Looking ahead with confidence

GOOD morning Brunei Darussalam! Today we celebrate our third year as both a print and website publication and we can say that we have taken some significant steps forward. Today, we take another step — the official launch of our e-Paper on our website. The e-Paper allows you to turn the pages on your screen and virtually get the feel of a real hardcopy newspaper.

The Brunei Times was launched with a definite purpose — as a compact broadsheet envisioned to examine the key issues facing this oil-rich nation especially the necessary diversification of the economy in the face of depleting oil reserves to broaden the nation's revenue base to ensure continued prosperity. This vision entails the mission of looking into publishing news and information on elements such as training to wean the nation's human resources away from what have traditionally been the biggest employment providers in the nation — the Government and the oil and gas industry.

Some of the areas that have been identified include capitalising on Brunei's natural advantages in gearing itself into becoming an international hub for halal products, using the wealth of its large, untouched forest reserves to develop biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as well as to develop local Information, Communication and Technological skills. Lately, we have also been highlighting news on developing local small and medium enterprises to support the oil and gas industry, besides other ventures.

Our agenda is not just reporting daily events and the other stuff that is sold in the name of the news. Our main objective is the welfare of Brunei Darussalam and its people — in the present as well as the future. This makes our task doubly challenging as we have to not only strive and contribute towards nation building but also to help prepare Bruneians for the future challenges that they will face. The Brunei Times' mission has been and will continue to be to inculcate a dynamic, proactive, achievement-oriented work ethic among Bruneians to ensure that they "think local and act global" so that the country is not left behind in this era of globalisation.

Our agenda is not just limited to supporting the government machinery in governance but also preparing ordinary Bruneians to take charge of their affairs, meaning they become more self-reliant and more confident to take care of their tomorrows. Our endeavour is to go beyond the clichéd "mindset change" terminology. Our mission is to highlight the issues that need ministries' attention so that they address the problems faced by the people of Brunei Darussalam. We are the wake-up call for those who are complacent. We want to tell the people what the government of His Majesty is doing for them and how they can contribute towards achieving His Majesty's vision of making the Sultanate self-sufficient in food and help it become a zero-poverty, zero-corruption society. To accomplish this mission, our journey is neverending because as we move with the times, we face new challenges and hurdles.

We as a nation cannot rest on our laurels because we know that in today's knowledge-based society just being good is not good enough. There is a tremendous difference between being good and being excellent, and excellence — like the horizon — is a moving target. One has to constantly raise the bar and this is what we at The Brunei Times are trying to do. We are constantly pushing ourselves towards higher targets. No matter how difficult the task is, we have never stopped raising the limit as we're competing with no one but ourselves.

However, to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves, our readers' support is very crucial. We always look forward to your critical appreciation, suggestions and feedback. We want you, our readers, to speak and tell us of our shortcomings and where we need improvement. As we are critical in our appraisal of the performance of key agencies in the nation's delivery system, we also welcome brickbats and bouquets. Remember, we as Bruneians have key roles to play in the development of Brunei Darussalam as our past, present and future is linked to the nation's development. Whatever, we are today is because of Brunei Darussalam. So we invite all of you to join The Brunei Times in this journey of taking the nation to greater heights.