BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei - The new penal code for oil-rich Brunei that will eventually include Islamic sharia penalties such as severing of limbs and death by stoning was due to officially come into effect on Thursday.
Brunei’s all-powerful Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah had announced on Wednesday that he would push ahead with the introduction of the new criminal code that has sparked rare domestic criticism of the fabulously wealthy ruler and international condemnation.
The initial phase beginning Thursday introduces fines or jail terms for offences including indecent behaviour, failure to attend Juma prayers, and out-of-wedlock pregnancies. There were no known events to mark Thursday’s implementation.
A second phase covering crimes such as theft and robbery is to start later this year, involving more stringent penalties such as severing of limbs and flogging. Late next year, punishments such as death by stoning for offences including sodomy and adultery will be introduced.
The sultan - one of the world’s wealthiest men - had announced the implementation last year. He first called for the penal code in the late 1990s and has increasingly voiced plans to strengthen Islam’s role in the energy-rich Muslim country on Borneo island.
But the plans by the revered father-figure monarch triggered unprecedented criticism earlier this year on Brunei’s active social media, though the move appears to enjoy broad support, especially among Muslim ethnic Malays, who make up about 70 percent of the population.
The UN’s human rights office and various international rights and legal activist groups also have condemned the move as out of step with modern society.