Brunei first announced in 2013 it would be adopting a very strict Islamic law, including penalties such as death by stoning for gay sex.
Many from the LGBT community considered fleeing while those who stayed hoped that that law wouldn’t come to pass back when it was first announced.
Many fear for their lives. A transgender woman Zain fled Brunei in late 2018 and is seeking asylum in Canada. During an interview, Zain said “i wanted to live my life on my own terms, in the sense that i wanted to be a woman. I wanted to live a life without religious fundamentalism, conservatism, so i just left the country.”
Zain says her understanding of Sharia law increased her concerns about what was to come.
It is not just the LGBT community that will be affected by these laws. “Everyone is affected. Its just going to be horrible, even if you’re not LGBT,” Zain says “women especially would be at a big disadvantage there.” The new law also punishes adultery among heterosexual couples with death by stoning.
In announcing the change, the government’s website quote the Sultan as saying that his government “does not expect other people to accept and agree with it, but that it would suffice if they just respect the nation in he same way that it respects them”.
Governments and activists around the world are now urging Brunei to reverse its decision.
Despite the international pressure, the Brunei prime minister’s office released a statement on Saturday in defense of its new laws.
Matthew Woolfe, the founder founder of the Brunei project, a human rights organization, says that the reasons of the laws being implemented are not clear, but the economy could be one of them.