Brunei Darussalam

“… to understand the present and

anticipate the future,
one must know enough of the past,
enough to have a sense
of the history of a people.”

Lee Kuan Yew

Former Prime Minister of Singapore
• Brunei is certainly among the smallest countries in
Southeast Asia, both by area and by population.
• Only 5,770 sq. km with a population of fewer than
a half-million people.
• The capital of Brunei is Bandar Seri Bagawan.
• Brunei’s government can be described as an
absolute monarchy.
• Head of State and Government: Sultan Haji
Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzadin Waddaulah.
• Through Chinese historical archives, it is known that the Puni
Kingdom was paying tribute to China (6th to 9th Centuries).
• In the 14th Century, Brunei was claimed by the Majapahit
Empire of Java (Indonesia).
• By the time the famous explorer Magellan visited the area in
1521, Brunei was a flourishing trading community, doing
business mostly with other countries in Southeast Asia and
China. When the Portuguese seized Melaka in 1511 and
closed it to Malay traders, Brunei knew an even more
prosperous time.
• Brunei adopted Islam as a religion around this time.
• Between the 16th and 17th Centuries, Brunei became a major
regional kingdom, extending to the Philippines. It was around
this time too, that the Sarawak and Sabah rebellions were born.
Two local chiefs led these rebellions and began to challenge the
authority of the Sultan.
• Beginning in the mid-17th Century, because of the weakness of
the then Sultan (Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin, who came to power
in 1828), there had been a bitter power struggle.
• The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 re-arranged the power equation
in the region. The Dutch, who rested power and took control
over some of the colonies of Portugal, ceded a few possessions
to the British.
• It was against the backdrop of the declining Sultanate of Brunei
that James Brooke arrived and helped defeat the rebellion by
the local chiefs. He was made governor of Sarawak by the
Sultan.
• Through clever manipulations, many other concessions were
obtained by Brooke on behalf of the East India Company. He
was then known as the White Raja.
• The Sultanate became so weak as a result that Britain decided to
establish a protectorate over Brunei , Sarawak, and North
Borneo in 1888. By then, the Sultanate was reduced to just a
small territory around the Brunei capital and a little pocket in
Sarawak.
• In 1920, oil was discovered on-shore and off-shore the Sultanate.
Since that day, Brunei became an altogether different country.
• By the 1960s, the kingdom was able to provide many services to
its subjects: free healthcare, education, and other social services.
The population enjoys high standards of living.
• In 1959, Brunei achieved self-government. A constitution was
drawn up and put to use.
• Brunei finally became fully independent in 1984. It became a full
member of ASEAN in 1987. In 2001, it became the Chair of
ASEAN for the first time and again in 2013.
• The Sultanate of Brunei is now an absolute
monarchy, with all powers resting with its all-
powerful ruler, the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. This
arrangement is willingly accepted by the people of
Brunei as they have enjoyed high standards of living
(from oil revenues).
• Earlier this year, the Sultan declared that he will
push ahead with shariah (or Islamic) law that would
include tough penalties such as death by stoning or
amputation for crimes committed in the kingdom.