PART IV ASIA
96
Brunei Darussalam
Introduction
The number of Sri Lankans currently domiciled in Brunei Darussalam is miniscule when compared to that of other South Asians from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. Like their South Asian counterparts, the Sri Lankans are a transient population in Brunei with little prospect of becoming permanent residents or citizens due to the strict immigration laws of Brunei. In 2011, approximately 150 to 200 Sri Lankan families live and work throughout the Sultanate. The largest number is based in and around Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei, while others live in the Seria-Belait area, home to the oil industry. Many Sri Lankans are employed as expatriate officers in the Government sector, but their number has dwindled when compared to the 1970s and 1980s. Others are engaged in private sector work in the construction industry as engineers, quantity surveyors, or are engaged in minor clerical work. However, unlike the Indians and Pakistanis who abound in ubiquitous retail shops, tailoring and hair dressing occupations etc., not many Sri Lankans are engaged in unskilled jobs. Unlike in the Middle East, Sri Lankans are not recruited as housemaids and domestic helpers due to the Brunei quota system which favours the import of workers recruited mainly from other ASEAN countries.
The first sri lankans
There are no special historical links between Brunei and Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) which might have facilitated migration even on a small-scale during pre-modern times. The earliest recorded contact between Sri Lankans and Bruneians occurred in 1856, when a recruiting party of Sri Lankan Malay soldiers led by Captain R. Tranchell visited Brunei and Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II helped to enlist prospective Brunei Malay soldiers to serve in the Ceylon Rifle Regiment (1798–1873). For two years from 1869 to 1871 a detachment of Sri Lankan Malay soldiers was stationed in Labuan from where they interacted with the Brunei Malays from whom they obtained Malay manuscripts. The earliest reference to a Sri Lankan actually living in Brunei occurs in a colonial British report by a former British Consul, M. S. H. McArthur in 1904 to a Sinhalese who served as a private secretary to the then Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam (r. 1885–1906), the twenty-fifth Brunei Sultan. Similarly Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin (reigned 1929–50) was served by a Burgher
Sri Lankan Malay man with a child. In a book entitled
Lost cousins: The Malays
of Sri Lanka (1987), B. A.
Hussainmiya writes about the historical connection between the Malay archipelago and Sri Lanka.
Ceylon Rifle Regiment Soldiers who did garrison duty in Labuan from 1869–71 and had connections with Brunei while touring as members of a recruiting party in 1846 under Captain Tranchell.
Private Soldier in c. 1850.
S o u t h C h i n a S e a
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Bandar Seri Begawan
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B R U N E I
S A R AWA K
0 25 kilometres
0 25 miles
MALAYSIA
SARAWAK SABAH
INDONESIA
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
97 by their students who have now come to occupy higher
echelons of Brunei bureaucracy. Sri Lankan engineers were particularly conspicuous in the Public Works Department and in the telecommunications and health sector. Lately there are about 10 Sri Lankan academics serving in the University of Brunei Darussalam, some of whom hold senior administrative positions.
The Sri Lankan Association Of Brunei Darussalam
In 1968 Sri Lankans in Brunei formed their first association which is known as the Sri Lankan Association of Brunei Darussalam (SLABD). In 2011, the organisation, led by Ahmed Mackie, a surgeon attached to the main Brunei hospital, had more than 100 members. The Association is a focus point of Sri Lankan national activities and recreation in Brunei Darussalam. They hold periodical cultural shows and welfare activities and interact closely with other similar ethnic or national associations functioning in Brunei Darussalam.
B. A. Hussainmiya
from Sri Lanka named Mr. Miranda. Following the migration of Sri Lankan Burghers to Australia, the Sri Lankan Malays too tried to migrate to Brunei in the 1960s, but the proposal did not find favour with the British officials who were largely controlling the Brunei Government administration at the time.
Developments From The 1950s
Workers of Sri Lankan origin began to trickle into the Sultanate in the 1950s and during the following decade, the number of Sri Lankan professionals steadily grew especially in the education, health, telecommunications sectors and the public works department. Their number saw a steady increase since early 1960s when Malaysian expatriates left Brunei following political tensions between the two countries after Brunei refused to join the Malaysian Federation in 1963. Sri Lankans made a good a name for themselves in their respective occupations and some rose to higher positions in their respective professions. The services of teachers like Tuan Bahar, K. C. Thangarajah, Tuan ‘Tuna’ Saldin and others are still fondly remembered
EMINENT SRI LANKANS IN BRUNEI
A Sri Lankan medical doctor, S. Sinnathamby, rose to become the Medical Director General and a nurse, Mrs. S Thurairajah, who became the head of the nursing services, were both conferred the ‘Dato’ title, a high state honour awarded by the Sultan. A Sri Lankan geographer, Dr. K. U. Sri Nanda became the founding Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences when the University of Brunei Darussalam was established in late 1985. A Sri Lankan journalist of fame, Mr. Rex de Silva continues to serve the chief editor of the country’s oldest English medium daily newspaper, The Borneo Bulletin since 1990. Another Sri Lankan, B. A. Hussainmiya, wrote several pioneering books on the history of Brunei Darussalam, including a political biography of the present Sultan’s father titled “Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin III and Britain: The Making of Brunei Darussalam” published by the Oxford University Press in 1995.
Portrait picture of Mr Rex de Silva.
Sri Lankan Scholar Associate Professor B. A. Hussainmiya is awarded a high State honour of 4 Star (PSB) medal for his contributions to Brunei historiography by the Brunei Sultan HM Haji Hassanal Bolkiah during his 61st Birthday celebrations in 2007 at his palace, Istana Nurul Iman.
