Brunei is a small country located in the Southeast Asian region, close to Malaysia, and still has an absolute monarchy in place today. Its king, King Haji, is a world-class billionaire, with thousands of brand-name sports cars in his family alone. However, such an extravagant king is loved by the people, so how did he do it?

Why is little Brunei so rich?

Brunei, which borders Malaysia and has a population of only 450,000 people, has a territory of less than one Shanghai, but Brunei's per capita economy is very high, ranking among the top 36 in the world, so how did it develop?

Brunei was originally a British colony, after World War II, with the rise of anti-colonial movements around the world, it also gradually began its own independence movement in 1946, and after more than ten years of struggle, it completed independence in 1959.

Compared with China, which has gone through many hardships to complete its comprehensive reconstruction, it has gone through many hardships. Since its independence, Brunei's economy has been among the highest in the world, which is due to its unique natural environment.

Brunei has huge oil and gas resources, according to relevant investigations, Brunei currently has as much as 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas available for mining and oil reserves, and oil reserves of up to 1.1 billion barrels. The remaining untapped natural resources are enough for Brunei to continue to use for decades, so as long as Brunei's own natural resources are not completely controlled by foreign countries, they can also rely on exporting energy and live a life of lying down to make money.

Secondly, Brunei also has a large number of untapped forest resources, and its proximity to the South China Sea region allows for the development of mining and fishing. Brunei's pleasant climate and environment also make its tourism industry very famous in Southeast Asia and popular with tourists.

The king of Brunei lying straight flat

With its abundant natural resources, the Brunei government can make its citizens live a prosperous life without thinking about how to develop its manufacturing industry. And the current King of Brunei, Haji, is also happy to see it, willing to be a rich man, and there is basically nothing to think about every day except thinking about how to spend money. Even when people watch Brunei's TV news, they are most concerned about how the king of Brunei shows off his wealth.

Like most Middle Eastern tycoons, Haji attended the Royal St. Hurst Military Academy in England, the British school that many children of Asian aristocrats attended. Although Haji is the prince of Brunei, Brunei has just completed independence at this time, and the economy has not completely improved, so Haji is not dazzling among many children of Asian nobles.

Perhaps because he knew that his identity was not noble in this school, Haji's daily life was very low-key. Don't look at Haji likes to spend money now, but when he was young, Haji was a very introverted person, although he was also generous, but he never went to nightclubs or participated in all kinds of crazy parties, and he belonged to the school with a very low sense of existence.

However, this did not affect Haji's studies, and with his personal ability, after graduating from the military academy, Haji obtained the rank of captain in the infantry major, and after returning to China, he inherited the throne of the Sultan of Brunei as the eldest son.

Brunei is able to stand alone

When he received the news of taking over the throne, Haji was still studying in England, and it was the British government who got the news one step before him. Subsequently, the British government and the royal family approached Haji to inform him of his father's death. Prince Charles also sent him to the airport, at this time Haji was still very puzzled, he didn't know how to be the king, and the royal family members told the young Haji that as long as he maintained diplomatic relations with the British, he could do so.

In general, the Brunei royal family prefers to maintain colonial relations with Britain rather than Britain abandoning Brunei. Although all the administrative power of the country fell into the hands of the British when Brunei was colonized by the British, the British did not treat the Brunei royal family badly. In addition, the UK can benefit from Brunei's natural resources, and Brunei can also have dividends, which are enough for Brunei's royal family and people to live a comfortable life. So compared to other Southeast Asian countries, Brunei is not too averse to British rule.

Brunei feared Malaysia more than Britain in the last century. Brunei, which is basically surrounded by land and sea on three sides, is very afraid of Malaysia's annexation, so Brunei hopes to protect itself with the help of Britain, and Britain is willing to do so. Therefore, after Brunei's independence in 1959, Britain actually held Brunei's military and diplomatic powers, and it was not until 1984 that these two powers were excessively given to the Brunei government.

Only the king of Brunei who spends money remains

After Haji became king, the politics were handled by the Brunei government and the British, and he himself had little to worry about. Since he sat on the throne at the age of 21, all he had to think about was how to spend all the money he had.

At first, the king of Brunei had little experience in this area, so he considered starting with clothing. Because Brunei believes in Islam, the dress of men and women in the country is similar to that of Middle Eastern countries, and the king of Brunei is not easy to break this rule, so he adds various luxuries to the traditional clothing, such as gold, jade belts and so on.

So we can see that wherever the king of Brunei appears, he will wear a golden dress. Many people think that it is a matter of color, but in fact, the clothes worn by the king of Brunei are made of gold, not only are every stitch and thread made of gold wire, but the jade on the clothes is also imported from Myanmar or Africa.

In addition to clothing, Haji is also not stingy when it comes to travel, he has a soft spot for sports cars, and especially likes to collect luxury cars from all over the world. Once he knew which luxury cars were about to be discontinued, Haji would go to the local company to negotiate and ask him to help him produce a few more cars at a price several times the price. There are currently as many as 7,000 of these luxury cars, but these cars are not used very often, and they are purely displayed at home as collectibles.

Haji's way of managing money

On the one hand, Brunei's economic level is high enough, enough for the royal family and the people to squander, and the people can afford to eat, and the king of Brunei can toss as much as he likes.

On the other hand, Haji has always looked closely at the use of the royal family, and he can spend as much as he likes as the king, but the children of the royal family must have a rule, otherwise their brothers have nothing to talk about, for example, Haji's younger brother once embezzled more than 10 billion from the treasury without telling his brother that he was too rich because the country was too rich, and he was so angry that Haji directly issued a wanted warrant to hunt down his younger brother.

In addition, Haji also knows that with the rise of carbon neutrality and new energy industries, it will not take long to sell resources to make a living, so he has been promoting the development of the country's tertiary industry, such as tourism and finance. Every year, the Brunei royal family delights a large amount of money to invest in various wealth management products around the world. And the proceeds of these financial products, even if Brunei does not sell its resources one day, are enough for the Brunei royal family's own expenses.