Marginality then and now: Shifting Patterns of Minority Status in Brunei Darussalam

Abstract

Present-day Brunei has been able to survive as a micro-state thanks to oil. But its wealth has also proved consolidating with regard to political structure, including ethnic stratification. Chinese and Ibans have been accorded grossly inferior status, by comparison with their counterparts in Malaysia, owing partly to the distinctive evolution of nationalism and monarchy in the two countries. Even the seven recognised indigenous groups are differentiated on the basis of religion. But more significant is the threat to the very survival of non-Muslim cultures from assimilationist pressures in an authoritarian Malay polity.