Lots to raise say members

WITH just two days to go for the official opening and convening of the sixth State Legislative Council Meeting, some of the Legislative Council (LegCo) members will be focussing mainly on reviewing and seeking updates on the various issues that they have raised in the previous LegCo meetings.

Speaking to the Bulletin yesterday, LegCo member and Belait District representative Hj Mohd Shafiee Hj Ahmad, pointed out that he would be bringing up issues that concern the public.

“I won’t be asking many new questions, but rather I will be asking on the status of the issues that have been raised last year that have not yet been answered or implemented. In fact, I will be repeating these same questions that were already raised last year during this upcoming session to find out what’s the result of the (government’s) findings,” said Hj Mohd Shafiee.
Citing the example of the construction of the proposed new 18.6 km highway from Telisai to Lumut, the Belait District representative said: “It has already been tendered out but where is it? This concerns the public.” Last November, the Brunei Economic Development Board released a statement saying that royal consent had already been given for the project to begin, as well as citing a three-year construction timeline, but stopped short of releasing the date for the start of the highway project.

Although Hj Mohd Shafiee conceded the constraints and procedures inherent within the government bureaucracy, he explained that what was needed most was to find out the updates of the government’s actions thus far.

When asked what areas he would be particularly focussing on, Hj Mohd Shafiee replied: “I’ll be raising issues about almost everything, from infrastructural concerns, health, the economy, communications.

“But we won’t be asking about issues that carry any sensitivity, such as defence.”

Meanwhile, Orang Kaya Jaya Putera Dato Paduka Hj Muhd Taha, the LegCo representative from the Tutong District, shared the views of his colleague from Belait, when he said that he would also like to focus on the unresolved issues that have already been raised in the previous Legislative Council sessions.

However, Orang Kaya Jaya Putera Dato Paduka Hj Muhd Taha shared one particular matter that he would raise during the sixth Legislative Council session, which was to find out how many more medical professionals would be based in the other districts in light of the Ministry of Health’s endeavours to improve the training and expertise of medical services personnel.

“I would like to know whether it would be possible to extend the scope of this medical training to include nurses, medical officers and so on,” he said.

For the LegCo representative of the Temburong District, Hj Sulaiman Hj Ahad, “issues such as health, social problems, concerns on the youth and sports”, would be just some of the issues that he would be zeroing in on.
“Issues that have already been raised will be on my list for further enquiries and updates, such as the matters that have not been completed or resolved. It is understood that these projects are carried out on a priority basis, but I will, once again, be raising these issues so that the people can hear more clearly.”

He acknowledged the fact that “ever since the past four years when the Legislative Council meetings have been convened, there has been significant developments in Temburong, such as improvements in infrastructure, especially with roads in the interior areas, as well as the construction of the latest boat terminal, which are for the convenience of the public”.

Taking into consideration the need for prioritising the country’s many development projects, he added that he would like to see the government’s actions in “heeding the monarch’s call to reduce the degradation of our environment”.

Other issues that concern the people of Temburong, he said, were “improvements in the transmission quality of radio and television on par with those enjoyed by the people in the other districts”. The issues of payments for energy supplies, in particular electricity and the development of the national housing scheme, are also of interest among the people of Temburong, Hj Sulaiman Hj Ahad added.

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