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2002-03-07 Brunei
Mar. 7th, 2002 12:00 amIn history class a new girl appeared, and got off to a bad start by asking, ``What essay?'' while the professor was explaining the requirements for the paper we have to write in that class, of which we have known since Day 0.
We were still snickering from that when she piped up a contribution about the source of welfare provision in her home country of Brunei: ``Well, there are no taxes, so the king pays for everything. If you're poor just go to the estate for poor people that the king set up.''
Of course this sounded completely ridiculous! How can the king pay for all these luxuries if there are no taxes, for example?
Daniel and I were curious and, upon slightly more investigation, found out that this place really does exist; it's a small Islamic sultanate on the north coast of Malaysia whose petroleum exports give its citizens the highest per capita income on the planet. It's ruled by a king with a 600 year dynasty and an obscure mix of Islamic law, british common law (full independence was gained only in 1984) and of Moslem and Asian cultures. I suggest you read LoneyPlanet's writeup, the CIA dossier, or check out the official government page.
What a strange place. We must go there.
We were still snickering from that when she piped up a contribution about the source of welfare provision in her home country of Brunei: ``Well, there are no taxes, so the king pays for everything. If you're poor just go to the estate for poor people that the king set up.''
Of course this sounded completely ridiculous! How can the king pay for all these luxuries if there are no taxes, for example?
Daniel and I were curious and, upon slightly more investigation, found out that this place really does exist; it's a small Islamic sultanate on the north coast of Malaysia whose petroleum exports give its citizens the highest per capita income on the planet. It's ruled by a king with a 600 year dynasty and an obscure mix of Islamic law, british common law (full independence was gained only in 1984) and of Moslem and Asian cultures. I suggest you read LoneyPlanet's writeup, the CIA dossier, or check out the official government page.
What a strange place. We must go there.
