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New Political Party For Brunei
By Mark Bendeich

Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) - An 83-year-old former revolutionary has formed a new political party in Brunei, one of the world's few remaining absolute monarchies, but this time he is voicing reverence for the king, not rebellion.

Yassin Affendi, who played a leading role in an armed revolt against the palace and British colonial authorities in 1962, told Reuters by telephone that his National Development Party wanted to help the current king pursue his economic-development agenda.

"I haven't finished my obligation towards the nation, so for the balance of my life I would like to contribute to my nation, to develop the country," Yassin said on Monday.

He and other party officials declined to nominate any major issues on its agenda and said it wanted to be a platform for ordinary people of Brunei to participate in political, economic and social affairs, while defending Brunei's monarchy.

"Yes, of course," Yassin said when asked if he supported the current sultan, whose father jailed him after he played a leading role in a failed, armed revolt in Brunei 43 years ago.

The party brings to three the number of registered Brunei political parties, though none of them could be described as an opposition group. But it may mark another small step for the tiny sultanate's effort to be seen as embracing more democracy.

"You get a pretty clear sense that they would not be allowed to be registered if they proposed any radical changes at all," a diplomat in Brunei said after reading the party's charter. "It remains to be seen if there's any real substance behind it."

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah reopened parliament for the first time in 20 years in September 2004, filling the chamber with 21 appointed MPs. An amended constitution allows for an expanded parliament of 45 MPs, with up to 15 of them elected, but the sultan has yet to set a timetable for elections.

The sultan, who is also prime minister, and minister for finance, energy and defence, is also trying with limited success to encourage more foreign investment in Brunei and lessen the state's heavy reliance on exporting its oil and gas reserves.

Yassin was a founding member of the radical Partai Rakyat Brunei (PRB), or Brunei People's Party, when its military wing launched the rebellion. He had just been elected to parliament in a landslide for the PRB, which wanted to form government but couldn't because parliament was stacked with appointed MPs.

The then sultan, backed by Britain's Gurkha garrison of Nepalese troops, quickly crushed the rebellion, bringing to a bloody end Brunei's last big experiment with democracy.

Yassin, who went into hiding in the jungle, says he was eventually hunted down in 1963 and shot in the hip in a mangrove swamp before being jailed for a decade. The PRB was banned and a fully appointed parliament replaced the old, partly elected one.

"We have been waiting for this for a long time. We will not disappoint the people, the country and our ruler in carrying out our legitimate duties," the new party's secretary-general, Aminorrashid B. Haji Ghazali, told Reuters.

Zainuddin Jalani, Brunei Registrar of Societies, confirmed his department had registered the National Development Party.

In his letter of approval he advised the party to "conform to the rules and regulations governing societies, associations and political parties in the country".

The new party exists mainly on paper and plans to start explaining its charter at its first public gathering on Thursday.

National Development Party (NDP) Press Release

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