Brunei

Yesterday, Thursday, March 1st, we visited the sultanate of Brunei.  It's official name is "Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace."  It occupies an area of 2,226 square miles (about the size of Rhode Island) and has a population approximating 420,000, about five times that of Singapore.  It sits on the northern face of the island of Borneo and is surrounded on three sides by the part of Malaysia that is also on Borneo.  The remainder of Borneo, the largest part of it, belongs to Indonesia. Almost all of Brunei is rainforest (99%).  We arrived before 9 a.m. in the port city of Muara.  As is typical in this part of the world, this, too, is a busy port.

 






       The buses were waiting for us.







Janis and I had signed up for an excursion called "Brunei Highlights."  We chose this one, among other reasons, because we thought we were going to visit mosques and get a good look at the palace, but that didn't happen.





In any event, as soon as the ship docked and the authorities cleared us for disembarkation, we were on our way, starting with the usual local welcome.



Brunei is the fourth or fifth wealthist country in the world, depending who you ask.  It became evident immediately that this place is very different from what we had seen so far in Indonesia or the South Pacific Islands.  It has substantial infrastructure, excellent roads, beautiful looking schools and is neat and clean in a way that Indonesia and the islands are not.  I photographed houses and apartment buildings that are representative of what we saw as we rode from the port to the capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan.  Our guide described these individual houses as middle class costing about $500,000 (Brunai dollars).  She said they are about 2,000 square feet in size.  There is also more modest housing, as well as heavily subsidized apartments, for those who can't afford to carry the costs associated with buying and maintaining them.  (We did not see more expensive housing; perhaps such homes are hidden from the street.)  Loans are interest free and whatever principal balance remains when the owner reaches age 55 is forgiven.  There are no taxes of any kind in Brunei, only a 10% withholding from salary which is deposited in a retirement fund.  A visit to a hospital or doctor costs $1 for citizens.  Non-citizens must pay the actual cost.  The average person earns $800 to $1,000 a month.  Upon retirement, citizens receive a retirement income of $250 a month.  Schools are free for citizens all the way from pre-school through college, and many students are sent abroad for college and graduate school.   In public secondary schools, class size is limited to 20.  Notice I said "citizens."  Despite the fact that our guide, her parents and grandparents were all born in Brunei and have lived there all their lives, none of them is eligible for citizenship.  She describes herself as Malay of Chinese origin and Buddhist.  That said, she does not appear bitter and explained that instead of school being free for her, she is required to pay a modest fee of around $15 a month.

 
   
  

Here's a typical government building (bottom left) and the parliament building (bottom right) which was built in 2015.

 
It's not clear what role members of parliament play since the sultan seems to be an absolute monarch and always holds the position of prime minister and all the critical portfolios, such as finance minister.

The currently sitting sultan is 71-years old.  He ascended to the throne when his father abdicated in his favor when he was 21.  Brunei being a strict Muslim country where sharia law applies to Muslim residents, the sultan, like any other Muslim man, is entitled to four wives under the law.  His first marriage was an arranged marriage to a cousin since his father insisted that the royals could only marry other royals.  (Our guide said the father didn't believe in science, but the royals no longer inter-marry understanding full well the genetic risks.)  The sultan and his first wife became engaged when they were eight years old and married when they were nineteen.  This marriage has produced six children.  Wife number one is the only one of his wives who live in the palace.  She holds the title of queen.  His second wife, who is now 60-years old, was a flight attendant for Royal Brunei Airlines.  She lives in a separate palace (whether because of the current state of that marriage or for some other reason, wasn't explained; certainly not because the palace is too small).  That marriage has produced four children.  The sultan's third wife is from Malaysia and was a TV reporter when they met.  She is 35-years old.  Apparently that marriage has failed and she has moved back to Malaysia.  The crown prince is 44-years old and serves as his father's principal aide.  The sultan's youngest son and daughter are 10 and 9 years old respectively.  Only males can succeeed to the throne.

Our first stop was at the Royal Regalia Museum.  The finishes are top shelf:  marble, gold and granite, among other materials.  It is all about the royal family, the sultan's coronation and parade, and the major parade that was held to celebrate his silver jubilee.  They are planning an addition to the building to house the regalia used for his 50th jubilee celebration last year.  We were allowed to photograph only certain things on the ground floor and nothing in the individual galleries.  We all had to take our shoes off outside.  Plus, we were told to dress conservatively in coming ashore:  no bare shoulders, no knees showing, no clothing with red or gold as these are the royal colors.  One of the things we saw in a gallery that we couldn't photograph was a replica of the sultan's private Boeing 747.

Our next stop was the Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque which has twenty nine 24-caret gold domes.  This mosque was built by the sultan, who is himself the 29th sultan to occupy the throne in a bloodline that goes back more than 600 years.  It was completed in 1994 at a cost of 2 billion dollars.  We were not able to go inside because Thursday afternoons and Fridays are prayer days, but we were able to walk the grounds.  All muslims are required to observe strict sharia law and, so, must attend mosque regularly.  There are almost 400 mosques in this tiny country.  All muslim children attend regular school in the morning and, after lunch at home, attend religious school from 2 to 5 p.m.  The children depicted in the photos that follow were reporting for religious school.  (Non-muslims, like our guide, are not bound by sharia law.  Any disputes involving them, or issues relating to marriage or divorce, are adjudicated in civil court rather than religious court.)

   



After this visit we were told we were headed to the sultan's palace, Istana Nurul Iman.  This is the largest occupied palace in the world (exceeded in size only by the palace in Beijing's Forbidden City).  It measures 2,200,000-square feet and, with the palace grounds, covers 128 acres.  It contains 1,788 rooms, including 257 bathrooms.  Only 15 royals currently occupy the palace which is maintained by a staff of 200.  As I said earlier, the sultan's second wife does not live in her own separate palace because of size constraints.  Something else must explain it. (We asked about relationships between and among the wives, but our guide deflected.) The palace has a helipad and a boat dock at the back that allows the sultan to travel by boat across the large river that runs through the city to the water village.  (This village consists of huts on stilts in the river.  About 15,000 people live in the water village.  Because of the side of the bus we were seated on, we were unable to take any photos of this village.)  The sultan opens the palace to the public three days each year, in June, and all comers are invited in.  The sultan greets each male guest and the queen greets each female guest.  You can have your picture taken with them, are treated to a banquet-style meal and, if you bring children, receive a gift of $5 for each child.  Senior citizens and those who are infirm are assigned an individual nurse at the door and can avoid the long lines.  Our guide told us that she attends only once every so many years because, as much as she enjoys it, the lines are horrendously long and it takes hours to get to the royals.  Apparently last year over 400,000 people, residents of Brunei and tourists, participated.  So for all this hooplah, our guide pointed out the main gates of the palace as we drove by, but the bus parked so far away for our "palace viewing" that the only part of it we got to see was a dome in the far distance.  Disappointing.



On our way back to the ship we passed the sultan's polo grounds.  He plays polo there just about every day from 4:30 to 6 p.m.














So where does all of this wealth come from?  Oil and gas.  The sea in and around Brunei is dotted with oil rigs and tankers.  (The photo is of poor quality because of poor lighting and the need to manipulate it to show rigs nearest the port but still quite far out.)  Gasoline costs 53 cents a gallon and diesel 31 cents a gallon.  These prices haven't changed in years.  The question that puzzles me is why the citizens of Brunei are so accepting of the sultan's extravagant lifestyle?  Our guide made clear that he is revered by his subjects who feel he treats them well.  She speaks as though all these national assets belong to him personally, and that to the extent he uses some of them for good housing, good schools, good health care, retirement income, and imposes no taxes, sells gas to residents at very low cost, etc., that is all a reflection of his beneficence.  I just don't get it.  The analogy that comes to mind is the extent to which some middle class Americans seem grateful for the tax cut that puts a few more dollars into their pockets and simply don't concern themselves with the extent to which the cuts disproportionately favor the very wealthy or will burden our children and grandchildren by increasing the debt substantially.

One more thing of interest comes to mind.  Janis asked our guide if Brunei has the death penalty, and she said it does for certain crimes like murder.  Janis asked how a sentence of death would be carried out.  Answer, by hanging.  Janis then asked about gays.  Our guide said it was a crime to be gay.  And the penalty is stoning to death.  At that point everyone cringed.  Our guide then said but of course none of these sentences has ever been imposed because there is, in fact, no crime in Brunei.  Where does the truth lie?  Without researching the question, which I'm not about to do, your guess is as good as mine.
 
Today we were in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, after an overnight sail from Brunei.  I stayed on the ship all day nursing a head cold but Janis went on an excursion called "Mari Mari Cultural Center."  So, when she gets around to it, she will do the blogging honors.