cover single page - Universiti Brunei Darussalam

KEMENTERIAN KEBUDAYAAN, BELIA DAN SUKAN
NEGARA BRUNEI DARUSSALAM
Foreword
I am happy to write a foreward to this latest book by Associate Professor Dr Haji
B. A. Hussainmiya. He is a well-known historian who has written already two
fine books on Brunei’s modern history and several articles to local and international
journals. The inspiration for this book came from a Conference organised by the
History Centre from 1-3 March 2006 to commemorate the centenary of the
1906 Residency Agreement. It brought together historians from various local
organisations to discuss and evaluate the impact of British presence in Brunei.
One of the participants at the conference was Dr Hussainmiya from Department
of History, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, who was inspired by the conference to
produce a series of articles for the Borneo Bulletin aimed to present a balanced
view of the period.
Dr Hussainmiya is indeed eminently qualified to write on Brunei history.
He has been teaching and researching history at UBD for nearly two decades. He
is also an unofficial consultant to the History Centre. I benefited from his critical
reviews of some of my own books, including Brunei Darussalam: The Road to
Independence. He has been an important member of the Brunei History Centre
team assigned to the collection of historical documents by visiting (some headed
by myself) and searching the archives in many countries including the UK, USA
and in the ASEAN region.
In contrast to Dr Hussainmiya’s academic publications, his present book has
adopted a “popular history” narrative aimed at a wider audience to awaken an
interest, both inside and outside the country. He provides us with some interesting
insights with which one might or might not agree, but his writings seem quite
convincing.
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