Good morning, we are continuing with someone fun and frivolous for December to wind up the year. These are documentaries that do not quite fit in a curriculum but could potentially be shown as something fun for the classroom. This documentary is about the royal family of Brunei and the run time for this episode is 49:08.
The Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest men in the world. His wealth is primarily derived from oil and he shares the wealth with the population of Brunei. However, it is forbidden to discuss the sultan’s wealth. Brunei has had a sultan for over 600 years and the sultan’s power is absolute. It is one of six nations that have an absolute monarch. He is seen as a divine figure. It is a system that few Westerners can understand. So what is it about Brunei and its Sultan? Brunei was established by Muslim traders in the 14th Century and is one of the world’s smallest kingdoms. The sultanate was born during this period as well. The Sultan has absolute power, the government is the central authority, power is hierarchical, and political parties are nonexistent. There have been twenty-nine sultans. The Sultans had a pact with Britain to keep Brunei’s independence. Britain would protect Brunei from being taken over by Malaysia. At the start of the sultanate, the sultans were very poor often wearing threadbare clothes. This changed when oil was discovered. The sultan would become wealthy. Over time, the sultan would decide to change the system in place and he would eventually be able to share the wealth. This wealth secured the sultan. However, what would happen when the oil ran out? Scholars believe that Brunei will have to invest in other means to sustain its wealth. Life is good for the people in Brunei. The population loves the royal family. The royal family can walk about Brunei streets without much security. How has the sultan survived as an absolute monarch? Will he continue to survive as an absolute monarch in the future? Brunei Bay was a place where people could trade and the early citizens lived on the sea. The Sultans of Brunei would expand their kingdom through trade and warfare. Then the European seafarers would arrive. Reports back to Europe talked about how wealthy the Brunei people were. Its center in trade would highlight its importance. However, the empire would shrink, and the sultans would have to navigate these changing waters. The sultans would have to negotiate with the British, particularly the Brook family. It is this section where there is a discussion on the Brook Family and negotiations with the British to keep Brunei independent. Brunei would remain a poverty-stricken nation for many decades under British Rule, at least until the discovery of oil. Brunei would eventually be put on the map and would be developed. Today, Brunei citizens enjoy free health care, free education, and do not have an income tax. Sultan Omar Ali Safoddin III would change things for Brunei. He was a sultan keen to take full control over Brunei. He slowly started to take away the power of British officials. Oil profits continued to funnel into Brunei. In the 1950s, Malaysia wanted Brunei to join them with the Brunei sultan as king. A party that was pro-democracy started to emerge. They would openly revolt against the British and the Sultan. This rebellion shocked the world. The rebellion was crushed and the Sultan declared a state of emergency. The sultan would have absolute power over the people of Brunei. He had believed and trusted his people and the rebellion showed that he could not trust his people. Sultan Omar would surprise the British and abdicate his throne, or did he? How else did this rebellion impact Brunei? Tune into the rest of the episode to find out more about Brunei. This episode of Asia’s Monarchies was very fast-paced in comparison to the other episodes. It was so fast-paced it felt choppy at times; therefore, it did not have a good flow in the episode. Events came fast and furious. It was hard to determine where one episode began and another one ended. I also would have appreciated some more information on the early history of Brunei. I would not show this particular episode to a classroom because it was hard to follow at times.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |