Culture and Communication in Brunei

Culture and Communication
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Culture and Communication
Feelings Evoked by the Article
Brunei, a small modern monarchy in South East Asia, has resorted to applying highly shocking traditional religious laws that severely punish the offenders such as gays, lesbians, adulterers, and thieves. I am greatly shocked by the fact that even after persistent outcries from human rights organizations, Brunei government has dismissed all criticisms directed towards their actions and has maintained the stance that the country is independent and is obliged to enforce whatever law it wishes against its citizen. I believe that every country has the mandate to implement its own laws, but such laws are not immune to criticism, particularly when it does not comply with human rights. I have heard and read that the Sharia or Islamic law that Brunei has adopted has been enforced in other countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Sudan. However, while Sharia is a law from Islamic God, I feel that it does violate human rights and should not in any way be enforced in the modern context. Sharia law in the Quran was formulated several years ago when prisons did not exist to incarcerate and feed prisoners for a long time. I believe that it will be absurd to stone or amputate offenders’ limbs while there are prisons where such individuals can be contained. In addition, why should you punish everybody despite some people in the country practicing other religious belief? All modern states, including Brunei, are both diverse and centralized, meaning there are individuals practicing Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity among other religions and it will be absurd to impose Sharia law even to minority groups.
External Forces Impacting Brunei Culture
Brunei is an Islamic state, and like many other Islamic countries, the government highly values Sharia Law, which is one of the key aspects of its culture. Generally, Islamic law does not tolerate homosexuality because some Quran’s teachings argue that the practice is unnatural and is against the will of God (Rehman & Polymenopoulou, 2013). Only heterosexuality was allowed in Islamism, and sexual relationships are restricted to marriages between a man and a woman. Adultery is also prohibited, and both acts are punishable by death. The offenders were stoned to death by the members of society, and the stoning concept existed since ancient times by most Islamic societies until the 19th century (Specia, 2019). In some Islamic regions such as the Ottoman Empire, Sharia law condemning death to people who committed sexual offenses such as homosexuality and adultery was abandoned and replaced by imperial Ottoman Penal Code of 1858 (Schull, 2016). The new law replaced corporal punishment with forced lab...