Skip to main content

I said it before and I'll say it again...

I'm in a retrospective mood today... Below is a piece I wrote for Asia-inc in 2002. Four years on, we are still struggling to address the same challenges that I outlined. It seems to me that the ICT industry in Brunei is bleeding slowly to death (some are already dead) from this paralysis caused by analysis. I wish I could be as candid as my friend Pat when it comes to giving my two cents about these things but that's not my style, so I just leave it at that :)
In the wake of the financial crisis of 1997 and the plummeting price of oil at that time, His Majesty's government set up the Brunei Darussalam Economic Council to review the economy and to suggest ways to strengthen it. In the Council's report, a central theme was the need for Brunei to diversify its economy away from its traditional dependence on oil and gas.

Amongst the elements recommended to help diversify the economy was the development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. This resulted in a flurry of activity in the ICT sector from both the government and private sector. Admittedly, these activities are limited only to second (system integration) and third (supply & maintenance) tier projects. Little or no first tier (research and development) activity is currently underway.

Brunei's economy has always been primarily government driven. Predictably, the activities of Brunei's fledgling ICT industry are mainly centered around government related projects.

Under the 8th National Development Plan, the Brunei government has allocated over B$900 million for the development of the ICT sector. A substantial part of this budget is devoted to the development of infrastructure for the government's "e- Government" initiative to apply information technology to the operations of government.

The "E-Government" initiative will expand the breadth and depth of the fledgling ICT industry in Brunei from merely piecemeal projects addressing vertical needs, to multi-million dollar projects which address the horizontal needs of government.

The Ministry of Finance flagship called TAFIS is the first of these massive projects to rollout. Other projects which have been identified as flagships include Human Resource Management System (HRMIS), Multipurpose Smart Card, EG Centre Services, EG Bandwidth Services, e-Health, e-Education, Mukim.net and the Brunei Darussalam Eco-Cyber Park.

All these flagships point towards government being the leading edge user of ICT in Brunei. ICT is now beginning to be seen within government as a profit center rather than purely from a procurement perspective.

In line with the global trend to outsource information system management processes, the Brunei government is also moving towards an outsourcing model. This is a welcome development as it will generate plenty of downstream activities especially in the ICT services sector.

The trend is also towards localization of the ICT industry in Brunei and one of the most welcome moves from which the private sector will benefit greatly is the setting up of the Brunei Information Technology (BIT) Corporation under the business development plan of the Brunei Information Technology Council.

As a corporate body, the BIT corporation will focus on the promotion and development of an indigenous ICT industry. It will also form partnerships with others to carry out its functions which include:
  • research and strategic innovations,
  • corporate and business developments,
  • technology park related developments,
  • research and development information technology in line with Brunei's national information technology mission and national philosophy,
  • and other relevant ICT activities.
The challenges ahead as I see it are as follows:

Human resources - How do we develop ICT literate human resources to service the ICT Industry both within and outside Brunei? Brunei's ICT industry requires a new breed of worker, the "knowledge worker". The industry emphasizes the need for creativity and innovation. Our education system may need to adjust itself according to the new requirements of the new economy.

Government - How quickly can government turn itself into the leading edge user? How do we address the problem of "over-cautiousness" and inertia in government? With the current drive towards electronic government, the Brunei government has the opportunity to progress up the IT maturity scale fairly quickly. The problem of "over-cautiousness" can be addressed when there is an increase in empowerment within the ranks of the civil service to make certain decisions which will benefit the nation at the end of the day.

Private/Business sector - How do we foster a private/ business sector capable of anticipating and seizing opportunities rather than simply reacting to developments? Brunei Darussalam's E-Initiatives present a unique opportunity for the private/business sector to develop itself through implementation of large scale IT projects like the e-government flagships. This is an opportunity not to be missed and the private/business sector needs to adopt a pro-active approach in educating and creating awareness among their government counterparts on what is available out there.

Comments

  1. Care to update the article in light of recent developments? ;)

    My 2 cents: plans are afoot but the little train that could can't move as fast as it wants (or go where it wants too) because of bureaucracy and (lack of) leadership.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tks Tina, I'm currently working on an updated piece which is half-way done. I don't think it'll be done until the results of the current review and plans for the next steps are made public... In the meantime, we all await with bated breath on the future of the ICT industry :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Try get your hands on the e-Govt review (recent release) and the BEDB's Monitor Group Report (from last year or early this year, I forget).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mr Reeds, yup I agree with another anonymous, this topic should be updated regularly regardless what stage it has reached...may give impression that nothing has moved since you wrote on it..au contraire a lot of things have progressed since. its whether people understand it or not whether know it at all..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Migration Complete...

If you recall, sometime ago, I was toying with the idea of migrating to the wordpress platform. Today, that idea becomes a reality. The migration to wordpress is complete and all posts from today onwards will be at http://anakbrunei.org Do bear with me for the next couple of weeks while I figure out the ins and outs of wordpress hehe. This site will remain visible for archive purposes. Thank you and see you over at the new pad !

Nina the Bartina Pt II

My full review of Casino Royale as heard on the Jenny M Show on Kristal FM this morning: Daniel Craig is definitely a Bond for the ladies ‘Ard as, on the outside, but soft as on the inside Similar to his character XXXX in Layer Cake, or Dennis Waterman’s character Terry in that British gangster series “Minder”. At some points he actually reminded me of Bruce Willis in DieHard! Pecs similar to mine… if seen in certain light lah Still cannot beat Sean Connery in my book Highlights: Vertigo inducing chase in Madagascarian construction site The sarcastic exchange when he first meets Vesper Lynd (ooo ladies love it don’t they?) The “Stephanie Broadchest” line made me chuckle The poker game was intriguing but still can’t figure out Texas Hold’em Poker The scenery was gorgeous esp. Bahamas and Montenegro… WOW Lowlights: The Pout.. gets annoying after a while Bit slow esp. the bits where he’s playing lovey dovey with Vespa. Felt like I was watching Gone with the Wind at one stage… The ladie