In Brunei, foreign envoys face the unusual challenge of reading out on local radio an appropriate “greeting” for His Majesty The Sultan, whose birthday falls on 15 July – an occasion for banquets, parades and public celebration.
Not Hallmark card territory – I began my recording by re-capping my own sovereign’s friendly greeting to HM the Sultan, in which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II thanked the Sultan for his presence at our recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London.
From my office window, Bandar Seri Begawan is a sea of flags; as London was in June. Here in Brunei our Queen’s Birthday Party reception and a separate Jubilee Street Party had shown how Britons and Bruneians draw patriotic feelings from the same deep well.
Looking more closely from my window, however, central London had not contained quite so many water taxis, zipping back and forth from the Water Village (the “Venice of the East”). On the other hand, one of the small boats in the Thames River Pageant had been flying a huge Bruneian flag.
Thinking of London, I wished Brunei’s delegation – Prince, Minister, officials and athletes – the best of British luck at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. I recalled the imaginative ways my team had found to help Brunei feel part of 2012, including an Olympic Truce event with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces – a salute to Brunei’s peacekeepers. The outpouring of Olympic Spirit, which had accompanied Brunei’s run-up to the games, meant the Sultanate had already struck gold.
I ended on a personal note. One of Brunei’s most beguiling qualities is that it leads you to expect extravaganzas like the Sultan’s birthday celebrations, when they are in fact unique. So I was glad to be sharing this year’s drama with some first time visitors to Brunei: my sister, her husband, and their two little girls.
In our family, we can’t make up our mind whether we like living in Brunei because it is so different from home, or because – below the dazzling differences – it is so familiar. My best attempt to capture this “home from home” feeling (which I know Bruneians also experience in the UK) is this home movie about a charity bazaar. It’s a glimpse of an authentic civil society, Brunei-style. But might it not also have happened in Kent, weather permitting?