PROBLEM STATEMENTS

INTRODUCTION
Shopping plays an important role in every Bruneian’s life. Although Brunei is a small
country, it imports a wide range of consumer goods as well as manufactures its own
products to cater for the needs and wants of the people in the country. Apparently, most of
the time we go shopping to satisfy our needs. There are times when we shop just to make
us feel more contented.
However, there are some people who habitually shop for the latest or branded luxury
items in the market just to fit or to maintain themselves in the higher class society.
Hence, they do not want to purchase or accept second hand goods. Another issue is that
some Bruneians have superstitious beliefs (Pukau). Thus, they are afraid of accepting
second hand goods, which they believe it might be cast by “black magic”.
Too much shopping could be a problem and in fact it is already a problem in Brunei that
has been going on for several years now. A lot of the people here do not realize that by
spending too much on luxury items, they could be jeopardizing their future as well as the
next generation. The money that they spent could be put to better use, like by saving it or
investing it so that in the future, money matters would not be such a huge problem. And
by overspending, they are slowly accumulating items which are not in use anymore in
their storeroom instead of doing something useful, like donating them to more needy
people or recycling them. This may be due to people in Brunei not knowing of the
existence of recycling companies as well as charity organizations that can take their
unwanted or unneeded belongings.

EXISTING WORLDWIDE PROBLEMS BASED ON OVERSPENDING AND

DISPOSAL
The problems of overspending and ignorance to the many disposal methods are actually a
worldwide issue. Fadeeva (2006) stated that nine to fourteen billion people will be
consuming already significantly depleted resources of the planet. In developing countries,
although the middle class is growing there is still a huge growing gap between the rich
and the poor. The rich tend to spend more to keep pace with the current life style of the
wealthier part of the earth. This imposes a serious threat on the carrying capacity of the
planet and the well-being of poorer nations. Renner, 2003, (cited in Tojo, 2004), the
world annual expenditure on makeup is 18 billion dollars and at the same time, yet it is
believed that 19 billion dollars would solve the problem of hunger and malnutrition of the
world.
The problems of debt in America is highlighted as such, “Today, millions of Americans
are having difficulty paying their debts. Most of those in financial distress are middle
income families with jobs who want to pay off what they owe.” Americans are in debt
because they have adapted to a “buy now-pay later” lifestyle which will lead them to
much bigger problems in the future –even bigger debts, the loss of assets such as their
house, and a bad credit record – if they do not act now to amend the situation (cited in
Western Regional Security Office, 2001).

In New Zealand with the ownership of electrical and electronic equipment, ways of
disposal and the barriers of recycling, from the calculated household averages, there are
3.4 million televisions held in New Zealand households, 3.3 million mobile phones, 1.9
million computer monitors, 1.9 million computers (excluding monitors), and 0.6 million
laptop computers. The main problems for recycling electronic items were the absence of
collection schemes and people were unaware how to recycle these items (cited in UMR
Research, 2006).
From the Boston Review, Warren, E. and Tyagi, A.W. (2005) had stated that America’s
new “luxury fever” forces middle-class families “to finance their consumption increases
largely by reduced savings and increased debt.” American families are buying
“designer clothes, a microwave, restaurant meals, home and automobile air
conditioning, and, of course, Michael Jordan’s ubiquitous athletic shoes, about
which children and adults both display near-obsession.” In addition, American
families are not just spending more of what they earn; they are also spending
what they have not earned. A generation ago, the typical family owed about five
percent of its annual income in consumer debt—non-mortgage debt such as car
loans and credit cards. Today such debts add up to more than a third of total
annual income.
PROBLEMS OF OVERSPENDING AND DISPOSAL HABITS IN BRUNEI

“His Majesty hoped the additional income would be used prudently and

the workers concerned would be able to save through financial planning”.

(from BruneiDirect.Com on July 16, 2006)

Retrieved from: www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/July06/160706/nite01.htm

From the above-mentioned statement, it shows that His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei had
shown his concern about the spending habits of the people in Brunei. Hence, he had
advised the people during his 60th Birthday that with the additional income given to them,
there is a need for them to spend it more wisely through proper smart planning.
To make the Bruneian community more aware of the problem of overspending and
disposal habits, we had carried out a survey questionnaires (Appendix 1) as well as
interviewing the public in order to examine how serious the problem is in Brunei.
From our survey, 117 responses were obtained from the public. We found that most of
them spend about $2500 annually on luxury items such as: apparels and accessories
(95%); automotive accessories and customizations (90%); sports goods (96%); computers
(91%); electronics (96%); and appliances (100%). A minority spend $4500-$5000 and
over on automotives accessories & customizations as well as electronics.
The majority said that they have overspent their income on certain months or they could
only save about $100 monthly. So from here we are able to extrapolate that for those who
are able to save about $100 per month, they save $1,200 a year and if they have started
saving from the beginning of their employment and they work for approximately 35
years, they could only save around $50,000 or less. This will not be sufficient to support
them during their retirement years.
From our findings, we also identified that the more they consumed, the more unused
items are accumulated. Out of the 117 respondents:-
• 26% prefer to keep their automotives accessories & customizations in the
storeroom
• 19% prefer to keep their electronics “Everywhere else in the house”
 • 40% choose to throw their appliances away
• 32% prefer to give away their apparels & accessories to their friends or relatives
• 30% prefer to keep their broken or unused sports goods in the storeroom
• 28% will keep their broken or unused computers in the storeroom
Only 15% of the respondents recycle the selected luxury items. Therefore the majority do
not seem to know about the existence of recycling companies in Brunei that cater to these
sort of items or choose not to use these facilities.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, there is evidence of overspending amongst the age groups 20-30 years and
above 40 years from our survey. As mentioned earlier, overspending has becoming a
major problem nowadays. Hence, it is necessary to advice the public to spend wisely as
well as to save more of their income for future secure through financial planning.
Most of the respondents are unaware of the places where they can recycle their unused or
unwanted items instead of just storing it away, which takes up a lot of space. Therefore,
in order to make them aware of it, a list of names of the recycling companies as well as
the charity organizations should be made and show it in the internet or through mass
media.
As quoted in a review by Jackson, T. (2005),“To engage in attempts to change
consumption patterns and consumer behaviors is, in one sense, to tinker with
fundamental aspects of our social world. And to proceed without acknowledging this
degree of complexity and sophistication is to invite an inevitable failure.”
References:
1. Jackson, T. (January 2005). Motivating Sustainable Consumption. Retrieved
September 29th, 2006 from:
http://www.sd-research.org.uk/documents/MotivatingSCfinal.pdf
2. Western Regional Security Office (November 28th, 2001). Financial Problems.
Retrieved September 29th, 2006 from:
http://www.wasc.noaa.gov/wrso/security_guide/finances.htm
3. Fadeeva, Z. (2006). Sustainable production and consumption – Educating future
consumers. Retrieved September 29th, 2006 from:
http://www.unescobkk.org/.../user_upload/esd/documents/workshops/kanchanburi/fad
eeva-sustainable_production.pdf
4. UMR Research (January 2006). Electrical and Electronic Equipment Survey January
2006 – A Quantitative Report. Retrieved September 29th, 2006 from:
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/waste/eee-survey-report-jan06/index.html
5. Warren, E & Tyagi, A.W. (September/October 2005). What’s Hurting the Middle
Class: The myth of overspending obscures the real problem. Boston Review – A
political & Literary Forum. Retrieved October 16, 2006 from
http://bostonreview.net/BR30.5/warrentyagi.html
6. Tojo, N., (2004). Extended Producer Responsibility as a Driver for Design Change -
Utopia or Reality?, IIIEE Lund University, Lund Sweden.
7. BruneiDirect.Com (July 16, 2006). Retrieved from:
www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/July06/160706/nite01.htm