By Sophia Rijo
Staff Writer
Brunei, a small country in East Asia has shocked the world with its recent implementation of Sharia laws. On April 3, the Brunei government stated that acts of anal sex and adultery were to be punishable by stoning to death. According to BBC News, Brunei’s gay community was shocked and fearful at the “medieval punishments” their government is executing.
These new laws aren’t the only inhumane laws introduced, Brunei is condemning theft by amputation. Being homosexual in Brunei is already punishable by being sent to prison for up to 10 years.
A little background on Brunei and Sharia law – Brunei has one of the world’s highest standards of living because of their abundance of oil and gas reserves. Their leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is extremely wealthy and when Brunei gained their independence in 1984, he created an ideology called Malay Muslim Monarchy, which would illustrate him as a defender of the faith.
Most people are not aware of what the Sharia law entails, it is Islam’s legal system which is influenced from the Koran, Islam’s central text, and fatwas (rulings of Islamic scholars). Sharia law influences every aspect of a Muslim’s day to day life.
If a Muslim is searching for advice, they would head to a Sharia scholar and look to them to see if what they wish to do is within the boundaries of their religion. (These explanations are from a BBC News article, “What is Sharia and how is it applied?”)
In Sharia law there, are two categories: “hadd” and “tazir” crimes. Hadd’s are serious offenses that include theft and adultery. In the case of hadd offenses some Islamic organizations have stated that for the punishments of these crimes to be acted out there needs to be a high burden of proof. The punishments for tazir crimes are decided by the judge. It is important to know that not all Muslim countries support the punishments for hadd offenses.
Back to the situation at hand, the law established only applies to Muslims which make up two-thirds of Brunei’s population of 420,000. Once a child has reached puberty the law also applies to them as well. The penalty of death is very prominent in Brunei’s way of carrying out justice.
and Yang di-Pertuan of Brunei. He is also the first and incumbent Prime Minister of Brunei.
Death applies to offences such as rape, adultery, sodomy, robbery and insult or defamation of the Prophet Muhammad. Although, there hasn’t been a death sentence carried out since 1957. Teaching children about other faiths other than those of Islam are liable to a fine or jail time. This situation has only started gaining traction in March, but the laws were published in December.
What’s the global reaction to this? Celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and George Clooney have advocated to boycotting hotels owned by Brunei’s Bolkiah, in hopes that the country takes down it’s inhumane laws. Dorchester Collection, the company that oversees the nine hotels owned under Brunei have made a statement claiming, “We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”
Celebrities and hotels aren’t the only ones speaking up, Rachel Chhoa-Howard, a Brunei researcher at Amnesty International says “Brunei’s penal code is a deeply flawed piece of legislation containing a range of provisions that violate human rights.” The United Nations came out calling the new laws “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
People are questioning why is Brunei suddenly creating laws with cruel punishments now. The founder of the human rights group, The Brunei Project, Matthew Woolfe says government actions could be related to Brunei’s weakening economy. He told BBC “One theory is that it is a way for the government to strengthen its hold on power in the face of a declining economy that could potentially lead to some unrest in the future.”
It is possible that he has a point because some people in Brunei are in fear, and with fear it is easier to control people. These new laws will make people feel on edge and have everyone looking over their shoulder, paranoid. For example, one 40-year-old gay Bruneian took to moving to Canada seeking safety.
However, some people in Brunei think that these new laws will not be enforced because of the requirements that must happen for it to be acted on. One example, is the law against anal sex or adultery; for it to be used against a person the law says that there must be four Muslim witnesses for the person convicted of the crime to be prosecuted.
My thoughts on the situation is that no government should use fear and torture to gain the attention and “obedience” of its citizens. According to the 2019 Index of Economic Freedom, Brunei’s open markets have taken a decrease in Trade Freedom and the country has a lot of state-owned enterprises. This alters the economy and the financial sector of Brunei is heavily dominated by banks and means that there is a lot of government influence in the country and little freedom for citizens to open up their own small businesses.
The rest of the world is taking measures to get rid of wrongful acts such as torture, and Brunei should take that message and think very carefully of how it wants the rest of the world to view them. This new law implementation scheme (if it is one) has already cut off a lot of business for the country, and the amount of press focusing on this issue will not only drag them down further economically.
