The Silent Nation of Brunei
Brunei is a tiny nation in South-East Asia with a population of less than half a million people. The Sultan and de facto leader, Hassanal Bolkiah, is worth over $20 billion dollars. So how come life in this tiny nation is so difficult?
Little is known about the internal life of Brunei citizens. A country with little to no journalistic or press freedom, reliable information is hard to come by. A tiny nation locked away in South East Asia, its extortionately wealthy leader nor its inhabitants frequently appear in Western headlines. Yet, earlier this year nations began to pay attention as the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah began to implement draconian anti-LGBT legislation, the type of stuff that would appall even Russia. Changes to the Brunei penal code included the the punitive measures of being stoned to death for sodomy or 40 strokes of the cane for lesbian sex.
Brunei is one of the few absolute monarchies left in the world-this means Bolkiah has complete executive power and is unconstrained by politicians and parliament.
Acting as his own Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and about any other cabinet position you can imagine, Bolkiah ultimately is answerable to nobody.
As a former British colony, the tiny nation has moved gradually more towards a strict interpretation of Islamic principles since its liberation from Britain. With nobody to oppose him, the Sultan has increasingly introduced discriminatory legislation and used his vast wealth and global influence to deflect criticism. Leaders may act indignantly to the oppression of women and the criminalization of homosexuality, but without a united Western front that will either sanction or divest from Brunei, the Sultan is unlikely to take this criticism to heart.
In the demonstrably regressive move towards policing sexual orientation with life or death consequences, we can safely deduce that the Sultan is extreme and no amount of pandering or preaching principles of equality will suddenly revert this bigoted, hateful and prejudiced man into a being tolerant of all sexuality and religion.
This of course is unacceptable- a persons sexuality or religion does not make them deviant or deserving of punishment. At first, the international community was aghast at such a barbarian practice, but as usual, distaste and disgust quickly melted away in the 24hour news cycle. Quickly, the plight of the LGBTQ+ community in Brunei was forgotten about and we moved on.
To the casual observer, it may seem that the leader of a country with a population of less than half a million would hold very little clout at the international level, however for what the Sultan lacks in territorial and populace power, he more than makes up for in monetary power. Other States and politicians are afraid to take a hard line stance as they risk losing lucrative investments and cash flows.
The Brunei Investment Agency-an arm of the government-owns nine of the worlds most exclusive hotels, including some in London and Paris. With such a huge sum of wealth and control of large oil reserves, it is understandable why some leaders are hesitant to take him head on, especially in the geopolitically unstable South East Asia region.
The West already has tense relationships here and it risks upsetting alliances by directly intervening. But at what point do human lives take precedence over politics? At what point do we stop disguising our horror under UN bureaucratic statements ‘urging a new direction’ and insist on real and concrete change?
