BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Legislative Council (LegCo) member Rosmawatty Abdul Mumin proposed that the government focuses on five critical National Outcomes, during the Second Meeting of the 22nd LegCo Session on Monday (Aug 3).
She highlighted economic growth, employment, poverty eradication, food security, and energy security as the five key outcomes.
She added that the success of these outcomes depends on creating a national outcomes framework, accelerating project approvals and implementation, strengthening the matching and placement process, focusing on quality and resilience, and creating the National Wawasan Dashboard.
Focusing on economic growth, she said all economic policies and proposals should be assessed based on their impact and feasibility, with initiatives mapped against clear national outcomes such as productivity, investment, exports, local enterprise development, quality employment, and income growth.
She also called for an integrated mechanism to streamline processes related to foreign direct investment (FDI), including licensing, land, planning, utilities, and workforce requirements.
To improve implementation, she proposed appointing a dedicated project leader for every strategic investment project to coordinate the work of relevant ministries and agencies until projects become fully operational.
She added that the success of FDI should be measured not by announced investments or approvals alone, but by the value of investments realised and the number of projects that commence operations, while also contributing to productivity, exports, quality jobs, and higher incomes.
On employment, Rosmawatty emphasised the need to coordinate education, training, job placement, and industrial development under a single National Outcome.
She said employment success should be measured through actual job placements, skills matching, income levels, and employee retention, rather than simply the number of vacancies or training participants.
She also called for stronger collaboration between educational institutions, training providers, employment agencies, and industry.
She also said job seekers should receive skills assessments, career guidance, and structured employment pathways, while employers should provide clear information on skills requirements and salary levels.
Turning to energy security, she called for the establishment of an integrated framework linking projected energy demand with supply capacity, population growth, industrial expansion, and infrastructure planning.
The LegCo member noted that energy security extends beyond supply adequacy to include affordability, reliability, resilience, and sustainability.
Among her recommendations were systematic upgrades to energy infrastructure, improved emergency preparedness, protection of critical facilities such as hospitals and water systems, diversification of energy sources, greater use of renewable energy where appropriate, and improved energy efficiency across government, industry, and households.
She said shared key performance indicators should monitor generation capacity, reserve margins, the frequency and duration of supply disruptions, and recovery times following outages.
Rosmawatty also voiced her full support for the motion on strengthening government coordination, describing the appointment of the three coordinating ministers as a significant step towards ensuring the effective implementation of Brunei Vision 2035.
Speaking during the debate, she said the appointments reflected the aspirations outlined in the titah of His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, who had emphasised that ministries could no longer operate in silos with less than a decade remaining before the target year of Brunei Vision 2035.
She said the coordinating ministers would play an important role in bringing together government priorities, addressing cross-ministerial issues, and strengthening collaboration to achieve common national objectives.
Rosmawatty concluded by emphasising that the greatest challenge of Brunei Darussalam is no longer planning but implementing policies quickly and effectively through stronger coordination.
She also highlighted the importance of maintaining open communication with the public to obtain feedback and assess whether development initiatives are delivering meaningful benefits to the people. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN
