The Decadent, Hedonistic Lives Of The Sultan Of Brunei And His Bro Prince Jefri

The Sultan of Brunei, who just instituted uber strict Sharia law for his country- which then prompted a celebrity boycott of his L.A. hotels- is a prime example of "do as I say, not as I do."

As per Sharia, the citizens of Brunei (both Muslim and infidels alike) may be subject to fines, jail time, public lashings, amputation of limbs and death by stoning for the following:

.. absence from Friday prayer services; becoming pregnant out of wedlock; wearing indecent clothing, and for women, refusal to wear a hijab; employing a non-Muslim baby sitter; the use of the word “Allah” by Christians and the discussion of faith by any non-Muslims; publicly eating or drinking during Ramadan; theft; homosexuality; and adultery.

Granted it's the New York Post, but there's an interesting article about just how un-Islamic the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and his brother Prince Jefri are.

One religious scholar, Reza Aslan, claims the turn towards Sharia has nothing to do with "religious devotion, since the Sultan himself is in violation of every single rule of Sharia law you could possibly imagine.”

Decadent, hedonists, are just some of the words used to describe the two men.

Indeed, the Sultan and his equally decadent brother, Prince Jefri, were dubbed “constant companions in hedonism” in 2011 by Vanity Fair. He lives in a palace with 1,788 rooms, 257 bathrooms, five swimming pools, a mosque, a banquet hall that holds 5,000 people and a 110-car garage. When he turned 50, the Sultan built a stadium, invited Michael Jackson to perform in it and paid him $17 million for three concerts.

Jefri, 59, maintains a separate pleasure palace and once owned a 152-foot yacht called Tits; he named its tenders Nipple 1 and Nipple 2, and could never understand why others often found that juvenile and crass. Here and abroad, the brothers are infamous for their sex parties and their harems composed mainly of underage girls."

Typically hypocritical.

Read the rest of the lurid story here.

Blogger Claims Boycott Of Beverly Hills Hotel Hurts Wrong People

I don't know where Lynda Bekore stands on the political spectrum (I'm assuming she's a liberal), but she just wrote an article for the Huffington Post condemning the calls for a boycott of the Sharia-loving Sultan of Brunei owned Bel Air and Beverly Hills Hotel as hurting the wrong people.

The legendary Beverly Hills Hotel has seen a surge in cancellations of bookings and denouncements on social media, as Hollywood celebrities, moguls and others declare a boycott against the home of the famed Polo Lounge and its sister luxury hotel, the Bel Air, run by the Dorchester Collection.

The company is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who recently announced that the country he rules would follow strict Sharia law regarding homosexuality and adultery, both punishable by death by stoning, as well as other crimes with harsh penalties. LGBT activists and advocates have called on Hollywood power-players, celebrities, moguls and the public to boycott the hotel, so as not to support the Sultan's repugnant announcement. Celebrities from Jay Leno to moguls like Richard Branson have organized protests or vowed not to solicit the hotels, and have called for public boycotts.

They're right to shout out about it. To Westerners, and even to many Muslims, the very strict interpretations of Sharia law such as stoning to death is abhorrent. If we've learned nothing else from the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, or the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turks, or the genocide of half a million Sudanese in Darfur, we've surely learned the fatal danger of remaining silent against something we find universally horrifying. And certainly as Americans and promulgators of democratic values and the basic tenets of free speech, you could even say we have a responsibility to speak up for those who cannot protest themselves.

Boycotting a hotel, however, is very different from protesting its owner. Who are you hurting when you cancel events, or urge your clients, your fans, or employees not to do business at the hotel? You're hurting the workers, who are American, not Brunei citizens, have no say in the laws of a foreign ruler, and are just trying to make a living. They are the most vulnerable to the strings that get pulled by those more powerful than they are, whether it's their boss, their company owners, or well-meaning activists who can effectively put them out of their jobs.

[snip]

Boycotts of mid-sized establishments like the Beverly Hills Hotel inevitably hurt the innocent, and it's a pretty safe bet that most of those 1,000 workers didn't even know who owned their hotel until last week, let alone what a Sultan of Brunei was. So why punish them?

The hundreds of housekeepers, cooks, bartenders, and valets just wanted jobs, and especially the tips that supplemented them. Taking away some hotel bookings from a man who thinks nothing of covering his Rolls Royce in 24 karat gold isn't going to hurt him, but it sure is going to hurt them, and many might not ever recover.

The rest here.

Although I do agree that boycotts often adversely affect the wrong people, I have to wonder if she felt the same about the boycotting of Chik-fil-As, which are franchised operations. I doubt it.

Celebs Boycotting The Beverly Hills Hotel Owned By Sharia-Loving Sultan Of Brunei

Who knew the Sultan of Brunei owned the snazzy, celebrity-faved Beverly Hills Hotel and the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles.  In fact, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah owns the whole Dorchester Hotels collection which both those hotels are a part of.  The Sultan, if you will recall, is the dude who is bringing back the 'death by stoning' part of Shariah law for homosexuality, adultery, extramarital relations, blasphemy, apostasy, murder, robbery and rape. One third of the people in Brunei are non-Muslims, but most of those laws will apply to them, as well.

Some of the other draconian laws the people of Brunei will be subjected to:

From Thursday, Brunei citizens can be fined or jailed by Islamic courts for offenses like not performing Friday prayers, pregnancy out of wedlock, propagating other religions and indecent behavior. More severe punishments -- flogging, amputation of limbs and stoning --for offenses such as theft, adultery and sodomy will be introduced in phases over the next two years.

As a result, Richard Branson of Virgin Group, along with some other celebs, has decided to boycott all Dorchester hotels:

"No @Virgin employee, nor our family, will stay at Dorchester Hotels until the Sultan abides by basic human rights."

Yeah, good luck with that. I can't imagine the Sultan is going to give a damn about some Western infidels boycotting his hotels, but the intentions are good. Maybe if enough people jumped on the bandwagon, hello Emma Thompson and you Boycott Israel types, to hurt the Sultan's bottom line he might relent, but I doubt either will.

Besides Branson, there have been organizations pulling scheduled events out of the hotel after the Human Rights Campaign urged them to do so.

 On Sunday, the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs pledged to move its awards event for the Impact Awards from the Beverly Hills Hotel to another location.

“[W]e cannot, in good conscience, support an entity that is controlled by an individual whose beliefs are in direct contradiction to ours," said the group's executive director, Keishia Kemp.

and

On April 30, the Feminist Majority Foundation similarly moved its Jay Leno co-chaired Global Women's Rights Awards in protest. And on April 26, a small group protested at the Beverly Hills Hotel location to raise awareness.

Other boycotting celebs:

Sharon Osbourne, Ellen DeGeneres, Brian Atwood and Peter Som are among those in the industry who have used social media to protest.

The Motion Picture and Television Fund is pulling out for their 2015 event, and Jay Leno and his wife joined a small group of protesters at the hotel.

The Beverly Hills Hotel response:

"We continue to abide by the laws of the countries we operate in and do not tolerate any form of discrimination of any kind." [snip] "The laws that exist in other countries outside of where Dorchester Collection operates do not affect the policies that govern how we run our hotels."

Not good enough. But I predict the boycott will never get off the ground, and after a few months it will all be forgotten. Meanwhile, the A-List celebs will continue to boycott Israel.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Homosexuals To Be Stoned To Death In Brunei

Brunei has just taken a giant step back into the dark ages. The death penalty, by stoning, will now be meted out for the following offenses:

Homosexuality, sodomy, adultery, extramarital relations for Muslims, blasphemy (defaming Mohammed), apostasy, along with rape, murder and robbery.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights is "concerned."

"We are deeply concerned about the revised penal code in Brunei Darussalam, due to come into force later this month, which stipulates the death penalty for numerous offences," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights.

"Application of the death penalty for such a broad range of offences contravenes international law," Colville said.

Although no-one has been executed since 1957, the current sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, wants to institute harsh Islamic Shariah law as the law of the land, which allows for death by stoning. Homosexuality, which is illegal in the country, could get you 10 years in jail, that will change on April 22.

Source: Opposing Views.

It's all very interesting considering some of the Sultan's family members have a not so Islamically stellar reputation. Mansions, jets, harems full of prostitutes, jets and other excesses.