u/No_Satisfaction_4801

Heyo, a curious question to people who bought their Rolls brand new:

What do you do for a living to be able to afford one? Do you have your own business? Have you climbed the career ladder? Do you have any advice for someone in their late 20s who would one day like to own one?

I recently read the CPS BEO 2026 Paper and here are several things I found interesting:

• Repeated emphasis on the importance of stable electricity supply
  • Most likely due to the repeated power cuts we've witnessed recently with the ageing infrastructure paired with its heavy reliance by companies such as BMC, Hengyi, BFI, BLNG
  • The above is also probably why Hengyi has its own power station and is actively kickstarting a solar initiative (Project SINAR)
• Hengyi crude oil feedstock requirement (185k bbl/day) is larger than Brunei's current output (~100k)
  • It is also preferential for Hengyi to import lower grades of crude as Brunei fields provide Light & Sweet Crude, which commands a higher spot price
• US$75.6 is the government's fiscal balance breakeven price. Above this = surplus, below this deficit
  • It is also repeatedly noted that the current middle east conflict should be viewed as a temporary boon for Brunei's coffers, any surplus from this should be saved instead of being allocated for additional government expenditure as it is expected that once the conflict subsides, the spot price will normalize due to the global electrification trend away from o&g
• Unemployment rate have almost halved from 8.4% in 2017 to 4.7% in 2024
  • As DEPS does not officially release income figures, my hunch is that whilst employment have increased, salary have actually fallen. How else is the private sector affording to hire these extra people under deteriorating business conditions, if not the above.
• The drop in the number of foreigners employed in 'Professional, Technical, Administrative and Support Service Activities' is nearly equal to the increase in local employment in the field, suggesting these roles have increasly been filled by local Bruneians
• The majority of Bruneian locals are actually employed by Private Companies (90k roles) vs government at 60k.
  • There has been a downtrend in public employment over the years. They might not be making public servants redundant, but it is clear that they are not hiring as they have previously. Less public servants = less public expenditure. One can see this as the 'Bruneian way' (to not kick up dust), as similarly seen with BSP.

I was recently speaking to a colleague and they went on full Sky News rant about how the government was going to start taxing our savings, how we should all move to Singapore where income is taxed lightly and how they aren't benefitting off the taxes they pay. I've also noticed this 'me me me' pattern across Aussies of different age groups and ethnicities.

It got me thinking, do Aussies not feel as if they are benefiting from the tax they pay?

Being a first gen immigrant of a low-tax country, I am grateful for well paved roads, free public schools, cheap healthcare, free clean drinking water and functioning government services. Where I am from, unless you bribe someone working at the associated department, your shit won't get done anytime soon lol.

Also, having had to take care of a relative who had cancer in Australia, I am grateful for Medicare and the funding of it as it meant they did not have to pay a single cent for all the specialist sessions, being taken care of round the clock by nurses, chemotherapy medicines, hospital stays, mental health counselling, nutritionist support, and being shuttled between home and the cancer centre daily for treatment.

To me, Australia is easy mode for anyone who would like to become moderately rich (<$2m) as the government's essentially given you a leg up regardless of your background. If you put my colleagues, with their work ethic in Singapore, they won't stand a chance holding a similar role there, hence they probably won't earn as much in the first place.

I would like to think that people here aren't saying that they hate paying taxes, but rather would like to see better use of it, which I can understand.

Found this little gem today. There were plans to build a range of industries in Sungal Liang, including Aluminium Smeltering, Elastomers, Methanol & Ammonia/Urea fertilizer production with operations commencing between mid 2007 and late 2010.

Let's compare the 'forecasted timelines' with the present situation:

Aluminium Smeltering
- Did not materialize

Elastomers
- Did not materialize

Methanol
- Brunei Methanol Company (BMC) was founded through a JV between PB, Mitsubishi and Itochu
- Operational in 2010 vs estimated mid-2007

Ammonia/Urea
- Though the intial potential partners were either Incitec (Australia) or MC (Japan), Brunei Fertilizer Industries (BFI) decided to set up a joint venture with ThyssenKrupp (Germany)
- Operational in 2022 vs estimated mid-2008

It is also interesting that PMB was identified as a potential 'Mega Port' way back in 2004. Fast forward to today, it is also a petrochemical industrial complex.

For many years, Belait has been described as the cashcow district with the lion share of government revenue spent in Brunei Muara instead. 70-75% of country exports and nearly 50-60% of GDP originates from this small district of 67,900 residents. If we were our own country, we would have a GDP of over USD$139,000. This would put us fourth in the world, just in front of Switzerland.

Decades of spending disparity has resulted in what can be seen in Belait today - poorly maintained roads, frequent utility disruption, ailing public facilities, insufficient staffing at government healthcare institutions, delayed government services and frequent floods to name a few examples.

Sadly, this has become such a norm that it's ingrained in Belait residents that we are told THIS IS TO BE EXPECTED. Queue early, if not numbers run out, THIS IS TO BE EXPECTED. Passport renewal? Machine breakdown, need to send to Bandar, THIS IS TO BE EXPECTED. Emergency? No specialist here, need to send to Bandar, THIS IS TO BE EXPECTED.

Not only that, you get orang bukit Bandar jeering at Belait residents on how we would need to tree swing to get to places and how they've never been to Belait their whole life and it's just a stopover to Miri. Now that oil production has fallen off a cliff, any guess what's coming next for our great country?

I've colleagues who seem innocent on the outside and happy in their relationship, cheat with colleagues at the office. What more some are hijabis. Does being in a stressful environment and working long hours with colleagues turn on a "horny" switch in some people? 🤣