Day: July 6, 2021

 

The left side or slow lane of the carriageway at the Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien is temporarily closed. The Public works Department, Ministry of Development in its press release stated that the road closure leading towards Temburong District, near the Labu Estate roundabout is to allow for tree cutting works along the road.

 

The road will be re-opened as soon as works are completed. In this regard, road users are advised to be cautious and considerate as well as to adhere to the bridge regulations, signage and speed limit, to avoid undesirable incidents.

 

For further enquiries or complaints, contact Talian Darussalam: 123; or livechat 8333123; Facebook: Jabatan Kerja Raya, Brunei Darussalam; e-mail to permit.jambatan@pwd.gov.bn; or pro@pwd.gov.bn.

 

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

 

To allow the public to complete their e-Census information in orderly manner, the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics, JPES, Ministry of Finance and Economy continued the e-Census clinic for the Population and Housing Census 2021 or BPP 2021 at the Ministry of Development.

 

The 2-day e-Census Clinic held starting yesterday is open from 8 in the morning to 12 noon AND from 2 to 4:30 in the afternoon. The e-Census implementation is extended till the 21st of July. Members of the public facing difficulties in registering or completing the e-Census are welcome to visit any of the e-Census clinics.

 

 

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

The spread of fake information through various applications such as Whatsapp, Wechat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can create fear and panic among the public. It is more worrying when the false information is accepted by the public without referring to an authentic source, as it can affect the harmony of society and also national security.

 

The reminder was made by Awang Haji Shahrul Jeffri bin Dato Paduka Haji Ibrahim, Acting Director of Information during the Personal Contact Programme, Information Department, Prime Minister’s Office to Kampung Lubok Pulau, Mukim Tanjong Maya, Tutong District yesterday. Also shared were tips on differentiating fake news as well as legal actions taken for the offence of disseminating fake information.

 

The programme was also filled with briefings from several government agencies, including the COVID-19 Vaccine Programme, e-Darussalam portal, Talian Darussalam 123 and the main role of the Roads Unit at Public Works Department. The programme was to enhance bilateral relations between the Government and citizens as well as disseminate information, programmes and development of the mukim.

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

 

The Energy Efficiency Standards and Labelling Order 2021 was established to regulate and ensure that the target electrical appliances sold in the country meet the Minimum Energy Performance Standards and are of high quality. Sharing the matter during the Special Press Conference on the Announcement of Implementation of the Grace Period for the Energy Efficiency Standards and Labelling Order 2021 yesterday morning, the Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy said the bill was aimed at promoting and encouraging the use of more efficient and energy-efficient targeted electrical appliances and be able to meet the energy needs of the public and consumers.

 

Pengiran Haji Jamra Weira bin Pengiran Haji Petra said, among the benefits of the bill is to assist the public in reducing electricity bill payment expenses, provide opportunities to increase national income cumulatively by 2035; Assist the country in reducing energy intensity to 45 per cent by 2035 and Assist the nation in its efforts towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill will enter the second phase of a grace period of one year from 14th of June 2021 to 13th of June 2022. According to him, during the grace period, the Ministry of Energy will organise several key activities including roadshow sessions nationwide. The enforcement of the bill will begin on the 14th of June 2022. The special press conference was held at the Prime Minister’s Office.

 

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University, UNISSA has received the Infaq Mushaf Al-Quran in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Public Service Department, JPA. The handover ceremony took place yesterday MORNING at the Department.

 

Three hundred and two Mushaf Al-Quran were handed over by Dr. Norfarizal bin Othman, Acting Director General of Public Service to Dr. Haji Norarfan bin Haji Zainal, Rector of UNISSA. Through the infaq, it is hoped to further improve the recitation of Al-Quran as a daily practice as well as a learning reference.

 

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

Universiti Brunei Darussalam, UBD’s Sports Complex has now been upgraded with renewable technologies targeted to create a healthy lifestyle environment and engagement of the community including the university’s staff and lecturers. The sports complex will be operated under the management of OSCO Sendirian Berhad.

 

The Project Manager of OSCO Sendirian Berhad, Jimmy Chan in his opening remarks among others said the facilities at the sports complex will adopt energy efficiency programmes and cost-effective measures aimed to reduce energy-consumption, environmental impact and operations cost. It has also created 25 direct jobs in which 80 per cent are filled with locals. The soft launching was officiated by Datin Doctor Dayang Hajah Anita Binurul Zahrina Binti Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Wijaya Dato Seri Setia Haji Awang Abdul Aziz, Vice Chancellor of UBD.

 

 

 

 

Source: Radio Television Brunei

 

Russia strongly supports diplomatic efforts by the ASEAN regional bloc to end the post-coup crisis in Myanmar, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during talks in Jakarta with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi on Tuesday.

Moscow’s top diplomat also took a veiled shot at the Washington-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) on the Indo-Pacific, saying the four-member group was attempting to undermine the centrality or lead role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the region.

“We reiterated our strong support for the ASEAN five principles,” Lavrov said in a joint press statement after talks with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

He was referring to a five-point consensus that Southeast Asian leaders hammered out during a special summit on Myanmar in late April.

“In our contacts with Myanmar leaders, military leaders, we promote the position of ASEAN which should be, in our view, considered as a basis for resolving this crisis and bringing the situation back to normalcy,” Lavrov said.

In a coup on Feb. 1, the Burmese military toppled the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, nearly 900 people have been killed by the military and police during daily anti-junta protests in the country, according to human rights groups.

The ASEAN consensus, reached during the summit in Jakarta on April 24, called for the appointment of a special envoy from the regional bloc to Myanmar, as well as an immediate end to the violence, among other points.

Retno, for her part, reiterated the importance of acting on the consensus.

“This requires the commitment of Myanmar military to cooperate with other ASEAN member countries to follow up on the five-point consensus,” she said.

More than two months since the summit, though, violence by Myanmar’s security forces continues and there is no sign of an ASEAN envoy, with critics saying the regional bloc squandered any momentum it had achieved in dealing with the crisis.

‘Positions of Russia and ASEAN coincide’

An ASEAN envoy’s appointment was “expected,” Lavrov told an Indonesian daily in an interview Tuesday, according to a transcript published online by the Russian foreign ministry.

An envoy from the bloc, coupled with Russia’s and ASEAN’s “coinciding” positions on how to approach the crisis in Myanmar – especially on the issue of imposing sanctions – would give additional impetus to joint efforts on Myanmar, he said.

“The positions of Russia and ASEAN also coincide when it comes to the rejection of unilateral sanctions, the rhetoric of threats and any attempts to interfere in Myanmar’s internal affairs,” Lavrov told Indonesian newspaper Rakyat Merdeka.

Sanctions are “destructive” and “can only increasingly polarize society and aggravate internal differences,” he said.

“We have a negative attitude to the continued attempts made by some states to use multilateral venues, including the U.N., to incite confrontation during the discussions of the developments in Myanmar.”

Last month, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Myanmar’s military to restore democratic rule, and urging member states to “prevent the flow of arms” to the country.

But ASEAN member-states Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand abstained from the vote, a sign that the regional bloc remained divided on the issue. Russia and China also abstained, with the former saying the resolution would not contribute to resolving the crisis in Myanmar.

Like Russia, China has also said it opposes sanctions on Myanmar and supports the ASEAN approach.

For international relations expert Dinna Prapto Raharja, Russian or Chinese support for ASEAN was unlikely to change things in Myanmar.

“Russia is a significant arms supplier to Myanmar. Russia has become one of China’s competitors in terms of providing weapons to the military junta in Myanmar,” Dinna told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

“In my opinion, the current situation is still deadlocked as far as leadership change in Myanmar is concerned, and as a result, uncertainty about the protection of civil society in Myanmar will persist.”

Another analyst said ASEAN was only concerned about regional stability.

“As long as there’s stability, and it has the support of external partners that under these circumstances ASEAN remains united, it is enough,” Gilang Kembara, an international relations researcher at the Jakarta-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told BenarNews.

“The issue of who will lead Myanmar or who will be the special envoy takes a back seat.”

‘Dividing lines’

In emphasizing ASEAN’s centrality, Lavrov seemed to take aim at Washington.

He said there were attempts to create “dividing lines” that undercut ASEAN’s lead role in the region – an apparent reference to the U.S.-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) on the Indo-Pacific, an alliance which Beijing has branded as anti-China.

The Quad consists of the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia.

“We pointed out that there was no alternative to the integration principles of ASEAN,” Lavrov said.

“We also said that we saw attempts to create overlapping mechanisms and draw dividing lines. These activities involve non-regional players that don’t uphold the principles that ASEAN established in the past decades.”

Two weeks ago, Lavrov had said that the Quad countries were “not even hiding their goals” vis-à-vis ASEAN.

The Quad’s Indo-Pacific strategy “was designed to blatantly belittle the constructive and unifying role of ASEAN in the region in order to reformat it for the purpose of containing China and isolating Russia,” Lavrov said at the Moscow Conference on International Security on June 24.

However, the U.S., the European Union, and the Group of Seven Nations (G7) have consistently and repeatedly stressed the centrality of ASEAN in the region, including in the crisis in Myanmar.

Lavrov arrived in Indonesia on Monday as part of a Southeast Asian tour, which also took him to Brunei. After Jakarta, he was scheduled to visit Laos.

 

 

 

Radio Free Asia –Copyright © 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036Radio Free Europe–Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.