Avoid These Hotels Owned by Brunei

The Sultan of Brunei has ordered the death by stoning to anybody who engages in LGBTQ gay sex or adultery.

Since this tiny Arab kingdom owns hotels around the world, including in the USA, you might want to avoid them along with the restaurants by world-famous chefs inside them.

The Sultan of Brunei owns The Dorchester Collection, which includes The Dorchester in London, Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris and the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles.

Restaurants inside his hotels include those operated by world-famous chefs Alain Ducasse and Wolfgang Puck.

Death by Stoning for Gay Sex or Adultery

Starting April 3, 2019, LGBTQ gay sex and adultery will be punishable by death by public stoning in Brunei under a new law that goes into effect that day.

The Draconian new law includes children. Children!

Death by public stoning – just like in the 1400s. Including children. Children!

Hopefully, that does not include any of the dozen or so children the supreme ruler of Brunei has sired by one of his three wives, or the rest of the royal family.

According to the NY Times, an intriguing aspect of Brunei’s barbarous Shariah laws is that if they were to be really enforced, a few of the sultan’s ridiculously wealthy, jet-setting kin would be leading candidates for death by stoning.

Let’s repeat that – if this law is enacted fairly, it would include some of the sultan’s own ridiculously wealthy, jet-setting family members.

The law against gay sex and adultery has been on the Brunei books since 2014.

This new ruling from the absolute ruler of the tiny oil-rich kingdom changes jail time to make it a death penalty.

So in addition to the hotels you might want to avoid, in protest, you might want to avoid these restaurants in Brunei-owned hotels.

According to Wikipedia, it includes the world-famous Polo Lounge in Los Angeles so popular with Hollywood celebrities, and restaurants in the Sultan’s other hotels, including those operated by world-famous chefs Alain Ducasse and Wolfgang Puck

UPDATE –

Princess Cruises is dropping port calls to Brunei in protest to the harsh new Sharia laws.

George Clooney, Elton John and other celebrities urge boycott of Brunei-owned hotels

Celebrity chefs with restaurants in Brunei-owned hotels in 2019:

Alain Ducasse and China Tang at The Dorchester
Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée
Restaurant le Meurice Alain Ducasse
La Terrazza at Hotel Eden
Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air
Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel
Restaurant Coworth Park at Coworth Park
CUT at 45 Park Lane
Acanto at Hotel Principe di Savoia

There was a boycott of these hotels by Hollywood celebrities and others starting in 2014, when the ridiculously wealthy Sultan of Brunei bought the hotels and also instituted strict Sharia Law in his absolute monarchy little kingdom fueled (pun intended) by oil revenues.

But the boycott flamed out (pun intended, again) because of intense international opposition.

Five years later, the diminutive monarch with three wives and 12 children ruling a diminutive dominion the size of Delaware decided to expand his Medieval version of Sharia Law to death by public stoning, including to children. Children!

Starting April 3, 2019, anybody in Brunei who engages in gay sex or an extramarital affair can be stoned to death – in public. Including children.

Universal Condemnation for Brunei

The new law has received universal condemnation, including by Amnesty International.

“To legalize such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself,” Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Brunei researcher, said in a statement.

“This new law violates the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should be widely condemned,” tweeted Richard Grenell, U.S. ambassador to Germany, who became the first openly gay spokesperson for a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

Now that the Sultan has escalated his Medieval version of Sharia law, to stone to death anybody so much as thought to be gay, it may be time for the rich and famous, and anybody else who can afford to pay to stay at these luxury hotels, to resume the boycott.

Especially since the diminutive Sultan’s version of Sharia Law includes children. Children!

Brunei is one of the World’s Last Remaining Autocracies

Here’s what Investopedia says about Brunei and its autocratic ruler:

Brunei is a Monarchy. Here, the royal institution of sultans — the title of Muslim sovereigns — has been in place since the 14th century. And, since Brunei’s independence from British rule in 1984, only one sultan has reigned — His Majesty, the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

The Sultan is the head of state and absolute monarch of Brunei, wielding nearly absolute power.

The Sultan serves as his own prime minister, minister of defense, foreign minister, and minister of finance.

He is advised by several councils, which he appoints. The fact that the Sultan, in his capacity as prime minister, is head of the government means that the Sultan is also the ultimate ruler of the Brunei Investment Agency, which owns the hotels, along with billions of dollars of other investments around the world.

In 2008, Forbes estimated the Sultan’s total peak net worth at approximately $20 Billion, making him one of the world’s richest men.

His Majesty, the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – the absolute ruler who has ordered death by public stoning to anybody who is LGBTQ in his kingdom – has been ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.

After Queen Elizabeth II, the Sultan is the world’s second-longest-reigning current monarch. Thankfully, the Queen is too civilized to order death by stoning to anybody who is LGBTQ, especially children. Children!

Brunei Investment Agency

Because there is effectively no regulatory oversight in this small nation, there is little public information about the BIA’s governance, assets, investment strategy, or its long-term objectives for the country of Brunei.

Moreover, the agency is highly secretive.

For example, the Brunei Ministry of Finance’s website for the Brunei Investment Agency offers only its hours of operation and an email address for business inquiries. Despite the agency’s ongoing opacity, we do know that, apart from investments within Brunei, BIA’s portfolio contains diverse holdings in bonds, equities, currency, gold, and real estate; and that it has substantial investments in the United States.