What little I've heard about Brunei suggests otherwise.I've spent some time in Dubai,for example,and it seems like a comparatively reasonable moslem country.Certainly not as bad as Saudi Arabia or Iran.
“Supposedly Brunei was one of those “moderate” Muslim countries.”
It used to be, but the Sultan has been getting increasingly religiously conservative in his older age (69).
It is an absolute monarchy, so the Sultan’s every whim is law.
I wonder if some islamic Rasputin has gained influence over his thinking, if he is tightening up sharia as part of foreign relations with Gulf Arab monarchies, or if it is just his own evolution, as his sex drive fades away.
Regardless of his dictatorial religious tightening, the current Sultan is the last competent one in the family - all of his likely successors are dim bulbs.
Brunei is a clean place, with little crime and no beggars or homeless - but it is dull. Dubai however, is like the Vegas or Sin City of the Arab world. They even have a tiny section of town, like a red light district (only smaller), where a few churches are allowed (without crosses, towers, spires, or anything like that of course).