Selamat Datang to our new blog, one of probably thousands that have mushroomed in Brunei's cyberspace. The relative ease of setting one up and the freedom in which it affords bloggers to rant about whatever they want have obviously contributed to this rising trend. This is a good thing. Blogs allow us all to express our opinions and thoughts and can have impacts beyond some government's capacity to understand. And when it comes to debating and discussing about Brunei's economic development and our future as a country, open debate and discussion is essential.
Our blog will try to strike a balance between objective reporting and opinion pieces that would not be found unfitting or out of place in any newspaper opinion and editorial pages. There are thousands of blogs in Brunei, some of them good, some of them ... well... we'd rather be diplomatic. We tip our hat(s) to blogs such as Brunei Daily Resources, not just because it contains so much important information about Brunei's history, but also because it is run by a senior government official, one of the few who talk about his work in government, and in effect, bringing the government and its inner voice to the people of Brunei. For that, Bruneians should be thankful.
We would like to take this blog in the same direction. We'll try to initiate discussion with thoughtful pieces on our economic and social development, and the issues that we see in the newspapers but never really get explored by them. This is the main mission of this blog and we hope that we are successful in realising that goal, and hopefully not stray too far from it in the future.
We'll put up postings in the coming weeks, and hopefully the issues we bring up will catch the eyes of decision and policy makers so that Brunei's economic diversification agenda that started in the 1970s (yes it did, that long ago) can actually finally take flight.
Only time will tell. We'll see you soon.
Signing off for now.....
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