Success Quote by Hassanal Bolkiah

“Human resources” is a chilly phrase for something intensely political: people, disciplined into a workforce fit for a new economic story. Hassanal Bolkiah’s line reads like managerial boilerplate, but in a rentier petrostate like Brunei, it’s a quiet admission that diversification isn’t mainly a matter of new industries or slogans. It’s a re-engineering project aimed at the population itself.

The specific intent is straightforward: justify heavy investment in education, training, and bureaucratic capacity as the make-or-break variable in moving beyond oil and gas. The phrase “we need to do well” functions as soft command language. It frames the state’s role as steward and evaluator, not just provider. “Decisive” raises the stakes, implicitly warning that diversification can fail and that failure won’t be blamed on volatile markets alone.

The subtext is about legitimacy and social contract management. In systems where the state has long funded stability through hydrocarbon revenue, diversification threatens established expectations: public-sector jobs, subsidies, and the idea that national prosperity is a birthright rather than a competitive outcome. By turning citizens into “resources,” the quote normalizes a shift from entitlement to performance, from welfare-state comfort to productivity metrics, while keeping the tone technocratic enough to avoid sounding coercive.

Context matters: Brunei’s monarchy governs with high material provision and tight political control. Diversification is not only an economic necessity in an era of energy transition; it’s a risk-management strategy for regime durability. The sentence’s bureaucratic calm is the point. It reassures investors and citizens that the transition will be administered from above, as policy, not upheaval.