Legislative Council (LegCo) members Yang Berhormat Haji Mohamad Danial @ Tekpin bin Ya’akub and Yang Berhormat Haji Mohd Salleh bin Haji Othman asked Minister of Home Affairs Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman on the latest developments in national disaster management, considering climate change challenges and the increasing frequency of natural disasters and the main challenges in assessing citizenship applications and the reasons why some applications are unsuccessful.
Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin shared on Infrastructure Projects where he noted 22 road elevation and upgrade projects are ongoing in Tutong, Belait and Temburong districts.
As of February 2026, 16 roads are complete; six roads remain under construction, with expected completion on schedule and projects are monitored through reports from district officers, local councils and technical agencies.
Common disasters include lowland flooding, flash floods, landslides, forest fires, and minor tremors from neighbouring countries.
As for Disaster Preparedness & SOPs, the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) is updating SOPs for tremors, earthquakes, and tsunamis with technical support from the National Seismic Centre and Ministry of Development.
The minister shared on Community Capacity Building, stating there are two key initiatives – Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) with 454 participants (April 2025 – February 2026) and School-Based Disaster Risk Management (SBDRM) with 2,131 students trained.
NDMC also launched the Public Safety Handbook (October 2025) for community reference.
Digital and Regional Initiatives include the development of an integrated digital early warning platform for real-time coordination and public safety alerts with Brunei selected as a pilot country for CBDRM-ICT under ASEAN Disaster Management Ministers’ Meeting with strategic cooperation from Japan and joined the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) in May 2024 to enhance disaster risk communication and response using technology.
Strategic Policy Actions, meanwhile, are the Launch of Strategic Disaster Management Policy Framework 2025; Strengthening National Disaster Council with a whole-of-government approach; Updating National Standard Operating Procedures (NaSOP), tested in National Disaster Drill 2026 and Finalising the National Disaster Inventory Response Plan.
The government is also in the process of planning to establish the Naitonal USAR team (SATREA) compliant with INSARAG standards by 2028-2030 through collaboration with Malaysia SMART team for capacity scoping in 2025 and mentoring programme starting in 2026.
Brunei’s disaster management strategy emphasises infrastructure upgrades, community and school capacity building, updated SOPs, digital early warning systems, climate adaptation, and regional cooperation.
NDMC leads these efforts with a whole-of-government and community-based approach, ensuring preparedness, effective response, and resilience against increasingly frequent natural disasters while supporting national development goals.
Meanhile, in response to the main challenges in assessing citizenship applications and the reasons why some appplications are unsuccessful, the minister said there are essentially no major challenges in processing citizenship applications because the criteria and procedures are clear, transparent and legally regulated.
An application is not considered unsuccessful if the applicant meets the requirements where key requirements for citizenship are minimum period of residence in Brunei; minimum duration of marriage for certain categories; holding Permanent Resident status for a specified period; passing written and oral Malay language tests and passing a security screening.
Application Statistics from 2022 to March 2026 show 7,477 applications approved by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and from this total, 2025 recorded the highest approvals with 2,979 applications.
Ongoing applications are assessed through interviews, tests and security checks, ensuring fairness and compliance with the Brunei Nationality Act. Major challenges do not exist if applicants meet the set criteria.
(news source: Borneo Bulletin; pic source: Info Foto, Jabatan Penerangan)
