Brunei: The Church under Sharia

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 The Islamic Sultanate of Brunei is the wealthiest nation per capita in Southeast Asia and one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

Its rich oil reserves, expected to run out in less than 20 years, have enabled it to become highly industrialised and developed. Yet in spite of those trappings of modernity, it remains an absolute monarchy under Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. Since gaining independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984, it is slowly becoming one of the least-enlightened former British colonies, principally in terms of one feature: its increasing embrace of Sharia law.

On 1 May 2014, Sharia law was enacted, to be implemented in stages in following years (Brunei:The Sharia Surprise, en, June 2014). Initially, offences were punishable by fines or imprisonment, but in April 2019 the complete Sharia criminal code came into effect, to the consternation of liberally-minded Bruneian Muslims. However, Sharia law encompasses much more then criminal codes. It is in the area of lesser breaches of the law that Brunei’s Christian population is feeling its effects.

Christians constitute around 9.5% of Brunei’s total population of 430,000. There are some 21,000 Catholics and a slightly lesser number of Protestants, representing various churches: Borneo Evangelical Church (SIB), the Anglican Church, the Methodist Church, Korean churches, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church. What does life look like for Brunei’s Christians living under the growing influence of Sharia law?

As is customary across the world where Sharia prevails, any activity seen as proselytisation by non-Muslim faiths is banned. Schoolchildren learn about Islam but cannot learn about Christianity, while the importing of Bibles is forbidden. Christians and Muslims cannot marry, which is a more stringent restriction than in other parts of the Muslim world where Muslim men can marry Christian women.

In effect, Brunei’s Sharia authorities seek to make Christianity as invisible as possible. The Ministry of Religious Affairs has forbidden public expressions of Christianity, with Christians under clear instructions to restrict their worship and festive activities, including Christmas, to the privacy of their homes and the churches. In terms of public visibility, Brunei has become a Christmas-free zone. When Sharia law was enacted, the Ministry announced: ‘Believers of other religions that live under the rule of an Islamic country – according to Islam – may practice their religion or celebrate their religious festivities among their community, with the condition that the celebrations are not disclosed or displayed publicly to Muslims. Muslims should be careful not to follow celebrations such as these that are not in any way related to Islam … and could unknowingly damage the faith of Muslims.’

Nevertheless, such private and church-based practice of various streams of Christianity is flourishing in Brunei. Each Sunday up to 6,000 worshippers, mainly Filipinos, attend the Catholic Cathedral in Brunei, with smaller but still healthy numbers of worshippers in the various Protestant churches. However, the threat of heavy fines of up to US$20,000 and jail terms of up to five years means that evangelisation by Christians in Brunei focuses on incarnational witness through love of neighbour rather than public proclamation.

This article first appeared at https://www.e-n.org.uk/2021/07/world-news/brunei-the-church-under-sharia/ 

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