| Hassanal Bolkiah | |
|---|---|
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| Reign | 4 October 1967 – present |
| Coronation | 1 August 1968 |
| Predecessor | Omar Ali Saifuddien III |
| Heir apparent | Al-Muhtadee Billah |
| Spouse | Anak Saleha (1965–present) Isteri Mariam (Divorced 2003) Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim (2005–2010) |
| Issue | |
| Al-Muhtadee Billah Azim 'Abdul Malik Abdul Mateen 'Abdul Wakeel Rashidah Muta-Wakkilah Majeedah Hafizah 'Azemah Fadzilah Ameerah |
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| House | Istana Nurul Iman |
| Born | 15 July 1946 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei |
| Signature | |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
General Haji Sir Hassan al-Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah GCB GCMG (born 15 July 1946) is the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, the 29th Sultan of Brunei and the first Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam. He is the eldest son of Omar Ali Saifuddien III, the 28th Sultan of Brunei, and Pengiran Anak Damit.
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Under Brunei's 1959 constitution, the Sultan is the head of state with full executive authority, including emergency powers since 1962. On 9 March 2006, the Sultan was reported to have changed Brunei's constitution to make himself infallible under Bruneian law.[1] Bolkiah is also the Prime Minister as well as holding the portfolios of Minister of Defence and Finance.
As Minister of Defence he is also the Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces; an Honorary General in the British and Indonesian armed forces and an Honorary Admiral of the Fleet in the British Navy. He appointed himself as Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the Royal Brunei Police Force.
He addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Brunei Darussalam's admission to the United Nations in September, 1984. In 1991, he introduced a conservative ideology to Brunei called Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB) (or Malay Islamic Monarchy), which presents the monarchy as the defender of the faith.[2] He has recently favoured Brunei government democratisation and declared himself Prime Minister and President. In 2004, the Legislative Council, which had been dissolved since 1962, was reopened.[3]
His designated successor is his eldest son, Al-Muhtadee Billah.
He was born on 15 July 1946 in Brunei Town (now called Bandar Seri Begawan). He became crown prince in 1961 and sultan on 5 October 1967, after his father abdicated voluntarily. His coronation was held on 1 August 1968. Like his father, he has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, of which Brunei was a protectorate until 1984.
The Sultan received high school education in Malaysia's premier school Victoria Institution in Kuala Lumpur, where he joined the Cadet Corps (band). After receiving a private education in Brunei, the Sultan attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in October 1967 but returned home to be the Crown Prince few months before graduation.
Despite his personal extravagance, he has attempted to share the country's oil wealth. In Brunei, mockingly dubbed the "Shellfare State", a reference to the significant influence of the Shell Oil Company,[4][5] Bruneians have free education and medical services. There are no personal income taxes in Brunei.
His official residence is the Istana Nurul Iman, with 1,888 rooms, 290 bathrooms, and a floor area of 2,152,782 sq ft (200,000 m²), controversially claims to be “world’s largest working palace”. The Istana is an official residence with offices housing the Offices of the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan, Grand Chamberlain's office, many istana departments like protocol, istana household and finance departments and offices of the Prime Minister's Department. Parts of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance are also located at the palace, as the Sultan is the Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Minister of Finance. The Crown Prince, who is the Senior Minister, also works from offices at the Istana. Hyatt Borneo Management Services and HM The Sultan's flight also maintain offices there.
The Sultan is the owner of 531 Mercedes-Benzes, 367 Ferraris, 362 Bentleys, 185 BMWs, 177 Jaguars, 160 Porsches, 130 Rolls-Royces and 20 Lamborghinis, bringing the total number of cars he owns to 1932.
While still a Crown Prince, in 1968, The Sultan married his cousin, currently his first wife, Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha. His former second wife, Pengiran Isteri Hajah Mariam, was a former stewardess for the national carrier, Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA) whom he divorced in 2003, stripping her of all her royal titles. In August 2005 her place was taken by a former Malaysian TV3 presenter, Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim, who is 33 years younger than the Sultan. They divorced in 2010.[6]
Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is the crown prince and the Sultan's heir, the eldest son of the Sultan and Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha, his first wife. As of 2008, Hassanal Bolkiah has five sons and seven daughters with his three wives.[7]
His Majesty has divorced his third wife, Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim, a 30-year old former Malaysian TV journalist.
Bolkiah and Hakim were married in a private ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2005. The union bore two children who joined eight other heirs from previous marriage.
As AFP reports: "The Sultan has divorced his wife Azrinaz Mazhar Hakim and all the royal titles that have been awarded to the Sultan's former wife have been withdrawn," Grand chamberlain Haji Alauddin Haji Abu Bakar announced on Radio Television Brunei.
He said the divorce was granted based on "special reasons" but no other details were given. Rumours of the royal break-up had been circulating in the capital in recent weeks.
Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/293512#ixzz1gCXZR7TD
Between 2001 and 2005 a UK businessman, Mark Burby, was defrauded by two members of the Brunei royal family, Pengiran Ayub (the Sultan's cousin) and Pengiran Damit (the Sultan's sister-in-law).[8] The case went to trial, and the Brunei Royals were ordered to pay over £50M of lost earning to Burby.[8] After the judgement, Burby went to work for a more-senior Brunei Royal on the understanding that the Sultan would ensure that the debt was paid. As of July 2009[update], the debt remains unpaid.[8]
In 1997, former Miss USA Shannon Marketic filed a lawsuit against the ruling family of Brunei for $90 million.[9] In the case, Marketic alleged that she and 6 other young women were paid $127,200 each for a modeling job in Brunei (whereas on the ABC news program 20/20, Marketic said she was supposed to provide "intellectual conversations" with visiting guests of the royal family). These other women include former Miss Teen USA and future Miss USA Brandi Sherwood, who was invited along by Shannon, and Miss United Kingdom runner up Paula Bradbury.
Marketic maintained that she and Stephanie Granton were held as "sex slaves" at the Sultan's palace and were "intimidated and coerced into performing physically and morally repulsive acts of prostitution."[10] They were allegedly expected to dance at nightly parties during which they were groped and grabbed by men, one of whom was the Sultan's son, Prince Azim. During the dances Marketic was also allegedly abused verbally with comments made about her bare breasts.[11] The women were often told to go with a man to have "tea" with him, and then had sex with him.[12] In her interview on 20/20, Marketic said that after 32 days, she had a letter sent to the US Embassy; shortly afterwards, she was paid $10,000 by the ruling family and flown back to the United States.[9] The case was thrown out due to the immunity of the ruling family as heads of state.[12] There has been no further investigation into this case although there are allegations both supporting and refuting her claims. Paula Bradbury separately sued the Sultan and won £500,000 in settlement.[13]
| Styles of The Sultan of Brunei |
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| Reference style | His Majesty the Sultan and Yang-di Pertuan of Brunei |
| Spoken style | Your Royal Highness |
The style and title of the Sultan is full is His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'Izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Negara Brunei Darussalam.[14]
The Sultan received an honorary doctorate from a Russian university.[15]
He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Oxford, England, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Chulalongkorn University of Thailand.
In 2003, he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humanities and Culture from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Yogyakarta, Republic of Indonesia.[16] On 27 January 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the National University of Singapore.[17]
On 14 April 2011, he was conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Law by King's College London.[18] The scroll for the honorary doctorate was presented by Lord Duoro, the chairman of the Council of King's College London. He was awarded with an honorary doctorate in philoposhy and humanities on 21 April 2011 from Universitas Indonesia, one of the oldest universities in Asia having been established 160 years ago.[19]
The Sultan holds an honorary commission in the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom as an Air Marshal.[20] He is also an Honorary Admiral of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom,[21] a title given to him by Queen Elizabeth II when he took the salute at the passing out parade of the 2001 summer term at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, the Royal Navy's officer-training school in the United Kingdom. He has an English residence at Binfield Manor in Berkshire.
In April 2008, he was made an honorary member of the Indonesian Satgas Atbara Special Operations Unit.
He holds the rank of Honorary Colonel of Pakistan's Special Service Group (SSG), awarded to him during his visit to the Pakistan Army's SSG headquarters at Cherat.[22]
He possesses red beret and paratrooper wings of the Black Hawk paratroopers, presented to him by the Indian Army during his state visit to India.
His Majesty had an open disagreements with his brother, Jefri Bolkiah who owned a network of companies and investment vehicles under the name Amadeo run by his son Prince Hakim,[23] which was used to buy the luxury goods company Asprey and build an amusement park and other projects in Brunei.[24] In July 1998 the Amadeo group collapsed under US$10 billion in debt.[25] Between 1983 and mid-1998 some US$40 billion of what were called "special transfers" were made from the accounts of the BIA.[26]
An independent investigation was undertaken into the circumstances of these special transfers, concluding that in round figures, US$14.8 billion were paid to the accounts of Prince Jefri, US$8 billion to accounts of the Sultan and US$3.8 billion for Government purposes; the destination, purpose and recipients of the remaining transfers were not established.[26] Due to the secretive nature of the state and the blurred lines as to where the royal family’s finances and the state finances began and ended, establishing the true course of events is very difficult.[24]
Prince Jefri was accused of misappropriating state funds to pay for his own personal investments, bought through BIA and Amadeo companies and removed from his position as head of BIA.[27][28] In February 2000 the Bruneian government attempted to obtain a freezing order on Prince Jefri’s overseas assets, which led to him countersuing in New York.[27] Following protracted negotiations a settlement agreement was signed by the Prince in May 2000,[26] the terms of which were never made public.[25] However, Prince Jefri claimed assurances were made to him by the Sultan with regards to keeping certain properties in order to maintain his lifestyle, which BIA denied.[26][25]
In accordance with the settlement agreement signed in 2000, the prince began to return his assets to the state, including more than 500 properties, both in Brunei and abroad, more than 2,000 cars, 100 paintings, five boats, and nine aircraft.[25] In 2001 ten thousand lots of Prince Jefri’s possessions went to auction.[29]
However, the BIA alleged that the Prince failed to uphold the agreement by failing to disclose all his accounts, and allowing money to be taken from frozen accounts,[30] and restarted legal proceedings in order to gain full control of the Prince’s assets. After a number of appeals,[31] this finally reached the Privy Council in London, which can serve as Brunei's highest court of appeal as a result of Brunei's former protectorate status.[32] The Privy Council rejected Prince Jefri's evidence, describing his contention that the agreement allowed for him to retain a number of properties as "simply incredible",[33] and ruled in favour of the Government of Brunei and the BIA; consequently the Prince's appeal was dismissed and he was ordered to return the rest of his assets to Brunei.[26]
The decision of the Privy Council did not end the litigation between Prince Jefri and the BIA. The BIA re-opened proceedings in Malaysia and the Cayman Islands, resulting in the BIA gaining control over the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles and the New York Palace Hotel in Manhattan.[34]
The BIA also re-opened collateral litigation in the British High Court. After winning before the Privy Council, the BIA asked the court to determine whether Prince Jefri should be held in contempt of court for allegedly making misstatements in his listing of assets. The contempt proceeding was scheduled for a hearing in June 2008, but the Prince did not attend, instead going to Paris.[30][35] Judge Peter Smith did not rule on whether Prince Jefri was in contempt, but did issue a warrant for his arrest.[36] As of November 2010, the warrant still appears to be in place, meaning the Prince will be arrested if he enters the UK.[37]
As of October 2009, Prince Jefri appears to have been allowed back to Brunei. He then announced that the Sultan has put him back to the government.[38]
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Hassanal Bolkiah
Born: 15 July 1946 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Omar Ali Saifuddien III |
Sultan of Brunei 1967–present |
Incumbent Heir apparent: Al-Muhtadee Billah |
| Bruneian royalty | ||
| Preceded by Ahmad Tajuddin |
Crown Prince of Brunei 1965–1968 |
Succeeded by Al-Muhtadee Billah |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by Bill Gates |
Richest Person in the World 1997 |
Succeeded by Bill Gates |
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