BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — A Takaful Brunei Mobile user has won a Toyota Fortuner at a grand prize presentation ceremony on Friday. Hasrul Hj Damit bagged the grand prize after renewing his private motor takaful through the Takaful Brunei Mobile app. The father of three said he has been a Takaful […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – New coronavirus cases climbed for the third straight week in Brunei, rising nearly 83 percent with 247 infections. From January 10-16, the majority of new COVID-19 cases were community transmission (62%) while 38 percent were imported. Last week’s number of COVID-19 cases […]

As a resource-rich country, Brunei Darussalam’s economy depends heavily on developments in the oil and gas sector. The Bruneian authorities have — for the last few decades — recognized the importance of diversifying their economy to build resilience, and had planned since the late 1990s to […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – The religious affairs minister Saturday announced that Year 5-6 religious school pupils and Year 7-9 Arabic school students will be allowed to resume face-to-face learning next week. During the COVID-19 press briefing, YB Pehin Dato Ustaz Hj Awg Badaruddin Pengarah DP Hj […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Brunei’s Officer Cadet School (OCS) will soon enroll foreign cadets to train at the Royal Brunei Armed Forces Defence Academy. His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah on Thursday said the move would enhance defence diplomacy with “friendly nations”, particularly with […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN — Bruneian home appliances brand KLEAR opened its first retail stores at Rimba Point and Aman Hills Shopping Centre on Thursday.  KLEAR Marketing Director Hui Ting Wong said KLEAR Home Appliances is a subsidiary of Cuckoo, focusing on innovative products that make people’s […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Toddlers aged 3 to 4 can head back to kindergartens from January 17, the education minister said Wednesday. Joining the COVID-19 news conference, Dato Hj Hamzah Hj Sulaiman said in-person lessons will be allowed for preschoolers five times a week, but attendance at […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Brunei’s crude oil production plunged to a record low in the third quarter of 2021 as the second COVID wave took a toll on the economy, which shrank for the fourth consecutive quarter. The Brunei economy sunk deeper into recession after posting a negative growth of 2.2 […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Public celebrations for the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 1, will be allowed within current COVID-19 guidelines, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) said on Monday. Speaking at the COVID-19 media briefing, Home Affairs Minister Pehin Dr Hj Abu Bakar Hj Apong said […]

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN – Brunei will shorten its night curfew from January 15 but travel restrictions will remain due to rising imported COVID-19 cases, the government said Monday. Speaking to reporters at the COVID press briefing, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office, Dato Dr Hj Mohd Amin Liew […]

Author: Ngeow Chow Bing, University of Malaya The somewhat awkwardly termed Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) is an ASEAN sub-regional area launched in 1994. The area — which covers Brunei and parts of Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua), […]

Authors: Jayaprakash Murulitharan, University of Cambridge and Matthew Ashfold, University of Nottingham Malaysia The almost annual haze in southern Southeast Asia originates from both natural and anthropogenic forest fires in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Forests are cleared for small-scale and […]

Author: Swee Kheng Khor, Kuala Lumpur The second year of the COVID-19 pandemic has not been kind to Southeast Asian countries. The region is experiencing accelerated national-level tragedies played out in accelerated speed. Only three Southeast Asian countries have any semblance of control. Brunei […]

Author: Moez Hayat, Georgetown University The year began well enough for Brunei when the sultanate took up its responsibilities as ASEAN chair. Under the theme of ‘We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper’, Brunei’s agenda focused on tackling COVID-19 in Southeast Asia and charting a post-pandemic […]

Authors: Nadia Azierah Hamdan and William Case, University of Nottingham Malaysia In regime studies, Brunei Darussalam is typically cast as an absolute monarchy, in some renditions the most coercive form of rule. But in practice the Sultanate’s politics remains relatively benign. In coping […]

Author: Editorial Board, ANU The relationships between ASEAN, China and the United States are under pressure in a world in which the global order is changing dramatically. This change threatens Asia’s shared prosperity and security. It is a product of the big shifts in the structure of global […]

Author: David Camroux, Sciences Po In justifying his Brexit posture, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson explained that, when it comes to the EU ‘cake’, he was ‘pro having it and pro eating it’. ‘Cakeism’ also forms the approach of the ten ASEAN countries to their own regional arrangement. […]

Author: Hsien-Li Tan, NUS When COVID-19 cases first appeared in the ASEAN region early in 2020, there were fears that public health systems would be overwhelmed. Responses around the region have varied. After decisive action — and missteps — in the initial months, Vietnam, Thailand, Brunei, […]

Author: Ann Black, University of Queensland In April 2019, the words ‘Sultan’, ‘Brunei’, ‘stoning’ and ‘gay-sex’ were trending globally. Condemnation of Brunei’s death by stoning law for proven acts of liwat — consensual intimacy between men — came from governments, the […]

SINGAPORE – When Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah delivered an address at the opening of Brunei’s annual legislative session on March 9, he expressed gratitude to “God” that his nation remained free of Covid-19 infections. At the time, the oil-rich Borneo sultanate was still one of the last […]

As China’s coronavirus epidemic spreads and global panic rises, with over 17,000 infections and 360 fatalities, countries in neighboring Southeast Asia are rolling out travel restrictions and bracing for contagion effects. While the wider region has pursued closer ties with Beijing in recent […]

Author: Kerstin Steiner, La Trobe University Brunei is a politically stable country whose extensive oil and gas resources make it one of the richest countries in the world. Oil wealth arguably allows the state to control the population through financial incentives such as no income tax and […]

The recent moratorium on enforcement of a law mandating that those committing homosexual acts in Brunei be stoned to death came only after a wide-ranging and high-profile international outcry. In a matter of about four weeks, the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, backtracked on the […]

Amid a global outcry against Brunei’s implementation of Islamic sharia law measures that allow for death by stoning for sex between men and extramarital affairs, the sultanate’s ruler has apparently climbed down from the harshest measures in what some have interpreted as a bid to shield his […]

Kementerian Luar Negeri Brunei menegaskan bahwa penerapan hukum anti-homoseksualitas di negara tersebut baru-baru ini bertujuan untuk menjadi sebuah pencegahan daripada hukuman. Menteri Luar Negeri Brunei Erywan Yusof berkata bahwa hukum syariah lebih berfokus pada pencegahan daripada hukuman, […]

The Foreign Ministry of Brunei has said the latest implementation of an anti-gay law aims to serve as a preventive measure rather than punishment. The county’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Erywan Yusof, said the Sharia law focuses more on prevention than punishment, with an aim to educate, deter and […]

There has been no shortage of invective directed at Brunei’s decision this month to introduce far more tyrannical punishments under its Islamic legal system. Sharia was first introduced in 2014 by Brunei’s absolute monarch, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, but has now been augmented in its final phase […]

汶萊是全球最小的國家之一，也是僅存不多的君主制國家。然而，該國計劃實行伊斯蘭法刑法，引入鞭刑、被亂石打死等酷刑而遭國際社會炮轟。亞洲時報（Asiatimes.com）報導 […]

Brunei, one of the world’s smallest countries and few remaining absolute monarchies, is under global fire for phasing in a controversial new sharia penal code that mandates amputation, whipping or stoning to death for violations. The oil-rich sultanate of less than half a million people is now […]

Strict interpretation of Sharia law will make homosexual intercourse and adultery in Brunei punishable by stoning to death. The new law, that had been on hold for four years, was reaffirmed on March 27 and is set to be implemented on April 3, The Jakarta Post reported. Homosexuality, which was […]