Happy Day for Civil Servants, Bonuses Awarded

Members of the civil service have been rewarded with annual bonuses.  The reward is another form of incentive given by the Government as an appreciation for the services rendered by civil servants throughout last year.

Tuesday was indeed a happy day for members of the civil service.  Not only did they receive their monthly salary, but on top of that they also received their much waited annual bonus.  Banks in Brunei anticipted heavy withdrawals of cash but when an RTB crew went around banks in the capital Tuesday morning, the crowd was relatively small.  This could be attributed to the wet weather that Bandar Seri Begawan experienced yesterday morning, or the use of automatic teller machines spread throughout the country or most probably because government officers were too busy at work, in line with the government intention to increase productivity.

The amount of the bonuses paid by the government is in accordance with the scale of the salary of the recipients.  It varies from one and a half month for junior officers to a half a month’s pay for senior officials.

The payment of bonuses indeed came in at a timely manner as most Bruneians have already spent heavily during the Hari Raya festivities as well as the recent Chinese New Year.  At least the bonuses can relieve and lessen the burden on a family’s economy.

Another form of rewards for government officials is the awarding of medals, which coincidentally also took place Tuesday.  Other rewards include the overseas passage for officials and their family, which is given every three years.  It can be said that Brunei government officials are well rewarded compared to civil servants in other countries.

However, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Dipertuan of Brunei Darussalam has constantly reminded the civil servants to deliver more in meeting the expectations of the nation, especially the public.  The latest of such calls was made when His Majesty called for quality civil service.  According to records, there are a total of 58 thousand civil servants serving a population of about three hundred thousand citizens, a ratio of one civil servant for every five person in the country.