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Bandar Seri Begawan – She sends almost every cent she earns back home. She has a family of six to feed and clothe. Schooling is another problem. They depend on her entirely.

She slaves for the foreign family day and night. Sometimes she is scolded for nothing. She is fed on the leftover the lady of the house pushes over ever so grudgingly. The humiliation she had to undergo at times pains her to no end.

Waking up as early as five in the morning she has to cook, wash and go through a grinding work schedule each and every day. And she had no off days. Besides she had to look after the family’s food stall business in between. She has become thin and wan.

Thinking of her family back home she would sometimes break into tears. Her youngest is only three years old. A little girl, cutest there ever was, whom she longed for most.

“I missed them all so much,” she would sigh looking at the tiny photo of her family she kept in her small room.

In fact it was not a room in the real sense. She slept in some sort of storage space. There was nowhere else for her in the tiny HDB flat.

“If I can leave this place right away I will gladly go and quickly. But that cannot be. I will have to serve out my term here for the sake of my children. I have to sacrifice myself for them,” she often reminded herself.

A thousand times a day she would think these thoughts. And a thousand times she would pull herself together and tell herself to be realistic.

Back home her family had faced practical starvation. Her husband had left her quite a while ago. There was no choice.

She had gone to an agent and pledging a good portion of her yet to be earned salary in advance before she was sent to Singapore work as a domestic help on a three-year contract.

The family she eventually came to work was one of those who had no consideration for anyone else. They were typical. She was their slave practically.

Home and family, home and family, her children and the little town she came from and friends and relatives across the sea she missed. These were the things constantly on her mind as tears would trickle down her worn out face.

And where was home? Philippines? Wrong. Indonesia? Wrong again. Bangladesh? Oh no. Myanmar? Nope. India or Sri Lanka? No, no, no.

Then where? No way could you guess. She was among a growing army of the deprived and the destitute who would fan out elsewheere for the sake of mere survival.

So if she did not came from these countries that traditionally supply domestic labour and where amahs like her came to work for abysmal wages then where?

A small country that so proudly carry a triple-barrel name.

And the country? Now you guessed it: Negara Brunei Darussalam.

How come you would ask?

Simple. It is not the present. No it is not now.

It is year 2015.

Oil price had plunged some years back. It now stood at US$5 a barrel. At that price it was not worth production or the exploration. The prospect of it going up was any time in the future was beyond hope.

Thus deprived of Brunei’s main income the people had become progressively poor.

There was only one alternative: to work overseas. Any job would do. Those who were fortunate to be educated found fairly well paying jobs abroad.

The lawyers, doctors, engineers and computer specialists found well paid jobs in neighbouring countries which had progressed somewhat because they had not depended on a single source for survival.

At first the professionals, and businessmen migrated to look for foreign opportunities. Then came those lower down the scale. And as things became a real crisis the labourers and then the domestics and the unskilled fanned out in desperation.

Of course their numbers were not that noticeable because of Brunei’s small population. The overflow did not have that of an impact like that of the Filipinos or the Indonesians. However Bruneians too were in dire straits. Of that there was no doubt. And sad to say, increasingly so.

An exaggeration? Certainly no. Surely that is the way unfortunately we seem to be heading.

And why are you so pessimistic?

That is because you happen to talk to people, some educated Bruneians mostly.

Take the case of one, for example. Let us call him Awang Matnor (not his real name).

He is a highly qualified engineer, a Bruneian, who studied in England and returned to work for a local private consulting firm and then started his own business.

But it became obvious that as years went by and as jobs dried up in Brunei he had to make a living elsewhere. And now he does very little here but he is busy in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur where his services are needed steadily. He has set up offices there and is apparently doing well.

“I keep an office here in Brunei too. But it is just a small one. I hope someday there will be consultancy jobs in Brunei. Meanwhile I bring down jobs from Singapore and elsewhere to keep the Brunei office going,

“Besides there are too many consultancy firms here without jobs. Prices are at rock bottom and are not worth bidding for” he told the Weekend.

He is one of those people who are worried about local employment. “At this rate Bruneians like me are not able to sustain locally. And that is a start. Others lower down the scale will have to go out of the country eventually until we reach rock bottom,” he added.

But in the face of this many Bruneians still live on in a dream.

In terms of attracting foreign investment here the situation remains moribund. It is obvious Brunei does not hold the lure for foreign investors. To make them put their money down you need something else.

One must stop living in a mirage, and reality is something very different or else the dream would soon become a nightmare, said Awang Matnoor.

“Some people here has the attitude that we are doing foreign investors a favour. “It is the other way about. They are doing us a favour considering the risk their money here,” he pointed out.

Oil exploration is an exception. Foreigners taking a calculated risk are willing to sink a fair amount of their money. But the current high oil price could turn out to be a flash in the pan. Alternative fuels could put an end to Brunei’s prosperity. Oil related investment also would dry up.

“We are still tying ourselves in red tape seeking false security,” said Awang Matnor. “Are we blind? Are we burying our heads in the sand? The future does not look bright,” he added

What is needed is a change in mindset. “But that is easier said than done. It is the years of accumulated sloth and non-action and false fear that has fossilized our behaviour, attitudes and thought process that has be got rid of. And that is not going to be easy,” the engineer added.

And at the present moment there seems no easy way out unless there is a drastic change, he commented sadly. When can that take begin to take place? he asked.  

But I think with His Majesty's direction, Brunei will be able to survive thru anything.

Name: Xman
Email: xmanbru@gmail.com

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Is that a fact? As JR of Dallas always asked. I here got a  slightly different version that I can only hope is not typical. I used to have a housemaid who really slaved herself to death.

Worked from 5am to 2am!! Being innocent young couple, we just didn't suspect anything at  all about her motives. We just very much wanted her to be happy working with us and be part of the family.

It was not in our interest as much having an ill, overworked helper as also having the neighbors see us as cruel enslavers. She deliberately refused to our more humane timetable and continued to 'labour' herself out and one day got herself admitted to the hospital ward. The next thing we knew was that we were being accused of enslaving a poor, defenseless amah.

Name: Young
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Well, some you win some you lose.

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Yes I agree those people cannot be locals. Its good things we keep our traditions like bertahlil, weddings, pindah rumah, children's birthdays, etc. as elaborate as they are now. It keeps our own people from mischiefs actually.

Imagine you having to go to one of these family  functions and you suspect that other guests must be whispering about you after getting caught soliciting the other day. So there is always this limiting force in our community.

Thanks God for that. As for people like Mr. Stephen, I am always amazed about how things like this always get attracted to them. Is it in the way they walk, talk or dress? It never happened to me and believe you me, for some reasons, I do wish sometimes I experience what Mr Stephen had.

Name: Ha!

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Thanks. I hope you will turn lucky one day.

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