Nobilities of Brunei

I was doing a bit of research for the Civil Service Day article which was published yesterday on Brunei Times. I am sure most readers by now know that the title of the Cheterias and Pehins are like today's Minister. If you are appointed as Pengiran Cheteria or Pehin so and so, you are being appointed as a Minister for a particular portfolio. For instance, Pengiran Derma Wangsa would be the head of municipal issues, whereas Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Wangsa would be the supervisor of municipal issues.

I was thinking of listing those duties for the article as part of the history of the civil service but I decided against it. It's just too long and so I only picked a couple of examples.

The other interesting was how some of the titles have changed. The material I referred to is a 1975 article on adat istiadat published by Brunei Museum Journals. Compared to today, some of the major changes are as follows:-

Today's Title (in paranthesis is the Old Title):

Pengiran Perdana Wazir Sahibul Himmah Wal-Waqar (new)

Pengiran Perdana Cheteria Laila Diraja Sahibun Nabalah (new)

Pengiran Perdana Cheteria Sahibun Najabah (new)

Pengiran Pekerma Setia Diraja Sahibul Bandar (Pengiran Shahbandar Sahibul Bandar)

Pengiran Indera Sahibul Karib (new)

Pengiran Maharaja Setia Laila Diraja Sahibul Irshad (new)

Pengiran Paduka Tuan (no longer exist)

Pengiran Maharaja Adinda (no longer exist)

Pehin Orang Kaya Di-Gadong Seri Diraja (Pehin Orang Kaya Di-Gadong Seri Nara Indera)

Maybe I will continue on an old abandoned series. The duties of the Cheterias and Pehins. I started one about a year ago and I stopped.