(I'm still fairly new to Reddit and uncertain whether or not I am doing anything right or wrong, so I appreciate as much feedback as possible. Some people might recognize me as the teen looking for jobs in a recent post on this same subreddit.)
Primary Question;
"How safe, really, is Brunei nowadays?"
This question arose for me when I had initiated a conversation with my father in the otherwise unbearably quiet car one morning, "We live in such a nice and populated neighborhood with open streets and stores/stalls. How come only a small fraction of us actually are able to walk around freely?"
Which, unfortunately gave him the cue to launch into a lecture about how streets were unsafe nowadays.
His main point was "Back then, we could trust people and the fellow neighbours in our area— nowadays, it's as if there are a larger percentage of people with ill intentions, another percentage of people who only bother to watch, and the lesser percentage being people who actually want to help if somebody were in trouble." He'd categorized the latter as elderly people or familiar individuals— I helped him put it into words and eventually came to the conclusion, some people lack integrity. Some people lean towards flight rather than fight. Some people would rather stay quiet. Some people would rather forgive and forget. Some people have better things to do, and some people would rather record from a very, very far distance.
I find this very troubling as a girl, and for any fellow women who might simply think they were free and safe to roam around in the supposedly protected streets of Brunei, with surveillance and a large amount of cars— maybe on their daily commute to work or school or for a grocery run— passing by; and still be wrong about it.
So, I've compiled a list of questions that were plaguing my mind earlier— feel free to answer however many, or which ever you have the ability to give an answer to.
1. Was there ever an experience where you also had to question the safety of fellow citizens— no matter what race, gender, or status they had? If so, I'd like to hear it as well. (In the heading, I specified denizens instead of citizens, this applies to just about anybody who is an inhabitant of Brunei, temporarily, or has been here a lifetime.)
2. Was there ever an experience where you found that my father's conclusion (as stated above) applied to your situation? As in, you agree under the reason of having experienced it yourself?
3. What do you think should be done to encourage people to step in? Or,
4. What do you think should be done by the government or the citizens to promote a safe space for everybody?
5. Have you ever— as my father did for me— decided that it was better to keep your children or loved ones off the streets, no matter how close or how far their destination were to be? Would you simply prefer they be supervised by a trusted individual, if it happened anyway?
6. Do you think letting children roam around their neighbourhood freely and independently would be fine, maybe even an ideal activity for them to do (otherwise staying in all day), under what kind of circumstances?
As always, if this does reach fellow Bruneians, I'd be happy for anybody to address my concerns. I'm only curious, and I'd like to hear other people's opinions even outside of the questions I'd given. Have a nice day, afternoon or evening <3
