Sultan Hassanal of Brunei, the world's longest-reigning living monarch
He ascended the throne at the tender age of 21 in 1967 in the tropical kingdom perched on the northern tip of Borneo in Southeast Asia.
Descending from a family that ruled Brunei for more than 600 years, the absolute monarch today at 78 still holds numerous positions in his oil-abundant state.
He is the country's prime minister, defence minister, finance and economy minister, as well as foreign affairs supremo.
Apart from his political duties, the sultan is also commander-in-chief of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces and the Inspector-General of the Royal Brunei Police Force.
Under his stewardship, Brunei became one of the world's richest countries and gained independence from Britain in 1984 after almost a century of colonial rule.
While the sultan has long lost the title of the world's richest man to tech billionaires, his wealth remains the stuff of legend.
The Guinness Book of World Records says his home, Istana Nurul Iman, which translated in English means "Palace of the Light of Faith" is the largest residential palace in the world.
- Lavish lifestyle -
The sultan is also renowned for owning the world's largest private car collection.
His gigantic fleet boasted at least 7,000 cars, valued at more than five billion dollars.
Parties thrown by him and younger brother Prince Jefri Bolkiah in the 1980s and 1990s were said to be extravagant, costing millions of dollars with guests hanging out with stars like Michael Jackson.
Brunei's living standards have soared to among the highest globally under his rule.
But his reign has also been marked by controversies including the introduction of tough Islamic laws legislating penalties such as the severing of limbs and death by stoning.
Brunei was the first country in East or Southeast Asia to introduce sharia law at a national level in 2019 after years of delays.
The harsh laws included death by stoning for adultery and gay sex and the amputation of a hand or foot for theft, which rights campaigners branded as "barbaric".
Those punishments, however, have not been actively enforced following international backlash.
Analysts said at the time the new code might be partly symbolic, as Sultan Hassanal was seeking to burnish his Islamic credentials among conservatives and win more support amid concerns about the economy.
The royal family was also deeply embarrassed by a sensational feud between Sultan Hassanal and Prince Jefri over the latter's alleged embezzlement of $15 billion during his tenure as finance minister in the 1990s.
During the scandal, salacious details emerged of the prince's jet-set, un-Islamic lifestyle, including allegations of a high-priced harem and a luxury yacht he owned called "Tits".
llk-jhe/tc
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
3 hours ago
Los Angeles school year begins amid fears over immigration enforcement
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles students and teachers return to class for the new academic year Thursday under a cloud of apprehension after a summer filled with immigration raids and amid worries that schools could become a target in the Trump administration's aggressive crackdown. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has urged immigration authorities not to conduct enforcement activity within a two-block radius around schools starting an hour before the school day begins and until one hour after it classes let out. 'Hungry children, children in fear, cannot learn well,' Carvalho said in a news conference. He also announced a number of measures intended to protect students and families, including adding or altering bus routes to accommodate more students. The district is to distribute a family preparedness packet that includes know-your-rights information, emergency contact updates and tips on designating a backup caregiver in case a parent is detained. The sprawling district, which covers more than two dozen cities, is the nation's second largest with more than 500,000 students. According to the teachers' union, 30,000 students are immigrants, and an estimated quarter of them are without legal status. While immigration agents have not detained anyone inside a school, a 15-year-old boy was pulled from a car and handcuffed outside Arleta High School in northern Los Angeles on Monday, Carvalho said. He had significant disabilities and was released after a bystander intervened in the case of 'mistaken identity,' the superintendent said. 'This is the exact type of incident that traumatizes our communities; it cannot repeat itself,' he added. Administrators at two elementary schools previously denied entry to officials from the Department of Homeland Security in April, and immigration agents have been seen in vehicles outside schools. Carvalho said that while staffers and district police officers cannot interfere with immigration enforcement and do not have jurisdiction beyond school property, they have had conversations with federal agents parked in front of schools that resulted in them leaving. The district is partnering with local law enforcement in some cities and forming a 'rapid response' network to disseminate information about the presence of federal agents, he said. Teachers say they are concerned some students might not show up the first day. Lupe Carrasco Cardona, a high school social studies and English teacher at the Roybal Learning Center, said attendance saw a small dip in January when President Donald Trump took office. The raids ramped up in June right before graduations, putting a damper on ceremonies. One raid at a Home Depot near MacArthur Park, an area with many immigrant families from Central America, took place the same morning as an 8th grade graduation at a nearby middle school. 'People were crying, for the actual graduation ceremony there were hardly any parents there,' Cardona said. The next week, at her high school graduation, the school rented two buses to transport parents to the ceremony downtown. Ultimately many of the seats were empty, unlike other graduations. One 11th grader, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be published because she is in the country without legal permission and fears being targeted, said she is afraid to return to school. 'Instead of feeling excited, really what I'm feeling is concern,' said Madelyn, a 17-year-old from Central America. 'I am very, very scared, and there is a lot of pressure.' She added that she takes public transportation to school but fears being targeted on the bus by immigration agents because of her skin color. 'We are simply young people with dreams who want to study, move forward and contribute to this country as well,' she said. Madelyn joined a club that provides support and community for immigrant students and said she intends to persevere in that work. 'I plan to continue supporting other students who need it very much, even if I feel scared,' she said. 'But I have to be brave.' Some families who decide that the risk is too great to show up in-person have opted for online learning instead, according to Carvalho, with virtual enrollment up 7% this year. The district has also contacted at least 10,000 parents and visited more than 800 families over the summer to provide information about resources like transportation, legal and financial support and are deploying 1,000 workers from the district's central office on the first day of classes to 'critical areas' that have seen immigration raids. 'We want no one to stay home as a result of fears,' Carvalho said.
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Los Angeles school year begins amid fears over immigration enforcement
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles students and teachers return to class for the new academic year Thursday under a cloud of apprehension after a summer filled with immigration raids and amid worries that schools could become a target in the Trump administration's aggressive crackdown. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has urged immigration authorities not to conduct enforcement activity within a two-block radius around schools starting an hour before the school day begins and until one hour after it classes let out. 'Hungry children, children in fear, cannot learn well,' Carvalho said in a news conference. He also announced a number of measures intended to protect students and families, including adding or altering bus routes to accommodate more students. The district is to distribute a family preparedness packet that includes know-your-rights information, emergency contact updates and tips on designating a backup caregiver in case a parent is detained. The sprawling district, which covers more than two dozen cities, is the nation's second largest with more than 500,000 students. According to the teachers' union, 30,000 students are immigrants, and an estimated quarter of them are without legal status. While immigration agents have not detained anyone inside a school, a 15-year-old boy was pulled from a car and handcuffed outside Arleta High School in northern Los Angeles on Monday, Carvalho said. He had significant disabilities and was released after a bystander intervened in the case of 'mistaken identity,' the superintendent said. 'This is the exact type of incident that traumatizes our communities; it cannot repeat itself,' he added. Administrators at two elementary schools previously denied entry to officials from the Department of Homeland Security in April, and immigration agents have been seen in vehicles outside schools. DHS did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Carvalho said that while staffers and district police officers cannot interfere with immigration enforcement and do not have jurisdiction beyond school property, they have had conversations with federal agents parked in front of schools that resulted in them leaving. The district is partnering with local law enforcement in some cities and forming a 'rapid response' network to disseminate information about the presence of federal agents, he said. Educators worry about attendance Teachers say they are concerned some students might not show up the first day. Lupe Carrasco Cardona, a high school social studies and English teacher at the Roybal Learning Center, said attendance saw a small dip in January when President Donald Trump took office. The raids ramped up in June right before graduations, putting a damper on ceremonies. One raid at a Home Depot near MacArthur Park, an area with many immigrant families from Central America, took place the same morning as an 8th grade graduation at a nearby middle school. 'People were crying, for the actual graduation ceremony there were hardly any parents there,' Cardona said. The next week, at her high school graduation, the school rented two buses to transport parents to the ceremony downtown. Ultimately many of the seats were empty, unlike other graduations. One 11th grader, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be published because she is in the country without legal permission and fears being targeted, said she is afraid to return to school. 'Instead of feeling excited, really what I'm feeling is concern,' said Madelyn, a 17-year-old from Central America. 'I am very, very scared, and there is a lot of pressure.' She added that she takes public transportation to school but fears being targeted on the bus by immigration agents because of her skin color. 'We are simply young people with dreams who want to study, move forward and contribute to this country as well,' she said. Madelyn joined a club that provides support and community for immigrant students and said she intends to persevere in that work. 'I plan to continue supporting other students who need it very much, even if I feel scared,' she said. 'But I have to be brave.' Some families who decide that the risk is too great to show up in-person have opted for online learning instead, according to Carvalho, with virtual enrollment up 7% this year. The district has also contacted at least 10,000 parents and visited more than 800 families over the summer to provide information about resources like transportation, legal and financial support and are deploying 1,000 workers from the district's central office on the first day of classes to 'critical areas' that have seen immigration raids. 'We want no one to stay home as a result of fears,' Carvalho said.
New York Post
11 hours ago
- New York Post
How Hamas turned kids into terrorists with TV show featuring jihadi mouse, bloodthirsty bunny
American kids may have grown up with Mr. Rogers telling them, 'You are special just the way you are,' but for a child in Gaza there was Farfour—a plushy, genocidal TV mouse screaming 'Kill! Kill! Kill!' Farfour, a costumed Mickey Mouse knockoff, was co-host of a kid's program called 'Tomorrow's Pioneers' which aired on Hamas-affiliated television station Al-Aqsa TV from April 2007 to October 2009. For anyone wondering how the ideologically-crazed fanatical fighters of Hamas came to be, the show offers some answers. 15 Farfour, a homicidal Mickey Mouse ripoff who advocated martyrdom and Islamic world domination, was murdered on air by IDF soldiers in a skit. YouTube 15 Criminologists have identified the tactic of using 'the deviant peer' to recruit children into abusive situations. YouTube Billed as educational programming to teach Islamic values to schoolchildren — much like a 'Sesame Street' or 'Barney & Friends' for the Middle East — 'Tomorrow's Pioneers' was a colorful, sing-song blood orgy celebrating Jew hatred and martyrdom. The kids who grew up watching it are now fighting age men — like those who carried out the October 7 massacre of nearly 1,200 Israelis and abducted 251 hostages. On the show, Farfour promised the kids of Gaza that together they'd oversee Islamic world domination and liberate Jerusalem from the 'murderers.' He mimicked grenade-throwing and shooting an AK-47. 15 Nahoul, a killer bee, preached to the school kids: 'We will liberate Al-Aqsa from the filth of the criminal Jews,' referring to the fictional town where the characters lived. YouTube 15 Co-host Saraa Barhoum chats with Assoud the bunny, who promises kids, 'I will finish off the Jews and eat them.' YouTube Mia Bloom, professor of communication and Middle East studies at Georgia State University, remembers 'Tomorrow's Pioneers' well from her research into terror tactics. 'It's a constant stream of horrific propaganda that is almost impossible for a child to break out of. And so the kids grow up thinking that every Israeli should be killed because every Israeli is bad and evil,' she told the Post. The show's co-host, Gaza child star Saraa Barhoum — around ten years old when the show first aired and the daughter of a university professor mother and a Hamas spokesman father — said in a 2007 interview she wanted to be either a doctor or a martyr when she grew up. 15 11-year-old co-host Saraa Barhoum, who said she wished to be a doctor or a martyr when she grew up, stands outside the Al-Aqsa studio headquarters with producer Hazem Sharawi in 2007. Tribune News Service via Getty Images 15 Mia Bloom, a terrorism tactics researcher, says traumatizing children is a means of abusive control. Courtesy of Mia Bloom She also launched a singing career, recording pop songs with lyrics like, 'raise your sail for the sailors, and let your lighthouse illuminate the sea of blood.' 'There's a concept in criminology called a deviant peer. If I'm a recruiter—if I'm trying to get kids—I'm not going to use a 75-year-old man. I'm going to use a cool kid who's maybe a few years older,' Bloom says. 'Unfortunately, it's a common thing that happens within the child abuse space.' Disney, notorious for swooping in on copyright infringement, was aware of Farfour's Mickey Mouse likeness but chose to remain silent. They didn't have to for long: the network murdered Farfour on air during the first season. In the scene, the terror Mouse is being interrogated by IDF soldiers who beat him to death after he refuses to hand over documents. '[Hamas's] argument would be: 'These kids are already traumatized — this kid doesn't have a house, lost a sibling — the trauma is already there and the trauma is all around them.' 15 'This kind of layered trauma that you're deliberately exposing young Palestinian children to was not just a form of child abuse, but a long-term manipulation,' Middle East expert Bloom says. YouTube 15 The messages of 'Tomorrow's Pioneers' were reinforced relentlessly in Gaza society, through textbooks, news programs, and magazines. YouTube 15 Western children's shows like 'Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood' emphasize teaching tolerance and understanding, while children in 2000s Gaza were taught that Jews are descended from pigs. John Beale 'By traumatizing the children through the 'Pioneers' show, Hamas basically controlled the narrative and they could direct the trauma, instead of having this vague generalized trauma across society,' Bloom, author of the book 'Small Arms: Children and Terrorism' said. On the show, Farfour was replaced by a bloodthirsty bumblebee with a squeaky voice named Nahoul, who preached to the kiddos: 'We will liberate Al-Aqsa from the filth of the criminal Jews,' referring to the fictional town where the characters lived, and 'revenge upon the enemies of God, the murderers of the prophets.' In season two, Nahoul gets sick. The Israeli authorities won't issue him a travel permit to receive medical treatment in Egypt and he dies. Nahoul is replaced by his rabbit brother, Assoud, a mangy Bugs Bunny knockoff, who tells the tykes at home in one episode: 'A rabbit is a term for a bad person and coward. And I, Assoud, will finish off the Jews and eat them.' In another episode Assoud is tempted by Satan to steal money from his father and sentenced to have his hand cut off, 'as the Prophet Mohammed commanded.' Assoud later dies in an Israeli strike and is replaced by a bear. 15 In one episode, Palestinian children joined in for a sing along in-studio welcoming their own death. YouTube 15 Farfour was the first 'Tomorrow's Pioneers' co-host to be murdered on air. Each of his replacements were killed on screen by Israelis. YouTube 15 A still from Tomorrow's Pioneers showing Assoud the bunny and his young co-host. IMDb In another episode, children were invited into the studio to tell the hosts of their wish to die as martyrs, and then sing a song about it. 'This kind of layered trauma that you're deliberately exposing young Palestinian children to was not just a form of child abuse, but a long-term manipulation,' Bloom says. 'It relates to October 7th. To have those resources and instead of making things better, you've just made things so much worse.' 15 Farfour the jihadi mouse told Hamas children 'We will liberate Al-Aqsa,' referring to the mosque in Jerusalem. YouTube 15 On Oct. 7, 2003 roughly 3,000 Hamas terrorists attacked various points in Israel, killing 1,200 civilians. Many would have grown up watching 'Tomorrow's Pioneers.' 15 Bloom, author of the book 'Small Arms' compares Hamas' afterschool program to ISIS requiring children to attend public beheadings. 'It's a constant stream of horrific propaganda.' While little information is publicly known about the estimated 3,000 Hamas fighters who conducted the Oct. 7 slaughter, ages 16-35 are considered 'fighting age' for men—meaning many of those combatants grew up watching their favorite plushy woodland creatures get executed by Jews on afterschool television. 'It's not just the 'Pioneers' TV show. It was amplified and reinforced by the textbooks that the children would read in school that demonized Jews and basically referred to Jews as apes and pigs and other dirty animals,' Bloom says. A 2008 analysis of Palestinian schoolbooks found a passage comparing Jews to 'invading snakes.' In popular media, a late 1990s Palestinian magazine article explained that Jews are the actual sons of apes and, due to the shame felt by this, the 'Jewish ape Darwin' invented the theory of evolution and applied it to all humans. Bloom, who has studied genocide, extremist movements, and child soldiers across the world, says it reminds her of the Taliban and ISIS—both of whom held public beheadings and required children of the community to attend. 'It's not exactly the same because killing Farfour was fake. But it's this idea of exposing children to obscene levels of violence. And it creates a preparedness to justify violence and to choose violence over other options.'
