Absolute Monarchy

On May 21 (Day 128), we landed in Muara, Brunei. Brunei is one of the few remaining countries in the world still governed by an absolute monarch. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is that current ruler.

The above Wikipedia post is sobering as it recites the Sultan’s roles in the government (just about everything as far as I can see), so I’ll just quote it:

Under Brunei’s 1959 constitution, the sultan is the head of state with full executive authority, including emergency powers since 1962. On 9 March 2006, the Sultan was reported to have amended Brunei’s constitution to make himself infallible under Bruneian law.^[14] Bolkiah, as Prime Minister, is also the head of government. In addition, he currently holds the portfolios of Minister of Defence, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Finance.^[15] As Minister of Defence he is therefore the Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces, as well as an Honorary General in the British and Indonesian armed forces and an Honorary Admiral in the Royal Navy. He appointed as Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the Royal Brunei Police Force.^[16] He has recently favoured Brunei government democratisation and declared himself Prime Minister and President. In 2004, the Legislative Council, which had been dissolved since 1962, was reopened.^[17]

Our visit to Brunei was quite limited. We were taken around in a bus for photo stops. Brunei is clearly a wealthy country because of oil revenue. That wealth is not evenly spread. We saw few of the regular population. What we did see was many different government buildings and palaces from afar. It is clear money is spent on buildings.

We only saw the Sultan’s palace from the bus from afar. The guide said that the Sultan had a garage that used to have 7,000 of his cars, but that he had now downsized to 5,000. This video describes the palace some, but doesn’t mention car numbers that big. This site does mention the 7,000 cars, but may be outdated.

Here is a building that I believe they said was the foreign minister’s office. Since the Sultan is also the foreign minister, seems a bit strange, but that is what was said.

This one looks like a mosque. One definitely felt like minding the laws in this country. It has imposed sharia law. Here is a critique of that. When we were getting our travel documents to enter the country, we were greeted by this warning: Death to Drug Traffikers.

We did see one area of the city with some traditional buildings on stilts.

Brunei is located on the north of the island of Borneo. We have very good historical/cultural speaker on board (Dr. Sherry Hutt), who told the story of the history of the Sultan of Brunei and the Rajah of Sarawak, who fought off headhunters coming from the interior of Borneo. Turns out the Rajah of Sarawak was a British guy, who’s decedents inherited his Rajahdom (that’s probably not right, but you get the idea.)

Overall, I’m glad I saw some of these structures, but I’m left wanting to know more about the history rather than desiring to return for a second visit.