Youth advised to become active players

HOW to involve the youth in the economic development, empower them and raise their awareness level were some of the issues which hundreds of participants at a forum on policy development and implementation discussed yesterday.

"How do you create a sense of urgency where there is so much abundance?" In as many words, acting chairman of Brunei Economic Development Board Dato Paduka Timothy Ong, summed up the chief concerns of the participants.

The sentiment was shared by the Permanent Secretary of Culture, Youth and Sports Dato Paduka Jemat Ampal, who appealed to invited speakers during the forum's afternoon panel of discussion for suggestions on how to ameliorate the lukewarm interest demonstrated by local youths in becoming active players in their own future.

"Our young people are our biggest source of labour," said Dato Paduka Jemat, who went on to comment on how accustomed Bruneian youths were to leading comfortable lives, with regards to their parents being there to fulfil their needs.

"... (We need) an answer for our young people to get involved in economic development, " he said. "We have very well-educated young people, all very aware of globalisation and very IT-savvy ... But we need to raise awareness and empower the youth in the country's economy."

"It isn't just about creating factories, building industries. They must develop a mindset that they should start somewhere in playing a role in the country's economy," said Dato Paduka Jemat. "Even frying noodles in the tamu. If our youth start from there, they will get engaged in the activities of trading, of doing business."

Louis Heuze{aac}, general manager of Total E&P Borneo, brought up the case of Algeria, which took a heavy blow to its socio-economic stability when the departure of the resident two million-strong French colony left the African country stranded without engineers, educators, doctors and other highly-skilled workers.

"After the oil shock of 1973, there was a saying in France that went: 'There is no oil, but there are ideas'. Promoting high motivation and also (providing) excellent education is most important," said Heuze{aac}.

Rosni Tungkat, deputy director-general of the Economic Planning Department under the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources, named small market size, resistance to change and a modest-sized labour force as amongst the challenges delaying Brunei's economic detachment from its hydrocarbon industry. "We need to see the opportunities," she said. She explained that the population growth rate being at 2.3 per cent, it was impractical to simply wait for citizen numbers to expand.

Professor Ryokichi Hirono, a professor emeritus in economics at the Seikei University, Japan, said that competitiveness could be bred if the respective country could envision itself as participating in the global race to place highly on the list of top-ranking economies.

"It is important to view yourself in the global context. Sometimes when you're successful, you get complacent, so its important to look around at other countries and see how we can remain competitive," he said.

As for reaching for aspirations, he said: "While we learn from the past, we also have to look into the future. In Japan's case we were too concerned about preserving what we had done, instead of trying to reform ourselves."

The national-level event was a first in the history of the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS), and was to act as a platform for members of the public to discuss issues pertaining to national development strategies.

The Brunei Times