GAIA holds Conference on The New Norm: Looking Back or Looking Forward?
by Riyani Sidek
A week after Brunei’s Transition Phase under the National COVID-19 Recovery Plan Framework on 19 November 2021, hosted by the Global Awareness and Impact Alliance (GAIA), 64 attendees reflected on The New Norm: Looking Back or Looking Forward? Conference on 27 November 2021 via Zoom. The virtual event aimed to cultivate dialogue on changes brought by COVID-19 to areas that impact our quality of life such as Crime and Security, Regional Trade and Diplomacy and Public Health.
GAIA, a non-profit organization headquartered in Brunei, hosted the conference . to raise awareness on pressing issues and contribute to impactful policy solutions. In addition to empowering youth through its Youth Series Programme, the Global Analysis branch hopes to foster intellectual and knowledgeable future generations in Brunei.The conference began with a short interaction with attendees where they reflected on the meaning of the New Norm. The first section on Crime and Security included expert speakers Raihan Ahmad Ghazali, Deputy Public Prosecutor of the Attorney General’s Chamber (AGC) and Pg. Mohd. Farid Zulhusni bin Pg Aziz, Senior Operation Officer of BruCERT. In the panel moderated by GAIA Co-Founder Dr. Asyura Salleh, Raihan highlighted that border restrictions that were in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 did not deter the flow of contrabands into the Brunei border. Meanwhile, Pg. Mohd Farid highlighted high dependency on the internet and the opportunity this provides for cyber crimes such as scam and phishing.
The second panel was on Regional Trade and Diplomacy in the New Norm, which was led by Fatin Ariffin, Senior Manager at Ghanim and Dr. Lutfi Razak, Lecturer at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam. During the discussion guest moderated by Hazwan Kamarulzaman, Fatin emphasised the potentiality of ASEAN countries to branch further in regional trade. Dr. Lutfi highlighted the importance of balancing both economical sustainability and environmental stability in the new norm such as addressing climate change and the role of businesses in taking a responsibility to tackle it.
In the Public Health Infrastructure in the New Norm session, Dr. Helena Hurairah, Consultant Ophthalmologist, Ministry of Health and Dr. Izyan Nadhirah, Medical Officer, RIPAS spoke on their experiences as front liners during the pandemic of COVID-19. Moderated by GAIA’s Youth Series Director Nadeeya Salleh, the discussion that followed reflected on safety measures in the New Norm and the importance of vaccines especially in times of new mutations of the virus.
The conference ended with closing remarks by Dr. Asyura Salleh. For more information about GAIA, the public may visit the website at gaialliance.co or follow on Instagram @gaia.alliance