High-living Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei imposes Islamic hudud law
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With an estimated worth of US$20 billion, the sultan of Brunei is one of the world's wealthiest men, and absolute monarch of a tiny sultanate that has become a byword for extravagance.
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah lives in a 1,788-room palace and has a garrison of British troops on his payroll to help secure his oil-rich nation.
His brother, Prince Jefri Bolkiah, has been embroiled in scandals that revealed a jet-set lifestyle, including allegations of a high-priced harem of Western paramours and a luxury yacht called "Tits".
This royal reputation for excess and extravagance stands in stark contrast to the religious turn that the country took last Wednesday, when the sultan introduced hudud - an Islamic penal code that calls for death by stoning for crimes such as adultery.
But according to people with inside knowledge of the royal family, Brunei's journey to hudud law, which harks back to the time of the Caliphate, has been a long time in the making.
SCMP