The grunt work in the country was done by imported laborers from the Philippines and Indonesia, but the Philippines were the largest single contingent.
The average Bruneian would not mow a lawn or do anything of that nature. The grunt work was done by foreigners.
Being a Muslim country, the government gave interest-free loans or near to it for the purchase of your home. There were dirt cheap trips organized by the government to take people to Saudi Arabia for the hajj, the pilgrimage that Muslims are supposed to make once in their life if they can. It was hard to find a lot of discontent in Brunei at that time. One area of concern was the fact that the Chinese element in the community was discriminated against on the question of citizenship.
That was a little difficult for the Chinese. Of course no Bruneian could participate in the political life of their country, either, as there was, in effect, no political life there.
With regard to religion there were also constraints. Brunei is a Muslim country, a moderate Muslim country, but with an element in the country personified by the Education Minister at that time who wanted a tougher, more fundamentalist approach to the Islamic religion. The Sultan, in my view, walked maybe a middle path.
There were some. They would tell me sometimes that they were really annoyed because their daughter or someone had been criticized by somebody or they had gotten a phone call because their daughter was seen out at night, for example.
As an indication, women could work anywhere they wished to work. They were encouraged to cover their hair, but not compelled to. They could do all of that by themselves. It was a decent life for women considering Brunei was a Muslim country. The right wanted to push Islamic practice a little further…. On the religious question, there was nil tolerance for the expansion of other religions. So, when I was there, there were at most two Catholic priests.
There had been mostly Australian priests, white Australian priests, and ministers, too. They were expelled. Brunei was not going to have any foreign priests there…. The first time that I had an occasion to be at the palace with the entire diplomatic corps would have been at the conclusion of Ramadan when you have the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. You have three days of visiting people and wishing everybody well.
The Sultan had a reception for the diplomatic corps in the palace. Now, the palace is another piece of work, 1, rooms I think, incredible. Just absolutely incredible. At any rate this would have been in January ….
The diplomatic corps was ushered into this main reception room of the palace to meet with the Sultan. I was not a spouse of an ambassador, I was an ambassador, so I remained in the central area with the ambassadors and ministers.
Her ambassador was ill and was in the Philippines a good bit of the time so she was also there. I had met some of them and so I greeted them. Women have to be over there. I spotted the Deputy Foreign Minister and so I went over and explained what was happening.
He was a little jumpy. At this point the Sultan and his family came in. Any time I needed to meet with the Sultan I got very quick favorable responses, even when it was a little unreasonable as far as I was concerned in terms of deadline. When you get something on a Friday, the [State] Department would sometimes insist they had to have this answer from the Sultan by Monday.
But the Sultan always came through for me, I have to say. Some among the petroleum industry people guessed that the end could come early in the 21st century — but that, of course was only a guess.
The Brunei Shell Petroleum company, which is half owned by the Brunei government and half by Royal Dutch Shell, produces most of the output. The government was well aware of the need to diversify the economy, but doing so had not been easy. During several meetings I had with Abdul Rahman, the Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs, we discussed the current five-year national development plan.
This focused on creating new jobs for the indigenous labor force and on efforts to encourage foreign investment which could promote exports. None of these seemed to me to offer much hope of success. These are mostly handled by the Brunei Investment Agency, although it is sometimes difficult to know when a particular investment is in the name of BIA or of the Sultan himself. Thus, the influence of culture can be traced to four dominating periods of animism, Hinduism, Islam and the West.
However, it was Islam that managed to wound its roots deeply into the culture of Brunei hence it became a way of life and adopted as the state's ideology and philosophy. Brunei Darussalam is richly endowed with cultural heritage steadfastly maintained until today.
The setting up of the Arts and Handicraft Centre in is a living testimony as to the preservation and the proliferation of the arts and crafts of the bygone days which Brunei was renown for such as boat making, silver-smithing, bronze tooling, cloth weaving as well as mat and basket weaving. Relics and other various artistic heritage of Brunei Darussalam besides the ones mentioned above include Malay weaponry, wood carvings, traditional games, traditional musical instruments, 'silat' the traditional art of self defence and decorative items for women.
Some of these are kept in the Brunei Museum and the Malay Technology Museum; not only for the world to see but most importantly for today's generation to admire and be proud of, for future generation to emulate, perhaps and something to remind us of our forefather's natural skill, creativity and innovativeness which over generations has been ingrained as one of the richest traditional culture in the Malay world.
Brunei Darussalam is still very much dependent on revenues from crude oil and natural gas to finance its development programmes. Aside from this, Brunei Darussalam also receives income from rents, royalties, corporate tax and dividends. Due to the non-renewable nature of oil and gas, economic diversification has been in Brunei Darussalam's national development agenda. Brunei Darussalam is the third largest oil producer in Southeast Asia and it produced , barrels per day.
It is also the fourth largest producer of liquefied natural gas in the world. Although Brunei Darussalam is no giant when it comes to landmass, it has been blessed with rich natural resources and a strategic location within the region. The majority of the country is covered in tropical rainforests teeming with exotic flora and fauna.
Anxious to promote the conservation of its lush surroundings, eco-tourism has gained importance in the country's economic activities.
Human resources are central to the successful transformation of Brunei Darussalam into a diversified industrial economy. As in most developing nations, there is a shortage of skilled workforce in the country.
Therefore, greater emphasis is placed upon education. The main areas of interest in human resources development are managerial and industrial skills, with particular emphasis on entrepreneurial skills as well as vocational and technical training. Brunei Darussalam's main exports consist of three major commodities - crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied natural gas - sold largely to Japan, the United States and ASEAN countries.
In June , a further amendment made known as the Sale and Purchase Extension Agreement Amendment had been signed which increased the sales for an additional 14 cargoes per annum to Japan starting from till the year The roads and infrastructure in Brunei are excellent. Due to an abundance of oil and low fuel prices, local buses and taxis are the most cost-effective means of getting around.
Brunei is typically a short stopover for travelers crossing by bus between the Malaysian Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah. Nearby duty-free Labuan Island —part of Sabah—is an alternative route in and out of Brunei.
Miri in Sarawak is the last major town in Borneo before crossing into Brunei. Visits of 90 days or longer require a travel visa before entering Brunei. Transit visas of 72 hours are available at the border.
Travel in Brunei will be affected during Ramadan. Read about what to expect during Ramadan travel and important considerations for Ramadan.
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