CSPS ready to offer advice to ministries

BRUNEI'S first formally-established think tank, the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies (CSPS), will be able to play more significant role in shaping the country's future direction if government ministries and departments utilised its services, its executive director said yesterday.

"What we hope very much is for the government departments to come and seek our assistance," Dr Azaharaini Mohd Jamil told The Brunei Times.

The government-funded think tank, which turns two years old today, since its official establishment on July 1, 2006, may be able to scan the environment and study issues that deserve attention, but Dr Azaharaini said this may not suit the specific needs of the department. "If the department comes to us, we would be able to know specifically what they are looking for. Only then will we be able to help them in the best way," said the executive director. The CSPS, currently awaiting the completion of ongoing research studies on entrepreneurship education and jobseekers, has planned roundtable discussions for the two studies by the end of July or early August. The entrepreneurship education study looks at the adequacy of entrepreneurship education in the current curriculum, which Dr Azaharaini believes is central to developing Brunei's private sector. The education system, he said, is the one responsible for making sure whatever is taught is relevant to today's world.

Preliminary reports have been submitted for the jobseekers study. Dr Diana Cheong and Dr Roger Lawrey of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) have been appointed to study the causes of unemployment. Some 800 job-seekers registered with the Labour Department turned up for a survey-cum-meet-the-employers session organised by the CSPS and UBD earlier in February this year. The preliminary findings suggested that the unemployment issue stems from a lack of job opportunities.

Following a recent brainstorming session, the CSPS board of directors have already charted the think tank's direction for the next few years to handle six new focus areas: food security, alternative energy, national heritage, healthcare, human capital development and population study.

The corporate body has four ongoing research works on its agenda, with one that was recently delivered at the economic diversification roundtable discussion earlier this month at the Empire Hotel and Country Club.

With an expected number of 11 full-time staff members by the end of the year, Dr Azaharaini said the think tank was trying to make it a policy to recruit locals for its assistant researcher posts. Currently there are four staff members doing research work, assisted by three interns studying public policy at UBD.

The CSPS will also aim to earn its own revenues in the future, through research for the private sector.

Governed by the CSPS Act (2006), the Centre may not be mandated to give orders to its clients, but Dr Azaharaini said the information derived from research works could prove very useful in areas where information is inaccessible.

The Brunei Times