Hassanal Bolkiah

Brunei 's Sultan and Prime Minister .[1]

There are positive evaluations that he was a Ming king who made the country independent from foreign powers and improved the people's food, clothing , and shelter, but there are also negative evaluations that he was a dark ruler and tyrant who implemented a conservative rule based on Islamic fundamentalism, so evaluations are mixed.[2]

Prince Hassanal Bolkiah was born as the eldest son and eldest child of Omar Ali Saifuddin III and Siti Amin Damit at Istana Darussalam Palace on July 15, 1946, during the reign of his uncle , Sultan Ahmad Tazdin . At the time, his father was first in line to the throne of Brunei, so Hassanal Bolkiah was also second in line to the throne as soon as he was born. He had three younger brothers, Mohammed Bolkiah, Sufri Bolkiah, and Geoffrey Bolkiah, and six younger sisters, Masna, Norain, Umi Kalsum al-Islam, Amal Rakia, Amal Nasiba, and Amal Gefria.

He began receiving basic education at the palace's educational facilities in late 1955 and finished it in 1959. In 1955, at the age of 9, he entered Jamalul Alam Malay School in Brunei Town, where he completed the third grade of elementary school. After receiving guidance from his private teacher, Abdul Rahman, for 3 to 4 months, he stopped private tutoring for a month, but was able to read English literature in just 3 months, and reached the 6th grade of elementary school in 4 years. He is said to have particularly enjoyed studying science, languages, and history.

Hassanal Bolkiah, who studied at the palace's educational facility for over four years, came to Malaysia to experience the wider world. I went to study abroad in Kuala Lumpur . He first attended Jalan Gurni School and then studied at the prestigious Victoria Institute from January 1961 to December 1963.[3] On July 14, 1961, when he turned 15, he was officially installed as Crown Prince. The following year, in December 1962, when the Brunei rebellion broke out over the country's accession to the Federation of Malaysia, a small Gurkha 2nd Rifles regiment led by Lieutenant Colonel Digby Wirobi dramatically rescued the Crown Prince and his son from the rebels.[4]

In 1963, as political conflict between Brunei and Malaysia deepened, he returned to Brunei and continued his studies at Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin University, an English-only school. Afterwards, he married Pengran Anak Saleha at the palace on July 29, 1965, and on January 4, 1966, the year after his marriage, he entered the Sandhurst Military Academy (RMAS) in the United Kingdom as a cadet. On September 7, 1966, he departed for England through Brunei Airport, receiving a send-off from dignitaries, and stayed at Sandhurst to study English, mathematics, science, military studies, and international relations with a focus on Russia . Upon successfully completing the course, he graduated on March 1, 1968 and was commissioned as an honorary captain in the Coldstream Guards of the British Army.

On the evening of October 4, 1967, his father, King Omar Ali Saifuddin III, suddenly announced his abdication. Crown Prince Hassanal Bolkiah, who was staying in the UK at the time and was 21 years old, immediately returned to Brunei. That night, the head of state protocol, Penglan Pemancha Anak Haji Mohammed Alam, officially announced the king's abdication through a radio broadcast. The next day, October 5, at 3 p.m., the coronation ceremony of Hassanal Bolkiah was held in the audience room of Istana Darul Hana Palace, and at this event, he was officially declared 'Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Muizaddin Wadaullah', the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

Since Hassanal Bolkiah was only 21 years old when he ascended to the throne, he had to seek his father's advice on most important matters during the early days of his reign. Despite previously declaring that he would not get involved in politics, King Omar still maintained his position as Minister of Defense and exerted a strong influence on Brunei politics. In some ways, it was interference, but because my father, who had an experienced political sense, was there as a shield, I was able to avoid being caught up in political maneuvers in neighboring Malaysia or Indonesia . His father, King Omar, protected his young son until he learned a full sense of government and took control of the military and police.

At the time, the British government, which was suffering from economic difficulties after World War II, pressured Brunei to gradually become independent and introduce parliamentary democracy, but Hassanal Bolkiah and Viceroy Omar wanted to stick to the existing monarchy system. In particular, he was concerned about the security vacuum when he escaped British protection, and visited London with a delegation several times . Given the situation in Brunei at the time, there was a strong possibility that it would be eaten by Malaysia or Indonesia at any moment or that anti-royal forces would revolt if it did not receive protection from the British military. The Sultan asked for continued British protection, but The Labor Party government did not give up its intention to make Brunei independent and withdraw. Hassanal Bolkiah, who was deeply troubled, expressed his desperate feelings ahead of the expiration of the defense treaty in November 1970, saying, "Even if half of Brunei's entire male population enlists in the military, we cannot protect the country with our own strength."

The seemingly endless stalemate took a dramatic turn when the Conservative Party came to power in Britain. The Conservative government, which valued alliances and international influence, agreed to keep a limited number of British troops in Southeast Asia , including the continued stationing of Gurkha troops in Brunei, on the condition that Brunei bear the cost of stationing them. Eventually, with the signing of the Treaty of Friendship in November 1971, the British High Commissioner to Brunei agreed that the Sultan of Brunei would secure complete internal autonomy in return for managing only diplomatic matters. With the risk of annexation eliminated under British protection, Brunei was able to divert its budget from defense spending to focus on internal affairs.

Economic development also accelerated amid military stability. The Third National Development Plan, promoted from 1975 to 1979, was allocated a budget of 500 million Brunei dollars. The third development plan focused on maintaining a high employment rate while rapidly advancing agricultural and industrial development to diversify the economic structure that was solely dependent on oil . Subsequently, the 4th Plan (1980-1984), which invested 2.2 billion Brunei dollars, put the promotion of the people's economic, social, and cultural welfare at the forefront, and the 5th Plan (1986-1990), worth 3.7 billion Brunei dollars, led to continued growth by expanding infrastructure and public services to raise the people's living standards to the next level.

As time passed, the surrounding situation stabilized, and in particular, as Brunei gained wealth beyond imagination due to the oil crisis in 1973 and 1978 , public opinion began to slowly form within Brunei for independence. Finally, in 1978, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah once again led a delegation to the negotiating table in London to seek Brunei's complete sovereign independence. After intense coordination, a new Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was signed between Brunei and the United Kingdom, and Brunei finally became independent as a sovereign nation on January 1, 1984. At midnight, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah read the following Declaration of Independence.

Upon independence, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah monopolized key government positions, holding not only the position of first prime minister but also the minister of interior and finance. At the same time, 'Melayu Islam Braja (MIB, Malay Islamic Monarchy)' was declared as the country's official ruling ideology. It is an official ruling ideology that mixes Malay + Islam + monarchy . To put it simply, it is an ideology that blocks external ideas and nails the king's inviolability . This means that the Sultan of Brunei is not just a leader, but the guardian of the Islamic faith and the father of the Malay people, so the people must absolutely obey the king . It blocks the flow of 'impure' ideas, such as Western-style democracy , party system , and liberalism , into Brunei and plays a role in blocking criticism of the Sultan.

Just before independence, the Legislative Council (LegCo) was briefly revived on December 27, 1983 in order to show its appearance as a normal country, but after independence, when it received recognition from the international community and the usefulness of the National Assembly was no longer there, it was dissolved again on February 13, 1984, and the Sultan's one-man absolute dictatorship was strengthened.

Politically, the dictatorship system was strengthened, but economic development did not stop. The 6th National Development Plan (1991-1995), with a budget of 5.5 billion Brunei dollars, focused on improving the people's living standards and further strengthening the national economy. Subsequently, a huge budget totaling 7.2 billion Brunei dollars was allocated to the 7th National Development Plan (1996-2000), which was promoted as part of the 20-year long-term development plan that started in 1985, with the goal of maximizing the country's economic performance. Hassanal Bolkiah was reappointed as Minister of Finance on February 23, 1997, taking direct financial power into his hands again for the first time in 11 years.[5]

In 2004, the Legislative Council (LegCo) finally reconvened after 21 years. Of course, it was not an intention to democratize or anything like that, but rather a formality to strengthen the sultan's dictatorial power. The Sultan used this government assembly to amend the Constitution of 1959 and explicitly inserted the phrase , "The Sultan is an infallible being who cannot commit any wrongdoing under Brunei law," into the Constitution. Due to pressure from the international community on the dictatorial system, preliminary work for the succession to the throne, and the need to show that it was a normal country to attract foreign capital investment, an amendment was passed to increase the number of seats in the Legislative Council to 45 and elect 15 of them through popular election. The following year, on September 1, 2005, the Sultan dissolved the existing parliament and reconstituted it the following day according to a revised constitution.

In 2014, it announced the introduction of strict Sharia law . The announcement that pre-modern and cruel punishments would be introduced, such as 'those who steal items will have their wrists cut off', ' having an abortion or drinking alcohol will be flogged in public ' , and ' homosexuality will be stoning to death', aroused unusually strong opposition not only from the international community but also within Brunei. In addition, the people's dissatisfaction was even greater as the Sultan himself indulged in all kinds of extravagant pleasures, such as going to casinos and having promiscuous parties with models. There was speculation that the Sultan was hesitating as the implementation was postponed without a clear reason on April 22, 2014, the originally announced effective date, but Hassanal Bolkiah said in an official statement, "The introduction of Sharia criminal law is an 'essential obligation' under Islamic doctrine," and dismissed critics who claim that Sharia punishment is cruel as "nothing but an endless conspiracy theory," as of April 2019. It was implemented as is.[6]

In 2015, public celebrations of Christmas , including wearing Santa Claus hats or costumes, were banned for Muslim residents . However, this measure only applied to local Muslims, and private celebration services were permitted for Christians. According to the late Cardinal Cornelius Sim of Brunei, as of December 25, 2015, about 4,000 of Brunei's 18,000 Catholics (mainly Chinese and foreign residents) still attended Christmas Eve and Christmas Mass. Although Christmas celebrations themselves were not completely banned, displaying trees and Christmas decorations in public places such as shopping malls was strictly controlled.

The eldest son and prince, Almuh Tadi Villa , was born in 1974 and graduated from Oxford University in 1997 and became a prince in August 1998. Since 2004, he has been the Captain of the Brunei Army and the Prime Minister's Office since 2005.

Brunei is a oil producer , so it is a country with huge funds like the oil producer in the Middle East . With the enormous amount of money earned by trading oil, we have established various systems that support the country and improved the welfare system. Brunei's welfare system is praised by other countries in many ways, and some of them are as follows.

Actually, there are more, but I don't have enough space to write them all down, and my fingers are sore. Brunei's excellent welfare system has also been reported in Korea through TV programs, and I believe everyone knows at least a little about this. Of course, there are some exaggerations and falsehoods, but Brunei's welfare system is still on par with, or perhaps even surpasses, Sweden , which is praised as a "world-class welfare state."

Brunei's welfare system has a lot of flaws compared to Sweden and other developed countries . The beneficiary of this benefit is Malay who occupies the majority of the residents . The Chinese are as big as they are, but they don't benefit from them, and ultimately they have a tax bomb in many ways.

But the real problem is that the welfare is so full of oil money . In the beginning, Brunei is a oil producer and everything is a resource red . It is a clear error to compare with the Republic of Korea or the West with no resources or little . In the Western region , in addition to natural resources , commercial industries have been greatly developed, so most of the countries that were already economic wealth before seeing the resource virtue.[7] In that sense, the welfare system has been established for a long time, and this know -how has been well trimmed to contribute to the low -income people 's poverty relief and the promotion of economic revival and work motivation. It is not a proper welfare system for the royal family, which is just wealth as oil, is just a good level of welfare. Therefore, if Brunei's oil is out of oil or does not sell well, Brunei may quickly ruin the economy, and in fact, Brunei's economy is threatened with oil prices .

The most accused is that Volchia is a thorough Islamic fundamentalism, and is often criticized by other religious people and human rights organizations, and in 2014, he is officially introduced and is facing backlash from other religious people and human rights activists. Of course, Brunei has been a Islamic state, but in the meantime, the English -American law did not apply more strictly than Sharia, like the neighboring Malaysia , without going far, but this time Sharia was standing above the English -American law. As a result , dialysis and Tae -hyung became official punishment, not to mention the criminals, but if they commit contraindications in Islam, they are applied. The bigger problem is that Bolkia himself did not keep it at all (...). And since April 3, 2019, Brunei has been accused of enforcing all kinds of human rights suppression as the Sharia law has been implemented. Brunei's world of freedom of the world is also in 'Film' with 7 political rights, 20 civic freedoms, and 27 points in 2025.[8]

And Brunei is a secular country , and in reality, it actually keeps Islamic rules more severely than Arab countries. Volkiya now restricts Christian activities in Brunei, and mission is a prohibition and cannot be called " know " in the Bible . But the reason he is really anti -Christian is because of the antipathy of Christmas , which officially banned Christmas in 1992 and recently strengthened it. Of course, only Christians can only commemorate them at home and designate Christmas as a legal holiday, but the act of commemorating in public places is the subject of punishment. In addition, Christians are strongly criticized, such as closing the church for no reason.

It is not Islam, so there is a lot of antipathy in Judaism , but strictly limiting the entry of the Israelites[9] Judaism is still over.

In addition, welfare benefits from oil imports are only for the mainstream, Malay , which is not the case for minority people, including Chinese and other people, and is accused of discriminating with ethnic minority.

Above all, he is the monarch of the presuppendent monarchy, and no matter how much he feeds the people and strives for the people, he is only a monarch. In particular, the policies of Volkia are obvious tyranny. Brunei, like North Korea and Iran , has serious media oppression, no freedom of expression, and even the only recognized national party party is pro -monarchy. Opposing the royal family and the government is more than an imagination that is immediately eaten by the korungtang . Brother Jeffrey has a bad influence on the country by blowing Naratdon in an incorrect investment, but the people are not even cleaned up. Professor Lee Won -bok also borrowed the characters of the characters of Horizontal and Ceremony in Volume 2, `` Horizontal World History , '' and said, "The stomach is a boat but no freedom, and is trapped in a golden ridicule."

Bolkiah has even continued to extend the martial law declared during his father's time without any intention of lifting it under the pretext of "public safety". This martial law has lasted a whopping 64 years since 1962, far surpassing Syria 's 48 years and Taiwan 's 38 years, which were famous as one of the longest martial law periods in the world .[10]

Above all, the king's private life was known as an international problem. Former Miss USA Shannon Marquette is suing the Sultan of Brunei for $ 90,000,000. The reason she sued the Sultan was because he drugged her, made her unconscious, locked her in a prison in Brunei for a month, and made her a sexual slave to the Sultan.

She revealed that she saw many other American models besides herself in the Sultan's palace. It is said that the Sultan regularly lures American beauties with money and brings them to his palace on his private plane. Marquette said he knew he had signed a contract with Sultan in exchange for $21,000 a week and participation in promotions and parties. However, when he arrived at the palace, he was said to have had to sleep with the sultan. Of course, the Sultan adamantly denied the charge in court, and the U.S. court concluded that it had no jurisdiction to punish a foreign enemy.

In addition to Marketick, many other beautiful American actresses say they had similar experiences when they were invited to the Kingdom of Brunei. Actress Celia Kennedy confessed, "I received $150,000 in cash and $240,000 worth of diamonds. In return, I had to stay in the Royal Palace of Brunei for four weeks." However, she steadfastly denied whether or not they had sexual intercourse.

“I didn't have sex with anyone, of course, of course, among the beautiful women who have had sex with the royal family of Brunei , I have seen famous actors there, and Sultan runs a prostitute and spends $ 10,000 a month to collect beauty. For it. ”

According to Brunei's royal officials, the Sultan in the early 2000s has a list of women who want to sleep, among which TOP 5 is the No. 1 Pamela Anderson , No. 2 Julia Roberts , 3rd Michelle Piper , Fourth Alicha Silverstone , and Uma Thurman .

He married Saleha Alam in 1965 . In accordance with the characteristics of Islam, her first and fourth sister-in-law, she married Hajjam Mariam in 1982, but the marriage fell apart in 2003, and then she married Azrinaz Mazar Hakim in 2005, but this also ended after five years.

There are five children and seven girls (the first wife's resuscitation, 2 sons and four daughters, the second wife's resuscitation, 2 sons and two daughters, the third wife, one son and one daughter), and the eldest son of the 1974 Almuh Tadi Villa has been the chief prime minister since 2004.

There are three younger brothers and six younger sisters, of which Jeffrey Volkia is famous for its problems ... Jeffrey's son, Pike Volchia , the nephew of Hersangal Volcho , is currently playing in Rat Chaburi Mitre Paul FC and is also the captain of the Brunei national team .

On October 25, 2020, his second son, Abdul Azim , born from his second wife , passed away at the age of 38. # The cause was systemic vasculitis.