Southeast Asia: A Multidisciplinary Journal, Vol 19, 2019, pp 64–77 © FASS, UBD The Cultural and Creative Industries as a New Road to Economic Diversification in Brunei Darussalam Rui Oliveira Lopes and Mohammed Rahiman Aliudin Universiti Brunei Darussalam Abstract Since the 1920s, the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam has sustained its economy through oil and gas production. Despite the increase in overseas investment and domestic production, the fall in oil and gas prices in the last decade has had a great impact on Brunei’s economy. Nevertheless, Brunei has been strengthening other areas of its economy, such as the primary sector, services, and tourism industries. Following international economic strategies, new streams for the growth of the cultural and creative industries (CCI) have been identified. Over the last 15 years, the government has established national policies in three main areas with the aim to create an eco-system for a sustainable creative industry. These are: Infrastructure and Creative Labs; Creative Higher Education; and Intellectual Property. This paper examines the development of the CCI in Brunei and the growth of the sector over the last fifteen years. Governmental initiatives implemented to strengthen the creative economy will be analysed and compared to the perceptions that industry professionals, stakeholders, and the creative community have on the impact of these policies in the development of the CCI. Introduction Brunei Darussalam is a small and independent country, under an Islamic Monarchy, located on the northern coast of Borneo Island. According to the Population and Housing Census Update of 2016, the estimated population of Brunei Darussalam is around 422,678, with 49.8% of the population below the age of 29.7 years old (PMO Brunei Darussalam, 2016). The population is mostly concentrated in urban areas around the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, followed by the towns of Kuala Belait and Tutong. In the census of 2016, the Malays (which comprises seven ethnic groups) are the largest community (65.7%), followed the Chinese (10.3%) and a considerable expatriate community (24%) (PMO Brunei Darussalam, 2016). The country is administered under the principles of the national philosophy of Melayu Islam Beraja (Malay Islamic Monarchy), which combines the threefold components of Malay culture, the Islamic religion and respect for the monarchy. Around 67% of its population is Muslim and the national language is Malay, although English is the predominant language in education, in professional activities, and frequently used in daily conversations (McLellan, Haji-Othman, & Deterding, 2016). Despite the small scale of the country, Brunei Darussalam has a developing economy, which is heavily dependent on exports of crude oil and natural gas. The oil and gas industry in the country has been the predominant economic activity since the late 1920s, providing a solid structure for development and investment in other economic sectors, such as business services, construction, wholesale and retail trade, finance, and real estate (Kumpoh, 2017). Since the energy crises and financial speculations over oil and gas prices during the 2000s, Brunei Darussalam has been making efforts towards economic diversification to become less reliant on the energy sector. To be accurate, the introduction of policies and implementation of strategies towards economic diversification can be identified in the Second National Development Plan (1962–1966). However, the failure to diversify the