The Sultan and His People

by Anne Rothwell

We edged along the shoreline as the plane descended into Brunei Darussalam and landed close to the capital, Bandar Seri Bagawan. We were on our way home from a wonderful holiday in Sabah, Borneo. We hadn’t travelled far, but needed to change planes in Brunei. Our hearts sank when we were told that we had missed our connection and there would be several hours to wait before the next one - then rose again when we were told we could pass the time with a city tour. This was free and clearly a great offer from the tourist board.

We started off on a coach tour to see all the major sights: the beautiful Hassamil Bolkiah mosque built for the 29th (current) sultan; the even more beautiful Omar Ali Saifuddien mosque built for the 28th sultan; and the royal palace. Next we took a boat for Kampung Ayer, the water village. This is a huge network of houses on stilts linked by wooden walkways. Around 30,000 people, half the population of the capital, live here and not in poverty! We went into one of the houses and were astounded by the size of the rooms. I found the kitchen particularly impressive and loved the idea of the large trapdoor in the floor, used to catch fish - straight from the water to the pan! We were offered tea and snacks and had the opportunity to ask the family lots of questions about their lives. They loved their life, visiting neighbours along the walkways and taking a boat if they wanted to go further afield.

The sultan, one of the richest men in the world, clearly looks after the people and there is free healthcare and no taxes, crime or unemployment. But also no alcohol! Certainly, when we returned to the city, everywhere looked very clean and spacious and there were no beggars. Instead of a flourishing nightlife, there was an amusement park and some excellent shopping malls. We still had some time so we wandered round a mall and into the gardens of one of the mosques, where we saw a full size model of an elaborate royal boat and a large number of big black and white butterflies.

At 6 o’clock, we were shocked by the deafening report of the gun to signal the end of fasting as it was Ramadan. Before we left for the airport, I turned round and saw the silhouette of the mosque against a blazing sunset, and remembered that it was my birthday, one that I would never forget.

First published in VISA 93 (Oct 2010)