Update on the Code of Ethics story from my last two posts. It has an ending, for now.
What actually happened
The original plan was for the ethics code to take effect immediately, starting 10 August. Then something interesting happened. The same member who drafted the whole thing stood up and asked for it to be sent back for more work instead.
Not because he did not believe in it. He was clear about that. But after hearing the concerns raised by other members, gift limits not defined, how long secrecy rules last after someone leaves, who sits on the investigation panel, he felt it deserved a proper six month review by a special committee before becoming official.
Every member in the chamber voted for that amendment. So the code is approved in principle, but the actual final version will not be locked in until a committee finishes going through it line by line, sometime around early 2027.
Why the delay is actually a good sign
Several members spent real time picking the draft apart before that final vote. Not to kill it, to fix it.
One member pushed for gift declarations to become compulsory every year, not just when someone asks. Another wanted the rule to cover a member’s spouse and children too, since conflicts of interest often show up there, not just with the member directly.
Someone else raised a fair point about cash gifts specifically, they wanted those banned outright, no grey area. And more than one member flagged that the social media conduct rule was too vague as written, worried it could be read as banning any criticism, when the point was supposed to be about tone, not disagreement itself.
The Security Minister also offered something practical, his department will run training sessions for members on what actually counts as classified information versus normal official business. That alone should clear up a lot of the confusion from earlier.
The bigger context
Someone brought up that Brunei ranked second in ASEAN on the global corruption perception index for 2025, behind only Singapore. Not bad company to be in. The argument was that a proper ethics code cements that reputation rather than just protecting it by luck.
Why this matters to you
Nothing changes for your representatives right now. The rules they answer to today are the same as yesterday. But in about six months, expect a tighter, clearer version to come back to the chamber for a final vote, hopefully with the loose ends tied up. Worth checking back on this one when it does.
The sitting adjourned after this and resumes today, Monday. More to come whenever there is something worth telling you about.