I just received a forward from a coworker about the Sultan of Brunei. Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah . Northwest of Bornea and Malaysia, Brunei became independent in 1984, and now has one of the highest standards of living in the world - Bruneians have free education and medical services and there are neither personal nor corporate taxes. The country boasts the 8th highest GDP per capita in the world - and despite its wealth, the area outside the capital remains extremely under developed and un exploited (which is not necessarily a bad thing!). The country relies very heavily on exports for their substanance, and have recently attempted to diversify their economy as a result of their oil and gas reserves dwindeling.
Brunei's media is owned and/or controlled by the royal family, and criticism from Reporter's without Borders has often stated that the news offers "virtually no criticism of the government". A press law provides prison terms of up to three years for reporting "false news".
The Sultan himself rolls in it, and enjoys all that comes along with being a true-to-form Sultan. For personal use, the sultan has a Boeing 747-400 furnished with gold plated furniture with an estimated value of $233 million including $3 million on furniture, six smaller planes and two helicopters. He is trained to pilot the aircraft. He also operates a $3 billion theme park called Jerudong Park, which in the past used to be free of charge. As of current, the theme park is closed for repairs. He is known to have an exhaustive auto collection, which includes: 531 Mercedes-Benzes; 367 Ferraris; 362 Bentleys; 185 BMWs; 177 Jaguars; 160 Porsches; 130 Rolls-Royces; 20 Lamborghinis. Total number of cars: 1,932
Interestingly, he has controversy which follows (quite obviously)… The sultan has been sued many times by women - each alleging they have been hired on 'modelling' contracts, and have instead been held as 'sex-slaves'. Due to his royal immunity, he has only been successfully sued once.
Just a little food for thought on over indlugence on a Tuesday. The email forward from my coworker made me naseous - while this man enjoys trillions of dollars worth of extravagence, Zimbabwe is still sitting at the bottom of the world's GDP map, with a GDP of $200 per capita (as of 2008)
Brunei's media is owned and/or controlled by the royal family, and criticism from Reporter's without Borders has often stated that the news offers "virtually no criticism of the government". A press law provides prison terms of up to three years for reporting "false news".
The Sultan himself rolls in it, and enjoys all that comes along with being a true-to-form Sultan. For personal use, the sultan has a Boeing 747-400 furnished with gold plated furniture with an estimated value of $233 million including $3 million on furniture, six smaller planes and two helicopters. He is trained to pilot the aircraft. He also operates a $3 billion theme park called Jerudong Park, which in the past used to be free of charge. As of current, the theme park is closed for repairs. He is known to have an exhaustive auto collection, which includes: 531 Mercedes-Benzes; 367 Ferraris; 362 Bentleys; 185 BMWs; 177 Jaguars; 160 Porsches; 130 Rolls-Royces; 20 Lamborghinis. Total number of cars: 1,932Interestingly, he has controversy which follows (quite obviously)… The sultan has been sued many times by women - each alleging they have been hired on 'modelling' contracts, and have instead been held as 'sex-slaves'. Due to his royal immunity, he has only been successfully sued once.
Just a little food for thought on over indlugence on a Tuesday. The email forward from my coworker made me naseous - while this man enjoys trillions of dollars worth of extravagence, Zimbabwe is still sitting at the bottom of the world's GDP map, with a GDP of $200 per capita (as of 2008)