His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam's titah calling for shops and businesses to close during Friday prayers has been ignored. I find that some companies are allowing their staff to work 'secretly' from 1 to 2pm.

They give excuses that some of the workers have to rush back to their homes or rushing to meet deadlines and cannot afford to lose another hour idling in the office.

It is very shocking and sad that even some of the locals are following the foreigners in ignoring the Sultan's titah. We must be very grateful to the Sultan for his wisdom in leading Brunei as one of the safest and richest countries in the world. Citizens and foreigners living here are enjoying one of the highest living standards with negligible crime rate.

It is very obvious that when some companies are doing this, more companies will follow and eventually the directive will be ignored. We must stop the spread of this behaviour immediately before it gets out of hand.

I would suggest the Municipal Departments in each Brunei district to provide a complaint and enquiries hotline number that people can call to enquire or complain if they are still not clear about the directive.