Upon my arrival at the Brunei Press Sdn Bhd premises in Bandar Seri Begawan on December 3rd, 1997, to commence my duties with The Borneo Bulletin, I discovered that the majority of our editorial staff, including sub-editors and editors, were foreigners. We even had a Limbang-born reporter named Iban, whose wife was a Bruneian Iban from Temburong.
Our General Manager, who was responsible for general administration, was a Singaporean, while the employment agency QAF, which was responsible for personnel recruitment and human resource management, was headed by a Malaysian lady, whose spouse was a Bruneian. On the editorial side, our Editor-in-Chief was Sri Lankan, and his deputy was also Sri Lankan, a single lady. Additionally, we had a Thai male who became our Deputy Editor-in-Chief for about two months but resigned to accept a better offer with The Bangkok Post back in his home country. One of our sub-editors came from India, while we had one from Pakistan, two from Singapore, one from Manila, Philippines, and one from London. The rest of us were from Malaysia, namely two from Kuala Lumpur, one from Sabah, and two from Sarawak. Only one editor, the City Editor, was a local, but he was more of a writer and regularly sought my assistance in fine-tuning his write-up. This was okay with me as he was very generous in many ways, especially for being the first cousin of the then Brunei Minister of Communications, whose resources were seemingly limitless.
In later years, the company took a few interns from among Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) undergraduates as part of their practical training. One or two of them joined the company after graduation, which was part of the preparation towards becoming a truly independent newspaper, a slow and painful process. By 2002, it was still seemingly an improbable success story.
The Bulletin’s sister daily, the sultanate’s sole Malay-language daily newspaper Media Permata, also employed numerous Malaysians and Singaporeans for both its editorial and reporting staff. Our team of DTP artists also included some members from the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. In addition to locals, they represented half of the Southeast Asian nations. Even those in the printing department were not all locals. There was one Chinese lady from Miri among them, Miss Lau, a rare breed who could only celebrate her birthday once every four years, namely during a leap year, for obvious reasons. The management threw a birthday party for her on Feb 29, 2000, which also marked the petite single lady’s 15th anniversary with Brunei Press.
The company’s dependence on expatriates was not an isolated phenomenon. In fact, even in the government ministries and departments, the country then heavily relied on foreigners. For example, the Sri Lankan owner of the Mercedes 280 that I drove for Jambai, my friend the mechanic, was an employee with the Finance Ministry. He told me about some negative stories about his local colleagues who would come to the office 30 minutes late and leave very early under the pretext of fetching their kids from school and sometimes never report back for duty in the afternoon.
“The country will never rid itself of expatriates, or else it can’t go forward,” said the Sri Lankan, who must have held a high post in the ministry, though driving a Mercedes was not a measure of high post or seniority in Brunei bureaucracy, for even a few of our Brunei Press junior colleagues, including clerical staff and reporters, were driving Mercedes to work. For that matter, Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, and Audi were common vehicles in the sultanate.
In the construction, service, and hospitality industries, the country also heavily depended on foreign workers. Apart from Thais, Bangladeshis, Indonesians, and Myanmar nationals were also taken to work on construction sites. Additionally, Malaysians and Filipinos held posts such as supervisors, managers, and engineers. Employment such as cooks, helpers, servers, and others in kitchens, restaurants, and hotels did not bode well with the locals, thanks to the sultanate being a welfare state that benefits (which I do not wish to specify here). On this, I salute the Sultan’s generous policy in giving back to society. Even the main hospital, RIPAS (Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Soleha) Hospital in BSB, had under its employment a large number of foreign nurses, doctors, dietitians, and other professionals. I had to pay B$1,504 for a two-night stay at RIPAS to discover this. (Actually, the company paid for my accident that occurred while I was coming back from the office.)
A few years later, I befriended a worker, a security guard actually, under the payroll of the Development Ministry. Born Babai from Sedabai, Pui in Kanowit, heworked at the ministry’s compound in Bandar Seri Begawan. Babai was a member of the Iban community, who made up a significant part of Brunei’s foreign workforce. He had been working in Brunei for over a decade and had seen many changes in the country’s employment landscape.
Babai told me that many foreign workers in Brunei faced challenges such as low pay, long working hours, and poor living conditions. He also shared stories of workers who were mistreated or exploited by their employers. Despite these challenges, however, Babai remained grateful for the opportunity to work in Brunei and provide for his family back in Sarawak.
Over time, I came to understand that the reliance on foreign workers was a complex issue in Brunei. On one hand, the country needed foreign workers to sustain its economy and development. On the other hand, the treatment of foreign workers was often subpar, and there was a need for better protection and rights for these workers.
As a journalist, I wrote about these issues in The Borneo Bulletin and other publications, highlighting the challenges faced by foreign workers and calling for better treatment and protection for them. I also interviewed local officials and experts to understand the government’s policies towards foreign workers and the challenges of managing their employment.
Overall, my experience in Brunei taught me about the importance of diversity and the challenges that come with managing a multicultural workforce. It also highlighted the need for better protection and rights for foreign workers, who often face exploitation and mistreatment in many countries around the world.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the New Sarawak Tribune.
