The Legislative Council of Brunei ( Malay: ''Majlis Mesyuarat Negara Brunei''; Jawi: مجليس مشوارت نڬارا بروني; abbrev: Legco) is a national

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

. The council comprises 36 appointed members, that only has consultative tasks. Under Brunei's 1959

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

, His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah is the

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

with full executive authority, including emergency powers since 1962. The Council holds its sitting annually in March at Legislative Council Building in

Bandar Seri Begawan Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei-Muara District, the s ...

History

The council was established in 1959 by virtue of Article 23 of Brunei's Constitution of 1959. Its first sitting was held at Lapau on 21 October 1959. In 1984, the Council managed to hold 32 meetings; the last one being the 21st Meeting held on 12 February 1984. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah dissolved the council on the following day. Hence, legislative powers were fully vested in the Sultan. Brunei had no legislature until 25 September 2004, when the Sultan decided to reinstate the Council using the old system. Brunei, once again, had a legislature. The Sultan disestablished the council on 1 September 2005 and, on the following day, reestablished the Council based on the amended version of Brunei's Constitution.

Roles

Since 1959, the council has played significant roles towards Brunei; not only to consider and approve budgets and revenue estimates, but also to advise the Sultan on the drive of the Government, to review policies implemented by the Government and to pass bills and motions brought by the Government and other members of the council.

Speakers of Legislative Council

Membership

The Council comprises the Sultan, the Crown Prince,

cabinet ministers A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...

and three types of members: members with titles, members representing districts, and members among outstanding Bruneians. All members, other than the Sultan, are appointed by the Sultan in accordance with Article 24 of Brunei Constitution.

Appointed Members of 2017 Sitting

The subsequent list as below are returning members of LegCo appointed by Sultan on 12 January 2017 as announced in ''Pelita Brunei'', except members of cabinet who were appointed in January 2018.

Cabinet

Since 30 January 2018 (a reshuffling of the Cabinet which had served since October 2015), the Council consists of the following:

Clergy and Titled Seats

Functional Seats

Pursuant to Second Schedule of Article 24 (1) (''a'') (iii), these seats given for persons who have achieved distinction on their own professional field or good contribution for communities across Brunei

District Seats

Legislative procedure

The Council follows the practice of other Commonwealth parliaments. All bills presented in the Council go through three readings. All bills, however, must obtain prior approval from the Cabinet prior to their presentation in the council. Once a bill is passed, a bill must obtain Royal Assent in order to turn such bill to an Act.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 04, 54, 48, N, 114, 56, 55, E, type:landmark, display=title 1959 establishments in Brunei Government of Brunei