With his fleet of 7,000 cars and £15,000 haircuts, the Sultan of Brunei couldn’t be more different than India’s Narendra Modi, who has made much over the years of his modest upbringing.
Modi is making the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to the tiny, oil-rich nation in Southeast Asia this week, and his talks with the sultan underscore the growing importance of Brunei for India’s geopolitical ambitions in the region.
Modi, who is said to have sold tea at a railway station as a boy, has expressed his intention to strengthen India’s ties with the small country on the northern coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.
Brunei is an important partner in India’s Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Vision – policies meant to serve stronger trade and business ties with South East Asia and other Indo Pacific countries.
Who is Haji Hassanal Bolkiah?
The Sultan of Brunei, whose wealth is estimated at $30bn, is known for his lavish lifestyle. His car collection is reportedly valued at $5bn and has 7000 vehicles, including a gold Rolls-Royce that he acquired for his daughter’s wedding.
He was crowned the 29th Sultan of Brunei in 1968 and is the second-longest reigning monarch after the late Queen Elizabeth II. He resides in the Istana Nurul Iman, the world’s largest residential palace with 1,788 rooms.
The power of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who is also the prime minister of Brunei, extends far beyond that of a typical monarch. According to his official biography, he holds multiple high-ranking positions, including the portfolios of defence, finance, and external affairs.
He was named crown prince at 15 in 1961 and six years later his father Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddin abdicated. Although Brunei was still a British protectorate at the time, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah had already received military training in Britain and studied in Malaysia.
The sultan trained as an officer at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in the UK between 1966 and 1967, the official website noted.
He is also a qualified pilot and can fly both aeroplanes and helicopters.
Under his rule, Brunei solidified its status as one of the world’s richest nations based on its vast oil wealth with a high per-capita income upon gaining independence in 1984.
The last parliamentary elections in Brunei, a country roughly the size of Delaware in the US, were held in 1968.
The sultan’s extravagant spending has fascinated outsiders for decades. His palace has an extensive polo complex, complete with around 100 ponies and a stud farm. He reportedly paid Michael Jackson $17m to perform at his 50th birthday party, attended by Britain’s then Prince Charles. The celebrations went on for over two weeks.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is believed to have a private collection of around 500 Rolls-Royces and during the 1990s, the Bolkiah family was reportedly responsible for nearly half of all the luxury car purchases worldwide.
Prince Abdul Mateen, one of the Sultan’s 12 children, frequently posts images of his lavish lifestyle on Instagram. Prince Mateen is the sixth in line to Brunei’s throne and a pilot and polo player with over 2.4 million followers on Instagram. The Instagram posts of the prince, who has often drawn comparisons in the past with Britain’s Prince Harry, show a mix of official duties with yachting, travelling in private jets and stays at world-class hotels.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah’s younger brother, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, was accused by the state of Brunei on behalf of the sultan of misappropriating some $40bn in state funds, in one of Asia’s most sensational royal scandals. The sultan sued his younger sibling in 2000 leading to a long-running feud between the two.
Brunei, a small country of about 463,000 people with a predominantly Muslim population, bans liquor, dancing, gambling and homosexuality. The sultan faced increasing international scrutiny, especially after 2019, when Brunei rolled out its interpretation of Islamic laws, or sharia, allowing whipping and stoning to death for those found guilty of adultery, sodomy and rape.
The new measures were met with global outcry and caused alarm and fear among Brunei’s gay community. Even though homosexuality was already illegal in the country, the enforcement of these harsher penalties led to calls to boycott luxury hotels owned by the sultan, including the Dorchester in London, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.
The US, Britain, France, Germany, and other nations, along with several celebrities such as George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres, and Elton John, protested the law. Seeking to temper the backlash led by celebrities, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah extended a moratorium on the death penalty but critics said other harsh punishments, including whipping and maiming, remained and called for stricter revisions to the law.
The sultan’s “flying palace” is a private aviation fleet of ultra-luxurious planes, including a Boeing 747-8 (V8-BKH), a luxurious, long-range aircraft, a Boeing 767-200 (V8-MHB), another high-end aircraft for long-haul flights, a Boeing 787-8 (V8-OAS), a modern and spacious jet designed for comfort, apart from Sikorsky S70 and S76, helicopters used for shorter journeys and local travel.
The sultan reportedly spends approximately £15,000 for a haircut and arranges for his favourite barber, who works at London’s Dorchester Hotel, to fly first class to Brunei.
The 78-year-old also owns a private zoo with 30 Bengal tigers and a range of exotic birds like falcons, flamingos and cockatoos which can reportedly ride miniature bicycles, play with a ball, sing, and imitate other animals, according to a GQ report.
Observers say the sultan’s lavish lifestyle contrasts sharply with the lives of commoners, who live in a nation where strict Islamic laws and a state of emergency have long restricted personal freedoms. The sultan is also criticised for promoting a conservative interpretation of Islam that contrasts sharply with the lifestyles of those from the royal family.
The sultan is currently married to Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Hajah Saleha. He has 12 children from three spouses. In 2020, Prince Abdul Azim, the sultan’s 38-year-old son and fourth in line to the throne, passed away. Azim was known for his work as a movie producer in Hollywood.
Azim was also known for his prominent presence on the international party scene, often seen with celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Janet Jackson, and Mariah Carey.
In a 2017 CNN report, Michael Auslin of the Hoover Institution was quoted as saying: “They’re [the royal family] probably fairly well insulated from criticism, as the Bruneians are living better than almost anyone else in Asia. Here you’re talking about oil wealth that has been spread throughout society, the majority are benefiting.
“Their lifestyle is literally inconceivable for the vast majority of humanity. It’s lavish beyond belief. Take everything you can imagine in the lifestyles of the rich and famous and multiply it.”