Timeline Brunei
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Brunei's complete name is Negara Brunei Darusallam
(Brunei, abode of peace). It is located on the island of Borneo, the
3rd largest in the world. The island was divided among the sultanate
of Brunei, Indonesia, and the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah.
Brunei at 5,270 sq. km. is about the size of Delaware. The largest
city and capital is Bandar Seri Begawan.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.T10)(WSJ, 10/25/05, p.A1)(SSFC, 7/16/06,
p.A17)
Empire Hotel: http://www.empire.com.bn
1658
The sultan of Brunei gave Sabah, the northeastern
part of Borneo, to the sultan of Sulu, who ruled a part of what
later became the Philippines.
(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1838 Gideon Barr of England
borrowed money to buy an oceangoing schooner and sailed to Borneo,
called Kalimantaan by the natives. He put down a rebellion against
the sultan of Brunei and became the rajah of the territory. The 1998
novel “Kalimantaan” by C.S. Godshalk was based on these events.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, BR p.6)
1946 Jul 15, Haji Hassanal
Bolkiah Mu’Izzaddin Waddaulah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, was born.
He is the latest ruling member of one of the world's oldest
dynasties. His assets totaled some $30 billion.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9342924?hook=702222)(WSJ, 10/25/05,
p.A1)
1958 The Omar Ali Saifuddien
Mosque was built and named after the ruling Sultan.
(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.C6)
1967 Oct 5, Haji Hassanal
Bolkiah Mu’Izzaddin Waddaulah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei, ascended
to the throne.
(www.brunei.gov.bn/government/)
1979 Oil production in Brunei
peaked.
(WSJ, 10/25/05, p.A1)
1984 Jan 8, Brunei Darussalam
joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ASEAN was
established in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries,
namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
(www.aseansec.org/64.htm)
1984 Brunei gained independence
from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1985 London’s Dorchester Hotel
was purchased by the Sultan of Brunei.
(http://tinyurl.com/zf7fo)
1987 The Sultan of Brunei,
leader of the independent sultanate on the northern coast of Borneo,
sent $10 million to support the Nicaraguan contras.
(HNQ, 12/14/98)
1987 Marvin Davis (1925-2004),
oil mogul and former owner of 20th Century Fox, sold the Beverly
Hills Hotel to the Sultan of Brunei for a $65 million profit.
(SSFC, 9/26/04, p.B7)
1997 May 31, The 7-member ASEAN
alliance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, met in Kuala
Lumpur and agreed to allow Burma to become a member in July. Laos
and Cambodia were also to be admitted. The members were Thailand,
Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.D3)
1998 Prince Jefri, the younger
brother of the sultan, resigned as the finance minister and was
stripped of his post as head of the Brunei Investment Agency after
Amedeo Development Corp. lost an estimated $16 billion.
(SFC, 2/25/00, p.D4)
2000 Feb 24, The Brunei
government began legal proceedings against Prince Jefri Bolkiah and
froze his assets. He was accused of improper use of embezzling
nearly $16 million from state coffers while serving as finance
minister from 1986-1998. Jefri reached an out-of-court settlement
with the government agreeing to pay the money back, which he
allegedly used to buy hotels and other expensive assets.
(SFC, 2/25/00, p.D4)(SSFC, 12/2/07, p.A31)
2000 Nov 16, World leaders at
the economic summit in Brunei agreed to restart global trade talks
in 2001.
(WSJ, 11/17/00, p.A1)
2001 Aug 11, In Brunei some
10,000 items belonging to Prince Jefri Bolkiah’s bankrupt
development corporation went on auction.
(SSFC, 8/12/01, p.A18)
2002 Jul 31, In Brunei U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell met his North Korean counterpart for
an informal chat, as easing inter-Korean tensions stole the
spotlight at an Asia-Pacific security forum.
(Reuters, 7/31/02)
2002 Nov 4, China signed a
landmark agreement, “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the
South China Sea,” with ASEAN (Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines,
Vietnam) on avoiding open conflict in the disputed South China Sea
Spratly Islands. Indonesia objected and Taiwan was barred from
signing.
(Reuters, 11/4/02)(Econ, 5/22/04,
p.40)(www.aseansec.org/13163.htm)
2003 May 24, Malaysia PM
Mahathir Mohamad met with Brunei's 29th Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah
Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah to address the issue of the Kikeh oil find off
Borneo.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.C6)
2004 Mar 4, Brunei officials
reported that two retired senior army and police intelligence
officers and a businessman had been jailed without trial for leaking
government secrets, some of them posted on the Internet.
(AP, 3/4/04)
2004 Sep 9, Crown Prince
Al-Muhtadee Billah Bolkiah (30), the future king of the oil-rich
sultanate of Brunei, married a 17-year-old half-Swiss commoner.
(AP, 9/9/04)
2005 Jun 3, The Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) was formed with Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and
Singapore as partners. It aimed to integrate the economies of the
Asia-Pacific region.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Strategic_Economic_Partnership)
2005 Brunei’s population
in 2005 was about 370,000.
(WSJ, 10/25/05, p.A1)(SSFC, 7/16/06, p.A17)
2006 Jun 12, Brunei police said
3 men have been sentenced to a year in prison for sending cell phone
video clips that were considered seditious and insulting to the
royal family.
(AP, 6/13/06)
2006 In Brunei oil production
this year measured 221,000 barrels a day. Gas production was 1.2
billion cubic feet per day.
(WSJ, 3/1/08, p.A6)
2007 Jun 10, In Brunei a
two-week lavish wedding celebration for the daughter of Brunei's
sultan, one of the world's richest men, culminated in a ceremony
steeped in the royal tradition.
(AP, 6/10/07)
2007 Nov 8, Britain’s Privy
Council ruled that Prince Jefri Bolkiah (53) of Brunei must transfer
ownership of 2 US hotels and 3 residences in Los Angeles, London and
Paris along with a trust fund to the Brunei Investment Agency. Jefri
had failed to return assets in a 2000 agreement to settle
accusations of embezzlement.
(SSFC, 12/2/07, p.A31)(http://tinyurl.com/39fvcf)
2007 The population of Brunei
this year was about 374,000. Malays comprised 67% and Chinese 15%.
Muslims comprised 67% and Buddhists 13%.
(WSJ, 3/1/08, p.A6)
2008 Feb 26, Brunei’s Prince
Jefri effectively lost control of the 55-story New York Palace
Hotel, formerly known as the Helmsley Palace. A firm owned by prince
Jefri paid $202 million for the hotel in 1993 using funds from the
Brunei Investment Agency (BAI).
(WSJ, 3/1/08, p.A6)
2010 Jun 16, Brunei's Sultan
Hassanal Bolkiah (63) announced he is divorcing his Malaysian wife
after five years of marriage. He had married Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim
(30), a former Malaysian TV news journalist, in 2005.
(AP, 6/16/10)
2012 Jul 20, In Brunei 12
military personnel including six cadets were killed in an air force
Bell 212 helicopter crash while flying home after jungle training. 2
cadets survived.
(AFP, 7/21/12)
2013 Oct 9, In Brunei the
leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(APEC) met for their annual 2-day East Asia Summit. Members first
gathered together before holding group discussions with non-member
partners, including the US, China, Japan, South Korea and India.
(AP, 10/9/13)
2013 Oct 9, Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang called for a South China Sea of "peace, friendship and
cooperation" as he extended a hand in Brunei to APEC leaders wary of
Beijing's territorial claims in the strategic waters.
(AFP, 10/9/13)
2013 Oct 22, Brunei’s sovereign
Hassanal Bolkiah (67) said Brunei will begin enforcing sharia
criminal law next year. Possible punishments will include stoning to
death for adultery and flogging for drinking alcohol.
(Reuters, 10/22/13)
2014 Apr 22, In Brunei the
penalty for homosexuality was increased to death by stoning as part
of a new broader imposition of Islamic Shariah law which also
imposed death for rape, adultery and extramarital relations.
(SSFC, 5/18/14, p.A17)
2014 May 1, Brunei embraced a
form of Islamic Shariah criminal law that includes harsh penalties,
a move slammed by international rights group as a step backward for
human rights.
(AP, 5/1/14)
2014 May 6, The city council of
Beverly Hills passed a unanimous resolution calling for Brunei to
change its laws or divest its ownership of the iconic Beverly Hills
Hotel. It has been the target of a growing Hollywood boycott since
Brunei embraced its new penal code last week.
(AP, 5/7/14)
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