Brunei

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Negara Brunei Darussalam (or Brunei) is a small country of 5,765 square kilometers (2,226 square miles), with a population of 358,098. About two-thirds of this population is ethnic Malay. Its capital is Bandar Seri Begawan, and it is located in Southeast Asia, bordering the South China Sea and Malaysia. Brunei contains dense forests and mangrove swamps. Its climate is tropical.

The same family has ruled Brunei for six centuries. From 1888 until 1950 Brunei was a British protectorate. In 1950 Omar Ali Saifuddin III (1914–1986), acting as the nominal authority under British rule, was inaugurated as sultan. In 1959 he promulgated the country's first written constitution. According to its provisions, elections for a legislative council would take place in 1962. Directly following the election, which the opposition won by a landslide, the sultan annulled the election results, suspended some of the constitution's provisions, declared a state of emergency, and ruled by decree. In 1963 Brunei was the only Malay state not to join the Malaysian Federation, and it remained a British dependency until gaining its independence in 1984. In 1967 Hassanal Bolkiah (b. 1946) became sultan following his father's abdication. In the early twenty-first century, he continued to rule Brunei by decree, naming others to major ministerial posts. In 1990 he became the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic faith, introducing the concept of a Malay Muslim monarchy. His eldest son, Prince al-Muhtadee Billah (b. 1974), became heir apparent in 1998.

Officially, Brunei is an Islamic constitutional sultanate, but the constitution has been suspended since 1962. Although Bolkiah announced in 2004 that he would reinstate the Legislative Council, and that its members would debate amendments to the Constitution, this had not yet occurred by June 2005.

The title of sultan is hereditary, and he enjoys ultimate power. The constitution names him as chief of state and head of the government. He appoints and presides over the Council of Ministers that holds executive authority in the country. A unicameral Legislative Council (Majlis Masyuarat Megeri), which serves only in a consultative capacity, constitutes the legislative branch. According to the constitution, ten of the twenty-one seats of the council are directly elected by the people and the rest are appointed by the sultan. In a 1970 decree, however, the sultan changed the council to an appointive body by decree. The constitution does not provide for an independent judiciary. The legal system is based on both civil law (based on English common law) and the Shari'a (Islamic law).

Brunei's extensive petroleum and natural gas fields provide the nation with one of the highest per capita gross domestic products (GDPs) in the developing world—over U.S.$14,000. With a corresponding high standard of living, the people of Brunei enjoy high government subsidies and do not pay taxes. Even though financial fortunes declined in the 1990s due to the Asian financial crisis and the fall of oil prices, as of 2004 the people still enjoyed a high average annual income, parity in purchasing power, and an appreciable growth rate.

Although the constitution provides for limited citizen participation in the political system, such participation is nonexistent under the continuing state of emergency and rule-by-decree. There have been no reports of arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life, no politically motivated disappearances, and no torture. Arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile have occasionally taken place, however. The government limits freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Political parties are not allowed and restrictions are placed on the right to assemble. The government further restricts the practice of non-Islamic religions and discriminates against women.

Shari'a.

"Brunei." In CIA World Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2005. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publicat ions/factbook/geos/bx.html>.

Government of Brunei Darussalam Homepage. <http://www.brunei.gov.bn> ;.

Hussainmiya, B.A. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin III and Britain: The Making of Brunei Darussalam. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Leake, David. Brunei: The Modern Southeast-Asian Islamic Sultanate. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1989.

Saunders, Graham. A History of Brunei, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2002.

U.S. Department of State. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2003. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ hrrpt/2003/27764.htm>.

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