Before the oil, it was coal

Before the oil, it was coal
Rozan Yunos
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN



Saturday, April 14, 2007


SINCE the discovery of oil in 1929, Brunei Darussalam had been known as an oil-exporting country to the point that it is almost impossible to remember a time when Brunei had to rely on other exports.

Believe it or not, there have been many exports in the past. Our famous camphor was one, others were timber, cutch, rubber and surprisingly, coal.

Coal was reportedly first found in the Kianggeh river as early as 1837, attracting the attention of Americans.

In 1841, the American ship "Constitution" arrived in Brunei Town to negotiate a treaty of commerce and friendship but the offer was refused.

The coal mine at Kianggeh was later operated by Pengiran Yusof and from 1846 to 1883, the Brunei coal deposits remained unexploited except for local consumption.

Coal played an important role in the world economy before oil. Steamships, trains and the engines for the industrial revolution in Europe relied on coal for their fuel.

In fact the discovery of coal in Labuan in 1844 led to the British decision to annex the island from Brunei with their gunboat diplomacy forcing the Sultan to sign the agreement.

However, it was in Serai Pimping, Muara that coal was mined extensively. The Muara coalmine was first mined commercially in 1883, when William Cowie was given the concession rights to mine the coal in exchange for $1,200 per year.

However, Cowie later sold his rights to Rajah Charles Brooke and the Rajah renamed the mine Brooketon (Brooke Town).

Between the years of 1889 and 1924, it was operated by the Sarawak government.

At first the mine was opencast the early miners used changkul (hoes), shovels and hammers the method is simple but very slow and unproductive. With increasing demand, the operation expanded underground.

Brooketon Colliery was strategic as it was very near to Muara where there is a safe deep-water anchorage to which the mine was connected via rail.

With the more sophisticated mining methods, railways, wharfs and other advanced equipment were needed.

A rail line that connected Brooketon in Serai Pimping was built. Muara itself also grew. Before the mine, Muara was a small hamlet occupied by fishermen but by 1911, more than 1,447 people lived in Muara and some 30 shops had opened.

Politically too, even though he only had economic rights, Brooke became the "ruler" of the area.

The mine employed hundreds of miners and that required him to introduce a police force, post office and roads transforming Muara into an "extraterritorial" settlement an extension of Sarawak. It was not until 1921 that Muara was "returned" to Brunei.

The Brooketon Colliery closed down in 1924 because of heavy financial losses caused by continuously decreasing coal prices in the world economic recession as well as the discovery and search for oil to replace coal.

The Muara coal mine opened for a short while during the Japanese occupation in the Second World War but production was limited for local consumption only.

Recently the Museums Department announced that it wanted to turn the historical 62-hectare coal mine as an open site museum to promote the country's eco-tourism.

The Brooketon coalmine is currently already a protected site under the Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act.

Maybe one day, Brunei can mine the coal again. In the meantime, it is being kept as one of Brunei's treasures and legacy for the future. After the discovery of oil, Bruneians seem to forget how lucky we are and how rich our country is.

While we have the oil and the natural gas but, in terms of natural resources, we also have the silica sand, the peat which can be converted into energy, the coal, the methane gas and the trees. In the old days, these natural resources had made Bruneians great traders trading our goods far and wide.

Unfortunately we seemed to have lost that skill with most of us now preferring to be civil servants, sitting down in air-conditioned rooms and pushing papers.

The Brunei Times

Human capital critical to growth

Human capital critical to growth


Ryokichi Hirono: Human capital is important. Picture: Husin Ismail

Saturday, March 17, 2007


BRUNEI must further invest in human capital and exploit ideas including those put forward by young people, an Economics professor from Japan said yesterday.

Speaking to The Brunei Times, Ryokichi Hirono, professor emeritus in Economics of Seikei University, said, "If young people have good ideas, this can be exploited. Government must take up the leadership, exploit these ideas."

He cited as an example Japan which has invested a lot of money in human capital, and this has led to its rise as one of the most advanced countries.

People in Japan have developed all kinds of industries said Hirono, who was one of the speakers at the recent forum on Perspectives on Implementation Strategies for National Development Policies organised by the Centre for Strategic and Policy Studies.

Investments in human capital is important, he said, noting that an educated workforce is critical to surviving the global competition.

At the moment, the country is rich with natural resources, and the country is "being run okay", but Bruneians must prepare themselves for sustained economic growth and this is achieved through effective policies.

In a government, there are many types of policies which can lead to development of sectors which range from tourism to agriculture.

However, in some cases "policies are made but not implemented. They are easy to make but harder to implement. Countries in Southeast Asia have beautiful policies but they are not implemented," said the Japanese professor.

The Brunei Times

Thai town's trade dies as Malaysia tightens border

Thai town's trade dies as Malaysia tightens border


Border ties: A worker packages Thai-produced rice sold at a hut in the Thai border town of Pekan Mundok, March 1. Business in this dusty, once-bustling Thai village has gone quiet in recent days after Malaysia tightened its border. Picture: AFP
PEKAN MUNDOK, THAILAND

Monday, March 5, 2007

THE morning crowd from Malaysia usually consisted of housewives. They jumped onto rickety wooden boats from Bukit Lata, in northeastern Kelantan state, for a two-minute ride across the filthy Golok River to Pekan Mundok town in Thailand's insurgency-hit Narathiwat province.

But the housewives have stopped coming in recent days after Malaysia tightened its border, and business in this dusty, once-bustling Thai village has gone quiet.

The merchants who sell everything from rice to wild birds and fishing equipment from dilapidated zinc-covered shops worry Malaysia's crackdown on illegal border crossings will further undermine southern Thailand's impoverished economy. And they say Thailand's proposal to extend a wall along the frontier will only worsen their plight.

Tighter security at the border came after Thailand's army-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and his counterpart from Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed last month to boost their cooperation in a bid to end three years of separatist unrest in the south of the majority Buddhist kingdom.

There is no official border post at this town, and until recently residents on both sides could cross at will, albeit illegally. That has changed.

"Look, the Malaysian police (are) over there," Bakri Che Mat, 42, a Muslim Thai, said as he pointed to two Malaysian security personnel armed with M-16 rifles on the other side of the river. "They have been there for a week now and Malaysians can no longer cross," he said. "I do not know why the police are preventing Malaysians from coming here. It is safe here. No bombs here," he said.

Residents on the Thai side depended on income from their southern neighbours "for our survival", he added.

At their recent meeting, the Thai and Malaysian leaders said they would continue efforts to end dual nationality for people on both sides of the frontier.

Many southern Thais also hold a Malaysian passport, which security forces say makes it easier for insurgents to slip back and forth across the border to escape arrest.

Militants responded to the leaders' cooperation by staging almost 50 Lunar New Year bombings, shootings and arson attacks that left nine dead in the south, where a majority are Muslims like their Malaysian neighbours.

In the biggest clash since those bombings, at least eight separatist militants were killed Friday in a gun battle with Thai troops who raided an insurgent training camp in Narathiwat near the border, security officials said.

Walking on the deserted red-stone track, which passes for a main road around Pekan Mundok, leaves a visitor with an eerie feeling, as if one is being watched.

The town has only about 500 residents but close to 50 merchants, a testament to the amount of business that used to come from Malaysia. Now they can only sit around, waiting for customers who no longer come.

Hamid Harun, 60, who sells birds and fishing gear, said life was "really difficult now". "I used to earn about 300 ringgit (US$86) daily, but now on some days, nothing at all," he said.

"Please don't let your Muslim brothers suffer," Hamid urged Malaysia, adding that trade links benefited people on both sides of the border.

Bakri, who sells rice on the Thai side, said his daily revenue of about 500 ringgit (US$143) dropped by at least 70 per cent in the past week. "Tourists from Bangkok are not coming here because of security fears in the south and now Malaysians are not crossing over. We are as good as dead now." AFP