exotic asia

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Brunei attraction

Brunei never stop to be the attraction to visitors.
A land rich in history, for it use to be a grand empire covering the whole of Borneo and the Southern part of Philippine. It is left the land among the smallest country in the world with about 400,000 population.
The heart of the country is the capital city, used to known as Brunei, like the country itself. Upon independent, the town was changed to Bansar Seri Benggawan, as rather long name and difficult to remember except for the local or a Malay.
The Sultan is among the richest in the world. With about US20bil , the interest received from the investment is enough to run the country. It rather unfortunate that the wealth is not being used to develop and strengthen the small state and the people.
What exactly is the attraction of Brunei. It is probably the only surviving sultanate, where the king has the power to rule the state. The traditional Malay culture was reflected in the saying that… a state can only exist if there is a king. There was no separation between state and king,
One of the most visited building is the Omar Ali Mosque, built upon an artificial lagoon to give the impression of a mosque floating on water. The building was completed in 1958, during the rule of the British. It pride itself with 52m minarets visible throughout the city. The expensive marbles were imported from Italy and the domes were crafted from pure gold.
A museum was build to display the Brunei Malay tradition dated back to the years before the colonial British set his foot.

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