I have long been adamant that there is no poverty in Brunei. Yes, there are less financially able people but these people don’t starve, their kids are still able to go to school, they don’t live in the landfill or at squatters settlement.

The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports on 18 Nov 2019 shared some new initiatives for the ministry, one of which is “a review of the action plan on the issue of poverty.” This  implies that the issue of poverty exists in the country. The Minister further mentioned about an initiative called the “Poverty Eradication Plan Programme.” What? Not only we have poverty, it has already reached a point that a programme is needed to eradicate it? Where was I when this so-called “poverty” made its debut in Brunei??

Poverty is not an enigma – there are dictionary definition, the UN definition, the World Bank definition, national definition, etc. These definitions all imply to one thing, which is the inability to meet basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, education, etc) necessary for a minimum standard of living. I am yet to be convinced that there are starving people in Brunei who live on the street and all. If what poverty widely means has changed, certainly I never get the memo.