawberries, Plums, Peaches etc.

As a great fruit lover myself, I find that it would be even better to import more western fruits besides the usual that I see in the super-markets.

I would like to see more stores selling more varieties of fresh fruits such as Raspberries, Passionfruits, Blackberries and blueberries. Like most countries that I've been to, even though fruits like these are not always in season they still manage to get them. Why can't Brunei be just the same?

- Fruit_Lover
- Jln Kg Salambigar