The problem of locals, who finish nursing courses, remaining jobless is nothing new. But this situation should not be repeated.

This problem has became a big issue among nursing graduates - the slow process of becoming a nurse. We, as parents, are very surprised that nursing jobs continue to be out of reach for our children. We are sure other parents are also facing the same ordeal.

What we know is that their anxiety to become nurses has been stretched to six months now. And at the nursing college, where their courses were supposed to finish in three years got extended for another six months.

As parents we didn't take it seriously as we thought our children's three-year study was not enough to cover all the theoretical and practical courses set by the college.

But what surprised us is that this did not happen to the previous intake. Why did the college extend another three months when our children should have finished their course in December 2004? In the end our children got what they wished for and they were awarded in the convocation last April 2005.

It is a big wish for parents to see their children enter the world of employment. We are disappointed that since April our children have not yet been called up to work as nurses.

Recently there was a story in the newspaper that there is a shortage of nurses in government hospitals and clinics. We were surprised as the news-paper said "725 nurses still required" (Media Permata, September 6, 2005). The number of intake involving our children was only around 100 and it seems that they are not qualified to fill up the vacancies.

What is all the more confusing concerns their interviews, done six months ago. We knew that the first interview was conducted for our children, and unfortunately, nothing else has happened after that. Are our children not qualified to be nurses in Brunei? As Bruneians, our children have the hearts to serve the country and its people. And we are getting older by the day.

We hope this letter will lead to some actions taken in filling up vacant nursing posts.

- Ibubapa Kecewa
- Brunei Muara

Well done "Irked Motorist" - Borneo Bulletin, September 3, 2005.

Finally, someone has simply and clearly identified how to make it easy for motorists to use roundabouts safely and efficiently.

1. Establish lanes for certain exits, they need to be marked with arrows for the exit to be used. Signs need to be erected before vehicles arrive at roundabouts to allow drivers to choose the correct lane for exit. Writing on the road is not sufficient. Having all arrows pointing left as you arrive at a roundabout is wrong as no one turns right in a roundabout. The authorities should look at what other countries do and follow their example.

2. Drivers have to indicate what their intentions are as they enter and drive around the roundabout. That means one may have to indicate two or three times as he/she moves to the correct lane for exit. This doesn't mean that one indicates left as he/she moves from the inside lane to take an immediate left. In that case, the motorist has to go around and gradually and safely change lanes to arrive in the correct lane for exit.

Finally, everyone seems to agree installing lights is not the answer, so why can't the authorities act on the first two issues? It is like installing speed humps everywhere - they inhibit traffic flow, are very hard on cars' suspension, brakes and fuel economy, damage the cars because they are ridiculously high and are a misguided way of absolving responsibility for driving within a set of rules.

- Another Irked Motorist

We refer to the "Very, Very, Very Concerned's" letter, 'Stop putting students at risk with spoilt food' (BB, July 23 2005). The writer has certainly raised an issue that we would like to give serious attention to and would like to thank the writer for sharing this concern.

Based on the report of investigation, we would like to inform to the writer that actions have been taken against the canteen operator of the affected school immediately after the incident happened. Indeed, the matter is not taken lightly and thus, a constant monitoring of food and drinks sold to the students is conducted from time to time.

Concerning the above matter and cases of food poisoning in some schools early this year, the Ministry of Education has been working closely with the Ministry of Health regarding suitability and types of foods and drink which are allowed to be sold in the canteens.

Schools canteen operators (under Jabatan Pentadbiran dan Perkhidmatan-Perkhidmatan, Kementerian Pendidikan) are given a briefing by Bahagian Perkhidmatan Permakanan dan Asrama, Kementerian Pendidikan before they are allowed to operate in the canteens.

Among the topics touched during the briefing included rules and guidelines of operation, food handling practices, description of food and drinks permitted to be sold in canteens and others. After the talk, the operators are required to sign an agreement.

As stated in their agreement, all school canteen operators are required to undergo medical examination as well as to obtain lesen rampaian in order to operate the canteens.

In addition, officers from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health make regular visits to school canteens to ensure that rules are implemented and good food handling practices are observed. Besides this, each school has its own feeding scheme committee which is also responsible for the daily inspection of food in the canteens.

In spite of these regular inspection and monitoring activities, we welcome and appreciate any feedback or comments made by the public especially parents to help further carry out these tasks.

Therefore may "Very, Very, Very Concerned" or anyone with any other queries, please do not hesitate to contact:

- Bahagian Perkhidmatan Permakanan dan Asrama,
- Km 8.8, Jalan Pasir Berakas,
- Brunei BB2313, Negara Brunei Darussalam
- Tel. No: 2330080 / 2332978
- Fax No: 2332551 / 2330726

We have read many complaints about bad service rendered to customers in our beloved nation. For the first time I write to BB to complain about the extremely rude and discourteous treatment meted out to my wife and me from a young trainee staff at one of the popular international chicken fast food chains in the capital.

It happened on September 3, 2005 at about 10pm, when my wife ordered something from the menu. Then, for no apparent reason, the young trainee staff who was attending to us responded in an extremely rude, abrupt and highly discourteous manner. I understand she might perhaps have been tired at that late hour, which was near closing time, but she should at least have been polite when attending to customers, tired or otherwise.

When I confronted her and asked why she was so rude to my wife, we were shocked and horrified to say the least when she actually started shouting and hurling four-letter obscenities at us as well as giving us rude hand gestures. And on top of that, what appalled us most was that she's a local girl. No words can express our feelings regarding the trainee's rudeness directed at us in front of the many people who witnessed the incident.

Considering the fact that 'bersopan santun budaya kita' (common courtesy is a part of our culture), such a treatment is especially outrageous and disappointing. And on top of that, when we complained to the manager on duty, she did not even take any appropriate action.

We think any business dealing with customers will have to be conducted in a manner, which is acceptable, i.e. with good manners and prompt service. However, we didn't receive anything even remotely close to that.

I think it is high time the management of customer-related services in our country give proper guidance and training, especially to their counter staff members, and, in this particular case, take stern action so that incidents like this will not happen again.

- Shocked and upset customer

Keep up the good work, DST

I would like to congratulate DST for coming up with new charge rates. Prior to these new changes there were a lot of suggestions and complaints from Prima/Easi users. However, no actions were taken.

In another words, suggestions were ignored until there came another competitor in the market.

Shouldn't you have brought these changes earlier on, DST?

A simple lesson to learn from this for DST is to take users' complaints or suggestions into consideration and make improvements immediately.

Anyhow, DST has been trying hard these days. Keep up the good work to show us how much more you can offer.

- Loyal DST customer

I would like to convey my deepest appreciation and congratulation to the government and private sectors for organising the successful e-Application Expo at the International Convention Centre (ICC) between Sept. 7 and 10.

By having this expo, the public in the country was exposed to the kind of services they can expect in the near future. For instance, Jabatan Telekom Bunei (JTB) introduced the new e-Directory CD-ROM during the expo. These newly introduced services for sure will help many people, be it an individual, government sector or company, take less time to search for addresses or telephone numbers unlike the conventional but tedious way of searching through manual directory books.

Hopefully this service will be online soon. Another service introduced in the expo was the bill online though this service was introduced a few years ago but not many people know this service exists. The beauty of service is that we can pay bills online through banks accounts.

Internet banking is one of the most important services in the world. Through this we can make payments, transactions, transfer money from one bank to another and much more.

Only through continuous efforts of study and research can we make our ICT dreams come true.

- e-user@lycos.com

I am amazed that many Bruneians have expressed their concerns about roads and their safety including the traffic, visible signs board, traffic lights, pedestrians, bus stops and now the problems with the three-lane roundabout next to Jame Asr Hassanil Bolkiah.

As a Bruneian who has been living in the area for more than 37 years and a frequent user of the three-lane roundabout, I would like to suggest to the concerned authority that it is high time we had a flyover across the three-lane roundabout from Beribi to Kiulap Shopping Complex.

This may help in reducing traffic on the road and help drivers who have no other alternative except to use the three-lane roundabout to fetch their children from SOAS, SMJA, STPRI and St Andrew's schools.

The three-lane roundabout can remain to facilitate drivers who want to go to Gadong Shopping Complex or to RIPAS. Please get the right people on the job and get things right.

- Anak Kampong

On Thursday, August 25, I took the 1040 BI421 flight from Brunei to Singapore. Nothing out-of-the-ordinary occurred during the flight and the service at Changi airport was so efficient that I was in the taxi and on my way to my apartment within 30 minutes of getting off the plane.

Little did I know that I was going to get the shock of my life when I reached home. As I was about to unpack my suitcase, I realised that the yellow security sticker on my luggage was torn. I did, for a moment, think that that was weird as normally the yellow sticker would be intact until I unzipped the bag.

But I decided that maybe along the way, during loading or unloading, the sticker had got torn. As I rummaged through my things, I realised that my five-month old $1,000++ Motorola A1000 PDA handphone was nowhere to be seen. Last I remem-bered, I had packed it carefully in my suitcase.

After a frantic call to Brunei, thinking that I might have absent-mindedly left it behind, I finally came to the conclusion that I had not misplaced the phone. Rather, someone had stolen it.

I realise that I had left this matter for far too long for a comprehensive search and investigation to be carried out. But I would like to express my utmost disappointment that such a despicable act could occur on our national carrier by someone who had been entrusted to care and look out for the belongings of the paying passengers.

I dare say that this had occurred on our turf because with the speedy service from the Singapore side, I seriously doubt that someone had the time to pick through a padlock, unzip the suitcase, snatch the phone and then unload the suitcase onto the conveyor belt.

I urge the relevant authorities to seriously look into this matter. Crimes of this sort should never have occurred in the first place and when one does occur, it certainly paints an ugly picture on Royal Brunei Airlines.

- A Royal Skies Member