Brunei Postgraduate Symposium - An eye opener

I attended the Brunei Postgraduate Symposium yesterday. It's something that I really wanted to attend last year, but unfortunately I was back in Brunei. It's good to finally have to chance to see what Bruneians are doing on a postgraduate research level. It was a long day and a very tiring one too. Towards the end of the day, my brain was so saturated with all sorts of ideas and opinions that it felt slightly fried!

There's always an air of 'oh i wonder what question is appropriate to ask' among Bruneians. We are aware that there is some limit to our 'rights' to ask and voice our opinions. The question then becomes what limit actually is - and everyone has different standards. Some would just be contented with what we have now and don't even bother questioning; some move slightly beyond this and question how the government functions; others raise the bar by challenging the current system. My opinion is that this is in fact a dynamic one, it's not something that has been set in stone, and it will change and move with time as the ideology of the society changes.

This has been what I was wondering before the symposium - considering that it is an academic conference where one is meant to think and question critically and that it is a congregation of Bruneian scholars from all over the world, one would think that this 'limit' should be pretty high (in fact, it did turn out quite high). However, there is still a certain constraint, especially with officers and high ranking civil servants present.

What I observed through the day was a testing of this limit - bit by bit as we progressed through the day. It became a matter of making people comfortable with asking questions they've had for a long time. As more people test the limit and come out productive, more people would follow the footsteps and continue the progress with greater confidence. It's obvious through the day that Bruneians do observe, do have opinions and do care about the country's future. The problem is that we're not quite sure where and how to raise these points - and sometimes slightly paranoid that we'll get struck by lightning if we ask too much. But Brunei being Brunei, I think it is comforting that with this, change will come, slowly but at least appropriately. I think that's where the beauty is.

A few days before the symposium, I was re-reading the book on 'Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air' by David McKay. It's an awesome book that places huge emphasis on using appropriate numbers as opposed to fancy adjectives to describe green policies. It was a pleasure to read and it made me realise how difficult it is to put 'green announcements' made on the press into a proper context. The book does it nicely - and stressed the importance that policy makers be aware of what certain numbers mean. For e.g. when the solar power plant in Brunei claims to produce 1.2 MW, save 960 tonnes CO2 a year and wrongly reported 1.344 kWh per year, do these numbers mean anything? Without knowing the significance, how can proper policies be implemented?

With that a very bold brainwave came, I can't do anything now but there are people who can - so why not give this book to Mr. BR who was one of the keynote speakers. To do something like this is slightly beyond my comfort zone but i thought I should give it a try. Firstly the book is free online - but it's so good I just had to buy it. Secondly, I would buy it for everyone if i had the means to. But I'm only a student and with the limitations on resources, one had to pick one person who has the potential to inform and educate the population and in my scope of understanding it just had to be him.

Overall, the day was interesting. I would appreciate it more if i had more energy to talk to more people but with the lack of sleep the night before (was sleeping in a concert hall of snoring guys) and my brain saturated with the information presented, I was in a slight daze through the day. Generally I think more time needs to be allocated for more discussion to happen. Good questions were raised and good answers were given - but there wasn't too much of a dialogue/discussion going on which I think can be a pity.

Oh lastly, I must thanks the Ministry of Development for giving out the Report on Brunei Darussalam by the Oxford Business Group.