???
Why suddenly Singaporeans so worried about Brunei?
As a Brunei citizen, sometimes it sadden me to read about
misinformed comments on Brunei in sgforums
Make no mistake, I do apreciate the care shown by Singaporeans
towards the well being of Brunei, it is a statement of the close
ties between our countries but most of the post protrayed Brunei as
very helpless and need Singapore to protect it.
Fact1 - Brunei will never merge with Singapore. Brunei is ruled
through Islamic laws which is vastly different from the
conventional laws used in Singapore. The cultures of Singapore and
Brunei is too different to be able to intergrate the citizens of
both countries together.
Fact2 - Brunei/Singapore has the highest GNI is Asia as our
currency is the strongest compared to the rest. But the fact is
that the official GNI of Brunei is reported to be near Singapore
level so the currencies can be pegged. The real GNI of Brunei is
way higher than the official reported figures.
Take the incident that happen in Brunei a few years back,
US$50Billion of state funds went missing - no economic impact on
Brunei at all.
If that were to happen in Singapore, I am not even sure what would
happen.
Statement: That's the problem with Brunei, they lack
diversification
It is not true. If you check the amount of business owned by
Brunei/Royal family worldwide, you will know that Brunei does not
lack diversification at all.
It is just that we do not need to calculate in all these figures to
maintain our economic echelon.
You can argue that most of these assets are owned by the royal
family not by the govenrment but Brunei government is a sham.
Brunei is ruled by the monarch system so we do not have a real
government. It is a fact that the Sultan of Brunei owns Brunei,
just that not many people are aware of it.
The disadvantage is that no real business is willing to invest in
Brunei as it is legal for the Sultan of Brunei to claim everything
in Brunei as his own.
