Brunei is a tiny nation on the island of Borneo, at 2,033 square miles and with approximately 417,000 people, is approximately the size of Delaware with half of the population. It is a tiny speck of a nation in east Asia.
Brunei is an Islamic nation, and the nation just passed a law declaring the death penalty for sodomites. However, the Sultan of the small nation has suspended application of the death penalty after constant attacks from nations around the world for it:
A tiny Asian nation has been forced to backtrack on laws that would allow gay men and adulterers to be stoned to death, after the news prompted global calls to boycott the country.
Brunei’s leader, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, announced on Sunday that it would extend a temporary ban on the death penalty to include the new punishments for gay sex.
Brunei sparked worldwide criticism after rolling out the strict new interpretation of sharia law last month.
The laws stated that sodomy, adultery and rape would be punishable by death, with stoning named as an acceptable way of carrying out the punishment.
The amputation of hands and feet for thieves was also introduced as part of the laws.
The introduction of these brutal punishments resulted in global backlash, with major celebrities like Elton John, George Clooney and Ellen DeGeneres calling for a boycott on all hotels around the world owned by the Sultan.
It seems that the global outrage was enough to get Sultan Bolkiah to redact the laws, making it the first time he has commented publicly on the new penal code since it was fully introduced.
In a televised speech ahead of the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the sultan said: “I am aware that there are many questions and misperceptions with regard to the implementation of the (sharia penal code).”
“There should not be any concern on the sharia law as it is full of Allah’s mercy and blessings,” he said, according to an official translation of his address.
“As evident for more than two decades, we have practised a de facto moratorium on the execution of death penalty for cases under the common law.
“This will also be applied to cases under the (sharia penal code), which provides a wider scope for remission.”
Before the new laws were introduced homosexuality was already illegal in Brunei and punishable by up to ten years in prison.
Muslim-majority Brunei operates a dual-track legal system with civil courts operating alongside sharia courts that handle issues such as marital and inheritance cases.
Some crimes were already punishable with death by hanging under the civil code but Brunei has not executed anyone for decades, and the sultan’s comments suggest this will not change with the introduction of the new sharia laws.
The plan for the sharia penal code was announced back in 2013, with the first section being introduced in 2014.
However, the full implementation was delayed until last month due to opposition from human rights groups.
When they were eventually introduced, the laws were condemned by the United Nations and resulted in a furious chain reaction.
Along with the major outcry from celebrities, several multinational companies put a ban on staff using the sultan’s hotels.
Along with this, many travel companies stopped promoting Brunei as a tourist destination. (source, source)
People talk about “LGBT rights” as though they were a persecuted group. The fact is that the LGBT is internationally rising in power, and in the Western world, to refuse to accept the sodomites is to make oneself a social pariah, as the supermajority of people support homosexuality.
That the US and other nations would harass such a small, and really irrelevant nation such as Brunei into submission is an example of the absolute disdain that sodomites have for others and the vicious means which they will resort to in order to get what they want, and to that the amount of support which they have from the government.
I say this not to “support Islam,” or to suggest that Islam is good at all. Rather, the harassment of Brunei follows in the same harassment that many African nations, some of which also have the death penalty for sodomites, many of which have large or majority Christian populations. It just so happens that Brunei is the particular nation in the political crosshairs at the moment of the LGBT.
Think about the situation with Christian persecution. Christians are persecuted severely around the world, and not only do the governments of the world not care at all for Christians because of their economic and business pursuits, but many times as Shoebat.com has pointed out, the governments will fund terrorist groups to go and attack Christians so they can say “look at those poor suffering Christians,” only then to turn around and do nothing for the Christians but use their plight to lobby for more money for the military-industrial complex, so they can do more business on the blood of the innocent.
People talk about Christianity and the government, and the fact is that many governments- and I speak of the Western world and especially the US -demonstrate by their actions that they hate Christians and care about them only to the extent that they can use them as tools for their own selfish agenda.
Think about the implications of this. Christians for years have been trying to “change the culture” of many a western government, military, or other institutions, and yet they either find themselves being engulfed by and agreeing with the persecutors, persecuted through legal means to be no longer effective, or or persecuted to the point they are cast out from or barred from the system.
What obligation does a Christian have to fight and defend a system that actively hates who he is because of what he believes in?
I’m not talking about “starting a revolution” or nonsense such as what some men with fantastical ideas speak about, or doing things that are clearly illegal or dangerous. What I speak of is non-participation in the pieces of society as much as one is able to, and for those who are forced to participate for whatever reason to the absolute bare and clear legal minimums without violating any laws, to such an extent that the Christian withdraws himself from the very environment that hates him.
Certain things one cannot avoid. For example, one cannot always avoid shopping at stores that support the LGBT because since 90% of people support the LGBT, such will also be reflected in the business world. However, one can learn to care for himself more, to spend less, to save more, and to choose one’s friends and associations in a healthy way.
Many people will lament for the “good old days” of the 1950s, when communities were generally closer and people knew each other better. While there were always problems, back in those days the social conditions were forming that resulted in the series of events that lead up to the current crisis. It is true that people seemed not to have been as “careful” with their associations and tended to move along with the flow of the culture, and what did it get them other than a whole generation of people misguided into bad ideas?
To be a Christian in the past was easy because there was a social network to help support one and other. Such networks are dead now, and they are not coming back. Networks will form, but will be local or regional, and will require active work from the people involved.
I say this not be be discouraging, but to encourage people to choose their associations and to choose how they want to interact with society and the world. No amount of pandering will change the mindset of the LGBT because their philosophy is set on the spiritual destruction of a man and with the trends as they currently are going, the temporal destruction of man as well.
Be aware of the trends of society. If one wants to “do something,”to stay at a local or regional level in order that one would be able to be most effective. That said, look to the example of Brunei as to what the LGBT and their supporters want to do to you. Stay safe and use good judgement, do not trade morals for social acceptance, and do not support the social structures that enable moral license, even if it means one’s own country.