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Brunei’s Lost Hours Ignatius Stephen Bandar Seri Begawan – “My son, my son”. She sprang out of her chair. Obviously she was much alarmed. Her suddenness was startling. Her foreign visitor watched her helpless, no doubt, surprised and in disbelief as she dashed to the door. And she was out in a flash. However she managed to say, “See you this afternoon,” as she made a quick exit. Of course the visitor was puzzled and, needless to say, rather unhappy. They were in the middle of an important discussion and was working towards a crucial point in a government department. That was when this unexpected and, sad to say, somewhat unwelcome interruption happened. He had like many other busy globe trotting businessmen had arranged this meeting with this civil servant well in advance. He had just one day to spare and he would be off. He had lined up others to meet elsewhere in another country. Because of the time taken to arrange this meeting he was sure he could conclude everything speedily and fly off. But he was innocent of the local culture which he only came to know of much later. How was he to know that most of the 50,000 or so civil servants catapult out of their offices as early as even more than an hour before lunch break and clog up the roads trying to retrieve their little ones out of the school gates. In this process, massive jams are the order of the day at pre-noon and thereafter. How was he to know that indeed. But being a businessman he began to make obvious calculations. How many man-hours are lost because of this ingrained habit? By means of simple calculation, if a civil servant takes two hours off each working day Brunei is losing 10 precious man hours a week, 40 hours monthly and nearly 500 hours a year. And you multiply that by 50,000 which is the number of civil servants we have. That figure could be nightmarish. That is only a conservative estimate. Reality is even worse. And think of the disruption to public service and the inefficiency and frustration caused. Bruneians tend to have large families and that means more than one school going kid have to be conveyed to and from in the midst of horrendous traffic jams when tempers become frayed many a time. Imagine ferrying seven children to different schools. How did we land in this mess? The problem grew even before we realised it. We had a small number of schools and a manageable student population before. It was natural, easy and pleasant to take one’s little darlings to their classes But even before we could imagine there was a population explosion and affluent Bruneians bought cars and schools mushroomed. And now the unpleasant fact is starring right at us. We are being reduced to full time drivers. There seems to be no escape. In this the authorities must take some responsibility. When the challenge was small it was simpler to solve. And the solution seemed straight forward: A well organised school bus system. The solution is still the same now: Get going on an efficient school transport scheme. Only it is only bigger and more messier now. And therefore it is going to be more difficult. There are so many schools at so many locations. What is more you will have to overcome the ingrained habit of the parents. But whatever it is this is a problem to be tackled. We just cannot go on like this, said a parent who appeared be stressed out sending his eight children to schools all over Bandar Seri Begawan. “It is a hard and exhausting grind. I can hardly concentrate on my job,” he said. Brunei has no efficient public transport system to speak of. And that compounds the problem. There was a talk once upon a time of a community school bus system. But that idea seems to be still born. Nothing is heard of it since. Yet school bussing is possible, if only with the determination of the school authorities and, of the ministry which would be the mainstay of the project. One school that is doing it in style is the Jerudong International School. And the idea seems to be working. Students are even picked up in Seria and Kuala Belait. If that works there is no reason why other schools should not follow. Give the school children proper coaches to ride in and they are going to love the comfortable ride. It could be safe and it could be fun. That is the only manner for Brunei to progress. That way civil servants will not go missing form their offices. And therefore it will serve in restoring efficiency and punctuality all round.
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I have to say that most
government officers are snobbish and arrogant and are they honest!
Name: Saunah bte kassim ------------------------------------------ It is indeed frustrating to experience the congestion in ferrying school children. The poor road system can lead to stress. It can also create misbehaviour when drivers use road narrow roads choked up with cars and lose their tempers. This is the usual sight and horrific experience we encounter. Until something is done to improve it things are going to get worse. Public school busses are not many and unless the authorities come up with a plan to use school busses we will not see an ease. Public school buses will also create jobs and business opportunities for the locals.
Name: Concerned ------------------------------------------ It may seem that public
transportation or school buses be the key to solving this driving blues.
This can only work if students are only allowed to attend school within
their respective residential zone. Do you think that
these students will ride a bus The government itself
should be held accountable for this quandary for taking a slack attitude
to these defiant employees. ------------------------------------------ Hi Stephen ------------------------------------------ Thanks Waty tell us about your bad experience. That way you can help others. ------------------------------------------
I hate to tell you this
again. The government has to step in and do something. Impose nominal
fees on students in schools and use the fees to subsidies the school
buses to pick them up from their homes and vice versa. One way or the
other, parents will allow their kids to use the buses. How I missed the
old days when we rode the buses to school. Why did the Ministry of
Education discourage the school buses, I wonder. With greater usage of
buses, parents will not waste their time rushing off to fetch the
students from office albeit awaiting there 30 minutes earlier chatting
with other parents!! Just look at Holland
where people just cycle everywhere they like. We should have lanes for
these. Come on, we are supposed to be well-off Name:
pushover ------------------------------------------
It's easy if they upgrade the public transport,school bus for the young
one just like those in England or other places. ------------------------------------------ Traffic congestion has got to be Brunei's largest growing problems. Yes, it is because we have a horribly public transport system in place. Things could have gotten seriously better if the government could improve its efficiency and actually promote its usage. What is wrong with putting up a few public transport posters. i asked some people and they don't even know how to use the bus and not sure what the routes actually there are. If the schools started with the bus program whose planning progress seemed to have turned stagnant over the last few years, children might be more confident and would readily use the bus. We are perfectly capable of making a better public transport system, so why aren't we doing it?I cant just blame the traffic congestion on the lack of public transport. We brought this problem on ourselves due to the careless lack of planning on this aspect. We are a newly "MODERN" developing country. We are smart enough to learn from the mistakes of other countries and yet we don't. The unorganized and unplanned infrastructure and city planning is the ultimate road to the rise of traffic congestion. Traffic wont be the only problem which will arise from this. WE have to start planning properly instead of building on pure instinct. Brunei is capable of so much more.
Name: d440 ------------------------------------------ Hi I. Stephen ------------------------------------------ Thanks buddy for your kind words. ------------------------------------------ |
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