I would like to refer to a question posed by LegCo member Pehin Orang Kaya Maharaja Kerna Dato Paduka Seri Hj Yaakub Pehin Orang Kaya Maharaja Diraja Dato Paduka Hj Zainal, who asked why aspiring teachers were only given one year's training as opposed to four years, as has been the case for more than 40 years.

With reference to "Sg Liang rubbish service needs urgent attention" published in the Borneo Bulletin Opinion page on April 27, 2013, I would like to add that this incident of burning of rubbish in containers is also happening in Lumut.

I am wondering how long it takes DST to respond to bill complaints. I've had a complaint since Dec 2011 and have lodged complaints at DST counters at Yayasan and Gadong.

For few years now, various laws and regulations have continuously been changed without public notice. This clearly has an impact on the educational sector of Brunei Darussalam especially towards the availability of posts for future teachers.

I have been reading recently that the Motor Transport Licensing Authority (MTLA) will revamp and improve the bus system in Brunei. It sounds good to me but what about upgrading the infrastructure. They should not just concentrate on constructing a new bus terminal in Rimba but have a look at the Seria and Kuala Belait Bus Terminal.

I wish to thank the Director of the Land Transport Department for his quick response and generous deliberations on various motor vehicles issues in his letter titled "LTD in process of privatising vehicle inspection centre" (BB, April 20, 2013). If I may be allowed to raise just TWO points:

I went to a branch of a well-known bank at Sumbangsih to settle my cal. mortgage. Before going to the bank, I was already in contact with a staff there through phone to ready my documents. When I reached the bank later, she was not there and the documents were not prepared yet. So at the counter I explained the situation to a male attendant but since he could not help me, he referred me to a female staff to whom I had to explain again regarding the matter.

A discussion amongst colleagues revealed the great lack of awareness of riba or usury.

As a parent who usually brings my son to Child Development Centre (CDC), I would like to say thank you and express my appreciation to Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Adanan bin Begawan Pehin Siraja Khatib Dato Seri Setia Awg Hj Mohd Yusof, Minister of Health, for his efforts in bringing much improvements to the CDC including widening the parking area with concrete surface.

There are two designated rubbish collecting areas in Sg Liang. Both are in the same situation as described below.

Since the rubbish service was taken over by the present contractor, I noticed that the rubbish container has been reduced from two to one. The rubbish is always overflowing and scattered all over the area. I also noticed that the rubbish container was not replaced with an empty one since many months ago. Instead, most of the time the rubbish was set on fire, resulting in poisonous fumes let out into the air.

Today I saw two employees of the contractor picking up the rubbish from the floor and throwing them into the burning rubbish container which was already full. The container was not replaced.

We had a better service from the previous contractor many years ago who provided two containers in each area. Collection of the container was done regularly by replacing it with another empty one. I had hardly seen any burning conducted in the past.

I can see an urgent improvement of the present service is needed. Open burning of rubbish should be stopped immediately because the poisonous fumes from the plastic bags and rubbish can cause severe health problems to the public.

Furthermore, I hope a routine cleaning of the area by using high pressure water jet is needed by the respective authority for the public to have pleasant access to the area.

Let us keep Brunei Darussalam clean and pleasant.