State of Brunei Darussalam

Type of Government

Officially known as the State of Brunei Darussalam, Abode of Peace, or Negara Brunei Darussalam, Brunei is an independent and constitutional Islamic sultanate on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Brunei’s ruling monarch, or sultan, serves as head of state. The sultan appoints ministers to serve on five Constitutional Councils, which advise and assist him in governing. An appointed chief minister oversees the work of the councils and exercises the government’s executive authority. One of the five councils, the Legislative Council, is designated as Brunei’s parliament. The Legislative Council is expected to transition gradually from an appointed to an elected body. Brunei’s Supreme Court hears appeals from lower courts and heads the country’s judicial branch of government.

Background

Almost an enclave within Eastern Malaysia, Brunei is geographically separated into two parts, both surrounded on three sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak and on the north by the South China Sea. Situated on Borneo, which is part of a large island grouping called the Malay Archipelago, Brunei has a population that is two-thirds ethnic Malay and approximately one-fifth ethnic Chinese, the latter living in Brunei’s urban areas. The balance of the population consists of various groups of indigenous peoples. Islam is Brunei’s official religion and is practiced by 67 percent of the population. Buddhism is practiced by 13 percent, Christianity by 10 percent, and indigenous beliefs and practices, such as animism, by the remaining 10 percent.

Brunei has a history shaped by its proximity to maritime trade and the vital shipping lanes leading through the South China Sea and into the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Traces of Hindu influence arrived via trade or conflict with Java. By the early fifteenth century, Muslim traders from India settled in the region and brought with them the religion that shapes Brunei’s government and continues to be practiced by the majority of its population.

Brunei covers only some 2,226 square miles (5,765 square kilometers), but in the early sixteenth century, when it was already an Islamic sultanate, its control extended over the entire northwestern area of the island of Borneo, including the present-day Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, and some portions of the Sulu islands in the southern Philippines. Spanish explorers were the first Europeans to visit the sultanate of Brunei, and trade with Europe quickly ensued. Internal strife brought on by conflicts over royal succession, and colonial expansion by European powers, caused a period of decline. By the end of the eighteenth century, Brunei was known as a haven for marauding pirates. Predominant British influence began in 1849, when the British, looking for a way to protect their lucrative trade between Singapore and northwest Borneo, took action against the pirate fleets and disabled them within five years. Previous British influence in the region had come from a British officer, Sir James Brooke (1803–1868), who was instrumental in helping the Sultan of Brunei quell a civil war; in 1841 the grateful sultan ceded to Brooke the state of Sarawak. Brooke and his successors purchased or acquired other territories on Borneo, until Britain controlled all of northern Borneo. In 1888, reduced almost to its present size, the sultanate of Brunei became a British protectorate. A British diplomatic agent administered the state and advised the sultan in all matters except Malay customs, traditions, and Islamic religion.

Much of Brunei’s late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century history coincides with that of neighboring Malaysia, including the Japanese invasion and occupation from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. Years after the war, in 1959, Britain granted self-government to Brunei, while remaining in charge of the country’s defense and foreign affairs. Also that year, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien (1914–1986), the reigning monarch, promulgated Brunei’s first constitution. In 1962 the leftist Brunei People’s Party, which sought to remove the sultan from power, won all elected seats in elections for the Legislative Council. The sultan dissolved the council, declared an official state of emergency, and began ruling by decree. A subsequent revolt by the Brunei People’s Party was quickly put down with British assistance, and as of 2007 the official state of emergency remained in effect.

In 1963 Brunei became the only Malayan state to choose to remain a British dependency rather than join the new Federation of Malaysia. Many believe the ruling sultan feared joining the federation would mean the loss of Brunei’s separate identity and the loss of a large portion of the state’s oil and gas revenues. Following independence in 1984, Brunei became a member of the British Commonwealth. While the sultan’s 1959 constitution remains in effect, important provisions of it were suspended under the 1962 state of emergency, and additional provisions were suspended following Brunei’s complete independence from Britain

Government Structure

Brunei’s head of state—and its official prime minister—is one of the world’s longest reigning monarchs. Hassanal Bolkiah (1946–) became sultan in October 1967 following the abdication of his father, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien. Brunei’s constitution grants executive authority to the Council of Cabinet Ministers, a body of twelve who are appointed by the sultan and presided over by the sultan and the chief minister, or mentri besar. Brunei’s present sultan also holds office as defense minister and finance minister. Other cabinet ministries include home affairs; development; industry and primary resources; and culture, youth, and sports. There are three other important national councils whose members are all appointed by the sultan. The Religious Council advises on religious matters; a Privy Council deals with constitutional matters; and the Council of Succession determines succession to the throne when necessary.

The fifth national council called for by Brunei’s constitution is its parliamentary body, the Legislative Council. Originally consisting of eleven appointed members and ten elected ones, the council was dissolved in 1962 after one legislative election, which resulted in hostility toward the monarchy. The ruling sultan declared the state of emergency, which would persist into the twenty-first century. The Legislative Council was reconstituted by appointment from time to time. Political parties, outlawed under the state of emergency, reemerged briefly in the 1980s. In what was seen as a rare move toward political reform, the sultan reopened parliament and the Legislative Council met again, for the first time in twenty years, in September 2004. Its twenty-one members were all appointed by the sultan. This Legislative Council passed a constitutional amendment calling for a forty-five-member council with fifteen elected, rather than appointed, members. In September 2005 Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah dissolved this new Legislative Council and appointed one with twenty-nine members. Brunei’s last legislative elections were held in March of 1962, and, while new legislative elections are expected, a date for them has yet to be determined.

Brunei’s legal system is based on the Indian penal code and English common law. For Brunei’s Muslims, the courts of first instance are the courts of Kathis, which handle family matters, such as marriage and divorce, by applying sharia, or Islamic law. There are also sultan’s courts, presided over by magistrates, followed by the High Court, which hears appeals in both criminal and civil cases, and the Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from the High Court. Brunei’s judiciary is headed by a Supreme Court, whose chief justice and judges are sworn in by the sultan for terms of three years. The Judicial Committee of Privy Council in London remains the final court of appeal for civil cases in Brunei. Final appeal of criminal cases is to Brunei’s Supreme Court. In May 2002 a State Judiciary Department was formed to take over administration of Brunei’s judicial matters. Brunei declares its judiciary to be an independent branch of government.

Political Parties and Factions

With the same royal dynasty ruling Brunei for six centuries (Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is the dynasty’s twenty-ninth monarch), political parties in Brunei have been minimized. They first appeared with the formation of Brunei’s self-government in 1959, but all political parties were outlawed in the wake of the sultan’s declaration of a state of emergency following legislative elections in 1962. They reemerged in the 1980s, and in 1984 the government legalized the Brunei National Democratic Party—composed mostly of businessmen loyal to the sultan—and followed with the legalization of the Brunei National Solidarity Party in 1986. In 1988 both were banned. In 1995 the Brunei National Solidarity Party, one of the parties banned in 1962, formally requested authorization and held a convention. In 2005 the National Development Party registered as a political party.

Major Events

In 1984, the year of its independence, Brunei joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which had first been established by Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand in 1967. Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar became members in the 1990s. ASEAN seeks to reduce tensions and increase collaboration among its member nations. Accelerating the region’s economic growth, cultural development, and social progress are among its most important stated aims. In 1999 ASEAN’s member nations agreed to pursue development of a free trade zone in Southeast Asia by eventually eliminating duties on most goods traded in the region. Estimated to take effect in the year 2010 or later, the proposed zone will be the world’s largest free trade zone, encompassing some 1.7 billion people and trade valued at $1.2 trillion. In May 2002 ASEAN’s ten member countries pledged to form a united front against terrorism in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. They established a regional security framework, including joint training programs, exchange of intelligence information, and the introduction of national laws governing arrest, investigation, and extradition of suspects.

In 1991 Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah introduced a conservative state ideology known as Malay Muslim Monarchy, or Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB). It combined Islamic values with traditional Malay culture and declared the Brunei monarchy to be a defender of the Islamic faith. Thought to have been aimed at preempting calls for a more democratic government, the ideology is said to have alienated Brunei’s Chinese and expatriate communities.

Southeast Asian financial markets took a sudden, precipitous decline in 1997 when investors lost confidence in a number of Asian currencies and securities. In Brunei the value of shares and other assets was affected, and oil prices simultaneously declined. As with other economies in the region, Brunei’s economy eventually recovered.

In 1998 a financial scandal involving the royal family erupted when Amedeo, a business conglomerate owned by the sultan’s younger brother, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, collapsed, leaving massive debts and precipitating a financial scandal. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah removed his brother as chief of Brunei Investment Agency, over concerns about his stewardship of the agency. In 2000 the government of Brunei filed a civil suit against Prince Jefri for alleged misuse of state funds, and the case was settled out of court. Revealed to have spent more than $2 billion on luxury goods over ten year’s time, Prince Jefri agreed to return all assets allegedly taken from the state-owned Brunei Investment Agency.

Twenty-First Century

Most of Brunei’s private press is either owned or controlled by the royal family. Those outlets that are not owned by the royal family usually exercise self-censorship in matters of politics and religion, and offer little, if any, criticism of the government. Foreign television is available via cable, and access to the Internet is described as unrestricted.

Concerns unique to a constitutional sultanate also manifest themselves in Brunei’s economic situation. While increasing integration into the world marketplace benefits Brunei economically, the country’s leadership is concerned that aspects of this integration—especially increasing worldliness and affluence among the country’s youth—may end up adversely affecting Brunei’s internal social cohesion.

Brunei has benefited enormously from its extensive petroleum and natural gas fields and today has one of the highest per capital gross domestic products (GDPs) in Asia. Crude oil and natural gas production account for just over half of the GDP and more than 90 percent of exports. Throughout the decades, the state has invested much of its oil and gas revenue on modernization and social, educational, and medical services. Reserves of oil and natural gas, however, are dwindling. Future plans in the twenty-first century call for diversifying the country’s economic base, including marketing the country as a financial center and a destination for ecotourism. This may require retraining up to 25 percent of the labor force and strengthening the economy’s banking and tourist sectors.

In February 2007 Brunei, along with neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia, signed a “Rainforest Declaration” and agreed to conserve a large area of Borneo that is home to rare species.

Brunei Government. “The Government of Brunei Darussalam Official Website.” (accessed June 28, 2007).

Osborne, Milton. Southeast Asia: An Illustrated Introductory History. New South Wales: Allen & Unwin, 1991.

Tarling, Nicholas. Britain, the Brookes and Brunei. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.