Qualla: The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers

The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pangalau, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1965, Bandar Seri Begawan got its first elevator. It was not installed by a property developer or a government ministry. It rose inside a six-story tower on the banks of the Kianggeh River, built entirely by an organization of schoolteachers. The Brunei Malay Teachers Association -- known by its Malay acronym PGGMB -- had spent three decades accumulating an influence that far exceeded what anyone might expect from a professional union. Founded in 1937 by a handful of graduates from the Sultan Idris Training College across the water in Perak, PGGMB would go on to birth Brunei's first nationalist movement, challenge the colonial government in the State Council, and construct a real estate portfolio spanning schools, apartment buildings, and investments stretching from Kuala Belait to Sydney.

Image: Pangalau | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers: Graduates with a Purpose

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Government of Brunei, Public domain. The story begins at the Sultan Idris Training College in Tanjong Malim, Perak, where young Bruneians traveled to earn teaching credentials in the 1930s. Marsal Maun led the founding effort, joined by Othman Bidin, Basir Taha, and Pengiran Muhammad Ali. These were not radicals -- ...

Image: Government of Brunei | Public domain

The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers: From Classrooms to the State Council

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. After World War II reshaped Southeast Asia, PGGMB reshaped itself. The association helped establish BARIP, Brunei's first nationalist organization, seeding the country's independence movement from within a teachers' lounge. When the 1948 Societies Enactment curtailed political or...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers: A Cooperative Empire

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Pengiran Muhammad Ali understood that political influence without economic muscle was fragile. On 14 January 1953, he registered PGGMB's cooperative savings fund, requiring every new member to contribute at least B$20 monthly. From that modest seed capital grew an enterprise of s...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers: The Tower on the River

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The association's most visible legacy stands on Jalan Kianggeh, where the river bends through the capital's heart. On 2 August 1963, Pengiran Bendahara Pengiran Muda Hashim laid the foundation stone for the Brunei Malay Teachers Building, a six-story structure budgeted at under B...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Tallest Building in Brunei Town Was Built by Teachers: Still Teaching, Still Building

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pangalau, CC BY-SA 4.0. As of 2005, PGGMB counted over 2,500 members among its ranks -- teachers and educational officers united under the same banner their founders raised nearly seven decades earlier. The association's goals have not changed in their essentials: unify Malay teachers, ease their financ...

Image: Pangalau | CC BY-SA 4.0