Brunei, On Island of Borneo February 25, 2007

The Sultan's new Mosque We were greeted as we got off our ship!

Here we are in the tiny sultanate of Brunei Darussalam on the tip of the massive island of Borneo, surrounded by vast mountainous rain forests. The current Sultan is the 29th going back to the 14th century. Once he was one of the world’s wealthiest men with a fortune of 40 billion dollars, all from offshore oil discovered in 1929. A younger brother, Prince Jefri, his finance minister, scamed about 20 billion dollars in bad investments and theft. Another undetermined huge amount ended up in a recently built present to the people, a 29 domed twenty four karat gold mosque with sparkling hand painted tile exterior walls and a brilliant marble and rare stone interior. The main prayer hall, with a three ton crystal chandelier, can hold 3000 men praying on an elaborately designed wool carpet. The other financial sink hole was a new extravagant Royal palace, for himself and his first wife and ten children and the second second wife. The first second wife, mother of two, was an airline stewardess, but was “divorced out” of the palace. The new second wife, a much younger TV announcer with a five-month old, is now in the palace. This new palace is estimated at 2 million square feet and contains 1800 rooms, 257 bathrooms, 10 elevators, five swimming pools and a 110 space garage. He has 358 Rolls-Royce automobiles, one of each since the first, plus 8 jets and 200 thoroughbred ponies. Unable to get entrance to the palace, we visited the Royal Regalia building, which houses the crown jewels and the outlandish ceremonial trappings of his coronation, which includes a carved wooden gold covered chariot.(See photo above) Filling another 50 yard long room was the splendor of his 25th anniversary celebration as the sultan. Pulling an elaborate wooden coach are two full regements of his Royal guards modeled in red and black uniforms. In another room, prominently displayed is the precious heirloom gold and silver armoury and gifts from heads of state to the royal family.

In contrast we were taken to the water village where thirty thousand people live in shacks placed on wooden stilts accessed by high powered speed boats. People have lived and traded here for 600 years. The sultan has wisely provided “his people” free education and health care to stem any possible rebellions over the uneven distribution of wealth.