Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam,
Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
. Apart from its
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
coast, it is completely surrounded by the
Malaysian state
The states and federal territories of Malaysia are the principal administrative divisions of Malaysia. Malaysia is a federation of 13 states (''Negeri'') and 3 federal territories (''Wilayah Persekutuan'').
States and federal territories
Elev ...
of
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
. It is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of
Limbang
Limbang is a border town and the capital of Limbang District in the Limbang Division of northern Sarawak, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. This district area is 3,978.10 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 56,900. I ...
. Brunei is the only sovereign state entirely on Borneo; the remainder of the island is divided between
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. , its population was 460,345,
of whom about 100,000 live in the
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and largest city,
Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei-Muara District, the sm ...
. The
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
is an absolute monarchy ruled by its
Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
, entitled the
Yang di-Pertuan, and implements a combination of
English common law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, bee ...
and
sharia law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the Five Pillars of Islam, religious precepts of Islam and is based on the Islamic holy books, sacred scriptures o ...
, as well as general
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic practices.
At the peak of the
Bruneian Empire
Bruneian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Brunei
* A person from Brunei, or of Bruneian descent. For information about the Bruneian people, see Demographics of Brunei and Culture of Brunei. For specific Bruneians, see List of Bruneians.
...
,
Sultan Bolkiah
Bolkiah, also known as Nakhoda Ragam, was the 5th Sultan of Brunei. He ascended the throne upon the abdication of his father, Sultan Sulaiman, and ruled Brunei from 1485 to 1524. His reign marked the Golden Age of Brunei and saw the Sultanat ...
(reigned 1485–1528) is claimed to have had control over most regions of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
, including modern-day Sarawak and
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
, as well as the
Sulu Archipelago off the northeast tip of Borneo, and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. Claims also state that they had control over
Seludong
In History of the Philippines (900–1565), early Philippine history, the Tagalog people, Tagalog Bayan (political entity), Bayan ("country" or "city-state") of Maynila ( tl, Bayan ng Maynila; Baybayin, Pre-virama Baybayin: ) was a major Tag ...
(or the Kingdom of Maynila, where the modern-day Philippine capital
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
now stands) but Southeast Asian scholars believe this refers to a settlement Mount Selurong in Indonesia.
[Abinales, Patricio N. and Donna J. Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.] The maritime state of Brunei was visited by Spain's
Magellan Expedition
The Magellan expedition, also known as the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was the first voyage around the world in recorded history. It was a 16th century Spanish expedition initially led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan to the Moluccas ...
in 1521 and fought against Spain in the 1578
Castilian War.
During the 19th century, the Bruneian Empire began to decline. The Sultanate ceded Sarawak (
Kuching
Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...
) to
James Brooke
Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868.
Brooke was bor ...
and installed him as the
White Rajah
The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo, from 1841 to 1946. The first ruler was Briton James Brooke. As a reward f ...
, and it ceded Sabah to the British
North Borneo Chartered Company
The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia). ...
. In 1888, Brunei became a
British protectorate and was assigned a
British resident
A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...
as colonial manager in 1906. After the Japanese occupation during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962, a small
armed rebellion against the monarchy was ended with the help of the British.
Brunei has been led by the
Sultan of Brunei
The sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...
Hassanal Bolkiah
Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III ( Jawi: ; born 15 July 1946) is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei since 1967 and the Prime Minister of Brunei since independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
since 1967, and had gained its independence as a British
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
on 1 January 1984. The country is an
autocratic
Autocracy is a system of government in which absolute power over a state is concentrated in the hands of one person, whose decisions are subject neither to external legal restraints nor to regularized mechanisms of popular control (except perh ...
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constitut ...
. Economic growth during the 1990s and 2000s, with the GDP increasing 56% from 1999 to 2008, transformed Brunei into an industrialised country. It has developed wealth from extensive petroleum and natural gas fields. Brunei has the second-highest
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, whi ...
among the
Southeast Asian
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
nations, after
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, and is classified as a
developed country
A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...
. According to the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
(IMF), Brunei is
ranked fifth in the world by gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity. The IMF estimated in 2011 that Brunei was one of two countries (the other being
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
) with a public debt at 0% of the national GDP.
Etymology
According to local historiography, Brunei was founded by Awang Alak Betatar, later to be
Sultan Muhammad Shah, reigning around AD 1400. He moved from Garang in the
Temburong
Temburong District ( ms, Daerah Temburong; Jawi: دائيره تمبوروڠ) or simply Temburong () is the easternmost district in Brunei. It is an exclave — the land is separated from the rest of the country by Malaysia and Brunei Bay, and ...
District to the
Brunei River
The Brunei River ( ms, Sungai Brunei) is a river which flows through Brunei and empties into the Brunei Bay towards the north-east direction. The Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, stands on its banks. The Brunei ...
estuary, discovering Brunei. According to legend, upon landing he exclaimed, ''Baru nah'' (loosely translated as "that's it!" or "there"), from which the name "Brunei" was derived. He was the first Muslim ruler of Brunei. Before the rise of the
Bruneian Empire
Bruneian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Brunei
* A person from Brunei, or of Bruneian descent. For information about the Bruneian people, see Demographics of Brunei and Culture of Brunei. For specific Bruneians, see List of Bruneians.
...
under the Muslim Bolkiah Dynasty, Brunei is believed to have been under Buddhist rulers.
It was renamed "Barunai" in the 14th century, possibly influenced by the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word "'" (), meaning "seafarers".
The word "
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
" is of the same origin. In the country's full name, ', ' ( ar, دار السلام) means "abode of peace", while ' means "country" in
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
. A shortened version of the Malay official name, "Brunei Darussalam", has also entered common usage, particularly in official contexts, and is present in the
United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names
The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN) is one of the nine expert groups of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and deals with the national and international standardization of geographical names. E ...
geographical database, as well as the official ASEAN and Commonwealth listings.
The earliest recorded documentation by the West about Brunei is by an Italian known as
Ludovico di Varthema
Ludovico di Varthema, also known as Barthema and Vertomannus (c. 1470 – 1517), was an Italian traveller, diarist and aristocrat known for being one of the first non-Muslim Europeans to enter Mecca as a pilgrim. Nearly everything that is known ...
. On his documentation back to 1550;
History
Early history
The settlement known as Vijayapura was a vassal-state to the Buddhist
Srivijaya
Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
empire and was thought to be located in Borneo's Northwest which flourished in the 7th Century. This alternate Srivijaya referring to Brunei, was known to Arabic sources as "Sribuza". The Arabic author Al Ya'akubi writing in 800 recorded that the kingdom of Musa (Muja, which is old Brunei) was in alliance with the kingdom of Mayd (Either
Ma-i
Ma-i or Maidh (also spelled Ma'I, Mai, Ma-yi or Mayi; Baybayin: ; Hanunoo: ; Hokkien ; Mandarin ) was an ancient sovereign state located in what is now the Philippines.
Its existence was first documented in 971 in the Song dynasty documents k ...
or
Madja-as
The Confederation of Madya-as was a legendary pre-colonial supra-baranganic polity on the island of Panay in the Philippines. It was mentioned in Pedro Monteclaro's book titled Maragtas. It was supposedly created by Datu Sumakwel to exercis ...
in the Philippines), against the Chinese Empire which they waged war against. In the aftermath of the Indian
Chola invasion of Srivijaya
In 1025 CE, the Chola Emperor Rajendra I launched naval raids on Srivijaya in maritime Southeast Asia, Rajendra's overseas expedition against Srivijaya was a unique event in India's history and its otherwise peaceful relations with the state ...
, Datu Puti lead some dissident datus from Sumatra and Borneo in a rebellion against Rajah Makatunao who was a Chola appointed local Rajah or the descendant of Seri Maharajah (In Chinese records). The dissidents and their retinue tried to revive Srivijaya in a new country called
Madja-as
The Confederation of Madya-as was a legendary pre-colonial supra-baranganic polity on the island of Panay in the Philippines. It was mentioned in Pedro Monteclaro's book titled Maragtas. It was supposedly created by Datu Sumakwel to exercis ...
in the
Visayas
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao ...
(an island archipelago named after Srivijaya) in the Philippines. After the 10 Datus established many towns in
Panay
Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...
and Southern Luzon, according to Augustinian Friar Rev. Fr. Santaren recording in the Spanish era of this Pre-Spanish legendary history, that Datu Macatunao or Rajah Makatunao who was the "sultan of the Moros," and a relative of Datu Puti who seized the properties and riches of the ten datus was eventually killed by the warriors named Labaodungon and Paybare, after learning of this injustice from their father-in-law Paiburong, sailed to Odtojan in Borneo where Makatunaw ruled. The warriors sacked the city, killed Makatunaw and his family, retrieved the stolen properties of the 10 datus, enslaved the remaining population of Odtojan, and sailed back to Panay. Labaw Donggon and his wife, Ojaytanayon, later settled in a place called Moroboro.
[Mga Maragtas ng Panay](_blank)
Comparative Analysis of Documents about the Bornean Settlement Tradition By Talaguit Christian Jeo N. One of the earliest Chinese records of an independent kingdom in Borneo is the 977 AD letter to the Chinese emperor from the ruler of Boni, which some scholars believe to refer to Borneo.
The Bruneians regained their independence from Srivijaya due to the onset of a Javanese-Sumatran war. In 1225, the Chinese official
Zhao Rukuo Zhao Rukuo (; 1170–1231), also read as Zhao Rugua, or misread as Zhao Rushi, was a Chinese historian and politician during the Song dynasty. He wrote a two-volume book titled ''Zhu Fan Zhi''. The book deals with the world known to the Chinese in t ...
reported that Boni had 100 warships to protect its trade, and that there was great wealth in the kingdom. Marco Polo suggested in his memoirs that the Great Khan or the ruler of the Mongol Empire, attempted and failed many times in invading "Great Java" which was the European name for Bruneian controlled Borneo. In the 1300s the Chinese annals, ''Nanhai zhi'', reported that Brunei invaded or administered
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
and
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
as well as the Philippine kingdoms of
Butuan
Butuan (pronounced ), officially the City of Butuan ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Butuan; Butuanon: ''Dakbayan hong Butuan''; fil, Lungsod ng Butuan), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Caraga, Philippines. It is the ''de facto'' ca ...
,
Sulu
Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg''; tl, Lalawigan ng Sulu), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamor ...
,
Ma-i
Ma-i or Maidh (also spelled Ma'I, Mai, Ma-yi or Mayi; Baybayin: ; Hanunoo: ; Hokkien ; Mandarin ) was an ancient sovereign state located in what is now the Philippines.
Its existence was first documented in 971 in the Song dynasty documents k ...
(Mindoro), Malilu 麻裏蘆 (present-day
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
), Shahuchong 沙胡重 (present-day Siocon), Yachen 啞陳 (
Oton
Oton, officially the Municipality of Oton (; krj, Banwa kang Oton, hil, Banwa sang Oton, tgl, Bayan ng Oton), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 98,509 p ...
), and 文杜陵 Wenduling (present-day
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
), which would regain their independence at a later date.
In the 14th century, the
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
nese manuscript ''
Nagarakretagama
The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by Mpu Prapan ...
'', written by
Prapanca
Mpu Prapanca wrote the ''Nagarakretagama'', written in Old Javanese, which tells the story of the Majapahit Kingdom and other stories of ancient Hindu- Javanese kingdoms. The Buddhist monk Prapanca wrote the chronicle in 1365 (or 1287 Saka yea ...
in 1365, mentioned ''Barune'' as the constituent state of Hindu
Majapahit
Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
, which had to make an annual
tribute
A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...
of 40
katis of
camphor
Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel ('' Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the k ...
. In 1369, Sulu which was also formerly part of Majapahit, had successfully rebelled and then attacked Boni, and had invaded the Northeast Coast of Borneo and afterwards had looted the capital of its treasure and gold including sacking two sacred pearls. A fleet from Majapahit succeeded in driving away the Sulus, but Boni was left weaker after the attack. A Chinese report from 1371 described Boni as poor and totally controlled by Majapahit.
During the 15th century, Boni had seceded from Majapahit and then converted to Islam. Thus transforming into the independent Sultanate of Brunei. Brunei became a
Hashemite
The Hashemites ( ar, الهاشميون, al-Hāshimīyūn), also House of Hashim, are the royal family of Jordan, which they have ruled since 1921, and were the royal family of the kingdoms of Hejaz (1916–1925), Syria (1920), and Iraq (1921 ...
state when she allowed the Arab Emir of Mecca,
Sharif Ali
Sharīf ʿAlī ibn ʿAjlān ibn Rumaithah ibn Muḥammad ( ar, ٱلشَّرِيْف عَلِي ٱبْن عَجْلَان ٱبْن رُمَيْثَة ٱبْن مُحَمَّد), also known as ''Barkat Ali'' or "Blessed Ali", was the third Sult ...
, to become her third sultan. Scholars claim that the power of the
Sultanate
This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...
of Brunei was at
its peak between the 15th and 17th centuries, with its power extending from northern Borneo to the southern Philippines (Sulu) and even in the northern Philippines (Manila) which Brunei incorporated via territorial acquisition accomplished through royal marriages.
For political reasons, the historical rulers of Maynila maintained close cognatic ties through intermarriage with the ruling houses of the
Sultanate of Brunei
This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...
, but Brunei's political influence over Maynila is not considered to have extended to military or political rule.
Intermarriage was a common strategy for large
thalassocratic states (maritime states) such as Brunei to extend their influence, and for local rulers such as those of Maynila to help strengthen their family claims to nobility.
Sultan Bolkiah had extended Brunei's power to its greatest extent when it conquered Manila and Sulu as he even attempted but failed to conquer the Visayas islands even though Sultan Bolkiah was half-Visayan himself being descended from a Visayan mother and he was famously known as Sultan Ragam "The Singing Captain", his powerful musical voice was a trait he inherited from his Visayan lineage since Visayans were culturally obsessed with singing, with the best
Visayan singers often also being members of their warrior castes too. However, Islamic Brunei's power was not uncontested in Borneo since it had a Hindu rival in a state founded by Indians called
Kutai
Kutai is a historical region in what is now known as East Kalimantan, Indonesia on the island of Borneo and is also the name of the native ethnic group of the region (known as ''Urang Kutai'' or "the Kutai people"), numbering around 300,000 who ...
in the south which they overpowered but didn't destroy. Brunei's dominance in the Philippines was also challenged by two Indianized kingdoms, the Rajahanates of
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...
and
Butuan
Butuan (pronounced ), officially the City of Butuan ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Butuan; Butuanon: ''Dakbayan hong Butuan''; fil, Lungsod ng Butuan), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Caraga, Philippines. It is the ''de facto'' ca ...
which were also coincidentally allied with Kutai and were also at war with Brunei's dependencies; Sulu and Manila as well as their mutual ally, the
Sultanate of Maguindanao
The Sultanate of Maguindanao ( Maguindanaon: ''Kasultanan nu Magindanaw''; Old Maguindanaon: كاسولتانن نو ماڬينداناو; Jawi: کسلطانن ماڬيندناو; Iranun: ''Kesultanan a Magindanao''; ms, Kesultanan Magindana ...
. The Kedatuans of Madja-as and Dapitan were also belligerent against Brunei due to them being the targets of constant Muslim attacks organized from Maguindanao and
Ternate
Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the we ...
, a Papuan speaking state in the vicinity of Oceania that grew wealthy by monopolizing spice production. Nevertheless, by the 16th century, Islam was firmly rooted in Brunei, and the country had built one of its biggest mosques. In 1578, Alonso Beltrán, a Spanish traveller, described it as being five stories tall and built on the water.
War with Spain and decline
![Brunei territorial lose (1400–1890)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Brunei_territorial_lose_%281400%E2%80%931890%29.gif)
Brunei briefly rose to prominence in Southeast Asia when the Portuguese occupied
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
and thereby forced the wealthy and powerful but displaced Muslim refugees there to relocate to nearby Sultanates such as
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
and Brunei. The Bruneian Sultan then intervened in a territorial conflict between
Hindu Tondo and
Muslim Manila in the Philippines by appointing the Bruneian descended
Rajah Ache of Manila as admiral of the Bruneian navy in a rivalry against Tondo and as the enforcer of Bruneian interests in the Philippines. He subsequently encountered the Magellan expedition wherein
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was an Venetian scholar and explorer. He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan under the flag of the emperor Charles V and after Magellan's death in the Philippine Islands, ...
noted that under orders from his grandfather the Sultan of Brunei, Ache had previously sacked the Buddhist city of Loue in Southwest Borneo for being faithful to the old religion and rebelling against the authority of Sultanate. However,
European influence gradually brought an end to Brunei's
regional power
In international relations, since the late 20thcentury, the term "regional power" has been used for a sovereign state that exercises significant power within a given geographical region.Joachim Betz, Ian Taylor"The Rise of (New) Regional Pow ...
, as Brunei entered a period of decline compounded by internal strife over royal succession. In the face of these invasions by European Christian powers, the
Ottoman Caliphate
The Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire ( ota, خلافت مقامى, hilâfet makamı, office of the caliphate) was the claim of the heads of the Turkish Ottoman dynasty to be the caliphs of Islam in the late medieval and the early modern era. D ...
aided the beleaguered Southeast Asian Sultanates by making
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
and sending expeditions to reinforce, train and equip the local
mujahideen
''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term th ...
. Turks were routinely migrating to Brunei as evidenced by the complaints of Manila Oidor Melchor Davalos who in his 1585 report, say that Turks were coming to Sumatra, Borneo and Ternate every year, including defeated veterans from the
Battle of Lepanto
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independent Italian states, and the Soverei ...
. The presence of Turks assisting Brunei against Habsburg Spain, makes the subsequent
Castille War
The Castilian War took place in 1570-1578 and represented the last crusade in Islamic history between the Spanish Empire and the Sultanate of Brunei; the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultanate of Maguindanao, and the Ottoman Caliphate.
Sultan Saif ...
a part of the
Ottoman–Habsburg wars
The Ottoman–Habsburg wars were fought from the 16th through the 18th centuries between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy, which was at times supported by the Kingdom of Hungary, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Habsburg Spai ...
.
Spain
declared war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state announces existing or impending war activity against another. The declaration is a performative speech act (or the signing of a document) by an authorized party of a national government, i ...
in 1578, planning to attack and capture
Kota Batu, Brunei's capital at the time. This was based in part on the assistance of two Bruneian
noblemen
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...
, Pengiran Seri Lela and Pengiran Seri Ratna. The former had travelled to
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
, then the centre of the Spanish colony. Manila itself was captured from Brunei, Christianised and made a territory of the
Viceroyalty of New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Amer ...
which was centered in Mexico City. Pengiran Seri Lela came to offer Brunei as a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
to Spain for help to recover the throne usurped by his brother, Saiful Rijal. The Spanish agreed that if they succeeded in conquering Brunei, Pengiran Seri Lela would be appointed as the sultan, while Pengiran Seri Ratna would be the new
Bendahara
Bendahara ( Jawi: بنداهارا) is an administrative position within classical Malay kingdoms comparable to a vizier before the intervention of European powers during the 19th century. A bendahara was appointed by a sultan and was a heredit ...
.
![Control of the island of Borneo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Control_of_the_island_of_Borneo.png)
In March 1578, a fresh Spanish fleet had arrived from Mexico and settled at the Philippines, they were led by
De Sande, acting as
Capitán-General, he organised an expedition from Manila for Brunei. The expedition consisted of 400 Spaniards and Mexicans, 1,500
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
natives and 300 Borneans. The campaign was one of many, which also included action in
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
and
Sulu
Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg''; tl, Lalawigan ng Sulu), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamor ...
. The racial make-up of the Christian side was diverse since it were usually made up of
Mestizos
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though their ...
,
Mulattoes
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...
and Amerindians (
Aztecs
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...
,
Mayans
The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...
and
Incans
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
) who were gathered and sent from Mexico and were led by Spanish officers who had worked together with native Filipinos in military campaigns across the Southeast Asia. The Muslim side though was also equally racially diverse. In addition to the native Malay warriors, the Ottomans had repeatedly sent military expeditions to nearby
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
. The expeditions were composed mainly of
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...
,
Egyptians
Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...
,
Swahilis,
Somalis
The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒆𐒖, ar, صوماليون) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...
,
Sindhis
Sindhis ( sd, سنڌي Perso-Arabic: सिन्धी Devanagari; ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the province of Sindh in Pakistan. After the partition of British Indian empire in 1947, man ...
,
Gujaratis
The Gujarati people or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. While G ...
and
Malabars
Malabari is a term used for Indians originating from the Malabar region. The region does includes the present state of Kerala in India ''or'' southwestern coast.
See also
*Malabar district
Malabar District, also known as Malayalam D ...
. These expeditionary forces had also spread to other nearby Sultanates such as Brunei and had taught new fighting tactics and techniques on how to forge cannons.
Eventually, the Spanish invaded the capital on 16 April 1578, with the help of Pengiran Seri Lela and Pengiran Seri Ratna, burning towns and raping populations. The Sultan Saiful Rijal and Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Abdul Kahar were forced to flee to Meragang then to
Jerudong
Kampong Jerudong or simply Jerudong is a village in Brunei-Muara District, Brunei, about from the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The population was 3,856 in 2016. It is one of the settlements within Mukim Sengkurong.
The village is home to a few ...
. In Jerudong, they made plans to chase the conquering army away from Brunei. Suffering high fatalities due to a
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
or
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
outbreak, the Spanish decided to abandon Brunei and returned to Manila on 26 June 1578, after 72 days. Before doing so, they burned the mosque, a high structure with a five-tier roof.
Pengiran Seri Lela died in August or September 1578, probably from the same illness suffered by his Spanish allies. There was suspicion that the legitimist sultan could have been poisoned by the ruling sultan. Seri Lela's daughter, a Bruneian princess, "Putri", had left with the Spanish, she abandoned her claim to the crown and then she married a Christian
Tagalog, named Agustín de Legazpi de Tondo.
Agustin de Legaspi
Agustin de Legazpi is a prominent historical figure in the Philippines best known as the leader of the Tondo Conspiracy of 1587–1588, the last native ruler of Tondo, and the last individual to hold the title of paramount ruler in any of the In ...
along with his family and associates were soon implicated in the
Conspiracy of the Maharlikas The Tondo Conspiracy of 1587, popularly known as the Conspiracy of the Maginoos (Spanish: ''La Conspiración de las Maginoos''), also known as the Revolt of the Lakans, was a revolt planned by Tagalog nobles known as maginoos, led by Don Agustin de ...
, an attempt by Filipinos to link up with the Brunei Sultanate and Japanese Shogunate to expel the Spaniards from the Philippines.
[Martinez, Manuel F. Assassinations & conspiracies : from Rajah Humabon to Imelda Marcos. Manila: Anvil Publishing, 2002.] However, upon the Spanish suppression of the conspiracy, the Bruneian descended aristocracy of precolonial Manila were exiled to
Guerrero, Mexico
Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...
which consequently later became a center of the
Mexican war of independence against Spain.
The local Brunei accounts of the Castilian War differ greatly from the generally accepted view of events. What was called the Castilian War was seen as a heroic episode, with the Spaniards being driven out by Bendahara Sakam, purportedly a brother of the ruling sultan, and a thousand native warriors. Most historians consider this to be a
folk-hero account, which probably developed decades or centuries after.
Brunei eventually descended into anarchy. The country suffered a
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
from 1660 to 1673.
British intervention
![The signing of the Treaty of Labuan on 18 December 1846](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/The_signing_of_the_Treaty_of_Labuan_on_18_December_1846.jpg)
The British have intervened in the affairs of Brunei on several occasions. Britain attacked Brunei in July 1846 due to internal conflicts over who was the rightful Sultan.
In the 1880s, the decline of the
Bruneian Empire
Bruneian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Brunei
* A person from Brunei, or of Bruneian descent. For information about the Bruneian people, see Demographics of Brunei and Culture of Brunei. For specific Bruneians, see List of Bruneians.
...
continued. The sultan granted land (now Sarawak) to
James Brooke
Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868.
Brooke was bor ...
, who had helped him quell a rebellion, and allowed him to establish the
Raj of Sarawak
(While I breathe, I hope)
, national_anthem = '' Gone Forth Beyond the Sea''
, capital = Kuching
, common_languages = English, Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Sarawak Malay, Chinese etc.
, government_type = Absol ...
. Over time, Brooke and his nephews (who succeeded him) leased or annexed more land. Brunei lost much of its territory to him and his dynasty, known as the
White Rajahs
The White Rajahs were a dynastic monarchy of the British Brooke family, who founded and ruled the Raj of Sarawak, located on the north west coast of the island of Borneo, from 1841 to 1946. The first ruler was Briton James Brooke. As a reward f ...
.
Sultan
Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin
Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin (; ; 1825 – 1906) was the 25th Sultan of Brunei from 30 May 1885 to 10 May 1906.
Early life
Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin was born in 1825 and son to then Sultan Abdul Momin. Before becoming the Sultan, he wa ...
appealed to the British to stop further encroachment by the Brookes. The "Treaty of Protection" was negotiated by
Sir Hugh Low
Sir Hugh Low, (10 May 182418 April 1905) was a British colonial administrator and naturalist. After a long residence in various colonial roles in Labuan, he was appointed as British administrator in the Malay Peninsula where he made the first ...
and signed into effect on 17 September 1888. The treaty said that the sultan "could not cede or lease any territory to foreign powers without British consent"; it provided
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
effective control over Brunei's external affairs, making it a
British protected state (which continued until 1984).
But, when the Raj of Sarawak annexed Brunei's
Pandaruan District in 1890, the British did not take any action to stop it. They did not regard either Brunei or the Raj of Sarawak as 'foreign' (per the Treaty of Protection). This final annexation by Sarawak left Brunei with its current small land mass and separation into two parts.
British resident
A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...
s were introduced in Brunei under the Supplementary Protectorate Agreement in 1906. The residents were to advise the sultan on all matters of administration. Over time, the resident assumed more executive control than the sultan. The residential system ended in 1959.
Discovery of oil
Petroleum was discovered in 1929 after several fruitless attempts. Two men, F. F. Marriot and T. G. Cochrane, smelled oil near the
Seria
Seria () is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the countr ...
river in late 1926. They informed a
geophysicist
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
, who conducted a survey there. In 1927, gas seepages were reported in the area. Seria Well Number One (S-1) was drilled on 12 July 1928. Oil was struck at on 5 April 1929. Seria Well Number 2 was drilled on 19 August 1929, and, , continues to produce oil. Oil production was increased considerably in the 1930s with the development of more oil fields. In 1940, oil production was at more than six million barrels. The British Malayan Petroleum Company (now
Brunei Shell Petroleum
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
Company) was formed on 22 July 1922. The first offshore well was drilled in 1957. Oil and natural gas have been the basis of Brunei's development and wealth since the late 20th century.
Japanese occupation
![Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin (AWM P10841](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Sultan_Ahmad_Tajuddin_%28AWM_P10841.001%29.JPG)
The Japanese invaded Brunei on 16 December 1941, eight days after their
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...
and the United States Navy. They landed 10,000 troops of the
Kawaguchi Detachment The Kawaguchi Detachment was an Imperial Japanese Army formation that existed during World War II. Under the command of Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, the detachment consisted of the 35th Infantry Brigade and the 124th Infantry Regiment. The deta ...
from
Cam Ranh Bay
Cam Ranh Bay ( vi, Vịnh Cam Ranh) is a deep-water bay in Vietnam in Khánh Hòa Province. It is located at an inlet of the South China Sea situated on the southeastern coast of Vietnam, between Phan Rang and Nha Trang, approximately 290 kilom ...
at
Kuala Belait
Kuala Belait (KB; Jawi: ) is the administrative town of Belait District, Brunei. The population of the town proper was 4,259 in 2016. Kuala Belait is officially a municipal area (), as well as a village under the mukim of the same name. The t ...
. After six days' fighting, they occupied the entire country. The only Allied troops in the area were the 2nd Battalion of the
15th Punjab Regiment
The 15th Punjab Regiment was a infantry regiment of the British Indian Army from 1922 to 1947 and of the Pakistan Army from 1947 to 1956. Following its allotment to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947, it was amalgamated in 1956 with ...
based at
Kuching
Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...
, Sarawak.
Once the Japanese occupied Brunei, they made an agreement with
Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin over governing the country. Inche Ibrahim (known later as Pehin Datu Perdana Menteri Dato Laila Utama Awang Haji Ibrahim), a former Secretary to the British Resident, Ernest Edgar Pengilly, was appointed
Chief Administrative Officer
A chief administrative officer (CAO) is a top-tier executive who supervises the daily operations of an organization and is ultimately responsible for its performance.
Government and non-profit
A CAO is responsible for administrative management of ...
under the Japanese Governor. The Japanese had proposed that Pengilly retain his position under their administration, but he declined. Both he and other British nationals still in Brunei were interned by the Japanese at
Batu Lintang camp
Batu Lintang camp (also known as Lintang Barracks and Kuching POW camp) at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war (POWs) ...
in Sarawak. While the British officials were under Japanese guard, Ibrahim made a point of personally shaking each one by the hand and wishing him well.
The Sultan retained his throne and was given a pension and honours by the Japanese. During the later part of the occupation, he resided at Tantuya,
Limbang
Limbang is a border town and the capital of Limbang District in the Limbang Division of northern Sarawak, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. This district area is 3,978.10 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 56,900. I ...
and had little to do with the Japanese. Most of the Malay government officers were retained by the Japanese. Brunei's administration was reorganised into five prefectures, which included British
North Borneo
North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...
. The Prefectures included
Baram,
Labuan
Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...
,
Lawas
Lawas ( ms, Pekan Lawas) is a small town and the capital of Lawas District, Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. This district area is 3,811.90 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 46,200. It is 1,200 km from the state ...
, and
Limbang
Limbang is a border town and the capital of Limbang District in the Limbang Division of northern Sarawak, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. This district area is 3,978.10 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 56,900. I ...
. Ibrahim hid numerous significant government documents from the Japanese during the occupation. Pengiran Yusuf (later YAM Pengiran Setia Negara Pengiran
Haji Mohd Yusuf), along with other Bruneians, was sent to Japan for training. Although in the area the day of the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima
The United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945, respectively. The two bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the onl ...
, Yusuf survived.
The British had anticipated a Japanese attack, but lacked the resources to defend the area because of their engagement in the war in Europe. The troops from the Punjab Regiment filled in the
Seria
Seria () is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the countr ...
oilfield oilwells with concrete in September 1941 to deny the Japanese their use. The remaining equipment and installations were destroyed when the
Japanese invaded Malaya. By the end of the war, 16 wells at
Miri
)
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = State
, subdivision_name1 =
, subdivision_type2 = Division
, subdivision_name2 ...
and Seria had been restarted, with production reaching about half the pre-war level. Coal production at
Muara was also recommenced, but with little success.
![Japanese Battleship Nagato 1944](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Japanese_Battleship_Nagato_1944.jpg)
During the occupation, the Japanese had their language taught in schools, and Government officers were required to learn Japanese. The local currency was replaced by what was to become known as
''duit pisang'' (banana money). From 1943 hyper-inflation destroyed the currency's value and, at the end of the war, this currency was worthless. Allied attacks on shipping eventually caused trade to cease. Food and medicine fell into short supply, and the population suffered from famine and disease.
The
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
runway was constructed by the Japanese during the occupation, and in 1943 Japanese naval units were based in
Brunei Bay
Brunei Bay ( ms, Teluk Brunei) is on the northwestern coast of Borneo island, in Brunei and Malaysia.
Brunei Bay is located 5°00'43.44", 115°17'26.66"; east of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
It is the ocean gateway to the isolated Temburong Dis ...
and Labuan. The naval base was destroyed by Allied bombing, but the airport runway survived. The facility was developed as a public airport. In 1944 the Allies began a bombing campaign against the occupying Japanese, which destroyed much of the town and Kuala Belait, but missed
Kampong Ayer
Kampong Ayer is a prominent traditional settlement in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. It comprises neighbourhoods of traditional houses, schools and mosques built on stilts above the Brunei River near the capital's city centre. It ha ...
.
![Japanese Surrender, Labuan (AWM 115989)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Japanese_Surrender%2C_Labuan_%28AWM_115989%29.JPG)
On 10 June 1945, the
Australian 9th Division
The 9th Division was a division of the Australian Army that served during World War II. It was the fourth division raised for the Second Australian Imperial Force (2nd AIF). The distinctions of the division include it being:
* in front line comb ...
landed at Muara under
Operation Oboe Six
The Battle of North Borneo took place during the Second World War between Allied and Japanese forces. Part of the wider Borneo campaign of the Pacific War, it was fought between 10 June and 15 August 1945 in North Borneo (later known as Sabah) ...
to recapture Borneo from the Japanese. They were supported by American air and naval units. Brunei town was bombed extensively and recaptured after three days of heavy fighting. Many buildings were destroyed, including the Mosque. The Japanese forces in Brunei, Borneo, and Sarawak, under Lieutenant-General Masao Baba, formally surrendered at Labuan on 10 September 1945. The British Military Administration took over from the Japanese and remained until July 1946.
Post-World War II
After
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, a new government was formed in Brunei under the
British Military Administration (BMA). It consisted mainly of Australian officers and servicemen. The administration of Brunei was passed to the Civil Administration on 6 July 1945. The Brunei State Council was also revived that year. The BMA was tasked to revive the Bruneian economy, which was extensively damaged by the Japanese during their occupation. They also had to put out the fires on the wells of Seria, which had been set by the Japanese prior to their defeat.
Before 1941, the Governor of the Straits Settlements, based in Singapore, was responsible for the duties of British High Commissioner for Brunei,
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
, and
North Borneo
North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...
(now
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
). The first
British High Commissioner for Brunei was the Governor of Sarawak, Sir Charles Ardon Clarke. The Barisan Pemuda ("Youth Movement"; abbreviated as BARIP) was the first political party to be formed in Brunei, on 12 April 1946. The party intended to "preserve the sovereignty of the Sultan and the country, and to defend the rights of the
Malays".
BARIP also contributed to the composition of the country's national anthem. The party was dissolved in 1948 due to inactivity.
In 1959, a new constitution was written declaring Brunei a self-governing state, while its foreign affairs, security, and defence remained the responsibility of the United Kingdom.
A small
rebellion
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
erupted against the monarchy in 1962, which was suppressed with help of the UK. Known as the
Brunei Revolt, the rebellion contributed to the Sultan's decision to opt out of joining the emerging state now called Malaysia under the umbrella of
North Borneo Federation
The North Borneo Federation, also known as North Kalimantan or Negara Kesatuan Kalimantan Utara (Unitary State of North Kalimantan) in Malay, was a proposed political entity which would have comprised the British Colonies of Sarawak, British ...
.
Brunei gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984.
The official National Day, which celebrates the country's independence, is held by tradition on 23 February.
Writing of the Constitution
![Omar Ali Saifuddien III](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Omar_Ali_Saifuddien_III.jpg)
In July 1953, Sultan
Omar Ali Saifuddien III
Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien ( Jawi: ; 23 September 1914 – 7 September 1986) was the 28th Sultan of Brunei, reigning from 4 June 1950 until his abdication from the throne on 5 October 1967.
He was also Brunei's fir ...
formed a seven-member committee named ''Tujuh Serangkai'', to determine the citizens' views regarding a written constitution for Brunei. In May 1954, the Sultan, Resident and High Commissioner met to discuss the findings of the committee. They agreed to authorise the drafting of a constitution. In March 1959, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III led a delegation to London to discuss the proposed Constitution. The British delegation was led by Sir
Alan Lennox-Boyd
Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, CH, PC, DL (18 November 1904 – 8 March 1983), was a British Conservative politician.
Background, education and military service
Lennox-Boyd was the son of Alan Walter Lennox-Boyd by his ...
, Secretary of State for the Colonies. The British Government later accepted the draft constitution.
On 29 September 1959, the Constitution Agreement was signed in
Brunei Town
Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It i ...
. The agreement was signed by Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III and Sir Robert Scott, the Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia.
It included the following provisions:
* The Sultan was made the Supreme Head of State.
* Brunei was responsible for its internal administration.
* The British Government was responsible for foreign and defence affairs only.
* The post of Resident was abolished and replaced by a British High Commissioner.
Five councils were established:
* The Executive Council
*
The Legislative Council of Brunei
* The Privy Council
* The Council of Succession
* The State Religious Council
National development plans
A series of National Development Plans was initiated by the 28th Sultan of Brunei,
Omar Ali Saifuddien III
Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien ( Jawi: ; 23 September 1914 – 7 September 1986) was the 28th Sultan of Brunei, reigning from 4 June 1950 until his abdication from the throne on 5 October 1967.
He was also Brunei's fir ...
.
The first was introduced in 1953. A total sum of B$100 million was approved by the Brunei State Council for the plan. E.R. Bevington, from the Colonial Office in
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
, was appointed to implement it. A US$14 million Gas Plant was built under the plan. In 1954, survey and exploration work were undertaken by the Brunei Shell Petroleum on both offshore and onshore fields. By 1956, production reached 114,700
bpd.
![THE BRITISH ARMY IN BRUNEI, JANUARY 1963](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/THE_BRITISH_ARMY_IN_BRUNEI%2C_JANUARY_1963.jpg)
The plan also aided the development of public education. By 1958, expenditure on education totalled at $4 million. Communications were improved, as new roads were built and reconstruction at Berakas Airport was completed in 1954.
The second National Development Plan was launched in 1962. A major oil and gas field was discovered in 1963. Developments in the oil and gas sector have continued, and oil production has steadily increased since then. The plan also promoted the production of meat and eggs for consumption by citizens. The fishing industry increased its output by 25% throughout the course of the plan. The
deepwater port
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...
at
Muara was also constructed during this period. Power requirements were met, and studies were made to provide electricity to rural areas. Efforts were made to eradicate
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
, an endemic disease in the region, with the help of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
. Malaria cases were reduced from 300 cases in 1953 to only 66 cases in 1959.
The death rate was reduced from 20 per thousand in 1947 to 11.3 per thousand in 1953.
Infectious disease has been prevented by public sanitation and improvement of drainage, and the provision of piped pure water to the population.
Independence
On 14 November 1971, Sultan
Hassanal Bolkiah
Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III ( Jawi: ; born 15 July 1946) is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei since 1967 and the Prime Minister of Brunei since independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
left for London to discuss matters regarding the amendments to the 1959 constitution. A new agreement was signed on 23 November 1971 with the British representative being
Anthony Royle
Anthony Henry Fanshawe Royle, Baron Fanshawe of Richmond, (27 March 1927 – 28 December 2001), was a British Conservative Party politician and businessman.
A son of Sir Lancelot Royle, a wealthy businessman, he was educated at Harrow and RMA ...
.
Under this agreement, the following terms were agreed upon:
* Brunei was granted full internal self-government
* The UK would still be responsible for external affairs and defence.
* Brunei and the UK agreed to share the responsibility for security and defence.
This agreement also caused
Gurkha units to be deployed in Brunei, where they remain up to this day.
![Sultan of Brunei with Janin Erih](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Sultan_of_Brunei_with_Janin_Erih.jpg)
On 7 January 1979, another treaty was signed between Brunei and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. It was signed with Lord Goronwy-Roberts being the representative of the UK. This agreement granted Brunei to take over international responsibilities as an independent nation. Britain agreed to assist Brunei in diplomatic matters. In May 1983, it was announced by the UK that the date of independence of Brunei would be 1 January 1984.
On 31 December 1983, a mass gathering was held on main mosques on all four of the districts of the country and at midnight, on 1 January 1984, the Proclamation of Independence was read by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The sultan subsequently assumed the title "
His Majesty", rather than the previous "
His Royal Highness
Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Monarchs and their consorts are usually styled ''Majesty''.
When used as a direct form of address, spoken or written, it takes ...
". Brunei was
admitted to the United Nations on 22 September 1984, becoming the organisation's 159th member.
21st century
In October 2013, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah announced his intention to impose
Penal Code
A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
from the
Sharia law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the Five Pillars of Islam, religious precepts of Islam and is based on the Islamic holy books, sacred scriptures o ...
on the country's Muslims, which make up roughly two thirds of the country's population. This would be implemented in three phases, culminating in 2016, and making Brunei the first and only country in East Asia to introduce Sharia law into its penal code, excluding the subnational Indonesian special territory of
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
. The move attracted international criticism,
the United Nations expressing "deep concern".
Geography
![Brunei location map Topographic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Brunei_location_map_Topographic.png)
Brunei is a southeast Asian country consisting of two unconnected parts with a total area of on the island of Borneo. It has of coastline next to the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
, and it shares a
border with Malaysia. It has of territorial waters, and a
exclusive economic zone.
About 97% of the population lives in the larger western part (
Belait,
Tutong, and
Brunei-Muara), while only about 10,000 people live in the mountainous eastern part (
Temburong District
Temburong District ( ms, Daerah Temburong; Jawi: دائيره تمبوروڠ) or simply Temburong () is the easternmost district in Brunei. It is an exclave — the land is separated from the rest of the country by Malaysia and Brunei Bay, an ...
). The total population of Brunei is approximately 408,000 , of which around 150,000 live in the capital
Bandar Seri Begawan
Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei-Muara District, the sm ...
. Other major towns are the port town of
Muara, the oil-producing town of
Seria
Seria () is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the countr ...
and its neighbouring town,
Kuala Belait
Kuala Belait (KB; Jawi: ) is the administrative town of Belait District, Brunei. The population of the town proper was 4,259 in 2016. Kuala Belait is officially a municipal area (), as well as a village under the mukim of the same name. The t ...
. In Belait District, the
Panaga
Panaga is a coastal settlement on the north-east coast of the island of Borneo, in the Bruneian district of Belait. Officially known in Malay as (sometimes ), it is a village-level subdivision under Seria, a mukim or subdistrict of Belait. The s ...
area is home to large numbers of Europeans expatriates, due to
Royal Dutch Shell
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
and British Army housing, and several recreational facilities are located there.
Most of Brunei is within the
Borneo lowland rain forests
The Borneo lowland rain forests is an ecoregion, within the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, of the large island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It supports approximately 15,000 plant species, 380 bird species and several m ...
ecoregion, which covers most of the island. Areas of
mountain rain forests are located inland.
The
climate of Brunei
Brunei is a country in Southeast Asia, bordering the South China Sea and East Malaysia. Its geographical coordinates are . The country is small with a total size of . It is larger in size than Trinidad and Tobago. It is close to vital sea lanes ...
is
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
equatorial that is a
Tropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...
more subject to the
Intertropical Convergence Zone
The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ ), known by sailors as the doldrums or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge. It encircles Earth near the thermal e ...
than the
trade wind
The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...
s and with no or rare
cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...
s. Brunei is exposed to the risks stemming from climate change along with other ASEAN member states.
Politics and government
![Hassanal Bolkiah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Hassanal_Bolkiah.jpg)
Brunei's political system is governed by the constitution and the national tradition of the Malay Islamic Monarchy (''
Melayu Islam Beraja
(abbreviated as MIB; Jawi: ملايو اسلام براج; en, Malay Islamic Monarchy) was officially proclaimed as the national philosophy of Brunei on the day of its independence on 1 January 1984 by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
MIB is describe ...
''; MIB). The three components of MIB cover Malay culture, Islamic religion, and the political framework under the monarchy.
It has a legal system based on
English common law
English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures.
Principal elements of English law
Although the common law has, historically, bee ...
, although Islamic law (''
shariah
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
'') supersedes this in some cases.
Brunei
has a parliament but there are no elections; the last election was held in
1962
Events January
* January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
* January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism.
* January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...
.
Under Brunei's 1959 constitution, His Majesty
Hassanal Bolkiah
Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III ( Jawi: ; born 15 July 1946) is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei since 1967 and the Prime Minister of Brunei since independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
is the
head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...
with full executive authority. Since
1962
Events January
* January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
* January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism.
* January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...
, this authority has included emergency powers, which are renewed every two years. Brunei has technically been under
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
since the
Brunei Revolt of 1962.
Hassanal Bolkiah
Hassanal Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III ( Jawi: ; born 15 July 1946) is the 29th and current Sultan and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei since 1967 and the Prime Minister of Brunei since independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one ...
also serves as the state's prime minister,
finance minister
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...
and
defence minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
.
Foreign relations
![Keroncong Kemayoran di Perayaan 50 Tahun Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Bertakhta (2c)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Keroncong_Kemayoran_di_Perayaan_50_Tahun_Sultan_Hassanal_Bolkiah_Bertakhta_%282c%29.jpg)
Until 1979, Brunei's foreign relations were managed by the UK government. After that, they were handled by the Brunei Diplomatic Service. After independence in 1984, this Service was upgraded to ministerial level and is now known as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Officially, Brunei's foreign policy is as follows:
* Mutual respect of others' territorial sovereignty, integrity and independence;
* The maintenance of friendly relations among nations;
* Non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries; and
* The maintenance and the promotion of peace, security and stability in the region.
With its traditional ties with the United Kingdom, Brunei became the 49th member of the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
immediately on the day of its independence on 1 January 1984. As one of its first initiatives toward improved regional relations, Brunei joined
ASEAN
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
on 7 January 1984, becoming the sixth member. To achieve recognition of its sovereignty and independence, it joined the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
as a full member on 21 September of that same year.
As an Islamic country, Brunei became a full member of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (now the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
) in January 1984 at the Fourth Islamic Summit held in
Morocco
Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
.
After its accession to the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy, economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. forum (APEC) in 1989, Brunei hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 2000 and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in July 2002.
Brunei became a founding member of the
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
(WTO) on 1 January 1995,
and is a major player in
BIMP-EAGA, which was formed during the Inaugural Ministers' Meeting in
Davao,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, on 24 March 1994.
![Vladimir Putin with Hassanal Bolkiah-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Vladimir_Putin_with_Hassanal_Bolkiah-1.jpg)
Brunei shares a close relationship with
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
and the Philippines. In April 2009, Brunei and the Philippines signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that seeks to strengthen the bilateral co-operation of the two countries in the fields of agriculture and farm-related trade and investments.
Brunei is one of many nations to lay claim to some of the disputed
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed o ...
.
The status of
Limbang
Limbang is a border town and the capital of Limbang District in the Limbang Division of northern Sarawak, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. This district area is 3,978.10 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 56,900. I ...
as part of Sarawak has been disputed by Brunei since the area was first annexed in 1890.
The issue was reportedly settled in 2009, with Brunei agreeing to accept the border in exchange for Malaysia giving up claims to oil fields in Bruneian waters.
The Brunei government denies this and says that their claim on Limbang was never dropped.
Brunei was the chair for
ASEAN
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
in 2013. It also hosted the ASEAN summit on that same year.
Defence
Brunei maintains three infantry battalions stationed around the country.
The
Brunei navy has several "Ijtihad"-class patrol boats purchased from a German manufacturer. The United Kingdom also maintains a base in
Seria
Seria () is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the countr ...
, the centre of the oil industry in Brunei. A
Gurkha
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India.
The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...
battalion consisting of 1,500 personnel is stationed there.
United Kingdom military personnel are stationed there under a defence agreement signed between the two countries.
A
Bell 212
The Bell 212 (also known as the ''Twin Two-Twelve'') is a two-blade, medium helicopter that first flew in 1968. Originally manufactured by Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, production was moved to Mirabel, Quebec, Canada in ...
operated by the air force crashed in
Kuala Belait
Kuala Belait (KB; Jawi: ) is the administrative town of Belait District, Brunei. The population of the town proper was 4,259 in 2016. Kuala Belait is officially a municipal area (), as well as a village under the mukim of the same name. The t ...
on 20 July 2012 with the loss of 12 of the 14 crew on board. The cause of the accident has yet to be ascertained. The crash is the worst aviation incident in the history of Brunei.
The Army is currently acquiring new equipment, including
UAV
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
s and
S-70i Black Hawks.
Brunei's Legislative Council proposed an increase of the defence budget for the 2016–17 fiscal year of about five percent to 564 million Brunei dollars ($408 million). This amounts to about ten per cent of the state's total national yearly expenditure and represents around 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Administrative divisions
Brunei is divided into four
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(), namely
Brunei-Muara,
Belait,
Tutong and
Temburong
Temburong District ( ms, Daerah Temburong; Jawi: دائيره تمبوروڠ) or simply Temburong () is the easternmost district in Brunei. It is an exclave — the land is separated from the rest of the country by Malaysia and Brunei Bay, and ...
. Brunei-Muara District is the smallest yet the most populous, and home to the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. Belait is the birthplace and centre for the country's oil and gas industry. Temburong is an
exclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
and separated from the rest of the country by the
Brunei Bay
Brunei Bay ( ms, Teluk Brunei) is on the northwestern coast of Borneo island, in Brunei and Malaysia.
Brunei Bay is located 5°00'43.44", 115°17'26.66"; east of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
It is the ocean gateway to the isolated Temburong Dis ...
and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
Sarawak
Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...
. Tutong is home to
Tasek Merimbun
Merimbun Lake () is the largest natural lake in Brunei. It is located near Mukim Rambai in the Tutong District, about 70 km from the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. The S-shaped lake is located 27 km from Tutong Town and it is surrounde ...
, the country's largest natural lake.
Each district is divided into several
mukims. Altogether there are 39 mukims in Brunei. Each mukim encompasses several
villages
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
( or ).
Bandar Seri Begawan and towns in the country (except
Muara and
Bangar) are administered as
Municipal Board areas (). Each municipal area may constitute villages or mukims, partially or as a whole. Bandar Seri Begawan and a few of the towns also function as capitals of the districts where they are located.
A district and its constituent mukims and villages are administered by a District Office (). Meanwhile, municipal areas are governed by Municipal Departments (). Both District Offices and Municipal Departments are government departments under the
Ministry of Home Affairs
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
.
Legal system
Brunei has numerous courts in its judicial branch. The highest court, though subject in civil cases to the appellate jurisdiction of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
, is the Supreme Court, which consists of the Court of Appeal and High Court. Both of these have a chief justice and two judges.
Women and children
The U.S. Department of State has stated that discrimination against women is a problem in Brunei.
[2010 Human Rights Report: Brunei Darussalam](_blank)
US Department of State The law prohibits sexual harassment and stipulates that whoever assaults or uses criminal force, intending thereby to outrage or knowing it is likely to outrage the modesty of a person, shall be punished with imprisonment for as much as five years and
caning
Caning is a form of corporal punishment consisting of a number of hits (known as "strokes" or "cuts") with a single Stick-fighting, cane usually made of rattan, generally applied to the offender's bare or clothed buttocks (see spanking) or ha ...
. The law stipulates imprisonment of up to 30 years, and caning with not fewer than 12 strokes for rape. The law does not criminalise
spousal rape
Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without the spouse's consent. The lack of consent is the essential element and need not involve physical violence. Marital rape is considered a form of domestic vi ...
; it explicitly states that sexual intercourse by a man with his wife, as long as she is not under 13 years of age, is not rape. Protections against sexual assault by a spouse are provided under the amended Islamic Family Law Order 2010 and Married Women Act Order 2010. The penalty for breaching a protection order is a fine not exceeding BN$2,000 or imprisonment not exceeding six months. By law, sexual intercourse with a female under 14 years of age constitutes rape and is punishable by imprisonment for not less than eight years and not more than 30 years and not less than 12 strokes of the cane. The intent of the law is to protect girls from exploitation through prostitution and "other immoral purposes", including pornography.
Bruneian citizenship is derived through parents' nationality rather than ''
jus soli
''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship.
''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...
''. Parents with stateless status are required to apply for a special pass for a child born in the country. Failure to register a child may make it difficult to enroll the child in school.
LGBT rights
Male and female
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
is
illegal in Brunei. Sexual relations between men are punishable by death or whipping; sex between women is punishable by caning or imprisonment.
In May 2019, the Brunei government extended its existing moratorium on the death penalty to the Sharia criminal code as well that made homosexual acts punishable with death by stoning.
Religious rights
![Brunei International Airport Surau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Brunei_International_Airport_Surau.jpg)
In The Laws of Brunei, the right of non-Muslims to practice their faith is guaranteed by the
1959 Constitution. However, celebrations and prayers must be confined to places of worship and private residences.
Upon adopting Sharia Penal Code, the Ministry of Religious Affairs banned
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
decorations in public places, but did not forbid celebration of Christmas in places of worship and private premises.
On 25 December 2015, 4,000 out of 18,000 estimated local Catholics attended the mass of Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
[ The Brunei Times](_blank)
In 2015, the then-
head
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
of the Catholic Church in Brunei told ''
The Brunei Times
''The Brunei Times'' was an independent English-language daily compact broadsheet newspaper published in Brunei Darussalam from 2006 to 2016. It was owned by Brunei Times PLC.
History
The paper was introduced at a soft launch on 1 July 2006 ...
'', "To be quite honest there has been no change for us this year; no new restrictions have been laid down, although we fully respect and adhere to the existing regulations that our celebrations and worship be
onfinedto the compounds of the church and private residences".
Brunei's revised penal code came into force in phases, commencing on 22 April 2014 with offences punishable by fines or imprisonment.
The complete code, due for final implementation later, stipulated the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
for numerous offenses (both violent and non-violent), such as insult or defamation of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
, insulting any verses of the Quran and Hadith,
blasphemy
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
, declaring oneself a prophet or non-Muslim, robbery, rape, adultery, sodomy, extramarital sexual relations for Muslims, and murder. Stoning to death was the specified "method of execution for crimes of a sexual nature". Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
(OHCHR) declared that, "Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offences contravenes international law."
Animal rights
Brunei is the first country in Asia to have banned
shark finning
Shark finning is the act of removing fins from sharks and discarding the rest of the shark back into the ocean. This act is prohibited in many countries. The sharks are often still alive when discarded, but without their fins.Spiegel, J. (2000 ...
nationwide.
Brunei has retained most of its forests, compared to its neighbours that share
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
island. There is a public campaign calling to protect
pangolin
Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (, from Ancient Greek ϕολιδωτός – "clad in scales"). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smut ...
s which are considered a threatened treasure in Brunei.
Economy
![SBY dan para pemimpin ASEAN 25-04-2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/SBY_dan_para_pemimpin_ASEAN_25-04-2013.jpg)
Brunei has the second-highest
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, whi ...
among the
Southeast Asian
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
nations, after
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
.
Crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
and natural gas production account for about 90% of its GDP.
About of oil are produced every day, making Brunei the fourth-largest producer of oil in Southeast Asia.
It also produces approximately of
liquified natural gas
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...
per day, making Brunei the ninth-largest gas exporter in the world.
''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' also ranks Brunei as the fifth-richest nation out of 182, based on its petroleum and natural gas fields.
Substantial income from overseas investment supplements income from domestic production. Most of these investments are made by the Brunei Investment Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Finance.
The government provides for all medical services, and subsidises rice and housing.
The national
air carrier
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
,
Royal Brunei Airlines
Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd (RB) ( ms, Penerbangan DiRaja Brunei, Jawi: ) is the national flag carrier airline of Brunei Darussalam, headquartered in the RB Campus in Bandar Seri Begawan. It is wholly owned by the Government of Brunei Da ...
, is trying to develop Brunei as a hub for international travel between Europe and Australia/New Zealand. Central to this strategy is the position that the airline maintains at
London Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the Airports of London, London airport sys ...
. It holds a daily slot at the highly capacity-controlled airport, which it serves from Bandar Seri Begawan via Dubai. The airline also has services to major Asian destinations including Shanghai, Bangkok, Singapore and Manila.
Brunei depends heavily on imports such as agricultural products (e.g. rice,
food products
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
, livestock, etc.),
vehicles and
electrical products from other countries. Brunei imports 60% of its food; of that amount, around 75% come from other ASEAN countries.
Brunei's leaders are concerned that increasing integration in the world economy will undermine internal
social cohesion
Group cohesiveness (also called group cohesion and social cohesion) arises when bonds link members of a social group to one another and to the group as a whole. Although cohesion is a multi-faceted process, it can be broken down into four main co ...
and have therefore pursued an isolationist policy. However, it has become a more prominent player by serving as chairman for the 2000
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy, economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. (APEC) forum. Brunei's leaders plan to upgrade the
labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
force, reduce unemployment, which was at 6.9% in 2014; strengthen the banking and tourism sectors, and, in general, broaden the economic base. A long-term development plan aims to diversify growth.
The government of Brunei has also promoted food self-sufficiency, especially in
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
. Brunei renamed its Brunei Darussalam Rice 1 as Laila Rice during the launch of the "Padi Planting Towards Achieving Self-Sufficiency of Rice Production in Brunei Darussalam" ceremony at the Wasan padi fields in April 2009. In August 2009, the Royal Family reaped the first few Laila padi stalks, after years of attempts to boost local rice production, a goal first articulated about half a century ago. In July 2009 Brunei launched its national
halal
''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...
branding scheme, Brunei Halal, with a goal to export to foreign markets.
In 2020, Brunei's electricity production was largely based on fossil fuels; renewable energy accounted for less than 1% of produced electricity in the country.
Infrastructure
![V8-DLA Boeing 787 of Royal Brunei at Heathrow (11400528073)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/V8-DLA_Boeing_787_of_Royal_Brunei_at_Heathrow_%2811400528073%29.jpg)
As of 2019, the country's road network constituted a total length of , out of which were
paved
Pavement may refer to:
* Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering
* Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways
** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface
* Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway ...
.
The highway from
Muara Town
Muara Town ( ms, Pekan Muara) or simply Muara is a port town in Brunei-Muara District, Brunei, about from the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The population of the town proper was 2,102 in 2016. It is home to Muara Port, the country's primary deep ...
to
Kuala Belait
Kuala Belait (KB; Jawi: ) is the administrative town of Belait District, Brunei. The population of the town proper was 4,259 in 2016. Kuala Belait is officially a municipal area (), as well as a village under the mukim of the same name. The t ...
is a
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
.
Brunei is accessible by air, sea, and land transport.
Brunei International Airport
Brunei International Airport (BIA) ( Malay: ''Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Brunei''; Jawi: لاڤڠن تربڠ انتارابڠسا بروني ) is the primary and only airport in the sovereign nation of Brunei Darussalam, on the island of Bor ...
is the main entry point to the country.
Royal Brunei Airlines
Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd (RB) ( ms, Penerbangan DiRaja Brunei, Jawi: ) is the national flag carrier airline of Brunei Darussalam, headquartered in the RB Campus in Bandar Seri Begawan. It is wholly owned by the Government of Brunei Da ...
is the national carrier. There is another airfield, the
Anduki Airfield
Anduki Airfield () is a domestic airfield and heliport located in Seria, a town in the Belait District of Brunei Darussalam. It is operated by Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), and uses Sikorsky S-92 and AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters in suppor ...
, located in
Seria
Seria () is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the countr ...
. The ferry terminal at Muara services regular connections to
Labuan
Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...
(Malaysia). Speedboats provide passenger and goods transportation to the Temburong district. The main highway running across Brunei is the Tutong-Muara Highway. The country's road network is well developed. Brunei has one main sea port located at Muara.
The airport in Brunei is currently being extensively upgraded. Changi Airport International is the consultant working on this modernisation, which planned cost is currently $150 million.
This project is slated to add of new floorspace and includes a new terminal and arrival hall.
With the completion of this project, the annual passenger capacity of the airport is expected to double from 1.5 to 3 million.
With one private car for every 2.09 persons, Brunei has one of the highest car ownership rates in the world. This has been attributed to the absence of a comprehensive transport system, low import tax, and low unleaded petrol price of B$0.53 per litre.
A new roadway
connecting the Muara and Temburong districts of Brunei is slated to be completed in 2019. Fourteen kilometres (9 mi) of this roadway would be crossing the
Brunei Bay
Brunei Bay ( ms, Teluk Brunei) is on the northwestern coast of Borneo island, in Brunei and Malaysia.
Brunei Bay is located 5°00'43.44", 115°17'26.66"; east of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.
It is the ocean gateway to the isolated Temburong Dis ...
. The bridge cost is $1.6 billion.
Banking
Bank of China
The Bank of China (BOC; ) is a Chinese majority state-owned commercial bank headquartered in Beijing and the fourth largest bank in the world.
The Bank of China was founded in 1912 by the Republican government as China's central bank, repl ...
received permission to open a branch in Brunei in April 2016.
Citibank
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
, which entered in 1972, closed its operations in Brunei in 2014.
HSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
, which had entered in 1947, closed its operation in Brunei in November 2017.
May Bank of Malaysia, RHB Bank of Malaysia, Standard Chartered Bank of United Kingdom, United Overseas Bank of Singapore and Bank of China are currently operating in Brunei.
Demographics
![Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Sultan_Omar_Ali_Saifuddin_Mosque_02.jpg)
Ethnicities indigenous to Brunei include the
Belait,
Brunei Bisaya (not to be confused with the Bisaya/Visaya of the nearby Philippines), indigenous
Bruneian Malay
The Brunei Malay language, or Kedayan (, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of East Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar.Clynes, A. (20 ...
,
Dusun
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Dusun has been recognised as among the indigenous community of ...
,
Kedayan
The Kedayan (also known as Kadayan, Kadaian or Kadyan) are an ethnic group residing in Brunei, Federal Territory of Labuan, southwest of Sabah, and north of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. According to the Language and Literature Bureau of Br ...
,
Lun Bawang
The Lun Bawang (formerly known as Trusan Murut or Southern Murut) is an ethnic group found in Central Northern Borneo. They are indigenous to the southwest of Sabah (Interior Division), and the northern region of Sarawak (Limbang Division), high ...
,
Murut Murut may refer to:
* Murut people
The Murut are an indigenous ethnic group, comprising 29 sub-ethnic groups inhabiting the northern inland regions of Borneo. The Murutic languages are a family of half a dozen closely related Austronesian lan ...
and
Tutong.
The population of Brunei in was , of which 76% live in urban areas. The rate of urbanisation is estimated at 2.13% per year from 2010 to 2015. The average life expectancy is 77.7 years. In 2014, 65.7% of the population were
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
, 10.3% are
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, 3.4% are indigenous, with 20.6% smaller groups making up the rest. There is a relatively large
expatriate
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
community.
Most expats come from non-
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
countries such as Australia, United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and India.
Religion
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is the official religion of Brunei,
specifically that of the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
denomination and the
Shafi'i
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
school of Islamic jurisprudence. More than 80% of the population, including the majority of
Bruneian Malays and
Kedayan
The Kedayan (also known as Kadayan, Kadaian or Kadyan) are an ethnic group residing in Brunei, Federal Territory of Labuan, southwest of Sabah, and north of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. According to the Language and Literature Bureau of Br ...
s identify as
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. Other faiths practised are
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(7%, mainly by the Chinese) and
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(7.1%).
Freethinkers
Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and that beliefs should instead be reached by other methods ...
, mostly Chinese, form about 7% of the population. Although most of them practise some form of religion with elements of Buddhism,
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
, and
Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...
, they prefer to present themselves as having practised no religion officially, hence labelled as
atheists
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
in official censuses. Followers of indigenous religions are about 2% of the population.
Languages
The official
language of Brunei is
Standard Malay
Malaysian Malay ( ms, Bahasa Melayu Malaysia), also known as Standard Malay (Malay: ''Bahasa Melayu Standard''), ( English translation: Malaysian language), or simply Malay, is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia (as o ...
, for which both the
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...
(
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
) and the
Arabic alphabet (
Jawi) are used. Initially, Malay was written in
Jawi script
Jawi (; ace, Jawoë; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantan-Pattani: ''Yawi''; ) is a writing system used for writing several languages of Southeast Asia, such as Acehnese language, Acehnese, Banjar language, Banjarese, Kerinci language, Kerinci, ...
before it was switched in to Latin alphabet around 1941.
The principal spoken language is ''Melayu Brunei'' (
Brunei Malay
The Brunei Malay language, or Kedayan (, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of East Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar.Clynes, A. (20 ...
). Brunei Malay is rather divergent from standard Malay and the rest of the Malay dialects, being about 84% cognate with standard Malay,
[P.W. Martin and G. Poedjosoedarmo (1996). An overview of the language situation in Brunei Darussalam. In P.W. Martin, C. Ozog & G. Poedjosoedarmo (Eds.), ''Language use & language change in Brunei Darussalam'' (pp. 1–23). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Center for International Studies. p. 7.] and is mostly mutually intelligible with it.
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
is widely used as a business and official language and it is spoken by a majority of the population in Brunei. English is used in business as a
working language
A working language (also procedural language) is a language that is given a unique legal status in a supranational company, society, state or other body or organization as its primary means of communication. It is primarily the language of the dail ...
and as the language of instruction from primary to tertiary education.
Chinese languages are also widely spoken, and the
Chinese minority
Ethnic minorities in China are the non-Han Chinese, Han population in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The PRC officially recognizes 55 minority group, ethnic minority groups within China in addition to the Han majority. As of 2010, th ...
in Brunei speak a number of
varieties of Chinese
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
.
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
is the religious language of Muslims and is taught in schools, particularly religious schools, and also in institutes of higher learning. As of 2004, there are six Arabic schools and one religious teachers' college in Brunei. A majority of Brunei's Muslim population has had some form of formal or informal education in the reading, writing and pronunciation of the Arabic language as part of their religious education.
Other languages and dialects spoken include
Kedayan Malay dialect,
Tutong Malay dialect,
Murut Murut may refer to:
* Murut people
The Murut are an indigenous ethnic group, comprising 29 sub-ethnic groups inhabiting the northern inland regions of Borneo. The Murutic languages are a family of half a dozen closely related Austronesian lan ...
, and
Dusun
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Dusun has been recognised as among the indigenous community of ...
.
Culture
![Royal Regalie (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Royal_Regalie_%281%29.JPG)
The culture of Brunei is predominantly
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
(reflecting its ethnicity), with heavy influences from
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, but is seen as much more conservative than
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. Influences to Bruneian culture come from the Malay cultures of the
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...
. Four periods of cultural influence have occurred: animist,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, Islamic, and Western. Islam had a very strong influence, and was adopted as Brunei's ideology and philosophy.
As a
Sharia
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the H ...
country, the sale and public consumption of alcohol is banned.
[Brunei Tourism Website (Government appointed)](_blank)
tourismbrunei.com Non-Muslims are allowed to bring in a limited amount of alcohol from their point of embarkation overseas for their own private consumption.
Media
Media in Brunei are said to be pro-government; press criticism of the government and monarchy is rare. The country ranks "Not Free" in media by
Freedom House
Freedom House is a non-profit, majority U.S. government funded organization in Washington, D.C., that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights. Freedom House was founded in October 1941, and Wendell Wil ...
. Nonetheless, the press is not overtly hostile toward alternative viewpoints and is not restricted to publishing only articles regarding the government. The government allowed a printing and publishing company, Brunei Press PLC, to form in 1953. The company continues to print the English daily ''
Borneo Bulletin
The ''Borneo Bulletin'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Brunei. It is published by Brunei Press, which also publishes a Malay-language daily, ''Media Permata''. The ''Bulletin'' circulates around 20,000 copies on weekdays and 25,000 ...
''. This paper began as a weekly
community paper
Community paper is a term used by publishers, advertisers and readers to describe a range of publications that share a common service to their local community and commerce. Their predominant medium being newsprint, often free and published at regul ...
and became a daily in 1990
Apart from The ''Borneo Bulletin'', there is also the ''
Media Permata
''Media Permata'' is a Malay-language newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Brunei by Brunei Press Sdn Bhd,Lyna Mohamad. which also publishes the ''Borneo Bulletin
The ''Borneo Bulletin'' is a daily English-language newspaper in Brunei. ...
'' and Pelita Brunei, the local Malay newspapers which are circulated daily. ''
The Brunei Times
''The Brunei Times'' was an independent English-language daily compact broadsheet newspaper published in Brunei Darussalam from 2006 to 2016. It was owned by Brunei Times PLC.
History
The paper was introduced at a soft launch on 1 July 2006 ...
'' is another English independent newspaper published in Brunei since 2006.
The Brunei government owns and operates three television channels with the introduction of digital TV using DVB-T (RTB Perdana, RTB Aneka and RTB Sukmaindera) and five radio stations (National FM, Pilihan FM, Nur Islam FM, Harmony FM and Pelangi FM). A private company has made cable television available (Astro-Kristal) as well as one private radio station, Kristal FM.
It also has an online campus radio station, ''
UBD FM
UBD FM is the first and only student-based radio station in Brunei Darussalam. Currently, the station broadcasts online, from a studio located at University Technology Hub, Universiti Brunei Darussalam.
History
UBDFM was founded by the 2008/20 ...
'', that streams from its first university,
Universiti Brunei Darussalam
Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD; Jawi: ) is a national research university located in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. It was established in 1985 and has since become the largest university in the country in terms of student enrollment and curricu ...
.
Sport
The most popular sport in Brunei is
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
. The
Brunei national football team
The Brunei national football team (; recognized as Brunei Darussalam by FIFA), nicknamed ''Tebuan'' (The Wasps), is the national team of Brunei, controlled by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam. The team was founded in 1959 and joi ...
joined
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
in 1969, but has not had much success. The top two football leagues are the
Brunei Super League
The Brunei Super League (''Liga Super Brunei'' in Malay) is a Bruneian professional league for association football. It is at the top flight of the Bruneian football league system and it is managed by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam ...
and the
Brunei Premier League
DST Group Brunei Premier League ( ms, DST GROUP LIGA PERDANA BRUNEI) was the top-tier football league of Brunei until 2012, when it became the second tier of the football pyramid of Brunei with the creation of the Brunei Super League by the Nationa ...
.
Brunei debuted
at the Olympics in 1996; it has competed at all subsequent
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
except 2008. The country has competed in badminton, shooting, swimming, and track-and-field, but has yet to win any medals. Brunei has had slightly more success
at the Asian Games, winning four bronze medals. The first major international sporting event to be hosted in Brunei was the
1999 Southeast Asian Games
The 1999 Southeast Asian Games ( ms, Sukan Asia Tenggara 1999), officially known as the 20th Southeast Asian Games, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. This was the first time Brunei hosted th ...
. According to the
all-time Southeast Asian Games medal table
The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...
, Bruneian athletes have won a total of 14 gold, 55 silver and 163 bronze medals at the games.
See also
*
List of Brunei-related topics
This is a list of topics related to Brunei.
Brunei media
* Media of Brunei
* Borneo Bulletin
* The Brunei Times
* Media Permata
* Radio Television Brunei
Brunei royalty
* Pengiran Anak Saleha
* Prince Jefri Bolkiah
* Al-Muhtadee Billah
* Pengi ...
*
Outline of Brunei
Notes
References
Sources
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External links
Government
Prime Minister's Office of Brunei Darussalamwebsite
General information
Brunei ''
The World Factbook
''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...
''.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
.
Brunei profilefrom the
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
Bruneiat ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...
''
*
Key Development Forecasts for Bruneifrom
International Futures
International Futures (IFs) is a global integrated assessment modelling, integrated assessment model designed to help with thinking strategically and systematically about key global systems (economic, demographic, education, health, environment, ...
Travel
Brunei Tourismwebsite
{{Coord, 4, 30, N, 114, 40, E, display=title
1888 establishments in the British Empire
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Borneo
Commonwealth monarchies
Countries in Asia
English-speaking countries and territories
Former British colonies and protectorates in Asia
Island countries
Malay-speaking countries and territories
Maritime Southeast Asia
Member states of ASEAN
Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
Member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
Member states of the United Nations
Southeast Asian countries
States and territories established in 1984
Sultanates