Kampong Bolkiah is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and housing estate in

Kampong Ayer Kampung Ayer (') is a prominent traditional settlement in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. It comprises neighbourhoods of traditional houses, schools and mosques built on stilts above the Brunei River near the capital's city centre ...

, the traditional riverine settlement in

Bandar Seri Begawan Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital and largest city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, 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 ...

, the capital of

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. The total population was 2,143 in 2016.

History

Prior to the early 1980s, the area of what is now Kampong Bolkiah was still uninhabited. A few houses had been built in the area as of 1985; in 1994, it was reported that there were 48 houses and they were part of the existing village Kampong Buang Sakar which was administered under the

village head A village head, village headman or village chief is the community leader of a village or a small town. Usage Brunei In Brunei, village head is called or in the Malay language. It is an administrative post which leads the community of a ...

of Kampong Kasat. Kampong Bolkiah was established on 5 October 1992 by the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation as a housing scheme to accommodate the residents from the villages of Kampong Setia Pahlawan, Kampong Peramu, Kampong Saba, Kampong Petagian, Kampong Kota Batu and

Kampong Sungai Matan Kampong Sungai Matan () or simply known as Sungai Matan, is a village in Brunei-Muara District, Brunei. It has an area of ; the population was 356 in 2016. It is one of the villages within Mukim Kota Batu. The postcode is BD1917. It is a cultu ...

who had lost homes due to events of fire. The construction of the houses began in 1993 and completed in the following year. It was inaugurated on 22 August 1994 by

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah Muiz'zaddin Wad'daulah (born 15 July 1946) is the Sultan of Brunei since 1967, and prime minister of Brunei since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one of the few remaining absolute monarchs in the worl ...

. The second phase of the housing scheme involved the construction of another 250 homes. It was built to accommodate another group of residents who had lost their homes to fires in 1993. The second phase eventually becomes the administrative village Kampong Bolkiah 'B'.

Administration

For subdivision purposes Kampong Bolkiah has been divided into, and established as, two administrative

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

: Both villages are under

Mukim Sungai Kebun Mukim Sungai Kebun is a mukim in Brunei–Muara district, Brunei. It is part of Kampong Ayer, the traditional stilt settlements on the Brunei River in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The population was 4,750 in 2016. Etymology The mukim coul ...

, a

mukim A mukim is a type of administrative division used in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The word ''mukim'' is a loanword in English language, English. However, it was also originally a loanword in Malay language, Malay from the Arabic word ...

in Brunei-Muara District. They have also been subsumed under the

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

area of Bandar Seri Begawan.

Infrastructures

Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah 'A' Housing and Kampong Bolkiah 'B' are the names of the structured housing project in Kampong Ayer. There were 476 homes constructed in all, with the first phase consisting of 226 homes in Kampong Bolkiah 'A' and the second phase consisting of 250 homes in Kampong Bolkiah 'B'. Type 'A' houses, which had two bedrooms, and Type 'B' houses, which had four bedrooms, were built. Just 26 of the total are Type 'A' houses. Kampong Bolkiah Religious School is the village's i.e. school for the country's Islamic religious primary education. It was established in 1999. The school complex occupies seven of the houses, out of which six for classrooms and one for administration office. Prior to its establishment, the local students go to the religious schools in the neighbouring villages. The village has a

health clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambulatory care clinic) is a health facility that is primarily focused on the care of outpatients. Clinics can be privately operated or publicly managed and funded. They typically cover the primary care need ...

which has been in operation since 2003. There is a mini local library inside the branch office of the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation located in the village. A

community centre A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

for the local youths was established in 2021; it occupies a former house which has been donated for the purpose. Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mosque is the village mosque.

Notes

References

Bolkiah Bolkiah ibni Sulaiman (Jawi script, Jawi: ; died 17 July 1524) or commonly known as Nakhoda Ragam (Jawi script, Jawi: ), was the sixth List of sultans of Brunei, sultan of Brunei from 1485 until his death in 1524, he ascended the throne upon t ...

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