Brunei Government and Politics

GOVERNMENT

Reference: Brunei Flag Meaning

According to AllCityCodes.com, Brunei is a hereditary sultanate.The current sultan is Hassanal Bolkiah, who took office in 1967, when his father, Omar Ali Saifuddin, abdicated. However, he continued to be the country’s strong man for a long time. Since the country became independent on January 1, 1984, the sultan is also prime minister. Several of his family members are members of the government.

According to the 1959 Constitution, amended in 1962, Parliament has 20 members, half of whom are elected. However, the real power lies with the sultan family. The country’s only political party is the Party Perpaduan Kebangsaan Brunei, PPKB.  Also see AbbreviationFinder for abbreviation of BN and its meanings of Brunei.

Judiciary

The judicial system consists of the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the magistrates’ courts. The High Court is both an appellate body and a court of first instance in more important cases. The country’s highest court is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. Material law is based on English and Islamic law. The latter is applied by special Sharia courts. The death penalty remains in the penal code but is de facto abolished in 1957.

Heads of State

Sultans from 1762

History and Politics

Islam comes to Brunei

Little is known about the time before Islam came to Brunei in the 14th century. There was probably an exchange with other states in the region and the sultanate maintained trade relations with China. This is how Chinese objects were found in Brunei. Islam spread in Brunei since the 14th century. A ruler named Awang Alak Betatar became a Muslim and changed his name to Sultan Muhammad.

The power of the sultan

Brunei is an absolute monarchy, the country’s sultan is the absolute ruler. On October 4, 1967, Hassanal Bolkiah became Sultan of Brunei and thus head of state, prime minister, defense minister and at the same time finance minister of the country. His family members are also involved in government. The country’s currency is called the Brunei dollar and its value is based on the Singapore dollar.

Former national territory

Today’s Brunei is the remainder of a much larger national territory that encompassed the entire north coast of today’s Borneo.

BRUNEI

Sultanate and city of the island of Borneo. The territory of the sultanate extends along the north-western coast of the island (6,500 sq km). The 1921 census gave 25,454 residents, mostly Malaysians or Bornean tribes, with 1434 Chinese, 37 Indians and 35 Europeans.

Along the coast there is a flat area with mangrove swamps and behind these the crops; but most of the country is hilly and mountainous, and covered with a dense evergreen forest. Oil looks plentiful, but major fields have not yet been located. The climate is equatorial, hot and humid, with fairly cool nights: the annual rainfall generally exceeds 2500 mm. The main products are mangrove peel extract (cutch), rubber, jelutong and jaggery, and the first two also give the most important export items, by quantity or value (in 1925: cutch = 2600 tons. for 27,300 Ls.; rubber = 588 tons for 153,700 Ls.). With the treaty stipulated on January 2, 1906, the Sultan of Brunei ceded the administration of the state to a British resident; the current sultan, inaugurated in 1924,

The old city of Brunei, built in the water on the bank of the river of the same name, still exists, but a new town from 1910 has grown on the mainland. It communicates via a radio station with Labuan, and from there, by cable, with Singapore. In Labuan, it is also connected by a regular line of water buses. Brunei has various local industries, shipbuilding, textiles, silver and brass work. The currency is the one in progress in the Establishments of the Strait.