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| .bn Brunei |
| Yong Chee Tuan |
Overview Brunei
Darussalam is a small Islamic sultanate on the northeast coast of Borneo island.
The country is situated within latitudes 5 degrees 05’N and 4 degrees 00’N and
longitudes 114 degrees 04’E and 115 degrees 22’E. It is bounded on the north by
the South China Sea and on all the other sides by the Malaysian states: Sarawak
and Sabah. Brunei then gradually grew to be one of the greatest empires of the Malay archipelago. During the 16th century, its sovereignty extended throughout Borneo and other surrounding islands. European influence in the region started in the 17th century. In 1906, the country became a British Protectorate. The Anglo-Brunei Treaty of 1959 gave Brunei Darussalam its first written constitution, which was subsequently revised and brought up to date in 1971. On 1 January 1984, with the declaration of full independence by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Muizzadin Waddaulah, Brunei Darussalam became a sovereign state with a Malay Muslim monarchic government. Since then, the nation has established strong political and/or socioeconomic relationships with various international and regional organisations, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Organisation of Islamic Conference, the United Nations, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). With a land area of 5,765 square kilometres and an estimated population of 344,500 in 2001, Brunei Darussalam is one of the world’s smallest nations. Before the Second World War, population growth was largely attributed to natural increase; but subsequently with the expansion of the oil and gas industry, immigration has come to play an important part in the total population growth. The country can be divided into four districts: Brunei/Muara (69 percent of the population), Kuala Belait (17 percent), Tutong (11 percent) and Temburong (3 percent). The population is made up of indigenous Malay (67.9 percent), other indigenous races (5.6 percent), Chinese (15.2 percent) and others (11.3 percent). The age group of 0 - 19 years comprises 42 percent of the total population and forms the largest segment. Those 20 - 39 years old take the second place, making up 38 percent. Only 14.7 percent of the population is made up of people 40 - 59 years old. Despite
its small population size, Brunei Darussalam has a relatively high labour force
participation rate, estimated at 69 percent. However, the employment figures indicate
that 150,800 people (44 percent) are employed, while nearly 7,200 people (2 percent)
are currently unemployed. The GDP, at constant price in 2001, was B$4,206 million. The oil and gas sector contributed 53.45 percent, while the non-oil private sector contributed 22.45 percent and the government sector 24.1 percent. The crude oil export target within these few years was set at 200,000 barrels per day. Liquefied natural gas export is also set to increase over the next few years, starting at around 900,000 million British thermal units per day. ICT infrastructure Building a reliable and progressive infrastructure has always been difficult as technology is constantly and rapidly changing. The government undertook a series of initiatives to strengthen the network backbone and telephone lines across the country throughout the late 1990s. One of these initiatives is RAGAM21. It includes the fibre optic cables laid from Brunei/Muara district to Kuala Belait and the international gateway connectivity of around 60 Mbps through submarine fibre optic cables to Singapore and the USA. . . . . . the complete text of this chapter is available for purchase and immediate download as a PDF file, please click here for more information. |
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