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[scripted_reality]

Brunei is the most apathetic country I have ever lived in.

They will never be a global force.

I think the country is beautiful and is under-appreciated by your average tourist but...

It is not uncommon for teachers to not show up for class and students follow this example.

Students are unmotivated and are not held to any kind of international standard. This is especially true about the local Malay.

Bruneians Are more worried about their next car purchase then about the state of their country. The oil WILL run out and the few people you hear talking about it may as well save their breath because it's like shouting into a void. The golden job here is to work with shell, yet ask a student what they need to do to get this job and they'll just shrug or look at you blankly. They expect their job to just fall out of the sky - and why shouldn't they - everything else does. The govt builds them houses and subsidizes car loans, education, health care, petrol, etc. they don't pay taxes. They have no idea what the rest of the world is like and haven't been encouraged to consider their place in it.

I have never met a people who show less interest in the world at large.

They are self-centered and self-righteous.

With the state their schools are in you'd think this was one of the poorest countries in the world.

One of these days the people of this country are going to be forced to realize that they've been living in a bubble; and when they do thing around here should get . . . Interesting.

But, hey, they still have some time. Hopefully, somebody with some influence, will wake up to the situation and give their head a shake.

[BOBBYSUE]

Sounds like someone forgot to take their culture shock pills. Some of what you say is true....of just about anywhere! Ever tried being a foreigner in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the US, etc? You'll meet plenty of self-centred, self righteous people in all those countries, and plenty who show no interest in the rest of the world. And as for caring more about their personal objectives and needs than the state of their country, well just take a look at how many people turn out to vote in the West. Of course, you'll meet a lot of great people too in all those countries, and you will in Brunei as well. Yes, the schools here can be run down. Ever visited some of the rougher schools in the UK?! At least in Brunei they have bothered to hire a foreign company, CfBT, and a bunch of foreign teachers, to give their kids some serious exposure to the outside world (and to hold them up to an international standard). Not all places do that. And they don't need policemen stationed at the school as they do in some parts of the UK, or metal detectors to find students' guns...
Seriously, your post reads like the typical reaction of an expat who begins wide eyed with wonder and then realises that people are people- and blames it all on the host country rather than their own unrealistic expectations. That may not be true about you, but it's how you come across. Remember, what you cannot find everywhere as a teacher is a free big house, a tax free salary, not very many hours, and an environment which is lovely for your children to grow up in (partly because of the very gentle, smiley, law abiding way that many Bruneians are). Take a deep breath and appreciate what you have....