Brunei: Building And

Brunei: Building and Enshrining an Absolute Monarchy Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof Master of Philosophy 2017 Brunei: Building and Enshrining an Absolute Monarchy Rabiqah Natasha Halim Binti Mohamed Yusof Degree awarded by Oxford Brookes University A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Oxford Brookes University for the degree of Master of Philosophy March 2017 Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 1 March 2017 Abstract Abstract Brunei Darussalam is one of the few remaining absolute monarchies in the world today. In an era that sees countries move towards democratisation, Brunei has moved towards the entrenchment of its absolute monarchy. With that in mind, the question this thesis seeks to examine is how Brunei has managed to remain an absolute monarchy in the face of global democratisation, particularly given that it was under the British sphere of influence until 1984. What are the reasons behind Brunei’s exceptionalism in development and will these reasons allow Brunei to remain an absolute monarchy? To answer the central question, this research looks at constitutional developments in the light of Brunei’s history, traditions, culture and society. The research undertaken to answer this question has been purely doctrinal in nature. The primary reason this approach was adopted was because the nature of Brunei’s absolute monarchy has resulted in general disinclination in the country to discuss matters of local politics frankly. This has resulted in a distinct lack of authoritative research about Brunei in most fields. The contribution that this research makes to the subject is that, it is the first research that attempts to explain the existence of the constitutional anomaly that is the absolute monarchy of Brunei, through a contextual understanding of Brunei’s constitutional journey. Drawing on historical, legal, political and sociological elements, this thesis concludes that the absolute monarchy of Brunei was built by the Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 2 March 2017 Abstract restructuring of traditional governance by the British, entrenched by the manipulation of constitutional provisions by the Sultan and enshrined through the use of nation building ideology also by the Sultan. This ideology being so successfully implanted into Brunei society over the last thirty years, barring the entry of new variables, it seems likely that Brunei will remain an absolute monarchy in the years to come. Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 3 March 2017 Table of Contents Table of Contents Page Abstract 1 Table of Contents 3 Author’s Declaration 5 Introduction 6 Chapter One 1. Introduction 18 2. Constitutionalism and Waves of Democracy 19 3. Overview 33 4. Brunei and the British Government 47 5. The McArthur Report 62 Chapter Two 1. Introduction 93 2. Supplementary Treaty 1905/1906 95 3. Legal Status 96 4. The Office of the British Resident 103 5. Reforms under the Resident 109 6. The State Council 115 7. The Discovery of Oil 1929 and its impact 124 8. The Japanese Occupation 1941- 1945 128 9. The British Military administration 1945- 1946 130 10. Conclusion 132 Chapter Three 1. Introduction 134 2. The Factions 136 3.The Sultan’s Titah (Proclamation) 147 4. The Report of an advisory committee- The Tujuh 148 Serangkai 5. The Hickling Memorandum 163 6. Initial Negotiations- 1955- 1957 172 7. Missions to London: The Raeburn Memorandum 178 (1957- 1959) 8. Political Situation in Brunei 1958 185 9. Brunei Constitutional Conference 1959 188 10. Conclusion 188 Chapter Four 1. Introduction 190 2. The Proposals 192 3. Breakdown of Brunei- Malaya Relations 204 4. Growing Political Unrest 212 Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 4 March 2017 Table of Contents 5. Political Parties and Public Participation 215 6. District council Elections 222 7. Rebellion of 1962 224 8. Emergency Powers 226 9. 1963- 1967: External Pressure and Abdication of 229 SOAS III 10. The 1971 Amendment to the Brunei Agreement of 233 1959 11. The British- Brunei Treaty of 1979 235 12. Conclusion 237 Chapter Five 1. Introduction 239 2. Pre Independence: 1979 to 1984 239 3. Proclamation of Independence 241 4. Independence: The Early Years (1984 to 1994) 243 5. 1994 to 2004: The Second Decade after 250 Independence 6. Constitutional Amendments 2004 253 7. Brunei Today 267 8. Other Factors 270 9. Conclusion 274 Conclusions 276 Bibliography 281 Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 5 March 2017 Author’s Declaration Author’s Declaration I declare that, except where explicit reference is made to the contribution of others, that this dissertation is the result of my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree at Oxford Brookes University or any other institution. ……………………………………………………. Rabiqah Natasha Halim Binti Mohamed Yusof Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 6 March 2017 Introduction Introduction Samuel P. Huntington describes global democratization as arriving in three waves1. Each wave was described as a period of time in global history when democratization occurred in many countries at approximately the same time. In its simplest terms, to qualify as a wave, in this specific time period, the transitions of countries to democracies would have to outnumber the countries transitioning to authoritarian rule. These waves were often triggered by significant global events. Between the waves there was a trend for the number of democracies to drop before that number rose again with the next wave. This trend was termed a “reverse wave” by Huntington. The first wave of democracy according to Huntington began in the early 19th century and lasted up to 1922. The second wave of democracy began after the Allied victory in the Second World War in 1942 and ended in 1962. It was in this wave that the democratization of South East Asian nations began. Exceptionally, unlike all its South East Asian neighbours, particularly those that were also under the British sphere of influence, Brunei resisted democratisaton and to this day stands as one of only a handful of countries that has an absolute monarch. What were the reasons that allowed such a small and 1 Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late 20th Century, University of Oklahoma Press (1993) Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 7 March 2017 Introduction seemingly insignificant country to stand firm against such a sweeping global trend? Standing at only 5765 square kilometers and with a population of approximately 400 000 people, the small physical size and population of Brunei belies an interesting past and it is in this past that we seek answers. First mentioned in approximately 977 A.D in Chinese records, Brunei went from being powerful in its own right at the start of Chinese records to being a vassal state of the Majapahit Empire in the 14th century. Brunei then reached its peak between the 15th to the 17th century when its power extended from Borneo to the Southern Philippines. War with the Spanish, problems with succession and piracy brought Brunei into decline after the 17th Century. It was in this state of decline that the British first became involved in Bruneian affairs in the mid 19th Century. The importance of the coming of the British to Brunei cannot be overstated for it is my contention in this thesis that the British played a pivotal part in the building of the absolute monarchy we see in Brunei today. The Brunei monarchy can trace its lineage back to at least the 16th century when Islam became firmly a part of Bruneian heritage. The monarchy as it was then however was a far cry from the absolute monarchy we see in Brunei today, having more similarity then to a system of feudal lordships then to an absolute monarchy, as we Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 8 March 2017 Introduction know it today. This was the system that the British had to contend with on their arrival. Finding it unworkable, they imposed a whole new system of governance on Brunei in the form of the Residential system that continued until Brunei achieved internal self-governance. From that point on, the Sultan slowly but surely accumulated power and support that has resulted in the absolute monarchy we are familiar with today. Of the approximately 196 countries in the world today, Brunei is one of only seven that are considered to be absolute monarchies2. What this means is that in these countries, absolute power vests in one single person. In Brunei that one person is the Sultan who is the head of the Government as well as the head of the State. Interestingly, five of the seven absolute monarchies remaining today profess Islam as its national state religion. One of the things this paper seeks to explore is if this religious belief is one of the many reasons for Brunei being an absolute monarchy. In an era when governments move towards democratization an absolute monarchy such as the one existing in Brunei is an anachronism; therefore the pertinent question is how has Brunei resisted democratization thus far? What are the reasons for Brunei’s exceptionalism in this respect? Following on from that, will Brunei continue to resist 2 The other six are Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, the United Arab Emirates and the Vatican City Rabiqah N. H. B. M. Yusof 9 March 2017 Introduction democratization? Do the reasons for Brunei’s exceptionalism mean a continuation of this status quo? To answer the question of how the absolute monarchy of Brunei was built and then endured, the central argument that this paper seeks to prove is that the reason for Brunei’s absolute monarchy is in fact two fold. Firstly, the establishment of the residential system of government by the British funneled untrammeled power into one office i.e.

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