Brunei’s leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, has returned an honorary degree awarded by Britain’s Oxford University.
The weight of a 120,000-strong petition last month calling for the institution to rescind the nominal law degree awarded in 1993 proves pressuring.
Oxford University confirmed on Thursday (24 May) that the world’s second-longest reigning monarch had returned the degree back on 6 May.
Oxford awarded the Sultan an Honorary Degree of Civil Law in 1993.
But since the global outcry in the Sultan’s forcing of Bruneians to abide by his governmental bloc’s Shariah law, they announced they were reviewing it.
However, in a statement attained by the Thomas Reuters Foundation, the college said it contacted the sultan.
‘As part of the review process, the university wrote to notify the sultan on 26 April 2019, asking for his views by 7 June 2019.
‘Though, a letter dated 6 May 2019, the sultan replied with his decision to return the degree.’
Gay Star News has contacted Oxford University for comment.
Oxford are the latest in a long line of companies and people to boycott Brunei in the wake of their laws. Continuing criticism after the sultan announced that execution by stoning for people convicted of gay sex .
However, critics pointed out that harsh punishments remain on the books, including, whipping, and amputation.
Continued and consistent opposition must be done until the laws are completely redacted.
Rulers of Brunei have long enforced strictly traditional provisions of Islamic teachings. The country, in Southeast Asia, operates under an absolute monarchy.
In other words, the head of state, the Sultan of Brunei, is also head of government. Royalty and lawmaking are one the same.
For example, under the current 51-year-long monarch Hassanal Bolkiah, 72, the country banned alcohol and forbade the proliferation of non-Islamic faiths.
All a stark contrast to neighbouring Muslim-majority nations, such as Indonesia or Malaysia.
Things have been this way since 1962, when a left-leaning political party, Parti Rakyat Brunei, won local elections.
But the Sultan refused to recognize this, and the party staged a failed coup. As a result, Brunei has been under emergency rule ever since, granting the Sultan full executive decision-making power.
Back in 2014, Bolkiah announced the Brunei governmental bloc would implement the Sharia Penal Code in three stages.
The first stage of legal reforms was no struggle to lawmakers, but its second and third stages experienced holdups.
However, the Bruneian Attorney General’s Chambers website officially
