Republic of Secular Territories

[Secular Territories]

Republic of Secular Territories

Table of Contents

Article 1: General Information of the Secular Territories
Article 2: Government of the Secular Territories
Article 3: Military of the Secular Territories
Article 4: Economy of the Secular Territories
Article 5: Geography of the Secular Territories
Article 6: People of the Secular Territories
Article 7: Constitution of the Secular Territories


Article 1

In the 12th-10th centuries BC, Australian natives (Aborigines) migrated throughout the South Pacific. These migrants would later make up what are now known as Polynesians. Polynesians in some islands advanced faster than others, and the islands that today make up the Republic of Secular Territories were some of the quickest to become civilized. However, they were slow to adopt Pacific trade, and so became technologically disadvantaged to the rest of the world, especially imperial Japan. From 1920-1945, Japan conquered more and more lands throughout the Pacific and East Asia, including the islands of the Secular Territories, which had been too isolated to detect until the Japanese found them and kept them as a secret Naval port. Once the Japanese were defeated in WW2, the natives of the Secular Territories managed to overthrow the Japanese rulers on the islands, allowing them to unite under one government on July 10, 1946.

The Republic of Secular Territories is, in fact, a republic composed of several territories with a secular, loosely federal government. These territories include: Mapaylara (a collection of 3 islands named Lou, Kyri, and Tilli), Lauilara (a pair of islands named Baryii and Sakalai), and Kyahilara (a collection of 5 islands named Kalamata, Tyrakali, Luai, Banau, Mykali). Each island is fairly small and contains one or no large cities. The major cities are located on Kyri, Sakalai, Luai, and Lou, and are named after the islands that they’re on.

People and culture

Official Languages: English, Ōlelo Kyri (Kyrian)
Total Languages: English (89% ; Taught in school), Kyrian (64% ; Local), Japanese (8.5%), Other (1.5%)
How its citizens are known/referred to: Kyrians
Ethnic Groups: Kyrians (71%), Japanese (9%), European (4%), Other Native (16%)
Population: 982,364
Population Density: 249 mi2
Major Cities: Kyri, Sakalai, Luai, and Lou
Life Expectancy: 81.9 Overall ; 80.7 Male ; 83 Female

Economy

Currency: 1 Lele = 1 USD ; 1 Lanai = 5 US cents
GDP per capita: 4911 USD
GDP: 4.8 billion USD
Major industries: Fishing, Tourism, Nondurable Manufacturing (footwear and clothes)

Government

Capital: Kyri
Government Type: Republic
Ruler type and name of ruler: N/A
Legislative Body: Local (village/city) – Island – Territory – Federal
Federal government divisions: Judiciary Branch and Body of Committees.

Geography and Environment

Climate: Ranges from 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. Heavy rainfall during summer and mild rainfall in the winter.
Geography: 10 mountainous, forested, volcanic islands. 8946 mi2 total area.

Military
Army Active Duty: 2,849
Army Reserve: 4,274

Air Force Active Duty: 640
Air Force Reserve: 930

Navy Active Duty: 1,425
Navy Reserve: 4,637

Total Active Military: 4,894
Total Reserve Military: 9,841

Total Military: 14,735

[Secular Territories]

Article 2 - Government

In the Republic of Secular Territories, the government is a Republic and has a central government, though the majority of decisions relating to domestic matters are in the hands of Territorial governments and Island governments. The central government handles issues of foreign policy, environmental and economic regulations, and national military, though each territory can, and does, have its own militaristic force. In addition, each territory has the option to enact stricter economic and environmental regulations, though only Lauilara enacts somewhat strict environmental regulations.

The central government is composed of a Judiciary Branch very similar to the US, with a

• High Court located in Kyri containing 9 Justices and a Chief Justice.
• Secondary Courts located in Sakalai, Kyri, and Banau
• Island Courts located in the capital of each island.
• Local Courts in each town, village, and city.

The other branch of the central government is a Body of Committees (BoC). There is no one central leader of the Republic of Secular Territories. The BoC does have a “leader”, but this leader is simply present to moderate and delegate decisions and can be overruled by a 2/3 vote from the committees (Coms). These Coms are designed to delegate issues in the government to a group(s) of experts relative to that issue. There is also a Senate that would vote on every issue as well that is voted for by the citizens only (no elected officials vote for or elect members of the Senate). For example, while Climate Change policy would be voted on by nearly every Com present, Nuclear Weapons policy would only concern the Domestic Economics Com, the Environmental Com, the Foreign Policy Com, and the Military Com, as well as the Senate. Each Com does have its members voted in, and these members can only serve up to two 3-year terms. However, the candidates for positions on each Com are first filtered through a process outlined in the Constitution that is amended anytime a new type of committee arises (For example, the original draft in 1946 didn’t have an Environmental Com, but warnings of Global Warming picked up in the 1980s resulted in the creation of one and, therefore, an amendment). There is a small BoC in each territory’s capital as well. Different committees don’t always hold the same amount of overall power, as the central government’s education committee, for example, has many more restrictions on the kinds of laws it can pass than the Territorial BoCs.

List of Coms:
• Domestic Economics
• International Economics
• Foreign Policy
• Science
• Environment
• Health
• Social Policy
• Military
• Civil Rights
• Immigration

• Education

There are multiple different parties in the Secular Territories, along with a strong number of Independent candidates for the BoC. The main three parties are the Pati Maketi (Market Party) whose main stance is a highly free economy, the Pati Lanumeamata (Green Party) whose main stances are high priorities on environmental conservation and climate change prevention, and the Pati Faauupegaina (Armed Party), whose main stance is a more militarized country. As of 2020, each of these parties holds roughly equal power in the BoC. There are roughly 15% of seats in the BoC held by other parties and officials not affiliated with any party. Since there are many different parties in the Secular Territories, a general rule of thumb is that for every major aspect of the country, there exists 2-3 parties that differ on approaches to that aspect.

[Secular Territories]

Article 3 – Military

   
    The Republic of Secular Territories Defensive Units (RSTDU) are mainly used for national protection, though attacking forces do exist in order to support the Pacific Islands Protection Alliance (PIPA), which the Secular Territories initiated in 1994 and works in tandem with the Pacific Islands Forum. The spending budget for the RSTDU is $288 million USD. Specifically, the military is made up of an Army, Navy, and Air Defense Force. The Army has 7,123 total members, the Navy has 6,062, and the Air Force has 1,570 members. There is no mandatory service for citizens of the Secular Territories, and all members of the armed forces are volunteers, many of whom take advantage of our social security benefits for all current and retired members of our military.


    The Pacific Islands Protection Alliance’s members include the Secular Territories, Samoa, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Wake Island, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, New Caledonia, Tonga, Palau, Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Nauru, Australia, and New Zealand. All member states are required to support the military actions of each other unless one country’s actions are condemned by 90% or more of the member states.

    The Army of the RSTDU is based mainly on defensive measures and surveillance. Specifically, the army is made up of 7 battalions. The 1st and 2nd battalions are light infantry, the 3rd battalion is heavy infantry and artillery, the 4th battalion is the 1st Medical battalion, the 5th battalion is the 1st Engineering battalion, the 6th battalion is the Reconnaissance and Support battalion, and the 7th battalion is the Special Forces battalion. The army’s equipment is as follows as of April 30, 2020:

• Artillery:
o     KH178 Howitzer (x6)
• Armored Vehicles:
o     Bushmaster Protected Military Vehicle (x15)
• Assault Rifles
o     AK-101
o     Heckler and Koch G36
• Precision Rifles
o     Steyr SSG 08
o     LMT 308 MWS
• Machine Guns
o     FN MAG 58
o     PKM
• Rocket Launchers:
o     RPG-7
• Pistols:
o     Glock 17
o     Beretta 92
o     SIG Sauer P320

    The Navy of the RSTDU currently sits on reserve at 3 different ports in Luai, Banau, and Tilli. Its primary functions are to protect the Secular Territories EEZ and support PIPA. The navy consists of 8 Pacific-class patrol boats given to the Secular Territories by Australia in the Pacific Patrol Boat Program, as well as 2 Oceanic survey vessels.

    The Air Defense Force operates with an airfield on Banau. 1 CASA CN-235 medium sized plane, 1 P3 Orion plane, and 2 NHIndustries NH90 medium sized helicopters.

[Secular Territories]

Article 4 – Economy

    The economy of the Republic of Secular Territories is on the capitalist side of the Capitalism-Socialism spectrum and allows a moderate degree of economic freedom. The market comprises roughly 70% of economic activity, with the government taking the other 30%. The black market is all but eliminated in the Secular Territories. Tourism makes up about 22% of the GDP of the Secular Territories and employs 16% of its citizens. Agriculture employs 12% of workers and makes up another 21% of GDP. Nondurable Manufacturing of clothes, electricity, gasoline, etc., however, is the largest industry, at 31% of the economy, but it only employs 28% of workers. Durable Manufacturing makes up another 12% of the GDP and 10% of employment. Fishing is a small but significant part of the economic activity of the Secular Territories, as it is the main source of income for 32% of Kyrians, most of whom live in rural areas along the coast, but only makes up 9% of the GDP.

  

    The Republic of Secular Territories’s major exports are: mangoes, coconuts, macadamias, alcohol, marijuana, footwear, ships, and tuna. The government’s policies on environmental regulations in all three territories encourage non-industrial agriculture, though some companies do find ways to become profitable in manufacturing. In fact, two of the largest 15 companies in Secular Territories manufacture ships for military, commercial, and personal use.

    There are large wealth and income gaps between the urban and rural areas of the Secular Territories. The capital city of Kyri and its surrounding metropolitan area alone account for 60% of the wealth of the country, and 45% of the wealth of Mapaylara. Large companies with headquarters in Kyri often locate their manufacturing in the other Mapaylara islands, Lou and Tilli, since Mapaylara has tax policies much more favorable to large corporations than the other territories. Kyahilara is highly rural, and most business in the territory is either controlled by large landowning companies growing tropical foods or by villages selling fish from local, small fisheries. Lauilara’s two islands contain eco-friendly factories developing footwear for multi-national corporations that most residents work for.