Brunei General Service Medal

 

General Service In Brunei Since 1966 - Present

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

The Brunei General Service Medal was a campaign medal presented by the Kingdom of Brunei for service in support of the Kingdom following the Brunei Revolt. The medal was instituted in 1968 and was awarded to British personnel who complete a minimum of 12 months service in Brunei usually on secondment in support of the Brunei armed forces.

 

A part of the British Empire since 1888, Brunei gained a degree of self-rule following the Second World War - but did not gain its full independence from the United Kingdom until January 1984.

 

During this time and following full independence, Brunei has been involved in a number of internal and external based disputes.

 

Throughout these, Brunei has been supported - particularly from a military and national security perspective - by the British which subsequently led to British armed forces being deployed in Brunei on various scales on a number of occasions.

 

Following the establishment of the medal, the Queen subsequently granted permission to wear the medal along with any other awards that a recipient may hold.

 

 

The medal is of a radiated star design, 40mm in diameter and 47mm in height struck in white-silver. During the period in which the medal was issued, the design changed a number of times.

 

The original version contained a white enamel cross with a central gilt medallion superimposed upon it which contained the royal insignia and the inscription; ‘GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL’ and its equivalent in Pingkat Laila Tugas.

 

The insignia has also changed several times with subsequent issues, and in some versions of the medal the insignia is surrounded by a laurel wreath.

 

The reverse is plain.

 

The ribbon is attached by way of a straight plain bar that is attached to the point of the upper star.

 

The medal was issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 32mm wide and is blue in colour with three red strips, one at the centre and one along either edge.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- The History Of Brunei.

 

The History Of Brunei - The Nation of Brunei, is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia; and it is separated into two parts by the Sarawak district of Limbang. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo. The remainder of the island's territory is divided between the nations of Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei's population was 408,786 in July 2012.

 

The official national history claims that Brunei can trace its beginnings to the 7th century, when it was a subject state named P'o-li, in the Sumatra-centric Srivijaya empire. It later became a vassal state of the Java-centric Majapahit empire. Brunei became a sultanate in the 14th century, under a newly converted Islamic sultan - Muhammad Shah.

 

At the peak of Bruneian Empire, Sultan Bolkiah (reigned 1485–1528) had control over the northern regions of Borneo, including modern-day Sarawak and Sabah, as well as the Sulu archipelago off the northeast tip of Borneo, Seludong (modern-day Manila), and the islands off the northwest tip of Borneo. The maritime state was visited by Spain's Magellan Expedition in 1521 and fought against Spain in 1578's Castille War.

 

The Bruneian Empire began to decline; during the 19th century, the Sultanate ceded Sarawak to James Brooke as a reward for his aid in putting down a rebellion and named him as rajah; and it ceded Sabah to the British North Borneo Chartered Company.

 

In 1888 Brunei became a British protectorate and was assigned a British Resident as colonial manager in 1906. After the Japanese occupation during World War II, in 1959 a new constitution was written. In 1962 a small armed rebellion against the monarchy was ended with the help of the British.

 

Brunei regained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January 1984.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.