The last surviving monarchies in the world

Observing last Saturday's coronation of King Charles III, we came to realize that there are still millions of people in the world who are under the absolute powers of autocrats. In an era where even the smallest and poorest countries in Africa have already embraced democracy, freedom, liberty, and independence, there are still nations that cling to the absolute powers of their kings and emperors. The most intriguing question is not what but why.

Fellow ASEAN member state Brunei Darussalam is a tiny country in the northeast part of the island of Borneo. It’s an absolute monarchy under the control and domination of its lifetime sultan called Yang Di-Pertuan Hassanal Bolkiah who lives in the largest palace in the world. His family has been in control of Brunei since the fifteenth century. He is both the head of state and the head of government as prime minister. He has absolute power to make all kinds of political, economic, social, and even religious decisions. No one has the right to question or oppose him. His net worth is more than $20 billion and he owns many prized palaces, and castles all over the world. Brunei has a population of only 460,000 and an area of 5.7 square kilometers. Its GDP is $31.9 billion and its per capita income is $74,952, the ninth highest in the whole world.

The most absolute monarchy is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a government which is a unitary Islamic and absolute monarchy, ruled by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, whose family has controlled this nation since the 1920s or for more than 100 years already. This monarchy covers the bulk of the entire Arabian Peninsula with an area of 2.149 million square kilometers, most of which are filled with rich oil deposits. Its population is about 39 million, just one-third of the Philippines' but its GDP is a whopping $2.3 trillion and a per capita of $67,019. Bahrain’s population is 1.4 million, but its GDP is $87.1 billion and its per capita $57,142. Its government is a unitary Islamic state which is a semi-parliamentary and semi-constitutional state. Its King is Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa.

The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates or states originally ruled by seven brothers. The most famous of the seven emirates are Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the capital. It has a federal Islamic parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy. Its current president is Mohammed bin Sayed Al Nahyan and its Prime Minister is Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. It has an area of 83.6 thousand square kilometers and a population of 9.2 million, which is less than one-tenth of that of the Philippines. But it has a GDP of $779.234 billion and a per capita of $78,255. The Kingdom of Oman in the southern tip of the peninsula, is a unitary absolute monarchy ruled by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, It has an area of 309,500 square kilometers and a population of 4.5 million. But its GDP is $165.9 billion and per capita of $35,286.

Kuwait is where I was assigned for three years as a Labor attaché and head of POLO in our embassy there. It is a rich country with a unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy with the Al-Sabah royal family controlling it for the longest time. Its current emir or head of state is Nawaf Al-Amad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Prime Minister Ahmad Awaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. Its area is only 17.818 square kilometers and its population is 4.2 million (smaller than that of Cebu Province) more than three million of whom are migrant workers and expats. We have about 300,000 OFWs in Kuwait and more than half of them are domestic helpers. Kuwait has a GDP of $248,113 billion and a per capita of $51,528.

Qatar is a super-rich small nation with a unitary authoritarian semi-constitutional monarchy. Its emir is Tanim bin Hamad and its prime minister is Mohammed bin Abdulrahman nin Al-Thani. Its GDP is $303,369 billion and per capita of $113,675. Its area is only 111,581 square kilometers and its population is 2.7 million. I have no space to discuss other monarchies like Swaziland, Bhutan, Monaco, Liechtenstein, and the Vatican.

But we should be perplexed, mystified, and even dumbfounded that in today's era of liberty, democracy, and freedom, there are still peoples and nations that are being ruled by absolute monarchs. Intriguingly, they are mostly Islamic and surprisingly richer than us who are wallowing in democratic poverty.