ABSTRACT
On 15 January 1988 the Supreme Court of Malaysia dismissed the last challenge blocking a government contract. In other countries, or even a different Malaysian epoch, the decision would have brought up blushes, and brought down governments. Malaysia’s steadily more quiescent judiciary had been on the defensive throughout 1987. Malaysia’s racial plurality makes for a comparatively open society. Despite amendments each parliamentary session to strengthen repressive legislation governing official secrets, publishing, the right of association and detention, this garrulous, money-hungry society dooms these efforts to failure. A different set of rules applies in neighbouring Brunei however. A Malay sultanate and independent Asean member since 1984, Brunei Darulsalam, as its formal name goes, is the region’s El Dorado. The Brunei Malays once ruled the north Borneo coastline and adjoining islands in the Sulu Sea. The experience of Malaysia and, to a lesser extent, Brunei since the late 1960s mirrors that of its near neighbours in Asean.
