Brunei Travel Trips

Travel International

AIR : Brunei’s national airline is Royal Brunei Airlines (BI); it flies to Abu Dhabi, Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Brisbane (four times a week), Calcutta, Darwin (twice weekly), Dubai, Frankfurt/M, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Jeddah, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur (daily), Kuching, Kuwait, London (daily), Manila, Perth (three times a week), Singapore, Surabaya and Taipei. Air carriers to Brunei include: Lufthansa, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Thai Airways International.

Approximate flight times : From Brunei to London is 17 hours, to Los Angeles is 18 hours 30 minutes including stopover in Hong Kong, to New York is 23 hours 20 minutes including stopover in Hong Kong, to Singapore is 2 hours and to Sydney is 12 hours 40 minutes including stopover in Perth.

International airports : Bandar Seri Begawan (BWN) is 11km (7 miles) south of the city. Airport facilities include a bank, bureaux de change, car hire (Avis, Hertz and National Car Systems), duty-free shops, post office, restaurants and shops. Taxi services are available to the city with surcharges after 2200. Lower rates are charged by taxis leaving from the airport car park.

Departure tax : Br$5 for flights to Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines or Singapore; Br$12 for all other destinations.

SEA : Ports at Muara and Kuala Belait are the entry points for sea cargo. There are passenger services between Singapore and Muara port. Ships and water taxis run a service between Bandar Seri Begawan and the Malay city of Labuan (Sabah).

ROAD : There are access roads into Brunei from Sarawak at various locations, although some are unpaved.

Travel Internal

AIR : There are no internal air services.

SEA/RIVER : There are water taxi services to Kampong Ayer, with stations at Jalan Kianggeh and Jalan McArthur. Water taxis are the most common form of transport in Kampong Ayer, Brunei’s renowned water village. Fares are negotiable. Regular water taxi and boat services also ply between Bandar Seri Begawan and Bangar (in Temburong), Limbang (in Sarawak), Labuan and some towns in the Malaysian state of Sabah.

ROAD : There are approximately 1800km (1080 miles) of roads in the country; the best-developed road network is in the Brunei-Muara district, including a coastal highway which runs from Muara to Jerudong and then on to Tutong. Traffic drives on the left. Bus : Services operate to Seria (91km (57 miles) from Bandar Seri Begawan), Kuala Belait (16km (10 miles) from Seria), Tutong (48km (30 miles) from Bandar Seri Begawan) and Muara (27km (17 miles) from Bandar Seri Begawan). There is a bus station in the town centre and the city bus system is well maintained and inexpensive. Car hire : Self-drive or chauffeur-driven cars are available at the airport and major hotels. It is important to specify whether an air conditioned car is required. Documentation : An International Driving Permit is required to hire a car. A temporary licence to drive in Brunei is available on presentation of a valid driving licence from the visitor’s country of origin.

URBAN : Taxis are available in Bandar Seri Begawan. Fares are usually metered; if not they should be agreed before the journey. There is a 50 per cent surcharge after 2300. Tipping is not necessary.

History and Government

History : In ancient times, Brunei was a powerful trading nation controlling most of Borneo and part of the Philippines archipelago, with extensive connections throughout South-East Asia. The country was occupied briefly by the Spanish during the late 16th century. Part of the Spanish colonial mission was always the vigorous dissemination of Catholicism - in the previous century, Islam had been adopted in Brunei as the principal religion. In the mid-19th century, Brunei came under British influence when the seafarer, James Brooke, was granted control of the Sarawak region (now part of Malaysia) in return for protection against pirates. The island of Labuan was also ceded to Britain, thereby reducing Brunei to its current borders.

In 1888, Britain declared ‘North Borneo’ to be a British Protectorate, under which the territory was governed by a British resident, with purely nominal powers available to the Sultan. This arrangement continued - apart from a period of Japanese occupation between 1941-1945 - until Brunei’s transition to independence began in 1959. That year, a new Anglo-Brunei agreement was signed, under which the UK assumed responsibility for defence and foreign affairs but passed control of all other matters to the Sultan. Three years later, the North Borneo Liberation Army instigated rebellions, during which a state of emergency was declared. As a result, the Sultan assumed the power to rule by decree. Since then, with the benefit of its vast oil wealth, Brunei has undergone steady, if somewhat unequal, development. The country is in many respects comparable to the Gulf sheikhdoms - small, exceedingly wealthy and more or less surrounded by larger, poorer nations.

The government of the country rests in the exclusive hands of His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, 29th in the dynasty, 35 years on the throne and certainly one of the world’s richest individuals. Sultan Bolkiah (for short) took over in 1967, following the abdication of his father, Sultan Omar, who remained chief adviser to the new ruler. Political activity in his realm is kept on a very short leash. After toying with orthodox politics, the government invoked the concept of Melayu Islam Beraja (Malay Islamic Monarchy) as a state ideology at the end of the 1980s; Islam consequently has become a steadily stronger influence in the life of the country. Electoral politics have generally been an anathema to the Sultan. Political parties, specifically the National Democratic Party and the National Solidarity Party, were allowed to operate openly for a brief period in the 1980s and again in the mid-1990s, although were ultimately suppressed. The Sultan’s intention to maintain the leading role of the dynasty was reflected by an official announcement in August 1998, stating that his eldest son, Prince al-Muhtadee Billah, will succeed him as Sultan upon his death or retirement. However, the image of the dynasty has been somewhat damaged by revelations of the profligate and debauched lifestyle of the Sultan’s brother, Prince Jefri, who has since been declared bankrupt.

Abroad, Brunei pursued a more active foreign policy during the last decade, joining the Non-Aligned Movement and establishing diplomatic relations with China, Vietnam, Iran and Myanmar. A military cooperation agreement was signed with the USA, supplementing that with the UK. Brunei hosted an ASEAN summit in July 2002, which agreed co-operative measures in the field of counter-terrorism among member states. Brunei is also involved in the search for a settlement of the awkward and potentially dangerous dispute over the Spratly Islands, the South China Sea archipelago claimed by six countries, including Brunei itself and China. Relations with Malaysia have improved since the resolution of various long-running border disputes.

Government : Brunei is a traditional Islamic monarchy, with supreme political power vested in the Sultan. He is advised by the Privy Council, the Religious Council, the Council of Cabinet Ministers and the Council of Succession.