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Police shut down party in Brunei

Dozens of police and other officials in Brunei, a Malay Muslim absolute monarchy, shut down a New Year's party at the city's only internationally run hotel, its manager said yesterday.

About 70 locals and foreigners were celebrating the arrival of the New Year at the Sheraton Utama hotel when at least 50 police and representatives of other government agencies arrived at about 12:20am on Tuesday, general manager Alex Riva said.

"I don't know if `raid' is the terminology to be used but yes, we had a visit by the authorities," he said.

Riva said the authorities checked people's identification and remained until everybody had left the executive lounge where the party took place.

He said he has not been told what prompted such a large-scale police operation, which he described as unheard of.

"They wanted to make sure that everything was in order and to do that, they asked us to stop the party," Riva said.

A government spokesman could not immediately comment but said he would look into it.

Riva described the gathering as a restrained affair where families and the elderly were present.

"At the time when they arrived we had a quiz going on," he said, adding a disc jockey was playing some music, but not at excessive levels.

"It was a little bit like a school party," he said. "This is Brunei, so the parties are very smooth."

Alcohol is not sold in Brunei but non-Muslim foreigners who fill out a form on arrival are allowed to bring in a small amount for personal consumption.

Riva said the hotel's executive lounge does not sell alcohol but people with the form can drink from their own bottle.

"We are the first one to want to make sure we are doing the right things," he said.

A diplomatic source suspected the authorities acted because of alcohol consumption and said such raids, though not common, are not unprecedented.

"My sense is that occasionally these things happen and the Brunei religious authorities want to send a signal that there are limits," the source said, adding that some restaurants which discreetly allowed alcohol consumption are being more cautious since the Sheraton incident.

Brunei has fewer than 400,000 citizens and has been trying to diversify its economy through tourism and other ventures in the face of the dwindling oil and gas reserves it has relied on.
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