Law against homosexuals in Brunei: The Sultan threatens with the sword

Hassanal Bolkiah does everything right - and he even has that in writing. "His Majesty the Sultan and Supreme Leader can not do anything wrong either as a private person or as a public figure," reads article 84 B of the Brunei Constitution. And just as the man governs his small empire with 500,000 citizens on the island of Borneo since 1967.

The now 72-year-old is at the same time head of state, head of government, defense, foreign, finance and trade minister, chief of army and police and "head of the official religion", ie Islam, in Brunei. He is also very rich. His fortune is estimated at more than $ 40 billion. The wealth comes from the country's oil and gas reserves.

As the sole ruler, the sultan can tighten laws at his own discretion. And he has done that several times since 1984. Until then, Brunei was a British protectorate. Colonial officers advised the Sultan and worked to institutionalize and codify the legal system in the Southeast Asian state on London's model. Islamic law was largely suppressed and played almost only a role in the family law.

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But after the British withdrew from Brunei, the sultan set about Islamizing his country's society and judicial system step by step. In the early 1990s, the ruler banned the sale of pork and alcohol. Already in 1996, he announced the introduction of Sharia law in criminal law. In 2014, the first concrete steps followed: among other things, Muslims over the age of 15 who miss the Friday prayers or ignore the month of Ramadan can be punished. You face imprisonment or fines, the freezing of bank accounts - but also the flogging.

Re-education instead of punishment

However, in the four years since then, very few people in Brunei have been punished under Sharia law. So far no one has been whipped under the new sharia law. "Brunei relies on soft authoritarianism," explains Dominik M. Müller, Brunei expert from the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. The focus is not on punishment but on the re-education of citizens in the sense of governance.

The tightening of criminal law, which will be effective as of next Wednesday, fits in with this line. Same-sex sex can then be punished with death by stoning. Thieves threaten the amputation of limbs. A first-time offender must expect in the future that his right hand will be amputated. In the case of recurrence, the amputation of the left leg threatens.

SYARIAH COURTS CRIMINAL PROCEDURE CODE ORDER

Instructions on how thieves in Brunei should be cut off in the future.

It is true that the future Criminal Code gives specific instructions on how to amputate the hand and foot in an emergency. That it ever happens, however, is highly unlikely. "The introduction of punishments has symbolic character," says Brunei expert Müller. The legal system leaves many ways open to escape punishment. So will continue to apply in parallel the old criminal law, which is based on British law.

Like the first step of the Sharia introduction in 2014, the current tightening of penalties internationally causes outrage. Hollywood star George Clooney is calling for a boycott of luxury hotels around the world owned by the sultan - most notably the Beverly Hills Los Angeles hotel, which is hugely popular with Hollywood stars and celebrities.

Criticism from the Foreign Office

US Ambassador Richard Grenell urged American companies in Brunei to campaign for the rights of homosexuals. In the Foreign Office in Berlin, it is hoped that the announced tightening of penalties will be postponed. In addition, the ministry refers to a tweet by Minister of State Michael Roth: "Brunei leaves the circle of civilized states," tweeted the SPD politician, who has himself been married to a man for twelve years. "No religion, no culture, no tradition, no ideology can and may justify such a thing."

Incomprehensible! # LBGTI rights are #human rights! And everywhere! #Brunei leaves the circle of civilized states. No religion, no culture, no tradition, no ideology can and may justify such a thing. https://t.co/gn6caJcCTv

Frank Mueller-Rosentritt, FDP member of the Bundestag and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, argues for the Sultan to be relieved of the Federal Cross of Merit, which was awarded to him in 1998. Germany and the EU should work to stop the sultanate's plans, Müller-Rosentritt demands.

From Playboy to Mecca traveler

The international criticism does not leave the Sultan cold, but he will hardly change his mind, predicts Brunei expert Müller. The country's attitude to Sharia is as contradictory as the ruler himself.

He once attended a British school in Kuala Lumpur and then graduated from the Royal British Military Academy in Sandhurst. In the early years of his tenure, the sultan was described as a playboy who loved gambling, loved playing polo and collecting luxury cars in his free time. At the time, he also used the international jet set. But that was over after independence from Britain in the mid-1980s.

At the end of the eighties, the Sultan made his first pilgrimage to Mecca, and many more trips followed. Since then, the state media have increasingly emphasized the Islamic identity of the nation and the sultan. And, according to the ruler's conviction, this includes Sharia law.