Logue

Occupying the heart of the Brunei River is a sprawling water village named Kampong Ayer, a settlement complete with schools and police stations and some 30,000 people – almost half of the capital’s population – who live in its gaudily painted wooden houses. Here, tradition and values of the Kampong lifestyle are seamlessly weaved into the conveniences of a modern life. Even the humblest of homes have at least a television set, while others enjoy air-conditioning, Internet access and satellite television.

But this unique life on the river is increasingly being threatened by the lure of land. While most of the elders have lived their lives in the kampong, their offspring are being lured away by housing relocation programmes, where they get a proper house complete with a front porch and garden on land.

This change in aspirations and lifestyle among the next generation may see the world’s largest water village disappear. With more of Kampong Ayer’s residents relocating to land, is this the beginning of the end to their traditional way of life?