Brunei Press Sdn. Bhd.

Brunei Press Sdn. Bhd. is the largest newspaper publisher in Brunei. It runs the newspapers Borneo Bulletin in English and Media Permata in Malay. It used to also run the English newspaper Brunei Times, which folded in 2016.


Media assets

Publishing: Borneo Bulletin, Media Permata

State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)


Ownership and governance

Brunei Press Sdn. Bhd. is owned by QAF Group of Companies, a major conglomerate in Brunei, with investments in many sectors including car dealerships, restaurant businesses, industry and manufacturing, and marketing. The group QAF is majority owned by the Brunei state (more precisely by the sultan’s family), according to data from journalists in Malaysia.

Source of funding and budget

Although it generates some revenues from advertising sales, Brunei Press Sdn. Bhd. receives substantial state funding, in various forms (including state advertising and state grants), according to journalists in Malaysia. However, without publicly available details about the enterprise’s budget, the share of the state funding in the company’s total budget is not known. Local experts say that state funds account for more than 50% of the total budget of the company.

Editorial independence

It is common knowledge in Brunei that the newspapers run by Brunei Press Sdn. Bhd. are government mouthpieces, never criticizing authorities and routinely devoting most of their space to positive coverage of the government, according to journalists in Malaysia.

No domestic statute and no independent mechanism of assessment or oversight of the editorial independence of Brunei Press Sdn. Bhd. newspapers have been identified.

October 2023