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Brunei celebrated its independence from Britain Thursday with traditional...

By PAUL WEDEL

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei -- Brunei celebrated its independence from Britain Thursday with traditional songs and dances in ceremonies attended by Prince Charles, leaders from more than 70 countries and 50,000 citizens of the oil-rich sultanate.

The crowd, nearly one quarter of the country's population, jammed into the newly completed National Stadium accompanied by a local orchestra playing bronze gongs and wooden xylophones.

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Britain's Prince Charles, along with three kings, five presidents, four prime ministers and representatives from more than 60 countries, watched as young men and women sang and performed traditional Brunei dances.

Charles, traveling without Princess Diana who is expecting their second child, sat next to Brunei's ruler Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah during the elaborate ceremonies that will continue for three days.

U.S Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth Dam and a team of 20 officials represented the United States at the ceremony celebrating Brunei's independence after 96 years as a British protectorate.

Brunei gained full independence on Jan. 1 but the celebration was delayed to allow Prince Charles and other foreign dignitaries to attend.

Among the special guests on the royal dias were the kings of Malaysia, Tonga and Western Samoa, Presidents Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, and Suharto of Indonesia and Prime Ministers Prem Tinasulanonda of Thailand, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia, and Chin Iee Chong of South Korea.

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A choir in blue robes and white islamic head scarves sang the national anthem and a new independence song.

Dancers displayed movements symbolizing the country's fishing and farming and there was a special march by oil workers who provide 99 percent of the country's foreign exchange earnings.

The festivities will end with a lavish banquet for 4,000 guests in the sultans new $300 million palace.

The country occupies only 2,226 square miles of the north coast of Borneo, but has lucrative oil and gas reserves, exports of which to the United States and Japan have given the country's 205,000 people a per capita income of $22,000 -- the highest in Asia.

Gas and oil production has allowed the sultan's government to provide subsidized housing, free medical care, high civil service salaries and still pile up reserves of more than $14 billion.

Britain has left Brunei with a functioning bureaucracy and a stable political situation under the nearly unlimited powers of the 37-year-old sultan.

It has also left behind a battalion of gurkha troops and a sprinkling of British officers in command of the well-equipped Royal Brunei Armed Forces.

Prince Charles was to inspect Brunei's newest missile boat, tour the country's lucrative oil fields and visit the gurkhas that remained in Brunei after independence to guard the oilfields.

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The prince, who brought his personal polo manager in his retinue, is ret to meet polo-loving Sultan Hassanal and other high-ranking guests in three matches.

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