Discover The Land of Borneo (Part I)

Home

Brunei was one of the trading nation of South China Sea. Due to the trade, material or fabric used to making local costume were imported into the country and this had played an important role towards the developments of its traditional costume.

Brunei is an Islamic sultanate, situated on the northwest coast of Borneo and surrounded by “Sarawak”, Malaysian State. It has a total area of 5,765 square kilometer with a coastline of approximately 161 kilometers along the South China Sea.

The majority of Bruneians are Malays. Chinese make up about 25 percent of the population. The remainder comprises 7 indigenous ethnic groups and people from elsewhere in Asia. Most of people live in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan , and in towns along the coast. Brunei's high oil income has allowed its population enjoy one of the highest per capita incomes on earth.

In the past, since six hundred years ago, Brunei was one of the trading nation of South China Sea. Due to the trade, material or fabric used to making local costume were imported into the country and this had played an important role towards the developments of its traditional costume.

Anyway, a major influence in the Brunei costume is Religion. In Islam, a lady must cover her head, body, knees and arms, while a man must cover his body at least between the navel and knees. In certain occasions, a specially designed costume is required such as marriage, celebrating the birth of the first child, etc. But after the end of World War II when the British returned to this country and brought the western culture with them such as the use of shirts, trousers or hats, the Borneian slowly changed their style from true traditional costume to western style. As a result, this new style became government official uniform.

Not only the coming of Westerner, movie has also an important role of change of clothing style in Brunei. According to research, many changes on the traditional costume came after Malay films were introduced to the country in 1950s. Some Bruneians imitated the way of dressing from actors and actresses because they found that it was easy to accept this new style and accelerated the assimilation process.

Next time, I will show you the Bruneian distinctive costume used for their daily activities. See you soon.

Solange

Source:	www.relc.org.sg
	www.brunei.gov.bn
	www.lonelyplanet.com
	Costume in ASEAN-Bangkok: The National ASEAN Committee on Culture and Information of Thailand, 2000. 292p.