Social Policy

CSPS Brunei Pension Report (2007)

Amongst others, this study in collaboration with American Insurance Group (AIG) and World Bank recommended for:

  • an additional pension on top of the Employee Provident Fund (TAP) in order to provide for all private and public sector employees in Brunei Darussalam.
  • increasing the mandatory retirement age for citizens and permanent residents by five years from 55 to 60.

Both recommendations have been applied by the Government leading to the introduction of the Supplementary Contributory Pension (SCP) scheme.

This study has been published as a CSPS Report in 2007.

National Study on Social Problems Among Youth People in Brunei Darussalam (2014)

This is a study commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) which was conducted by University of Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and CSPS. A sample of 2,868 youth respondents were surveyed and 152 in depth interviews were conducted.

The aim of the study is to try identify common and emerging patterns of social problems among youth between 15 to 26 years old and to determine the causes of such behaviours or occurrences. A Social Problems Index (SPI) was also formulated to measure the severity of each problem.

Nine categories of social problems were studied:

  • Truancy
  • Violence & Public Disorder
  • Drugs & Substance Abuse & Trafficking
  • Vandalism
  • Theft
  • Sexual Deviation
  • Personal Safety
  • Bully & Exploitation & Abuse
  • Financial Hardship

Financial hardship is the most serious problem with a score of 39%, followed by Violence & Public Disorder (33%), Truancy (29%) and Bully & Abuse (22%). Although it is very likely that Brunei Darussalam’s SPI is not to the high levels of other countries, it needs noting that the SPI is not satisfactory and has just about reached the level where immediate policy attention is required.

A number of interrelated possible causes were identified and the Report has been submitted to MCYS.

This paper has been published as a CSPS Working Paper in 2014

The Brunei Darussalam Mid-Term Review of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint (2013)

The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Blueprint consists of a total of 339 action lines relating to human development, welfare, justice, environment, regional identity, and the development gap.

CSPS carried out the mid-term review for Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the ASEAN Secretariat to assess the extent to which Brunei Darussalam has implemented the action lines, through projects initiated between January 2009 to December 2012, in fourteen different sectors, namely Information, Culture & Arts, Education, Disaster Management, Environment, Health, Labour, Civil Service, Science and Technology, Rural Development & Poverty Eradication, Social Welfare & Development, Women, Youth and Sports.

The ASEAN Secretariat and MCYS have adopted CSPS’ Mid-Term Review Report of the ASCC Blueprint for Brunei Darussalam.