The Pressure On The Sultan Of Brunei To Give Up The Throne | Asia's Monarchies | Timeline

this channel is part of the history hit Network Asia's monarchy is Thai history [Music] in a modern era of democracy worlds of tradition mystery and ritual command Fascination and respect like never before [Music] Asian monarchs are symbols of continuity living connections to the people that are often loved and loathed in equal measure foreign [Music] on the northern coast of the world's third biggest island board you there lies one of the world's smallest kingdoms Brunei owes its extraordinary existence to the fact that it's had a sultan as a monarch for the last 600 years [Music] however unlike the rest of Asia and most of the world Brunei remains an absolute monarch whether Sultan is head of state as well as head of the government the salt in the scene is divine even his own cabinet ministers review Brunei is known throughout the world not only for its Sultan but also fruits oil royal family has become astronomically wealthy it has shared that wealth amongst the small population but in Brunei you're not supposed to discuss it talking about wealth brunei's money is a taboo in this country is constitutionally banned the Monarch has a grip over his people like nowhere else in Asia the system that is hard to understand from a westernized democratic perspective that kind of system suits Brunei whether Brunei under the sultan is a friend of British values is I think a rather different question [Music] is the system sustainable what happens to the sultan and to Brunei when the oil runs out and can this tiny State resist democracy when so many of its neighbors have embraced it [Music] Brunei is one of only six countries left in the world that have retained systems of absolute monarchy [Music] power is centralized and hierarchical political parties and elections almost non-existent [Music] Brunei has been assaulted ever since Muslim Traders established themselves here in the 14th century his majesty Sultan hassanal balkia mussaidin wadawa is brunei's 29th sovereign as a country Brunei would have disappeared entirely in the 19th and 20th centuries if it hadn't been protected by Britain they set up a residency system that ensured the Country Wasn't taken over by Malaysia Consultants those days was really hard up you know there was not much money even The Sultans wanted to go to Singapore for example they had to borrow money from the British [Music] Century The Sultans of Brunei was said to be so poor their clothes were threadbare and their palacious Mika the Brunei economy changed forever in 1929 after the discovery of oil by shell petroleum however The Sultans weren't allowed to share the wealth that was being created at an astonishing rate nothing went to the sultan at the time because according to the residency agreement he was entitled for a monthly stipend say for example 6000 States dollars they were not given direct money the current Sultan's father Omar Ali saifuden III suddenly changed the relationship with the British over the course of his Reign so that brunions were able to share the extraordinary wealth that was being created by the 1980s the Sultan of Brunei had earned enough money from oil exports to be dubbed the richest man in the world largely because the line between his personal Assets in the countries had become so blurred with unimaginable not to say unmentioned mentional wealth the Sultan's position seemed secure but if 95 percent of brunei's income comes from oil and gas what happens when these resources eventually run out from 1935 and oil was discovered this British three ordered theory that within 25 years Brunei oil will be dried up I hear the story when I came 21 years ago by godsfield I hope oil wealth will go on and go on forever unless someone else discover another source of energy oil and gas won't last forever so it's very important the the countries Investments are developed it benefits because it is a small country small population so if the Investments are made properly it should be able to live off its investments into the foreseeable future human Ingenuity is Limitless you know we always worry about something which did not happen we'll find something Bruno's development is at the moment unsustainable it needs to invest in other areas and quickly since the 1990s alcohol bars and nightclubs have been banned so it's unlikely tourism can ever gain a foothold because of its incredible wealth and Tiny population brunions have a very good standard of living enjoy free education in healthcare and pay no personal income tax [Music] the average household has three cars so very few people ask questions of the assaulted or the future they're enjoying their present situation too much it's an oasis of calm many people like to be in Brunei I like to work in Brunei because it is a calm place it's a very friendly and welcoming place it hasn't suffered excesses of many of the other states because life is so good the sultan and the royal family are genuinely loved by most people in Brunei what made the royal family of Brunei very very popular I think for obvious reason is that they are being human or they're being themselves and if you look around when the royal family move about in Brunei there is minimum security that shows how safe and how well loved they are and that is why the closeness of the people and the sultan is is really very evident question is how has the Sultan of Brunei survived as the last absolute monarch in Asia where power is completely centralized in his hands thank you to understand his preeminent position one has to examine the history of Brunei Sultans and the seminal events of 1962 when an armed Rebellion almost overthrew the monarchy foreign Bay was an important sport from the 9th century as Traders from China and the Middle East used it as a landing point and a place to buy important jungle Goods the history of Southeast Asia's in its earlier centuries based upon what we call thalassocracies these uh kingdoms of the sea if you like not control of the land but the control of trade routes and of the more desirable objects of trade the first Sultan was said to be alakpatata who reigned from 1363 and took the name Sultan Muhammad he married into the royal family of Johor and embraced Islam at the time as still exists today bruneians lived on the sea in water villages to escape the stifling heat of dry land [Music] subsequent Sultans built brunei's first mosques and preached strict adherence to Islam Sultans were revered by the people should count becomes almost an act of sacrilege to criticize the Sultan in a situation because he has got this aura about him which I think has been handed down to the generations his support is is reinforced by the Palaces and by the wealth and by all the prestige objects and or the ceremony that goes with it [Music] during the 15th and 16th centuries through Warfare and trade Brunei built an Empire that covered Borneo and parts of Southern Philippines there were two famous Kings Sultan balkia he was known as nakoda Raga the man who goes on the boat singing and he plus the ninth Sultan Sultan Hassan they were the people who actually known in Brunei Street for having caused this expansion from the 16th century brunei's history became dominated by the arrival of European seafarers first the Portuguese then Spanish and finally the British we have a positive evidence by Anthony pigafetta who was in Magellan's Fleet Italian who came to Brunei and he left a very Vivid account and he speaks about Brunei people drinking in golden cup and wearing a very expensive gown and plus he was treated for 54 course meal Brunei reached this opulence mostly through trading means it was the importance of establishing and maintaining the spice trade that made the country a tactically important place for the Europeans while the Spanish failed to overrun Brunei the British arrived in the 18th century looking to get a foothold in the bay to keep their trade routes open by this time brunei's Empire was in Decline Brunei Sultans found themselves sandwiched between competing and expanding interests on Borneo after a succession crisis in 1828 Omar Ali saifudin II became the 21st Sultan of Brunei he executed members of his own family who had claimed the throne but it was the British he needed to be more concerned about the British presence began to be felt not as a result of British government interest at first but because of James Brooke who was an adventurer a freebooter who came and made a deal with a Brunei Aristocrat to take control over Kuching which later became the nucleus of his his kingdom to be of Sarawak in 1842 James Brooke became governor of the British colony of Sarawak west of Brunei and for the next 100 years brunei's history was dominated by the Brook family who became known as the white Rogers Brunei was on the point of disappearing when the Raja broke who was a very active coupled with the mismanagement of Brunei it was shrinking a lot of corruption and ineptitude which made the people turn against the rulers so Raja Brooke was welcomed as a savior but this time the British had established a diplomatic link with Brunei and the British felt that it was not in their interest perhaps to allow James to actually take over entirely but also they thought as a matter of Honor to protect Brunei from further loss of territory [Music] I was in danger of Disappearing off the map altogether Charles Brooke nephew of James and now a renegade Roger sailed up the limbang river in Brunei and claimed the territory as his own yes ultimate him once he started he got the taste of it he wanted one day to finish off Brunei and bring it under his rule foreign husham signed a protectorate agreement with Britain that ensured Brunei would continue to exist Harvest small The Sultans of those days was really hard up you know it was not much money I think they welcomed the presence of the British as a stabilizing pause at that time to establish what was to be done with Brunei the British sent an Envoy Malcolm McArthur to write a report on the governance of Brunei and how the territory could be maintained he wrote the report interesting report in 1904 called bekata report he had two options he argued Brunei of course can be taken over by Sarawak but he said doing that will be a great travesty of Justice because like England Brunei is also under ancient monarchy so it's it's not fair to Snuff out that monarchy second reason his problem was that Brunei was so poverty redone at the time that it's very hard to maintain it so that's another reason why Brunei should be handed over to Sarawak [Music] won a lot of friends in Brunei sensitivity to The Sultans and their position in society however he called impoverished Brunei a collection of ruinous hovels where even Sultan Hashem wore threadbare clothes and had fallen through the floorboards of his Palace and stilts recover's mission is to find out just basically what to do with Brunei honor required that the sultan be well treated and respected the there was some feeling that the Brooks were too grasping and perhaps in the long run unpredictable he wanted to preserve the remaining part of Brunei provided that Britain can impose a kind of hegemony or Brunei not by direct Road by a form of indirect rule where they appointed a British resident who was the advisor consultant but the real Powers were in the hands of the British president so that was how Brunei was saved in my writings I say MacArthur was the real savior of Brunei the British had already established a successful residential system in the Federated ballet States having resisted the temptation of selling off Brunei to Charles Brook Sultan husham died in 1906 having saved his beloved Kingdom MacArthur became the first resident and set about creating a new system of government and Taxation whilst the sultan was left in charge of religious affairs [Music] the resident takes over all the strings of the administration he becomes the the governor the governor in effect and the sultan usually under these treaties the sultan had to accept all his so-called advice whatever he advised which meant really the sultan had lost his autonomy British established themselves at the house of 12 roofs a building disused since 1984 when the British left [Music] today it is a poignant reminder of brunei's recent Colonial past due to the death of his father Jamal Alam in 1924. jidin became Sultan of Brunei at the age of just 11. with a minor on the throne it was no surprise that the British were making most of the decisions for the country British effectively modernized Brunei the rest of Asia the country was relatively poor this was about to change dramatically Shell's discovery of oil in 1929 meant the country's roads Railways and housing were built at an incredible rate thank you by 1936 the country's debts had been paid off from nowhere Brunei became the third biggest oil exporter in the Commonwealth but Charlton tajutan wasn't personally seeing any of the oil money nothing went to the southern at the time because according to the residency agreement he was entitled for a monthly stipend say for example 6000 States dollars they were not given direct money and only some profits 20 to 30 percent was passed on and the profits were not directly passed to the royalty it was kept separate accounts managed by the resident and his assistant until 1950 The Sultans of Brunei played second fiddle to the British residents [Music] all this changed when darjeeling's half-brother Omar Ali saifuden III acceded to the throne from the very first day of his accession Omar Ali shifuddin was Keen to take control and reverse the historical process since 1905 which had seen power concentrated in the hands of the resident he started slowly taking away the powers and Authority from the hands of residents and he knew the power of Brunei at the time and he did not want the British to completely dictate terms to him as far as money is concerned staggering rate from one million dollars in 1946 to 30 million dollars by 1959. some of this wealth Omar Ali built a majestic mosque named after himself which is still the most magnificent building in the country its main Dome is said to be made from real gold the 1950s saw the development of Nationalist and Democratic feelings in Brunei the British were Keen for Brunei to join neighboring Sabah and sarawa in the newly formed Malaysia they didn't want to leave behind an anachronism an absolute monarchy in the midst of Southeast Asia which for one thing the British thought would be very vulnerable to communist takeover Sultan Omar Ali was offered an inducement by the new prime minister of Malaysia came around and said I'm going to make you the king of Malaysia if you join Malaysia who would want to be you know you you preside over the rest of the Sultans and here why not I think it was quite persuaded to join Malaysia on those on those terms yeah but then went back to Malaya and consulted the rulers the ruler said no way man in the late 1950s the Brunei People's Party had formed under the leadership and form a constitutional monarchy azahari wanted to go too fast basically sir Omar rally siphoning was sympathetic but at the same day it was a practical man he still wanted to make sure that brunei's future will be safeguarded the wealth won't be squandered in 1961 the sultan finally agreed to elections and azahari's People's Party won 54 out of the 55 seats to the legislative Council when they won the landslide the question then was should the council the Legislative Assembly be convened in order to allow them to pass an anti-malasia resolution so when finally after weeks and weeks of tension the date for the first legislative assembly meeting was fixed it was then postponed the resolution that they were going to talk about was was not allowed and it appeared to the people's party that the sultan and the residents were responsible for refusing to allow this anti-malasia resolution to be debated who believed he had the support of Indonesia well and from the beginning I was against the Federation of Malaysia because this is not actually Federation this is a transfer of power from one golden Power to another now we are not Rebels actually but we are independent lovers and freedom lovers and adhere of the principle of democracy foreign on December 8 1962 to everyone's surprise azahari declared independence for Brunei and led an armed Rebellion against the sultan no one had seen it coming I send out a uh this small piece saying the Rebellion had broken out in Brunei to Reuters see they came back and say again please [Music] British moved quickly to mobilize their gurkhas and Royal Commandos stationed in Singapore suddenly somebody rolled up in a Land Rover and said back to camp we fly at dawn brunei's been invaded by the rebels we've got to go and uh we've got to go and Liberate the town it's a mystery why the Rebellion broke out Azari until his death did not acknowledge the fact that he was the cause of the Rebellion he said this was engineered by some other factors in order to suppress it what I can tell you is that so deep was the corruption there that I saw it so bad was the governance that although I was a British soldier serving my queen and serving my flag in countering the rebels and recapturing Brunei I was very conscious even at that age that if I had been a brunette there I'd have been with the rebels I'm reward was a cock-up really it was Ill advice timing he broke up and they were not organized they didn't know where to go what to do it was a complete chaos the following morning we did the assaults on limbang in which five of my colleagues were killed and five were wounded and I did the assault on Louis in the fifth division of Sarawak and we went off to rescue in inverted Commons the district officer and found that he was a rather large gin sodden man with a I like to think of him with a pink gin Nissan but I think he only had a Webley Revolver who had in fact been surrounded by the rebels threatening his life and he'd gone out and said I am the representative of majesty the queen surrender and they all did [Music] by the 20th of December the rebellion was over the sultan declared a state of emergency something that surprisingly still exists today a paranoia set in that has lasted for almost 60 years was a unique gentleman and he believed in the people quite a bit until the Rebellion that sort of changed his whole Outlook yeah he became sort of paranoid because he trusted his people so much and he felt that they've turned around him and let him down quite badly only 40 Rebels had been killed in the uprising and 2 000 captured they would have been pardoned if they swore allegiance to the sultan some refused they would spend the next 20 years in jail [Music] in 1962 a democratic experiment by Sultan Omar Ali saifud in III went horribly wrong when elections didn't go his way he disbanded the legislature and sparked the Rebellion that came without warning in just 12 days the uprising had been quashed many believe it was brunei's incredible reserves from the export of oil that were at the heart of the Rebellion and the reason Brunei has not had meaningful elections since at that time I mean people blew my way all many of them were taxi drivers and laborers and and how could you give democracy how could you hold elections how could you give power to these people they would have made a mess of it they already made a mess of the Rebellion now you're talking about 19 billion dollars I admire the sultan because I mean if I had this kind of money then my back and call I would go crazy most probably 1960s the British government was urging the sultan to introduce elections and allow Brunei to become independent the British wanted the sultan to move forward to self-government but it had to be Democratic self-government they wanted him to become a constitutional Monarch the sultan Harbor was reticent he feared without a British presence in Brunei the country was susceptible to attack from hostile neighbors but at the same time Omar Ali wanted the British to Grant him full control of the country's finances eventually a British friends demand you know they have no way to go yeah so he said look at that if you don't do that I I'm gonna go you know I'm going to ABT again that did not move the mobile Hall at all so you want to go you go you know [Music] the sultan surprised Everyone by suddenly announcing his abdication in 1967. in favor of his firstborn son hasanal polka one theory was that his son was set to fail his military education in Britain and it was a way of avoiding the embarrassment I can't tell you the official reason Sultan Omar believed that his young son should be given a proper training in statecraft and he had enough because he founded the kingdom he spent money and he promulgated the Constitution and with the British he defeated the rebellion and he has a very good son who could really take over him he will have been told no doubt that he was going to take over the reins of government and he's going to learn how to be a sultan but although that was what the his father was saying the history of the next few years up until 1984 or even later shows that the old man the abdicated Sultan had no intention whatsoever of handing over at just 22 Arsenal became the Sultan in an elaborate coronation ceremony in 1968. symbolically it was his father Sultan Omar Ali who placed the solid gold crown on his son's head [Music] father was to remain the power behind the throne in his early years the current Sultan earned a reputation as being bored by his position of power before long he found that it was a very easy life with no responsibilities except to appear at ceremonial occasions whenever the sultan appeared with these dark glasses and with the peaked cap pulled down over his eyes it may well be that he just arrived back from Manila or Bangkok and had a hangover the 1970s saw the remarkable rise in the price of oil from one dollar a barrel in 1970 to 11 a barrel by 1974. brunei's wealth went through the roof with a discovery of gas as well as oil the country soon had the highest per capita income in all of Asia during this period quite a lot of welfare activities are going on and quite a lot of money has been spent housing sector all the brunions are entitled free education and you can see the development generally in the country infrastructure like Road system electrical system it has taken over by Leaps and Bounds however the state of emergency imposed after the 1962 Rebellion remained in place and the Constitution suspended in 1975 the United Nations called and Brunei to embrace elections and become independent from the British but the Sultan's father was still resolutely against both ideas [Music] Brunei was seen as an anachronism the last absolute monarchy in Asia came to power everybody looked at him oh my God I mean saroma is gone what should we do I mean will can this guy do it and he took a little bit of time for the President Sultan to send her on his own legs and imprint His image on the political situation on the power foreign Al enraged his father by marrying a commoner as a second wife he became more conservative as he had fallen in love for the first time Sultan hasanal began taking his religion more seriously and Brunei took on an increasingly Islamic atmosphere the country becoming proud of its history but also its faith in 1984 Brunei finally agreed to become fully independent from Britain membership to asean the Commonwealth and the United Nations followed soon as by January 1984 the British residency system in operation since 1906 formerly came to an end the country became known as Brunei nagara darussalam an abode of peace and the sultan became prime minister and defense minister his brothers occupied the other positions of power the royal family now had complete control of the country they became untouchable with Independence in 1984 Sultan hasanal bulkier assumed complete control of Brunei the enormous State reserves that had been controlled by the British was Suddenly at his Mercy the question for the sultan and his family was how to get real control not mediated by a finance officer they wanted to exercise direct control themselves at that time before the independence he had accounted for every cent Brunei had they're all invested with the crown agent every year the legislative Council would meet and brunei's accounts was read out so there was no hanky-panky going on there but the whole thing happened after the independence there was a change [Music] Sultan took full control forming the Brunei investment agency and putting his brother Prince Jeffrey in charge the country's finances became a state secret it was necessary to find some legitimate procedure whereby money could be allocated to the royal family without going through any kind of legislative process and the the mechanism that was found was charged expenditure [Music] with an expenditure account outside of the national budget it was harder to know how much of the oil Revenue actually went to the Royal Family the Brunei auditor an Englishman tried at one point to carry out an audit he wasn't let in through the through the grill they wouldn't let him into the into the offices of the investment agency the distinction between his own wealth and the state became so blurred he was listed as the richest man in the world the state's assets all their reserves were effectively his own the southern Spain became the stuff of Legend his car collection alone was said to include 500 rolls royces and hundreds of other classic cars for his own personal use he had a jumbo jet customized with Goal fittings believed to be worth 233 million dollars foreign to the outside world he was the king of bling he built the biggest Palace in the world the Astana noodle Iman it's gold Dome towering above the Brunei River and the water Villages below [Music] every year for the Muslim Festival of Hari Raya the sultan opens the doors of the palace to his subjects in over one hundred thousand people received food and gifts from the sovereign because of his incredible spending the sultan gained a reputation that put Brunei on the map only hasanal and his brother Prince Jeffrey knew the state of brunei's finances the lack of transparency as to where the money is going and where it's coming from I think is a major problem for the period at a great expenditure the lavish expenditure has fallen into some sort of disrepute if you like discussing money and how much money the sultan has became a no-go subject talking about wealth brunei's money is a taboo in this country is constitutionally banned the centralized Financial system set up after Independence was open to abuse but the sultan could have never imagined it would later be his own brother who would be accused of steam from State coffers in 1984 the Brunei government decided to introduce a philosophy known as MIB in Malay encourage people to believe in the three pillars of brunei's system Malay Muslim and monarchy MIB is a yardstick behavioral parameter for people to observe certain rules that's all they think if you are a true Malay if you are a true Muslim and if you believe in Monarch you will behave well because government is involved it sounds like propaganda people are indoctrinated in the benefits and the virtues of MIB is now taught through schools it's taught in the university and people are constantly reminded that that is the blueprint to which they should try to conform AI isn't 100 belaying nor 100 Muslim Chinese workers make up a sizable proportion of the population so this ideology precludes then although the government claimed it is inclusive MIB as a philosophy is largely symbolic this symbolism has been important for projecting the image of the sultan as a man of God even though in his private life when he goes abroad he may not be behaving quite up to the level of the Islamic ruler to reinforce the increasingly Islamic atmosphere in Brunei in 1991 the country went officially dry bars and nightclubs were closed down and alcohol was banned [Music] Sultan hassanal was establishing the cult of personality so beloved of totalitarian regimes Brunei is similar to a totalitarian regime it's similar to what one has read about Germany Nazi Germany and communist the Communist Soviet Union it feels like what you imagine those countries would have been like if you are part of it and I have been employed there it is it is totalitarian and the the way that they manipulate and control one also noticed how there was a constant stream of propaganda on the television uh to supporting the monarchy supporting the Islamic religion and so on but there was a this pervasive sense of of fear in such a climate there is no opposition to the regime in fact we even talk ill of the sultan was deemed in offense even if you're related to him [Music] there are some table subjects we're not supposed to to write about which is a religion sex the government and the sultan as well and members of the royal family I think this is for security reasons as well and for the harmony of the country you don't touch the royal family or the sultan you don't abuse them as a newspanner can say that we have more freedom on the press in Brunei I can tell you this much then in Malaysia or Singapore I did Cover one a royal wedding before and I got a call from the prime minister's office and they told me that yes you can talk about this and that don't try to talk about the wife which is the Sultan's daughter that kind of thing like you know maybe the food that she eats or something that still bemuse me in a bit like you know especially when I was interviewing it was the the son-in-law of his majesty in the 1990s political activity became non-existent and what parties were allowed to continue had almost no membership and couldn't say anything about the Sultan's power [Music] in 1997 the scandal of Prince Jeffrey's spectacular spending hit the headlines [Music] he was Minister of Finance and had a reputation as a Playboy blowing Millions through his own company on projects that he's alleged to put in his personal name and not that of the country [Music] the sultan filed legal proceedings against his brother then dropped them when he realized just how embarrassing the Scandal would be Jeffrey's extravagant purchases were put up for auction 2004 2 400 2005. 531 Prince Jeffrey's two most famous projects were built next door to each other first opened gerudong Park attracted upwards of 5 000 people every day [Music] now it's been left to Decay and on average less than 200 people visit daily the second project was one of the world's most expensive hotels the one billion dollar 600 room Empire with real gold leaf lining the walls and Suites costing up to fourteen thousand dollars a night it was said to be a project which would need to be filled nightly for something like a hundred years in order to pay back the investment it was a hotel and Brunei hasn't got a very Lively tourist trade and most of the tourists who come would not be able to afford to stay in a hotel like that foreign the Empire is Barely Used and has created a vast black hole in brunei's finances Brunei is littered with projects began by Prince Jeffrey and never completed he was so ambitious and what's happening in Dubai now it also happened in a small way in Brunei because Prince Jeffrey started to build a lot of palaces a lot of flats and a lot of dream buildings which is useless for Brunei he was accused by the Sultan of embezzling 15 billion dollars from the country's accounts the scandals relating to the use of money in the past weakened The Prestige of the monarchy Prince Jeffrey described himself as the Fall Guy for his family's successes I'm sure the sultan was felt deeply betrayed by Jeffrey and he must have realized that he the sultan had a sort of character flaw that he had been too trusting he trusted International opportunists such as khashoggi El faeed but it had never damaged him however in the case of his own brother I think he was really made to realize how careless and and over trusting he had been and I think it must have had a deep effect on him [Music] Brunei suffered in the Asian economic downturn of the late 90s from being a country with Incredible reserves and a budget surplus it suddenly found itself dangerously low on funds [Music] the era of super spending came to an end the sultan became much more circumspect about money he also took over from his brother as Minister of Finance unable to trust anyone else with the state funds we should go back to more transparency where brunei's wealth is concerned we must know where the money is going where where is being invested what is being done and unless we do that you know there's going to be problems like Prince Jeffrey misusing the funds in 2004 the sultan declared himself infallible and immune from prosecution free to brunei's Colonial Masters today his grip on power knows no bounds Brunei has been very good to Britain we're doing a lot of work to to help and support their Armed Forces so Britain so Brunei is regarded as being a friend of Britain but whether Brunei under the sultan is a friend of British values of democracy freedom and the ability to express your views is I think a rather different question the sultan has survived for over four decades on the throne many can't imagine a day when he won't be around his Majesty's a father a leader a friend and most importantly a bruneian so his Majesty's all of that you know so whatever the people feel he can also feel it what he has done for the country I'm I'm really impressed you know um and sometimes I wish that he he stays longer as a sultan for as long as possible as well and mind you he's been running the country for 40 years and I'm always impressed that you know the international relationship that he has with other countries is very strong [Music] Sultan has admitted the current system of absolute control can't go on forever he knows that things must change and he said when the time comes I will change as well I think that there will be some steps towards a constitutional monarchy in due course there has to be some public participation in government for the moment the last absolute monarchy in Asia appears secure its people content to keep things just as they are [Music] all accustomed to the political system right now if it was to change you'll really check up Brunei event for the foreseeable future I think that bruneiens would say yeah we've we've got a good lifestyle it's a nice place to live if it ain't broke don't don't fix it yeah Grand Monica has been a good influence with the President Sultan the prize Sultan is the best thing which have happened to Brunei the man Brian simply called hm is a benevolent ruler who genuinely wants the best for his people a population entirely beholden to him and his iron grip on power Ghana's Dynasty survived when oil is finite and a new more vocal generation move into positions of power how long can politics be put on hold these are questions that only the sultan can answer [Music] for the moment he and his people it seems are content with the status quo [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

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Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, brunei, sultan of brunei, asian monarchies, asian history, brunei history, richest sultan, timeline, timeline world history, timeline channel, timeline world history documentaries

Id: MCnrfFMBHjQ

Length: 49min 23sec (2963 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 27 2022