NationStates Jolt Archive

Government Gazette
Published by the Government-in-Exile, United Provinces of Tanah Burung

http://www.suite101.com/files/topics/549/files/stfrancis143x244.jpg

Our cover image depicts St. Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds. In a time when foreign invaders are occupying much of our country, we take inspiration from the relentless determination and sense of justice shown by St. Francis. Tanah Burung means "the land of birds," thus we feel this image is appropriate to our struggle.

Economic Reconstruction Planning Begins

CORONADA (PTBI) -- Rosa Almeida, repsonsible for economic planning in Tanah Burung's government-in-exile, today released a discussion paper on economic reconstruction.

"Obviously, once we defeat the foreign occupiers and regain full control of our own country, there will be a great deal of work to be done," said Almeida, the people's representative for economic affairs & cooperatives. "There will be a lot of rebuilding needed. But we are not going to reconstruct everything exactly as it was. There were economic injustices before, and i want to see us work together to build a more just society for the future."

Tanah Burung experienced steady economic growth after joining the International Fair Trade Agreement (IFTA). But the domination of certain large cooperatives led to a highly unequal pattern of development. Those lucky or wealthy enough to obtain membership in a powerful cooperative prospered; others were left behind. The coastal areas experienced rapid growth, while the interior lagged behind. The heavy regional imbalances in recent elections showed an increasing bitterness between have and have-not provinces and sectors which, Almeida beleives, are a potentially serious threat to national unity.

Finally, the rise of large coops alienated workers and their elected managers, who often behaved more like autocrats making decisions based on the profit motive, rather than the mutual aid principle that is supposed to guide coops under the national constitution. This tendency was serious enough that the UN now classes Tanah Burung as a private enterprise economy, a direct contravention of election pledges by several of the collective presidency's 11 members, including all 5 members of the government-in-exile.

"That has to change," Almeida said in a speech simulcast to Burungi refugee camps in Eauz, which is already circulating in underground edition throughout Tanah Burung. Among the proposals she has advanced for a national dialogue are:

* Tighter controls over coops with more than 10,000 members to ensure that they are acting in accordance with national economic plans
* A maximum divergence in wage rates between top and bottom earners within a single coop
* An equalization formula that would see wealthier provinces send a portion of revenues to poorer provicnes to ensure the same level of social services is available throughout the country
* Affirmative action schemes for structurally disadvantaged ethnic groups
* Incentives for job creation in interior provinces

Tanah Burung's international opening also created adjustment issues. Almeida is hoping to see the IFTA advantage parlayed into a new status as a fully industrialized economy integrated more closely into the IFTA trading system. Her international proposals include:

* Tanah Burung will join a common central bank with members of the Non-Human Union and other green economies, and adopt the Union paw as international trading currency
* Continued efforts to ensure trade diversification
* A more active role in expanding the IFTA membership base, including among the more humane capitalist states
* A continued resistance to foreign direct investment in favour of industries owned by the people of Tanah Burung through a designated coop, in favour of production sharing or outright aid packages. In this connection, Almeida said, the government would eagerly accept rebuilding aid and new investment given without strings from other IFTA members.

State of war continues

People’s representative for foreign affairs & human rights, Mr Mari Alkatiri, confirmed today that a state of war continues to exist between Tanah Burung and Knootoss.

“It is true that we are making efforts to negotiate a peace with the invaders, but until they leave our country or agree to sign a treaty with involvement by a third party, we are at war,” he said in a public statement. “They are killing our people in their illegal and immoral war. We ask our friends and all peace-loving states to press Knootoss for a withdrawal from our country immediately.”

Alkatiri also repeated his call for an economic boycott of Knootoss. “We ask that no state reward them while they are carrying out this war, in violation of all international agreements, all the principles of national sovereignty, and all ideas of basic human rights.”

Burungi representatives are currently negotiating with representatives of Knootoss at talks in Pantocratoria. However, Alkatiri said that no agreement would be signed unless it included Knootian agreement to binding arbitration.

“We have signed treaties with the Knootians before,” he said. “Frankly, they cannot be trusted. Under the terms of the International Mediation treaty signed in Hofburg, Lavenrunz, Knootoss was required to submit to mediation before taking military action against us. They refused to do this. they invaded our country even while we were seeking peaceful negotiations. Even though they flouted the treaty and have almost single-handedly destroyed the International Mediation Council, we continue to seek peace with them. But we shall not trust them to keep their word, not unless third parties are also involved to make sure they do not break their treaty commitments again.”

New capital to be constructed

Declaring "a new golden age for our people's creativity," guerrilla force commander Bi Kikere announced that an unspecified rainforest village will be transformed into a "glorious new emerald capital for our nation, once the foreign invaders are driven from the sacred soil of the motherland."

Bi Kikere, the minister for defence and sports, is the only member of the old collective presidency still in occupied Tanah Burung. She made the announcement in a proclamation written in her own hand from her mobile pallanquin, carried through the jungles by guerrilla fighters.

The new city will be named Rumbipura, a contraction for the names of Markus Rumbiak, a hero of the independence struggle, and the Sanskrit word for City. "It shall stand forever as a monument to our people's resistance and freedom," she said. "Constructing it shall unite our people in a common grand project of upbuilding. Lao hamutuk! Walk together!"

Design proposals from Burungi and foreign architects are welcomed once the country is once again free. The new capital in the interior will replace the old system of rotating the capital amongst the six provinces.

IFTA membership lapses

The United Provinces' membership in the International Fair Trade Agreement has lapsed, announced Rosa Almeida, people's representative for economic affairs & cooperatives. War and the resultant Knootian occuaption and blockade have closed normal trade channels, leaving Tanah Burung isolated from its normal trade patterns.

"The IFTA has been very good for Tanah Burung," said Almeida, a leading IFTA-booster in the past. "Membership in this fair-trade bloc helped carry us from the ranks of the periphery into the developed world and delivered unheard-of prosperity to our people. When we went in, our economy was ranked as developing, and it rose to all-consuming.

"But with the need for reconstruction looming, we will need to look to countries closer to us for help, inclusing countries of different ideologies. We are simply too far away from the other members and too vulnerable to confine our trade to the IFTA alone. I commend the IFTA to any country wishig to raise its standard of living, and regret that events beyond my control have made it necessary for us to leave the trade bloc."

Tanah Burung will continue to ensure respect for IFTA-mandated standards on worker's rights, Almeida confirmed, while seeking new partners for trade and for postwar reconstruction. The basic principles of the guided economy will remain intact.

(ooc: i have another nation in the IFTA now, so this one has to come out)