Brunei is an absolute monarchy on the north coast of Borneo which is soon to introduce amputation for thieves and stoning to death for homosexuals — so I shouldn’t have been surprised, when I arrived last week, that no one wanted to talk to me.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs explained that it would take at least two weeks to respond to my interview request. The country’s biggest think tank was completely unable to fit me in. I wanted to find people affected by Sharia — to know how it feels to live in a country where drinking a glass of wine in public, for example, will soon be punishable by 40 lashes. But I knew no one in Brunei, not even someone who knew someone. [The Times (£)] Read more
