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Bandar Seri Begawan - Several times she had thought of ending her life. Everything was crashing round her ears. Pressure was mounting on all sides.

It was not worth living.

Soon the bailiffs would come in. Every stick of furniture, every needle and thread, every hanging on the wall, her machines, her showcases and all would be exposed to the curious crowd.

And how fast things had come to this! Only a brief three years ago, she was the proud owner of a fashion showroom in town.

She had the best imported dresses and accessories plus she created her own baju kurong and other local attires, which she made with the help of her handpicked tailors.

Business boomed. She sold her little Japanese car in the meantime and bought a top-of-the-range continental luxury sports model.

And that was the beginning of her numerous extravagances. There were others. Expensive overseas holidays, designer ornaments, the building of a palatial home on mortgage and rich spendthrift friends.

The many ways of squandering money multiplied by the minute as time passed. What was even more alarming was that she was seldom in her shop these days. She had delegated the running of it to her shop assistants, courting the inevitable result.

She had in the beginning pledged her land to a bank as start up capital. Of course, what she borrowed she had to pay back in monthly installments.

In the middle of it all the bank foreclosed her property when she failed to meet her monthly obligations.

Before that, her car went. That was a clear writing on the wall. She should have taken heed. But she continued to maintain a style that had no basis in reality.

Soon the creditors were after her, and faster than she thought, the familiar story that so many businesspeople in Brunei face unfolded: the dreadful scenario unfolding in the bankruptcy court.

Now the time of reckoning had come. She went everywhere to get the needed cash to stave off the final court episode: That degrading humiliation of a public auction of everything in her shop was too much to face. Beg, borrow or whatever. It did not matter. The rich friends who had gathered around her during her good days deserted her one by one. Her former lovers looked at her coldly when she began to talk about money, as if a final chilly wind had blown over what was once a red-hot affair.

Frantically, she tried everything but to no avail. Now, the hour of reckoning was inevitable.

How could she ever survive this open insult, this utter humiliation and final curtain fast descending on her dreams?

"I'd rather die," she kept repeating. She mulled over the various ways to putting a painless end to her sufferings as her desperation grew by the minute.

She was one of the many caught in the nightmare of the vicious circle of easy loans obtained without proper supervision.

The end was fast and painful.

All these thoughts passed my mind when I recently happened to read in the news paper an article titled: $23 Million Loans for 406 Local Entrepreneurs.

It went on to say a ministry had approved the loans to the local business to diversify Brunei economy.

Well and good. It is commendable.

But what came to my mind was does some sort of machinery exist so that the benefactors of these sums are guided so as to maintain sound business practices to justify the loans?

If not, only disaster could befall on them which could leave them worse off than before as the case is oftentimes.

There again an official talking about this laudable financial assistance scheme noted, in the newspaper that it was not the duty of the government alone to achieve the country's diversification programs which would call on the •heavy play of the SMEs. There should be outside help. How right that official is.

But there was no mention of how these SMEs could be helped in other ways then giving them money.

Here the often repeated World Bank saying that: "Don't give them fish. But rather teach them how to fish," still holds well particularly in the context of increasing number of bankruptcies in the country.

And if the government servants are delegated to teach business that will probably get nowhere at all.

Government servants, with a few exceptions, unfortunately, do not have the capacity or capability or the experience to understand business. What I am driving at is that we need a result-oriented private body with a proven track record to teach our budding entrepreneurs the basics of commerce and industry and the rudiments and principles of good business practice.

And the loans given should be strictly monitored and geared into a system without, of course, stifling innovation and creativity.

But that is not going to be easy, of course.

If that could be worked out there is hope. Simply pouring in money would result in an endless well of tears.

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