Always taking the opposite view

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Perhaps they could ebay them?

This is one of these stories that leaves you asking more and more questions as you look into it:

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1497188.0.0.php

I was intrigued to find that few other nations could use the ships as they had been designed for Bruneian sailors – “They were designed to accommodate Bruneian sailors, who have an average height of 5ft 6in. The bunks, bulkheads, doors, mess deck and everything else on board is designed for people that tall and no taller.” That’s brilliant to start with.

Then I started to wonder why we were building ships for a government that is most certainly not democratic and where the sultan declared himself infallible under Bruneian law last year. I thought we invaded countries where this sort of thing happened, rather than give them sophisticated weaponry. But then, I suppose we arm them first, then invade them later.

Another interesting fact would appear to be that the Sultans full name is Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Al-Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Almarhum Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien.

He must have a whole staff team devoted to filling in forms for him.

Yet another fascinating fact appears to be that in the 1990s, his family accounted for almost half of all Rolls-Royce purchases! And he is believed to have upwards of 3000 vehicles.

Now so far, I have got most of this from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassanal_Bolkiah

but I thought I should check the Sultans own website.

I particularly like the greetings page which contains nuggets like:

Please excuse me for my anger, its just I found out my mother is Jewish and I found out my father eats Pig in secret.”

And the obligatory aussie in amongst a sea of madness saying “G'day Brunei, Greet to the Family of the Monarch and the people. Cheers”

I’m guessing its not really his site but you never know.

Have a look yourself at:

http://www.sultanbrunei.com/greetings.asp

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home