Last night, I was browsing through my library, that does sound a bit pretentious, doesn't it? Let me start again. Last night, I was browsing through my little collection of books and I come across this book which I 'borrowed' from my dad's collection of books - the "State of Brunei Annual Report 1961-1962" (printed Brunei Press, 1964). For some of today's blog readers, that could be the birthyear of your parents, so it is a bit ancient.
This book is interesting as it reports events of 1961 and 1962. Brunei Annual Reports in those days were published by the Broadcasting and Information Department which was just merged in 1961. Prior to that it was two separate entities known as the Brunei Information Service and Radio Brunei Service. In 1975, the department has gone full circle to be separated again as Radio Television Brunei and the Information Department which remained till today. Back to the book. What I found interesting about the book, it reports things as a matter of fact. The book actually reported events of December 1962 in the first chapter entitled 'General Review of 1961 and 1962' as follows "... an insurrection broke out on the 8th December, 1962, which seriously affected the manpower situation in the State and, in turn, the economic situation..." The other 16 paragraphs talked about the what has been done in the country.
Many things were done and many things were not done, some sounding as if it has not changed till today. That first chapter talked about the elections for the District Councils and the Legislative Council; the granting of scholarships; expansion in the medical services; the Brunei Malay Regiment was formed; the General Orders (regulations concerning the Civil Service) was promulgated (and up to now unchanged); the Public Service Commission (PSC or more commonly known as SPA) was set up; Malay language was being encouraged by having Language Week and the Language and Literature Division was set up. Many things were not done or not undertaken including - very little building works were undertaken, in forestry, large area was under licence or little or no work was done, there were many outstanding land applications, many of which dated back to pre-war years; PWD unable to do work due to lack of staff; and more water was needed because of the presence of troops in Brunei due to the revolt.
Among the statistics included the population of Brunei at that time. In 1960 there were 83,877 people in the country of which 59,203 are Indigenous (which I presumed are Malays and the 7 puak jatis), 21,975 (Chinese) and 2,879 (others). There was comparison to 1911 when there was only 20,916 (Indigenous), 736 (Chinese) and 66 (Others). There was a whole bunch of other statistics, all equally interesting to know what happened in those years.
One of the changing feature I find is the attitude of Bruneians. Nowadays, there is a growing trend towards welfare, like it or not. The figures I get and the stories I hear from the Community Development Department indicated that Bruneians are getting too 'dependent' on welfare. But in 1962, the Annual Report pointed out that "... it is necessary to point out that the Malay, Dusun, Murut and Iban social structures are such that applications for assistance are rare, members of the family considering it their responsibility to take care of relatives who are in need..." and "... there are also a number of Chinese charitable organisations which cater for destitute members and in particular, arrange for funerals and give assistance to dependents of sick members of the various Chinese communities..."
Many things happened in 50 years. Developments were made. Progress attained. But worryingly attitudes also changed. We can make the difference in the next 50 years. Think about it.