Quit standing in the path of growth

Civil servants who truly desire to see our country succeed in its development goals need to take a few minutes of introspection each day, and ask themselves: Am I here to help Brunei Darussalam move forward? Do all my actions reflect my sincerity to serve my country?

Civil servants can ask themselves more questions to measure how worthy they are of their pay slips. Simple questions. But these could remind any civil servant of how much this nation depends on each individual under the government's employ. Each work station in a government office is a critical spoke that supports the wheels of effective governance. Spokes that are weak stand in the way of progress and development.

The imperative for civil servants to see to it that their ranks are proactive in building the ladders, that make it possible for the country to reach the highest that it can in its journey to development, has been magnified with the pursuit of economic diversification. It is sad to note though that civil service has yet to register an abundance of proof that it has gone out of its way to make this happen.

Civil servants in the middle and lower levels are "a major constraint" to development, according to an economic research and analysis expert whose paper on economic diversification was published in the CSPS Strategy and Policy Journal. It is not the first such objective assessment of civil servants and how their performance adversely affects the speed by which the government is able to achieve its own goals. His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in a titah has spoken of the need for civil servants to improve efficiency levels.

In a New Year titah this year, the monarch said Brunei civil service has to do much more to improve the ease of doing business in the Sultanate.

The monarch has also taken to task government officials for their lack of initiative-taking and decision-making skills, saying some department heads only wait for instructions despite having the mandate to decide and take appropriate measures.

"Some of the heads of department work like robots without discretion, all of them only wait for instructions, if there are no instructions, then they will not do anything," the ruler said in a July 2009 titah.

This recent assessment on the relevance of civil service quality to development goals, however, emphasises the sad reality of the "culture of risk aversion" among civil servants, that impedes economic diversification.

Our government's drive to see new economic activity outside of oil and gas is crucial for the future of Brunei.

This economic drive requires an environment that is conducive to the growth of new enterprises and the establishment of pioneering investments. The Sultanate is pursuing this at a time when many economies in the region are also aggressive in their campaigns to attract foreign direct investments. There are many ingredients to achieving this and while reforming the policy environment is often regarded to be top priority, the quality of civil service is no less important.