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Bruneian students participating in Women’s Day celebration in Viet Nam

Image: SOASCIS

dation for conflict-solving and peace-seeking efforts. Under the

leadership of His Majesty the Sultan, and guided by Brunei’s

national philosophy of Malay Islamic Monarchy, the country

upholds its citizens’ freedom to maintain their distinct religious

and cultural identities and practices.

All religious groups in Brunei generally coexist in peace

despite the existence of policies and laws that enforce restric-

tions on the propagation of beliefs other than those of

Islam. Non-Islamic festivities such as Chinese New Year and

Christmas are officially recognized by the Brunei Government

as national public holidays. Christians, Buddhists and

followers of other non-Islamic religions may celebrate their

religious festivities in the privacy of their own communities.

A common sight in Brunei is intercultural mixing in private

and state-funded institutions; many Malay parents seek to

enrol their children in Chinese schools, where there is greater

opportunity for learning Mandarin and understanding the

Bruneian-Chinese culture, while Chinese students enrolled in

Malay-majority schools often sit for Islamic and Malay-related

classes and mix freely with the majority group.

Muslim intercultural rapprochement initiatives in Brunei,

especially in relation to the outside word, are mostly taken by

the state institutions. The two most relevant ministries in this

respect are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the

Ministry of Education. The Government has taken proactive

steps to enhance mutual respect and understanding, such as

establishing intercultural exchange programmes among youth

and students, particularly within the Association of South-East

Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional community, of which Brunei

is a member. The visible trend in recent years is the coun-

try’s move towards closer intercultural relations in various

fields with all fellow ASEAN members. Universiti Brunei

Darussalam (UBD) is raising its international profile by hiring

more non-Muslim academic expatriates and admitting foreign

graduates for higher degrees. Many non-Muslim foreign grad-

uate students coming from Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands

receive scholarships from the Brunei Government.

UBD’s Discovery Year Programme is helpful in promoting

intercultural relations both within and outside Brunei, since

students are given the opportunity to gain community-based or

international experience outside the university campus. Similarly

helpful is the Global Discovery Programme, launched in 2011,

that offers international students an opportunity to experi-

ence student life in this culture-rich kingdom. Also important

in promoting intercultural relations and dialogue is the role

of the Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Centre for Islamic Studies

(SOASCIS), UBD’s graduate centre established in 2010. Although

new, SOASCIS has established an excellent international

network, including organizations and institutions dedicated to

the advancement of intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

Osman Bakar, SOASCIS’ current Director, has been involved in

intercultural and interreligious dialogue activities at all levels, from

local to the global, during the last four decades. He has partici-

pated as speaker and paper presenter at numerous activities, and is

author of many writings on the subject. He was closely associated

among others with the Georgetown University’s Centre for Muslim-

Christian Understanding, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Building

Bridges Seminar initiative, the University of Malaya’s Centre for

Civilisational Dialogue, The West-Islamic World Dialogue Initiative

of the World Economic Forum, Geneva and the Centre for Buddhist-

Muslim Understanding of Mahidol University, Thailand.

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