Brunei ruler to hold 60th birthday bash tomorrow

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 14 (Reuters) Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, one of the world's richest men, will mark his 60th birthday tomorrow with a lavish dinner for 10,000 people, including leaders from fellow Southeast Asian countries.

Flags, lights, bunting and posters depicting Brunei's absolute monarch swathed the capital of the tiny, oil-rich nation on Friday, ahead of what is being billed as Brunei's biggest bash.

The sultan, who has reigned for 39 years, will host leaders or ministers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand for the party.

The festivities, which kicked off on July 1 and end on August 18, will culminate tomorrow with an investiture ceremony and the royal banquet at the sprawling Nurul Iman palace in Brunei's capital of Bandar Seri Begawan.

But it will be relatively subdued compared with the sultan's 50th birthday bash, when US pop star Michael Jackson and Britain's Prince Charles dropped by. This time around only regional leaders and a Jordanian princess will turn up.

''Every member of the (Brunei) royal family will be there, except for the new baby,'' a government official told reporters, referring to the newest royal offspring, born on June 1.

But there is one other exception. A notable absentee will be the king's younger brother, Prince Jefri, now living in exile following a financial scandal.

Brunei has demanded that Jefri return billions of dollars he is accused of squandering while head of its state investment arm.

The prince was reported in the British press to be still living the high life, with homes in London, New York and Paris. He was sacked as agency head in 1998 after his conglomerate, Amedeo, collapsed under massive debts.

The king, who is also Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister, received an early birthday present recently when his second wife, a Malaysian, gave birth to a baby boy.

The king will deliver an important birthday speech during Saturday's investiture function. ''The speech normally sets the policy direction of the nation,'' the Brunei Times newspaper said today.

Brunei, dependent on oil and gas exports, is a country of fewer than 400,000 people and sits on the northern edge of the vast island of Borneo, shared also by Malaysia and Indonesia.

The government has been trying to wean the country off economic reliance on petroleum and turn to manufacturing and financial services but has had little success so far.

REUTERS PKS ND1716