By Azrol Azmi
His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, the Crown Prince and Senior Minister at the Prime Minister's Office, yesterday paid a working visit to the Prime Minister's Office and attended a meeting with permanent secretaries from government ministries.
Among the questions raised by His Royal Highness during meetings with the senior officials were: "What are the ministries' actions after every Titah by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam?" and "Is the e-Government implementation on schedule and has it met its objectives as planned?"
Yesterday's day-long itinerary started at the Istana Nurul Iman where His Royal Highness was greeted by Pehin Dato Awang Haji Yahya, Minister of Energy, Dato Paduka Haji Eusoff Agaki bin Haji Ismail, Deputy Minister at the Prime Minister Office, as well as senior government officials.
His Royal Highness consented to visit the Secretariat Building in the capital for a briefing on the functions of the Prime Minister's Office, including the strategic planning, organisational structure as well as the Prime Minister's Office's e-government plan that was presented by the Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Abdul Hamid, Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office.
His Royal Highness attended a question-and-answer session and visited divisions of the Prime Minister's Office at the Secretariat Building such as the Financial Division, Administration, Information Technology Division, PMONet Data Centre and the Planning and Cabinet Affairs Division.
His Royal Highness consented to attend zohor prayers at the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. After lunch and get- together with the staff and officers of the Prime Minister's Office, His Royal Highness met with the permanent secretaries from the ministries at the Asean-EC Management Centre.
His Royal Highness consented to present a sabda, stressing on several issues such as improving on ethical and competitive working culture including establishing an administrative system that is responsive and adaptive towards new development and future challenges.
His Royal Highness stressed the practice of a consultation culture between all levels, being more transparent and future-looking as well as giving due attention on long-term planning. His Royal Highness also emphasised the importance of improving services to the public.
The working visit reflected the support given to His Majesty in ensuring that the government agencies will always be responsive and ready for any developments. The visit reflected His Royal Highness' concern towards work implementation and responsibilities of the ministries, especially the Prime Minister's Office as a national administrative centre as well as a catalyst for all public sectors to execute their duties with dedication and diligence as well as to be more efficient.
- Borneo Bulletin
(10th August 2005)
