BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb 23 (NNN-BRUDIRECT) — On The eve of the 26th National Day of the country, the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Monday night delivered his titah (royal address) by sounding out the theme of this year’s celebrations ‘My Country, Brunei Darussalam’.

Dressed in the Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces uniform, the King pointed out that “many people assume a theme such as this would only be to nurture a patriotic spirit and love of the country”. But if that is all that it is, and then it is not complete, the monarch added.

“People often view patriotism and love for the country merely from the surface, in the form of pledges and joyous celebrations. People seldom look at it right down to the secrets that are contained in its depths, that comforts are cultivated with gratitude and polished further with pious works to Allah the Almighty.

“Only if these are truly done, would hope for these comforts be sustained, as promised by Allah the Almighty,” extolled His Majesty.

His Majesty moved onto the main crux of his royal address to the country. “Most of all, we require a performance development that is sustainable. We want to see what has been planned is completed according to its deadline and not simply remain as plans on paper.

They key to all this,” the monarch pointed out, “is the way we do things.”

One of the most effective methods is a tangible deliberation amongst the relevant agencies, His Majesty said. But the monarch cited an example of plans to develop schools or mosques, which “sometimes end up as excuses for the ‘delays’ are obstacles associated with land requirements or lands that have not been gazetted or the like”.

“If these are the excuses made, don’t they all originate from the government themselves?” His Majesty asked. “In actual fact, if it is the requirement of the government itself, then surely these problems would no longer form such obstacles.”

But His Majesty hammered home his point that delays still continue to happen. “Why? Is the government really serious or not? If there are delays at the lower ranks, would those at the upper echelons come out to the fore to discuss the matters? This is our problem.”

The monarch then explained that it was because of these issues that key performance indicators had been set up to be used as benchmarking standards by every government agency. What His Majesty suggested here was whether these standards were effectively being utilised as what they were meant for.

The monarch then focussed his attention on the second point of his address, which was one of the prerequisites in the country’s efforts towards national development that is the state of the environment.

“There is no point to any rapid development if it comes at a price of destroying the environment. We would always continue to depend on having fertile earth, clean air, clean drinking water, even unpolluted oceans,” said His Majesty, adding: “Because these are the true sources of peace and prosperity.”

The monarch underlined the timely need for the government to expedite more controlled legislation or regulations for development. “As an example, we must enforce ‘Environmental Impact Assessment’ mechanisms and others like it for development projects.”

The current financial issue regarding credit cards made up the third point of the monarch’s royal address. “Recently, my government has implemented regulations to limit the usage of credit cards. This measure that attracted the attention from many parties and has become an issue that is a major talking point.”

His Majesty explained that the aim of the government was to make everyone aware that living a luxurious lifestyle that is built on mounting debts is luxury that is truly unstable and would also bring about much loss in the long term.

“During these early stages, this issue may have caused some difficulty and hardship to a section of society and institutions, but the government firmly believes that this measure is exactly the precise reaction in order to safeguard the prosperity and harmony of the people and residents of this country for the long-term,” His Majesty said.

“This is one of the (government’s) strategies to shape the economy as one of the three main pillars of the country’s vision for 2035.”

The monarch spelt out that Brunei Darussalam needs much more attractive, established and structured economic policies, as well as a conducive investment climate that could guarantee further economic development on the whole.

“Aside from these, efforts are also required to ensure that we can rebalance the deficiencies in the domestic, regional and global markets, whilst at the same time, improve them into a more positive and profitable situation.”

In wrapping up the titah, His Majesty conveyed his appreciation and thanks to every level of society, as well as to the civil service, uniformed personnel and to the private sector for their contributions and efforts to the country. — NNN-BRUDIRECT/Borneo Bulletin

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