Well, you can do that. And get yourself overthrown.
Old Bruneian monarchy didn't operate in the exact same way as those in the Malay Peninsula. Instead, royal power was exercised in a quasi-patronage system that was scaled to incredible levels. The taxes in coin and regional products I told earlier? Traditionally, the sultan was responsible for spreading the royal largesse from the sales of such goods to the nobility and regional lords, whom would give their loyalty in return. This ensured a gigantic show of support for the monarchy across coastal Borneo and the Philippines, but it also means that many local lords are only loyal to said largesse, not the actual state. If the Bruneian sultan was unable to sustain the patronage system, his influence would wane, and the nobles could choose another one by themselves. By force, if necessary.
It was this fickle loyalty that partially allowed Sarawak to annex so much Bruneian territory; some of the local lords and chieftains were never truly loyal to Brunei, and saw where the wind was blowing.
But with all this, it should be noted that during her golden age, the Bruneian Empire was among the richest, if not the richest, traditional Malay sultanate in Southeast Asia, with taxes and tribute contributing to the buildup of an incredibly enormous palace court and regional nobility. James Brooke himself noted after his takeover of Kuching that Bandar Brunei was immensely wealthy in trade, with traders coming as far as China and Yemen. The fact that even after Brooke Sarawak annexed most of Brunei's lands and housed a number of ex-Bruneian nobles, Bandar Brunei's remaining nobility was so large it dovetailed state finances into bankruptcy speaks of just how formerly wealthy the sultanate was.
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