Administrative divisions of Brunei

The administrative divisions of Brunei mainly consist of daerah (district), mukim (county) and kampong (village). They are organised hierarchically, with daerah being the first level and kampong the third level.

There are also a few municipal divisions which comprises of Bandar Seri Begawan and a few district towns. They are considered to be outside of the hierarchy of the main administrative division.

All the administrative divisions are under direct governance of the government through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Generally, the administrative divisions serve for population census. The administrative areas have limited to no autonomy, and is more pronounced towards the lowest administrative level. The major socio-political aspects such as education and law are centralised and managed through separate government ministries or departments.

There are four districts in Brunei: Brunei-Muara, Belait, Tutong and Temburong. Brunei-Muara is the smallest district but has the most population. Belait is the largest district and the centre for the production of oil and gas.

A district is headed by a Pegawai Daerah or District Officer and assisted by an Assistant District Officer.

The administrative level of mukim lies below the district. At present, there are 38 mukims, with 17 in Brunei-Muara, 8 in Tutong, 8 in Belait and 5 in Temburong District. A mukim is headed by a penghulu.

A kampong is the lowest administrative level in Brunei and headed by a ketua kampong or village headman. Its population varies from a few hundreds to units of thousands.

Kampong Ayer is not considered a kampong administrative division. It is simply a common term in referring to the whole of the cluster of settlements on the Brunei River. However, Kampong Ayer is a large area which consists of a few mukim and a number of kampong.

There are four areas of population which are considered to be bandaran or municipality, namely:

The municipalities are considered outside of the hierarchy of the main administrative division, as their spatial jurisdiction do not necessarily fit to any of the levels, as well as their sizes are not consistent — Bandar Seri Begawan comprises of several mukim but other towns comprises of only a few kampong. Also, the municipalities are governed under different section from that which handles the districts and their subdivisions, although still within the same ministry.

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Wikipedia