The mass media in Brunei are strictly controlled by the government under Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, which has effectively imposed martial law in the country since the Brunei Revolt of 1962. News coverage consists of police-beat reporting, lifestyle features, and community events, with little in the way of diverse viewpoints. Reporters Without Borders reports there is "virtually no criticism of the government". The liberal democracy watchdog Freedom House lists Brunei's media as "not free".
The privately owned press, Brunei Press Sdn Bhd, publisher of the Borneo Bulletin, is controlled by the sultan's family. Reporters and editors exercise self-censorship on political and religious matters.
A press law provides prison terms of up to three years for reporting "false news".
History
The newspaper industry in Brunei only began after the 1950s. Before 1950, there was no other publication in Brunei other than the Annual Reports which are published by the British Colonial Office. The first other regular government publication was the Government Gazette which was first published in 1951. However the gazette was not strictly a newspaper, but an official publication for the government.
The first newspaper to appear was Salam Seria published in 1952 by the British Malayan Petroleum Company, the forerunner to today's Brunei Shell Petroleum Company. Being an official company publication, it delivered news and information to its staff as well as the general public regarding its oil exploration and other company news. Even though it was produced bilingually in English and Malay, the Malay version had added content of world news and educational materials. Salam Seria became Salam the year after and had remained until now. Salam remains a free publication.
The second newspaper is today's Borneo Bulletin which first appeared on November 7, 1953. This English weekly publication was printed in Kuala Belait by the Brunei Press Company which was formed in October 1953. Borneo Bulletin was sold for 20 cents when it was first produced. At first most of its news concentrated on news in Borneo with special emphasis on Brunei. Its first publication run of about 3,500 was the largest in Borneo then.
In 1959, the founders of Borneo Bulletin sold the press and newspaper to the Straits Times of Singapore. The first Bulletins were published with different covers for the three different editions for Brunei, Sabah, and Sarawak. Publication rose to about 10,000 by 1957 but was reduced to about 6,000 in 1970 as a result of both Sarawak and Sabah being incorporated in Malaysia. However, by 1983, production had increased to about 30,000 before gradually reducing to about 10,000 by 1997.
In 1985, Brunei's first public listed company, QAF, took over part of the shares of Brunei Press from the Straits Times. By September 1990, the Borneo Bulletin became a daily newspaper. At present, the circulation per issue averages 20,000 copies daily while the weekend and Sunday edition average 25,000 copies.
The third publication is the Government's Pelita Brunei' which was first published in 1956. Pelita Brunei's first issue on 15 February 1956 had His Majesty Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Saadul Khairi Waddien's speech inaugurating the publication of the newspaper.
In 1957, Pelita Brunei was produced twice monthly and was at first produced using A4 size paper before increasing in size to 9 inches by 14 inches in 1959. It was not until July 1965 before Pelita Brunei became a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday and remained so until now.
In the beginning, there were only about 1,000 being printed by the 1990s, more than 45,000 Pelita Brunei was printed weekly becoming the largest print publication in the country. The content of the newspaper increased from about 4 pages to about 24 pages now and with a second part being added to it containing all the government job vacancies and tenders being awarded in the government as well as other interesting features and articles.
A fourth publication was a short-lived one called the Berita Brunei which was first published in March 1957. It was printed in Malay and also partly in Jawi. It was a weekly publication and was published every Thursday and sold for about 10 cents each with a print run of about 5,000. By July 1958, the Jawi was dropped and by October 1959 it was renamed Berita Borneo. However, the newly named Berita Borneo only lasted for 5 editions and the last publication was in December 1958 with the editor citing the drop in advertisements from Malaysia and Singapore as the main reason for its demise.
In April 1958, another publication in Jawi started called Malaysia, printed by the Budaya Press. Sold for about 20 cents each, it too died by September 1958.
A publication by a former political party called Suara Bakti was published in October 1961 and came out every Friday was the sixth newspaper in Brunei. It dubbed itself "the largest weekly newspaper in North Kalimantan" and sold for 20 cents each. However, the newspaper came out sporadically and by December 1961 it only had about 10 editions. A new editor took over and that too lasted for only about 5 editions before closing down in January 1962.
A seventh publication called Bintang Harian and The Daily Star published in both Malay and English first appeared in March 1966. It appeared every day except Sunday and cost about 15 cents. More than 10,000 copies were printed daily as it was published not just for Brunei, but also for Sabah and Sarawak, West Malaysia, and Singapore. When it stopped publication in January 1971, more than 15,000 copies were printed. The publication stopped when the publisher, The Star Press became a subsidiary of The Brunei Press.
Two other government publications, Brunei Darussalam Newsletter and the Brunei Darussalam Daily Digest were published in October 1985 and January 1990 respectively. The former continued being published, but its readership was mostly made up of foreign readers, and it was seldom seen by local readers. The latter stopped, but efforts are in place to revive its publication.
Media Permata was the latest of a number of local Malay newspaper when it began in January 1995 as a weekly paper focusing on local news and features for the Malay literate. It was relaunched as a daily newspaper in July 1998 and remained so until today with an average of 10,000 copies of Media Permata being circulated. Media Permata is available from Monday to Friday and a weekend edition is also available for Saturday and Sunday.
The last newspaper to appear before The Brunei Times was the News Express. It started when the 20th Southeast Asian Games were hosted in Bandar Seri Begawan towards the later end of 1999. By early 2001, it too joined the ranks of other newspapers that were unable to sustain themselves in Brunei's competitive newspaper market.[1]
Newspapers
There are three local newspapers currently circulating in Brunei:
BruDirect.com
Brunei No.1 News Website. An online newspaper and the largest online media information tool, and a pioneer in the field of online media in Brunei Darussalam. The website has an audience of 70,000 to 80,000 visits per day.
Pelita Brunei
A free bi-weekly Malay-language newspaper published by the government's Information Department. Circulation is around 40,000.
An English-language broadsheet daily started in 2006 until 2016.[2] Its outlook is more international than the Bulletin, which is focused on community news. It circulates around 10,000 copies. In 2011, 15,500 copies (Source: Publisher Data). Foreign newspapers are also widely circulated in Brunei.
Broadcasting
Sultam Omar Ali Saifuddien III giving a titah via Radio Brunei in 1962.
Domestic radio and television in Brunei comes under the auspices of the national broadcaster, Radio Television Brunei (RTB) and KRISTALfm, the country's only commercial radio station which ended the monopoly of radio in 1999. The latter was operated by KRISTAL Media Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the DataStream Technology DevCo Group of companies, which is currently headquartered at Jalan Tungku Link. Established on 2nd January 1999, KRISTALfm transmits on frequency 90.7 MHz in the Brunei-Muara District & parts of Tutong from Bukit Subok, and 98.7 MHz in the Belait District & other parts of Tutong from Andulau.[3] Foreign programming was also available via a Direct Broadcast SatellitePay TV service via the Malaysian satellite TV service, Astro, which was also available in Brunei under the brand Kristal-Astro up to 2022. Indonesian TV channels such as TVRI, TVRI World, RCTI, MNCTV, GTV, iNews, SCTV, Indosiar, Ajwa TV, Mentari TV, Trans TV, Trans7, CNN Indonesia, CNBC Indonesia, Kompas TV, NET., RTV, BTV, Nusantara TV, Garuda TV, Sin Po TV, SEA Today, Aswaja TV, TV9 Nusantara, tvMu and others are also available in Brunei by Bruneian and Indonesian audiences (including at the Indonesian Embassy building in Bandar Seri Begawan) with renting or buying the free digital satellite receiver decoder.
Malaysia TV and radio stations can be tuned in Brunei via Bukit Mas and Bukit Lambir transmitters, such as:
There appear to be no restrictions on Internet use in Brunei, although Freedom House reports a local forum, BruneiTalk, was blocked in 2003 after contributors discussed the business dealings of senior officials. As of June 2006, it appeared the site was attempting to move to a different server.
Sarawak is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in the region of East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, Kalimantan to the south, and Brunei in the north. The state capital, Kuching, is the largest city in Sarawak, the economic centre of the state, and the seat of the Sarawak state government. Other cities and towns in Sarawak include Miri, Sibu, and Bintulu. As of the 2020 Malaysia census, the population of Sarawak was 2.453 million. Sarawak has an equatorial climate with tropical rainforests and abundant animal and plant species. It has several prominent cave systems at Gunung Mulu National Park. Rajang River is the longest river in Malaysia; Bakun Dam, one of the largest dams in Southeast Asia, is located on one of its tributaries, the Balui River. Mount Murud is the highest point in the state. Sarawak is the only state of Malaysia with a Christian majority.
Miri is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of 997.43 square kilometres (385.11 sq mi), located 798 kilometres (496 mi) north-east of Kuching and 329 kilometres (204 mi) south-west of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second-largest city in Sarawak, with a population of 356,900 as of 2020. The city is also the capital of Miri District, Miri Division.
The New Sabah Times is a newspaper in Sabah, Malaysia. The Sabah Times commenced publication on 21 January 1953, published by Donald Stephens and had a daily circulation of approximately 1000. It was the only English-language daily newspaper. The North Borneo News, first published in 1948 in Sandakan was a fortnightly, then weekly periodical with a circulation of approximately 750. It mainly reported Advisory Council news, excerpts from other newspapers and some local and overseas news. Donald Stephens was a reporter for the publication. It began publishing daily in April 1954 but soon amalgamated with the Sabah Times later in 1954 under joint editorship. It included a page of romanised Malay and Dusun to give it wider appeal and increased its circulation.
The New Sarawak Tribune is an English-language Malaysian newspaper published in Kuching, Sibu and Bintulu, in Sarawak that was relaunched after the suspension of the Sarawak Tribune following the publication of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons.
CableView Services Sdn. Bhd., operating as Mega TV was Malaysia's first ever subscription-based pay television service. It was incorporated on 18 October 1994 and began transmissions on 1 November 1995 and was operated by Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3), is a Malaysian free-to-air television network owned and operated by Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB).
Tutong is a municipality town in Mukim Pekan Tutong Tutong District, Brunei. It is located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. It is the administrative centre of Tutong District.
The Borneo Post, established in 1978, is the largest and widely circulated English-language daily newspaper in East Malaysia and also the alternately circulated newspaper in Brunei. The newspaper is the first English newspaper in East Malaysia to use photo-composition for type-setting and printing was done in offset as against the old-fashioned letterpress.
Kuching International Airport (KIA) is an international airport serving the entire southwestern region of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is located 11 km (6.8 mi) south of Kuching city centre. The airport is colocated with the RMAF Kuching, home to the No. 7 Squadron RMAF.
The Pan-Borneo Highway, also known as the Trans-Borneo Highway or the Trans-Kalimantan Highway, is a road network on Borneo Island connecting two Malaysian states, Sabah and Sarawak, with Brunei and the Kalimantan region in Indonesia. The highway is numbered AH150 in the Asian Highway Network and as Federal Route 1 in Sarawak. In Sabah, the route numbers given are 1, 13 and 22. The highway is a joint project between both governments which started as soon as the formation of Malaysia in 1963 which comprised Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. The lack of a road network system in Sarawak was the main factor of the construction.
The Borneo Bulletin is a daily English-language newspaper in Brunei. It is published by Brunei Press, which also publishes a Malay-language daily, Media Permata. The Bulletin circulates around 20,000 copies on weekdays and 25,000 copies on Saturday and Sunday. The Borneo Bulletin is a main source of information on local, regional and foreign affairs, as well as business news. Detailed stock market reports of the Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and regional stock exchanges are carried for the benefit of Bruneian businessmen and investors. In addition to the more serious news, the newspaper carries sports, lifestyle and leisure pages.
Media Permata is a Malay-language daily newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Brunei Darussalam by Brunei Press Sdn Bhd, which also publishes the Borneo Bulletin. The Saturday edition of Media Permata features a special 16-page pull out called Suasana, which offers lifestyle and entertainment news.
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Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres southwest of Miri. With a population of 114,058 as of 2010, Bintulu is the capital of the Bintulu District of the Bintulu Division of Sarawak, Malaysia.
Mount Pueh, also known as Mount Pueh-Berumput, Mount Poi and Mount Poe, is a mountain located near Lundu, Sarawak on the Malaysia-Indonesia border. Mount Pueh was known to biologists for the collections made there by Eric Mjöberg (1882–1938), a Swedish naturalist, who was Curator of the Sarawak Museum between 1922 and 1924. Mjöberg's herpetological collections from Gunung Pueh between October and December 1923, and other localities in Borneo, were reported by Smith (1925). Mjöberg, unfortunately, left little by way of written records, of his ascent of Pueh and the collections he made.
The Lambir Hills National Park is a national park in Miri Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It is a small park, at 6,952 hectares, and is composed largely of mixed dipterocarp forest, with some small areas of 'kerangas'. The park is 150–465 m (492–1,526 ft) above sea level.
MASwings Sdn Bhd is a regional airline operating the Rural Air Services (RAS) in Borneo Malaysia. MASwings is the successors of FlyAsianXpress which operated RAS flights from 2006-2007, itself the successor Malaysia Airlines operation of RAS flights during 1965-2006. Borneo Airways originally operated RAS flights from 1953-1965 within colonial British Borneo.
Pengiran Muhammad Yusuf bin Pengiran Abdul Rahim CBE, pen name Yura Halim, was a Bruneian nobleman, politician, civil servant, diplomat, and writer. He served as the Chief Minister of Brunei from 1967 to 1972. He wrote the lyrics for Brunei's national anthem, "Allah Peliharakan Sultan," in 1947. The song was adopted as the country's official national anthem in 1951, when it was still a British protectorate. He was longtime member of the Legislative Council of Brunei, serving on the council until his death in 2016.
Jocklin bin Kongpaw is a Bruneian military officer and diplomat who became the high commissioner to Canada from 1998 to 2001, and Australia from 2001 to 2004.
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