Some Numbers to Ponder

The school opened for new term last week. I was astounded to read in the paper that there are now about 110,000 students attending schools from the age of 3 to 18 years old. Beyond that age, a few more thousands are studying at HND or university level.

Here are some more scary numbers to ponder. What that means on average they will be about 5,000 school leavers entering the job market every year. With people retiring from our large public sector which I guesstimate to be about 100,000 strong, it would be presumed that around 3,000 jobs are made available to the job seekers every year. The rest are probably supplied by private sectors or new industries or businesses.

Now with the recent extension of retirement age by 5 year, I fear that the annual supply of jobs from both public and private sectors through retirement is all gone. So for the next 5 years, somebody need to find serious alternatives to replace the 25,000 jobs which would have been made available to the job seekers.

Another Statistics on the Road

Yesterday on my way back from Bandar, I saw a couple of vehicular self-accidents along the highway. It was raining heavily. I dreaded to see those lovely cars ending up severely damaged. Normally in accidents like these when people are asked what had happened, the common answer is that the road was slippery and dangerous. One would hardly hear anybody admitting that they were driving too fast on a rainy day in a road that is known to have puddles and slippery spots. There is nothing we can do about the road, so best thing is for everybody to take care of themselves and their cars and to drive even more carefully.

The other thing is the bad habit of not switching on headlamp during heavy rains. The same thing also applies when it is getting dark during dawn or early dusk. Some people reckoned that by switching on their car's headlamp it wasted their car battery life. Some even claim that they have a pair of sharp eyes and don't see the need to switch on the car's lights to see ahead of them. Well, they might have a pair of hawk's eyes, but most other road users do not. Please help them to see your cars before they accidentally hit you.

Trying to be Fit

Early morning running as usual today. But this time I skipped the Bukit Shahbandar as the morning looked a bit gloomy and yesterday it rained heavily half way whilst running at that place. Somehow there is a big difference in the weather between Tutong and Bandar as if these two places are countries apart.

As of today I now almost reached my normal fitness again, managed to run twenty rounds on the track near our home. The track was busy filled by the regular runners who have been doing that over many years. The non-runners perhaps were still slumbering in their sleep. But then we are not renowned for being a sporting nation.

If one were to drive around during late afternoon, one would hardly see people playing football any more. For whatever playing fields in the local schools that were available before, they have now been fenced off to protect the new running track and mini grandstand that were added recently. So the only facilities available to the public are few and far. No doubt facilities are getting better, but our grass roots, our kids, somehow find it difficult to cultivate or pick up any sports. So for a small nation like us, it means only a very small fraction takes up sport. So little wonder when we participate in any international sport event we struggle to win many medals. We only got a gold medal in the last SEA game.

The level of obesity is also on the rise. Most people nowadays do not take any sports at all. If one were to see the doctors, they would always advise that we do some exercise, at least three times a week. Otherwise we will not realise the silence killer lurking in ourselves - that we become weaker, less resistance and get easily fatigue as we aged.

Shaping the Future

It's already three days into the new year and only now I have time to blog. We didn't do any celebration or BBQ on new year's eve. We had a prayer and tahlil function though at the family's home, I thought that was the best and most meaningful event to usher in the new year.

So what will 2010 going to be like. My real wish is that .....we all stop living in borrowed times and start to do the real things for Bumi Bertuah so there will still be real hope for the future for our kids and children when the oil dries out. Too many people are still living in a dream and only thinking of what is the next thing they want to get for themselves.

For yours truly, I hope I could make a real difference for Bumi Bertuah. Insyallah. All the rezeki only comes from God the Almighty. We as human could only do as best as we could.