The Brunei People's Party (Parti Rakyat Brunei, PRB) is a banned political party in Brunei.
PRB was established as a left leaning party in 1956 and aimed to bring Brunei into full independence from the United Kingdom. The party sought to democratise the government by shifting the national leadership from the palace to the people.
In 1961, PRB rejected the proposal for membership in federation with Malaysia, proposed by Malaya's Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman even though the government of Brunei was favourable to the federation. On January 12, 1962, PRB leader A.M. Azahari was appointed to the Brunei Legislative Council and PRB won all 16 of the elected seats in the 33 seat legislature in August 1962.[1]
The first meeting of the Legislative Council was scheduled on December 5, 1962 and PRB stated that it would submit a resolution for the return of British North Borneo and Sarawak to Brunei in order to form an independent state known as the North Borneo Federation, the rejection of Brunei's entry into Malaysia and the independence of Brunei in 1963. Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin III rejected this proposed resolution and postponed the opening of the Legislative Council to December 19, 1962.
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On December 8, 1962 an armed insurrection by the PRB now known as the Brunei Rebellion broke out in Brunei and bordering areas of North Borneo and Sarawak. The rebels were known as the Tentera Nasional Kalimantan Utara (TNKU) or North Kalimantan National Army and a few key towns were occupied by the TNKU. The Brunei police however remained loyal to the Sultan and his government and additional British troops landed from Singapore by the evening of the same day.
By December 9, 1962, the rebellion was effectively broken when Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin III declared PRB illegal and condemned the TNKU for treason although sporadic incidences continued to occur. The Sultan also publicly stated Brunei's intention not to join the Malaysian federation. The rebellion ended five months later with the capture of Yassin Affandi. PRB leader, A.M. Azahari, who was in Manila during the outbreak of the rebellion, fled into exile in Jakarta.
On July 13, 1973 PRB detainees who had refused to renounce the party staged an escape and reconstituted the party in exile. In December, an Ad Hoc Committee for the Independence of Brunei was established in Kuala Lumpur. Subsequently on May 7, 1974, the PRB was formally reactivated with the naming of an executive committee with A.M. Azahari as president.
The PRB continued to garner international moral and material support throughout the 1970s and resulted in the United Nations General Assembly adopting Resolution 3424 that established principles of succession and legitimacy that any government established in Brunei should meet.
PRB today is believed to be still operating in exile [2] although it is most likely dormant [3].
In 12 September 2005, former political prisoner [4] and Secretary General of PRB, Yassin Affandi, co-founded the National Development Party [5]. The National Development Party is the third political party that is operating legally in Brunei to date.
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