Winston Churchill
Being an absolute monarch, the Sultan of Brunei hasn’t seen any room for opposition or for the political activity of citizens until recently. There were two political parties in 1985, but in the late 1990s one of them was broken, and the second one virtually isn’t active under the government’s pressure. At the same time in September 2004 H.Bolkiah decided to change the situation by giving citizens some political rights, reactivated the activity of the national parliament.
In international relations he seeks to establish links of his country first of all - at the regional level, then - with the rest of the world. He promoted the introduction of Brunei to the United Nations in 1984.
The name of H.Bolkiah is inextricably connected with the history of the independent state Brunei. He was its leader until the independence in 1984, remains so after. H.Bolkiah’s positive contribution to the development of the country is the fact that he, having absolute power, he hasn’t isolated Brunei from the outside world, and develops certain international contacts, has promoted the introduction of the country to the UN.
At the same time, the lack of internal political and economic initiatives actually hampers the development of Brunei, whose economy focused solely on the collecting revenues from oil and gas.
Party affiliation: Monarchical
