In Southeast Asia, facing the South China Sea, the nation of Negara Brunei Darussalam – better known as Brunei, is wedged between the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah. Brunei was a British protectorate for almost one hundred years until independence in 1984.
Brunei became a Muslim nation in the 15th Century after the conversion of Sultan Awang Alak Betatar (Sultan Muhammad Shah). The same family has ruled Brunei for over six centuries. Brunei is very rich in oil and the sultan is one of the world's richest men. The government collects no taxes, but provides health care, pensions, education, and, for those without the means, assistance in making the Hajj to Mecca.
Difficult for Christians
Islamic Shari'a law in Brunei supersedes civil law and it regulates all of life. The national constitution states, "The religion of Brunei Darussalam shall be the Muslim religion.” Life is difficult for Christians in Brunei. Some have lost their jobs without any notice. Christians seeking opportunities for higher education must leave the country to access universities. Evangelism is strictly forbidden and some local Christians have been arrested and detained for planning outreach to the population. Christian based (expatriate) schools must give instruction in Islam to all students and are not allowed to teach Christianity. Recently a foreign English teacher simply prayed for blessings on a Malay family during the Eid al-Fitr celebrations (at the end of Ramadan) was given 48 hours to leave the country.
A number of Brunei Malays have believed over the years, but the very strict, conservative Islamic environment in Brunei is hardly conducive to any Muslim-background believer being open about their commitment. Indonesian Christian broadcasting is easily heard and understood in Brunei. Christian literature for personal purposes (not resale or distribution quantities) can be carried in from neighbouring Malaysia. It is not possible to buy Bibles or Christian books in Brunei. Two recognised churches exist. Both are closely watched by police with spies in nearly every meeting.
Prayer Points (from those ministering to Brunei):
* Pray for expatriate brothers and sisters who are serving in Brunei. Their situation is very sensitive. May their lives provide an example of Christ to those within their circle of influence.
* Pray for the Church throughout Brunei, that Christians will be a light to those within their immediate community. May the congregations welcome the presence of God in their worship and prayers. May they offer encouragement to all local believers while the Lord helps them to build meaningful relationships for the sake of the Kingdom.
* Pray for a stirring in the hearts among the people. May Jesus reveal Himself through dreams and visions. May God work in ways that only he can do to draw the people to himself.
* Pray for the royal family and their influence at every level: the Sultan’s ‘second’ wife, Azrinaz Makar Hakim, from Malaysia; Crown Prince Billah and his wife, Sarah. [Acts 16:31] The parliament is beginning to meet again after being closed for 20 years.
Flag of Brunei
Map of Brunei
Background on Brunei (World Factbook)
The Sultanate of Brunei's influence peaked between the 15th and 17th centuries when its control extended over coastal areas of northwest Borneo and the southern Philippines. Brunei subsequently entered a period of decline brought on by internal strife over royal succession, colonial expansion of European powers, and piracy. In 1888, Brunei became a British protectorate; independence was achieved in 1984. The same family has ruled Brunei for over six centuries. Brunei benefits from extensive petroleum and natural gas fields, the source of one of the highest per capita GDPs in Asia.
Economics of Brunei
Brunei has a small well-to-do economy that encompasses a mixture of foreign and domestic entrepreneurship, government regulation, welfare measures, and village tradition. Crude oil and natural gas production account for just over half of GDP and more than 90% of exports. The government provides for all medical services and free education through the university level and subsidizes rice and housing. Brunei's leaders are concerned that steadily increased integration in the world economy will undermine internal social cohesion.
Statistics for Brunei
Population: 401,890 (July 2011 est.). World rank #174
Life expectancy at birth: 76.17 years. World rank #75
Ethnic Groups: Malay 66.3%, Chinese 11.2%, indigenous 3.4%, other 19.1%
Religions: Muslim (official) 67%, Buddhist 13%, Christian 10%, other (includes indigenous beliefs) 10%
Languages: Malay (official), English, Chinese
Literacy Rate: 92.7%
School life expectancy: 14 years
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A family followed the "hands on" suggestions (in the booklet) and hid under a table in their home and pretended that the police were outside and they had to be real quite and still. The mom told me that they actually felt so frightened that when they finished praying for Brunei they had a greater understanding of how our brothers in Muslim countries who must hide for real must feel on a daily basis. She also said they now have a greater appreciation for the religious liberties they experience every day.
She gave this testimony last Sunday with tears flowing down her face.
Brunei do not oppress the christian. Brunei have been doing so well with Islam Monarch and Malay as the main guidance. Plz do not disturbe brunei peaceful and prosperous enviro. Everyone is happy in brunei. i hv seen the livelihood in other country and non can match brunei way of life. Yes we bruneians are lucky to be bless by Allah s.w.t. with oil and gas and to have a a tremendously excellent ruler. we bruneian loves to be a Mornarcy/islamic/democratic country coz its proves right now that our country system and way of living is better than any other develop country. we bruneian are very content people. plz do not disrupte our brilliant way of life. what separates us bruneians from others, is our upbringing and education that is the most important thing. Its not just the oil. During our independence its been said that - it has been the ambition of the sultan's father to allocate one piece of land for every one family in brunei so that non in brunei is homeless. Its a general fact that many muslim country is bless by Allah s.a.w. with oil and gas its just up to us to manage it so that the wealth can be equally distributed so that everyone can get food shelter n clothing (i know this is not scientific but this is what we belive). we bruneian ar content and obedient people. we dont need western way of thinking which proves to be complicated and have many negitive impact. we Bruneian are doing just fine on our own.
Muslims in Brunei never make any difficulties towards different religions n we never have a political problem within, racist in brunei is far than exist/happen/practice...our criminal record can say 1 in a billion dnt believe pls come to Brunei n survey by yourself...
Is there any truth to the claims of difficulties of christian's life in brunei? why not citing a real life case or any reference to such cases?
Some of them is not true. You cant even spell the name of the first Sultan. I spent my whole life in Brunei, never encounter such case that u mentioned. I have also christian friends, they even like living in Brunei. I say u should come to Brunei first, and like the previous comment, dont just simply accuse.
i've been reading ur blog regarding hardship faced by the Christians in Brunei. This is entirely untrue and it has no basis at all. The Christians are not restricted to practise their beliefs. Every Sunday, there would be a mass prayer at the Church in the capital city and in Belait (one of the districts in Brunei).
Do you still think that the Christians are restrained?They have their full rights.
It is just really funny because most of my expat Christian friends do not have problems in Brunei. In fact they enjoyed being in Brunei because it IS a peaceful country. I really dont know from where u got the gossip from...Have u ever visited Brunei?
you should know Brunei is a muslim country like some countries in the middle east. Brunei described as Malay Islamic monarchy.
as you wrote under the Difficult for Christians, it is so untrue. maybe you should come with the evidence, proof or any direct link to click all about your lousy statement.
or perhaps, you should come here in Brunei sometimes because i got a lot of non-muslim friends and they have no problem at all here
first off, did u just wiki the information? FHM did a better article that yours, sorry to say, but then again im not as half sorry as to what im going to write.
'Life is difficult for Christians in Brunei. Some have lost their jobs without any notice.'
the term Christians is rather subjective, now i feel bad for other religion devotees not to be mentioned in this fine article of yours. Brunei is one of the commonwealth countries (id recommend you to google that up to save me the trouble), and by commonwealth i meant we watch mtv, we send our kids to UK, OZ, we take pride in befriending 'orang putih' or caucasians, (now bruneians, if you are reading this, hold on to your horses and ask yourself. do u talk highly of the beauty of your mixed blood friends? no, of your eurasian friends you barely know?) Dont tell me we still hate christians now, do we?i am not sure of the kinds of JOB u were talking about. if u were being explicit enough, oh well. thats the weakness of this article. i am 100% sure now that the word vomit you had on this is all..lies.based on, 'erm, john said to me', 'mary told me', 'lastnight i saw si jumat, he said...'..plain rumours now.
Havent you heard of the word 'bureaucracy'? that applies to the latter sentence and i believe when u put in 'some', u meant it well by saying some bruneians alike. if you really utilised google, you would have stumbled upon brunei being a bureaucratic country.
really. its just a human nature to react.
cheers.
Well I'll pray for you too. May you find the light of Islam and stop these speculations. Do you not know it's sinful to speak the untruth?
Hi there, ive been reading your post and i cant stop smiling on my own. sorry to say, some of your statement are untrue. Im a muslim and have been staying in Brunei for 30 years and roughly, 20% of my friends are christian. We never encounter any problem with religion, rasicm and same goes to politic. We respect each others, thats why others can consider Brunei as one of the most peaceful country in the world. I hope you could resurvey this matter and don't hesitate to come down to Brunei for the real fact. Good bless you
Hi. I'm a Muslim lady who happened to have many friends with different religions. You name it, Christian, Buddhist, Free Thinkers.. I think what you wrote here is truly misleading. I don't see any proofs or facts to support your article.. I really wished you know 100% what you're talking about.. I don't mean to say something bad, but to me it's all gibberish. I'm sure you've never been to Brunei before. So please open up your eyes, find the truth, & stop speculating this misleading fact.
I found your post here regarding Christian's difficulties in Brunei quite disturbing and 100% misleading to such extent it can create confusion among those who have never been to Brunei..I wonder where you get the information from. I am very sorry to say, your post here is sooo not true. Please visit Brunei and then review your post once again. thank Q!
I found your post here as untrue and I'm sure you haven't been to Brunei before. I have Christian friends, even Buddist. We get along just fine. The expats from UK, Australia, Canada, you name it, love it here. All give the same comment: "It's just the right place to raise kids."
So, do come to Brunei and find out yourself. By then, I'm sure you will edit this entry in the future
almost every week i see muslims walking into churches to attend their Christian friends' wedding. some Muslim ladies even come with their headscarf on. i don't see or have heard those Muslims getting arrested or forbidden from going to a non-Islamic function.
my point here us that we Bruneians are very tolerant and also have full respect for other religion. if what you say is true, then would be like the Government making an Act stating Christians cannot invite their Muslims friends to attend a church wedding!
next time, please back-up your writing with whole hard facts. or like what everybody suggested above, come to Brunei, then write about it.
If it is true that Christian has difficulty in finding jobs in Brunei, how come I have a christian teacher which is an ex 'father' teaches English subject in my school??? Bare in mind that my school is a school which considers Islam teaching as its main teaching stream.
This just show that your post is not true and unprofessional at all.. I believe in christian, it is a sin to spread false facts... right!!?!. So.. why are you doing this..
oh wow. they edited my comment. what happens to free speech now?
Not only edited but also deleted some! The rush of comments today sure looks like comment sp@m. Several times IP addresses are the same but under different names and e-mail addresses I can't reply to. We don't mind different opinions, but to use different names to say almost the identical thing is not helpful. Nor do our readers want to go through a bunch of duplicate-type comments. The point was made, I think we all understood. Thanks, Admin-
I believe that you should experience and get to know something before even passing judgment. Most of what you said in the article are slanderous. Please get your facts right.
TDI -
It's because we just knew the existence of this website hence the rush of comments. Someone came across this website and spread it. Not a spam. U came up with a headline, people comment and retaliate. It's logic. As simple as that.
Ur establishing this site just because u want people to know about Muslims in other countries right?
What's the point of having this website if u can't accept criticisms? Are u not open-minded?
It's a open argument, Is it because u expect the readers to just believe in everything u said over here?
We did not even use foul language over here. We love our country and religion so much and we could not just let the other readers be brainwashed. It's a deception.
I know u would do the same if people accuse ur country and religion.
Thank you. May God bless u.
Hi. I beg you pardon, did you say that you can't reply to email addresses? Rest assure my email is a valid one. How come I didn't receive any email from you? What do you mean that we're saying almost the identical thing is not helpful? When in fact it's the reality? Do you expect us to say some deceit about our own country? I really wished you do your research thoroughly & well. One more thing 'duplicate-type comments'? I didn't see the comments are 100% identical at all. We are not like what you assumed.
May God Bless You.
This is a great example of a non-professional writer, journalist, reporting, blogger, researcher, typist who happens to have thier hands on a computer and access to internet and dreaming that they could cooked up a few paragraphs to thier likings and let the whole world knows what their opinion and say that is a real fact.
This is why readers shouldn't even start blogging/writing in the first place, let alone create a website. Hahaha what a laugh.
I am a born christian here in this lovely country... Most of your writing here is untrue.. There is no discrimination nor they are prohibited from practicing their own religion. I don't have any difficulty to study here and also graduated from the local institution. =)
I think you are just judging it from other irrelevant / wrong information about Brunei. Come and visit here.. You will surprised how wrongly your post here about christian community that live here. I'm a proud christian that live in this peaceful country.
God bless you.