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Brunei: Brunei Sultanate
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Brunei - officially the Sultanate of Brunei - is a country located on the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, East Malaysia. Brunei was a British protectorate from 1888 to 1984. It became independent in 1984 and, thanks to its large reserves of oil and gas, now has one of the highest standards of living in the world. Its ruling royals, are led by the head of state Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.
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The government of Brunei is a constitutional sultanate, containing executive, judicial and legislative branches. Both the head of state and the head of government are the Sultan. The Sultan is in charge of appointing the Council of Cabinet Ministers who advises him. This ministerial setup of the Brunei government has been in use since January 1984, the time when Brunei first gained full independence.
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During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Brunei Sultanate controlled the north-western coast of Borneo and parts of Kalimantan and the Philippines. European expansion from the 16th century led to the loss of Brunei’s possessions to the Spanish and Dutch. In the 19th century, the Sultan of Brunei sought British aid in defending his coasts from piracy. The British explorer James Brooke was made Rajah of Sarawak in 1839 and the British annexed the island of Labuan in 1846. The Sultan accepted protectorate status under Britain by the late 19th century, formalised in 1906 by a treaty providing that the Sultan would seek the advice of the British Resident on all matters outside of local custom and religion. The Constitution was adopted in 1959 allowing for internal self-rule and establishing a Legislative Council, with the powers of the British Resident transferred to the Sultan and his appointed officials.
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The tiny but thriving Islamic Sultanate of Brunei perches on the northwestern coast of Borneo, completely encircled by the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. It has a population of 323,000, nearly seventy percent of which is made up of Malays and indigenes from the larger ethnic groups like the Murut and Dusun; the rest are Chinese, Indians, smaller indigenous tribes and expats. They enjoy a quality of life that is quite unparalleled in Southeast Asia, with the literacy rate a staggering 93.7 percent of the population. Education and healthcare are free; houses, cars, and even pilgrimages to Mecca are subsidized; taxation on personal income is unheard of; and the average per capita salary is around US$19,000. The explanation is simple: oil , first discovered in 1903 at the site of what is now the town of Seria.
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A small country, Brunei is located on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Consisting of just two jungle enclaves—inhabited by Malays, Chinese, and indigenous tribes—Brunei won its independence in 1984 after almost a century as a British protectorate. Rich in oil and natural gas, the people of this Muslim sultanate enjoy high subsidies and generous health care. Brunei has an absolute monarchy and a hereditary nobility, with the sultan awarding titles to commoners. Malay is the official language, but English is widely understood and used in business.
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The Sultanate of Brunei, which has been independent since 1984, is situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo, extending over 6,000 km², and has more than 340,000 inhabitants. The coastal regions are densely populated, since all economic, social and cultural activity is concentrated in these areas. 22% of the population lives in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, where the headquarters of numerous national and foreign companies are located. Brunei, which is one of the richest countries in ASEAN and at the heart of a market of 500 million people, has GDP of 4.8 billion dollars - a spectacular figure which the country owes, in particular, to its wealth of natural gas and oil.
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Brunei Sultanate