The Well-Oiled State

Black oil, bubbling unexpectedly from the bowels of the earth, often begets friction and fire as well as power and progress. But in one small corner of northwest Borneo, thanks to the cooperation of a Britain grown wiser through past mistakes and an Oriental potentate with a social conscience, the discovery of oil has set a tiny nation of some of the world's most primitive people rocketing toward a prosperous future on smoothly lubricated wheels.

A plundering power in Southeast Asia during the 16th century, the Sultanate of

Brunei (pronounced broon-eye) later fell upon hard times. In 1888, reduced to an impoverished patch of mangrove swamp about the size of the state of Delaware, it was forced to accept British protection. The British set up a few roads, schools and hospitals, put a Resident in charge to keep an eye on the local Sultan, and, for the rest, let Brunei wallow in its primitive backwash.

As recently as 30 years ago, once powerful Brunei was a starving and disease-ridden nation of benighted tribesmen and headhunters, with a yearly income of only $80,000. At that time engineers from the British Malayan Petroleum Co., a Shell associate, were busy sinking exploratory shafts into what was to be the richest oilfield in the Commonwealth.

The Gusher. By last week, the first trickle of oil bubbling from the swamps of Brunei had swelled to a gushing 118,-ooo barrels a day. And of the money it brings, about 45% pours into Brunei's treasury. Brunei has become a rich country with an annual income exceeding $40 million, and the money, coming in faster than the nation can find a way to spend it, is buying a better life for every one of the 60,000 men, women and children in the Sultanate. "You rub your eyes and begin to count the miracles that are taking place in this Green Desert of Borneo," cabled TIME'S Hong Kong Correspondent Paul Hurmuses after a visit to Brunei last week, "and you find there is no end to them."

Practically every penny of Brunei's newfound riches is going into a huge system of social-and economic welfare enterprises. Schools, hospitals, roads and public works have sprung up everywhere. Rows of spanking new houses in cheerful pink, yellow and chartreuse have arisen to take the place of drab thatched huts. Massive U.S.-built earth movers plow into virgin forest, making way for new highways. A new $2,000,000 mosque, the first in Islam to boast an elevator, stands in the heart of Brunei town, the nation's capital (and only) city.

Outboard Dugout. At a wharf in the Tutong River, a Dayak fisherman, the descendant of generations of headhunters, climbs into his primitive dugout canoe, glances at his stainless-steel Rolex wristwatch, yanks the starter cord on his Johnson outboard motor, and whooshes upstream in a spray of foam (in one year alone, more than 1,000 outboard motors were sold in Brunei). Farther along the river, a work crew of tattooed natives mix concrete for the pilings of a new bridge. There is money in their pockets for ice-cold Carlsberg beer, Lucky Strikes and Ronson cigarette lighters, all on sale at a roadside stand when the lunch break comes. And the future for each of them is made rosier by the promise of a pension of $7 a month for life for everyone in the nation over 60.

Middle-Class Sultan. This is the kind of wealth His Highness Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin, He Who Is Made Lord of Brunei, wants for his nation. Unlike some of his Islamic counterparts in the Middle East, Brunei's unpretentious ruler, who followed his profligate brother to the throne in 1950, is content to live his own life surrounded by middle-class comforts, with a single wife and eight children in a simple, tasteful villa that would go unnoticed in a better U.S. suburb. "I want," he says a little stiffly, "to direct all my energies and resources toward the betterment of my people."

Though not always in complete agreement with his methods, since the Sultan is a stubborn as well as a sincere man, Sir Omar's British advisers help him achieve his purposes. It has not always been easy in a land that now boasts more than 50 schools but not yet a single college graduate. But even the leader of Brunei's nationalist party (an inevitable byproduct of progress) is mild in his demands. "We want internal self-government, but we will stay in the Commonwealth," he says. "And let me make it clear--we're not 'demanding' anything. We're simply requesting."

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