Muara, Brunei

Brunei is an independent Islamic sultanate on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. His Majesty Sultan Haji presides over the small kingdom. He is 29th sultan in the family dynasty which began with Sultan Muhammed in 1405 AD. Most of the kingdom is jungle terrain, and because only a fraction of the land is developed for farming, food must be imported. They are a rich nation which comes from natural gas and oil.

We were told the country is quite peaceful. No drugs are allowed and if someone is caught, the penalty is death. No alcohol is sold in Brunei. The people help to protect each other, if they see a stranger, the police are called and the stranger must show documentation. People cannot immigrate, they must be born there to be a citizen. Our tour guide was from the Philippines and has lived in Brunei for 16 years, but can never be a citizen because he is not Muslin. The citizens have free education and free medical and the Sultan gives them land and a house. They have no beggars and each family has 2-4 cars. There is no income tax.

One of the photo stops on our tour was at the Sultans’ Palace. The Palace is on 300 acres, has 1,788 rooms, the largest residence palace in the world. We could not go in the Palace but entry is allowed one time a year which will be Oct. 1, 2nd and 3rd next year. People line up to shake the Sultans’ hand and he gives people with children $10.00 per child. He shakes hands with up to 100,000 people. On his birthday the Sultan has 6,000 guests for dinner.

We visited a magnificently-built mosque with 29 24-karat gold domes. As with everyplace that we visited we left our shoes outside. There were 29 steps up to the prayer room which contained a gold and crystal chandelier that weighted 3 ½ tons. Most mosques are just for men, but this one had a room for women. The prayer rooms had wool carpet made in New Zealand divided into individual squares, with altogether room for 5,000 worshipers.

At our next stop, we stepped aboard a water taxi–Brunei’s standard mode of transportation for a stop at the Water Village to see houses built on stilts and to learn about the way of life suspended above water. This is a village of around 30,000 people and when we found out they did not have a sewage system, we tried not to let the water splash on us when aboard the water taxi. When the people use the toilet, the waste goes directly into the water, no flushing, no pipes. The Water Village has schools, mosques, gas stations, library and hospitals all on stilts over the water.

We visited a typical home (took off our shoes, of course) in the Water Village where the children were lounging around, watching tv . The children were home from school as it was Sunday. We wondered what the parents do when they want to get the kids out of the house and how do the teachers manage without a playground for recess. I can remember my teaching days when it rained and we had to keep the kids inside.

We visited a museum to see collections of royal chariots, gold and silver ceremonial armory. His Majesty’s jewel-encrusted crown and other collections were in an area being remodeled so there was no entrance.