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BRUNEI: Civil Society &
Conflict Avoidance: the case of Brunei Darussalem
by Dr. Hj Sainah Hj Saim
The ‘public’, especially as subjects or residents
of a country or the ‘civil society’, is considered
to be volunteering, self-generating in initiatives, largely
self-supporting, autonomous of the state and bound by
a legal order or set of shared rules. Civil society usually
refers to organised entities and/or activities of citizens
at all levels.
Such characteristics should be said to apply to Brunei
Darussalam’s society. Nonetheless, the Bruneian
society is a homogenous society, predominantly based
on the Malay culture and the Islamic religion. Consequently, ‘the
public’ of Brunei Darussalam is mainly its rakyat
or citizens, and the ‘civil society’ in Brunei
Darussalam is mainly the citizens and residents of the
country as well as their entities. These will be discussed
later in this paper.
The Concept of Participation
In the 1970s, participation and consultation were seen
as components of community involvement in public affairs.
This concern returned in the 1990s. They are currently
identified as ‘democratic’ activities by
some local authorities. Interest in participation has
been renewed in a general context of concerns about democracy,
accountability and control, and transparency.
“Participation can be defined as a process through which stakeholders’ shape
and share control over development initiatives” (Brinkerhoff/Goldsmith 2001:4)
“Participatory development is defined as a process which involves people
actively and substantially in all decisions that affect their lives” (BMZ
1999:2)
“Participation means political and social participation in the material
and cultural goods of a society, and is therefore the opposite of marginality” (Nohlen/Nuschelere,
Handbuch der Dritten Welt, Ban1, Hamburg, 3 Auflage 1992)
Participation is wider in conception since it includes
consultation. The latter is largely a government-initiated
activity which drives the involvement of the government
as initiator and mediator, rather than consulter, and
the people as the consultees, while the former includes
both government and public involvement in general.
Richardson (1983, in Massam, 1993:144) takes ‘participation’ to
imply some action that entails more than taking individual
responsibility - it also involves sharing in an activity
with others. It follows that as a normative statement,
participation at the formative stage of planning must
be complemented by actions at the time of execution and
monitoring. Given that the essential purposes of participation
are to improve service delivery, and to have meaningful
control over the provision which reflects the values
of citizens while recognising the inherent practical
difficulties in evaluation, it is not surprising that
opinions differ as to the means to achieve effective
participation. As an individual and group activity, participation
can be viewed both as an end in itself, as ‘a manifestation
of liberty and freedom of expression at all stages of
a planning process, and as a means to secure more efficient
and effective use of resources to cater to expressed
needs within a dynamic evolving planning system’ (Massam,
1993:146).
In essence, participation involves three main components:
articulation, integration, and communication. In terms
of articulation, participation refers to the ability
and freedom of the public or community to express or
voice their views and opinions on the services provided
by the public organisations. These different interests,
views and opinions are collectively aggregated, in terms
of integration, into public interests, demands or opinions.
As a means of communication, participation involves a
two-way association to make known opinions, feelings,
information, and so forth, or understood by others, share
or exchange by speech, writings, or bodily movements.
The participation of civil society in terms of its three
main components above will be beneficial and favourable
to the stability and tranquillity of a country and to
balance its power structure. Hence, it is a means to
avoid or prevent conflict.
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