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Having seen numerous photos of the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque – the country’s most famous building – all depicting it hidden under gray clouds, I suspect that like many equatorial countries, having perfect skies is a rarity. Being able to take pictures of it on a sunny day felt like a privilege, and I was practically jogging to get there.
Although my parents sent me to Sunday school every weekend during my childhood years, I never had a soft spot for any religion, but I had a soft spot for mosques.
This particular mosque was gorgeous.
Although my parents sent me to Sunday school every weekend during my childhood, I had no affinity for any religion but the mosque.
This particular mosque was gorgeous.
As an appreciator of all things mosque, I think Omar Ali Saifuddien is the most beautiful. In my opinion, it doesn’t quite surpass the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi, but it is still very special.
One of the biggest surprises of my time in Brunei was how few tourists there were. We had this gorgeous mosque to ourselves for half an hour – if you were to build a building this beautiful in many other countries around the world, you’d be jostling for space with camera-wielding crowds.
I took my dream photo with a cloudless blue sky and was already convinced that Brunei was worth a visit.
A mural in Bandar Seri Begawan depicting life in Brunei in the 1960s.
As we searched the streets for a place to eat lunch, I was struck by how safe the city felt and how quiet the capital was.
Thanks to its rich oil and gas reserves, Brunei is one of the richest countries in the world and has one of the highest gross domestic product. You may already know that the Sultan is the richest monarch in the world, and he shamelessly flaunts this wealth.
Fun fact: My mother worked in a bank in her twenties, and one of her jobs was to look after the Sultan of Brunei’s bank accounts in England. He had invited her to lunch on a visit to London, but she was too nervous to attend and pretended to be unwell! A daughter like a mother.
In some ways, the Sultan has done a lot of good for Brunei. The country has no personal income tax, sales tax or VAT, and citizens enjoy free education, health care and pensions, as well as access to social housing and low-interest loans. I didn’t see a single homeless person in Bandar Seri Begawan and the crime rate is very low. Everyone I met spoke fluent English.
Dig a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that life in the Sultanate isn’t exactly the definition of perfection.
In 2014, the Sultan announced that he would be introducing Sharia law, which in my opinion, is never a good thing. Four years on, it hasn’t been fully implemented. In any case, Brunei is a strictly Islamic country with several inhumane laws. Most notably, LGBTQ+ rights are non-existent, and same-sex relations are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Under Sharia law, it can be punishable by stoning. While Sharia law technically only applies to Muslims in Brunei, it still makes up 65% of the population. If you are not heterosexual or cisgender, life in the countryside must be tough.
Freedom of speech is also non-existent in Brunei. They have an unelected ruler who can never be removed, and the law of blasphemy against the monarch means that it is a crime to say anything negative about the Sultan. Doing so could result in indefinite imprisonment. Will I be able to return to Brunei safely after writing the first few sentences?
