Negara Brunei Darussalam (Nation of Brunei, Abode of Peace) – Social Indicators

A.

History

1. Can you tell us about the brief summary of Brunei’s history?

 They have trading records to the Chinese that dates back during the 6th century. Time
skip to the 13th to 15th century, they became a vassal state of the Javanese Majapahit
Empire. Later on at that point of time, they became a Sultanate due to the widespread
of Islam and became independent as well. This will start the mark of the “Golden
Age” of Brunei between 15th and 16th century.
2. Can you explain why was it considered as their “Golden Age”? Who are the key
people during this period?
 The answer to the first question is because they were able to gain control over the
entire island of Borneo which is the 3rd largest island in the world. Aside from that,
they also have the military might that enabled them to conquer the polity of Tondo
under the leadership of Sultan Bolkiah also known as Nakhoda Ragam. There’s also
Sultan Hassan who is very prominent because of his development of an elaborate
Royal Court structure.
3. How about the fall of the Sultanate of Brunei? What exactly happened?
 There are several factors to be considered for the fall of their Sultanate. There’s the
Western influence, infighting, piracy, and the Rise of Sulu Sultanate. All these factors
combined resulted to the downfall of the country that was able to conquer the whole
of Borneo.
4. How did they adapt in these tremendous impediment?
 They survived because of the “Treaty of Protection” that occurred during 1888
wherein Sultan Hashim Jallilul Alam Aqamaddin appealed to the British. Afterwards,
they became their protectorate and then a British dependency in 1905.
5. Are there other countries that occupied or colonized Brunei? How did they gain
their independence?
 There is another one and that is Japan which occupied them during the Second World
War. They were liberated by Australia in 1945 and in 1959, the Sultan was able to
 retain control over all the internal affairs, yet they remained a British dependency
until the Proclamation of Independence was read on January 1, 1984, which sooner
resulted to their formal independence on February 23, 1984.
6. For the next questions, let’s make it a simple one: True or False.
 The Bruneian people - the natives of Brunei are classified under the Malay race.
- True.
 Malays who originated from Malaysia and Chinese are the first immigrants of
Brunei?
- True.
 Can you explain why?
- Sure. It is highly likely because of their history with trading that was highly prevalent
during The Middle Ages.
 For the heroes and first leaders: Nakhoda Ragam and Sultan Hassan
- Indeed, that is true.
7. For the next question. I want you to tell us the effects of Islam culture to the
remaining social indicators of Brunei.
 To give emphasis to right answer - It is all deeply rooted to 3 things namely: Religion,
Race, and Government. In 1952, the then-Sultan, Omar Ali Saifuddien worked for the
implementation of the current Constitution. This Constitution became the foundation of
governance and independence of Brunei. This is why he is also known as “The Architect
of Modern Brunei”, and “The Father of Independence”. These roots that I have
mentioned earlier serves as their guide for their daily lifestyle – starting to their culture,
way of life, religion, up to the governance – all these are strictly in accordance with their
Constitution that is founded under the Islamic and monarchic rule.
8. If that is the case, does this mean that the common Islam practices such as
hierarchical culture, reverence for age and position, concept of face, and even
complete ban to alcohol are being exercised in Brunei?
 Yes. That is definitely correct, but in addition, shaking hands across genders is also rare
in their culture.
9. For the last question for the social indicators, can you give us a correlation between
the external interventions that is happening in Brunei to the social problems that
they are currently experiencing?
 Let’s focus on two things for this question. First is their economy and their religion. For
the former, the heavily dependent economy of Brunei to hydrocarbon resources which
makes up more than half of the nation’s wealth is detrimental to the other sectors of
economy because of this emphasis. This would close the possibility of a diverse economy
which is necessary just in case the appraisal to oil resources in the global market go
sideways. For the latter, the suppressive society of Brunei tends to manifest to individuals
as a stress which if not properly addressed might result to depression that sometimes
pushes a person to commit suicide. Hence, the increasing suicide rates because of mental
illness in Brunei.