Bansunay

Bansunay Tanah Bansunai (Bansunese)
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Minum Dari Sungai Hidup "Drink from the River of Life"
Capital	Kubujuara 1°80′S 112°86′E
Largest city	Tanjang 5°06′N 115°22′E
Official languages	Bansunese
Demonym(s)	Bansunese
Government	Federal presidential republic
• President	Surya Hadi Widjaja
• Vice President	Buana Eka
Legislature	National Assembly
Independence
• Rythenean settlement	1620
• Tyrnican settlement	1816
• Treaty of Arden	13 March 1913
• End of Coalition occupation	21 October 1945
Area
• Total	667,566 km2 (257,749 sq mi)
Population
• 2021 estimate	30,372,000
• 2018 census	29,902,238
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	$745.70 billion
• Per capita	$24,938
GDP (nominal)	estimate
• Total	$338.58 billion
• Per capita	$11,323
Gini	40.2 medium
HDI	0.700 high
Currency	Bansunese halupir (BHP)
Time zone	UTC+07:00 (Western Isuan Time
Date format	yyyy-mm-dd (CE)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+108
Internet TLD	.bn

Bansunay (/bænsʌneɪ/; Bansunese: Bansunai, pronounced: /bɑːŋsʊnaɪ/), formally referred to as Tanah Bansunai (lit. Land of Bansunay) is a nation in Isuan, bordering Songha to the west, Majisia to the south, Trenggulun to the east, and the Sea of Qes to the north. It has an area of 667,566 square kilometres, and a population of around 30 million people. Bansunay is comprised of nine federated states that retain certain powers and privileges. The national government is a presidential republic based in the planned city of Kubujuara, which forms its own federal territory.

Bansunay was one of the first places in Isuan to develop rice agriculture, with its fertile fields and river valleys playing host to a multitude of independent states. These polities usually settled their differences in ritual battles, rather than in true warfare. Alawokambese influence began to spread westwards along the coast in the 8th century, bringing the practice of Macakkanism into the region; it was in this period that the coastal cities grew larger than their inland counterparts.

Rythene extended its control over much of northern Bansunay in the 17th century, although this was mostly an ancillary endeavour to consolidate its Songhese territories. Its influence waned after the Great Upheaval, replaced by a waxing Tyrnican presence. Both Auressian empires failed to expand southwards, limited to the coastline by geographic constraints. The disgruntled inland states aligned with the Trenggulun All-Peoples Congress and Songha during the First Great War, driving Tyrnican influence out of Isuan entirely.

After its independence was recognised in the Treaty of Arden, a series of military cliques consolidated the emerging Bansunese government into a cohesive national administration. Bansunay aligned with Imperial Songha in the Sea of Qes crises in the 1920s and 30s, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Great War. Bansunese forces were involved in fronts against Albrennia, Trenggulun, Blayk, and Rythene, but were ultimately defeated by the Coalition. Bansunay was occupied from 1943 until 1950, leading to a large degree of Albrennian economic investment.

Bansunay is closely affiliated with Songha, with the pair forming the centre of the informal grouping known as the Ngtkip Pact. However, a significant portion of the Bansunese economy comprises subsidiary companies of Albrennia’s Pillars — most prominently Reynolds Midland & Co. — which is a significant cause of geopolitical tension in Isuan. Bansunay is a significant exporter of rice, rubber, palm oil, tea, and coffee.

Etymology

“Bansunay” is the Rythenean translation of the native “Bansunai”; more correctly spelt Bansungai. Sungai is the Bansunese word meaning river, referring to the multitude of rivers that flow through the country. There have been several proposed explanations for the ban- prefix, mostly deriving from the Bansunese language.

• banyak (many); “many rivers”
• bangun or bangkit (to rise)'; "rising rivers", referring to the propensity for the rivers to flood during monsoon season
• bangsa (people); “people rivers”, meaning that Tanah Bansunai might mean “land of the people of the rivers”

History

Colonial Period

Tyrnican colonisation

• Tyrnicans attempt to penetrate the interior with ironclads/river monitors; they succeed in maintaining tenuous control of Bidang Lumpur for 5 years before the governor defects
• Construction of railways

Geography

Landscapes of Bansunay

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  View of Pulau Tapu across the Strait

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  Tonjol Tir in the north-western marshes

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  Mangsan, an upland logging town

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  The Central Tocek reservoir

Situated in central Isuan, Bansunay is bounded on the north by a maritime border in the Sea of Qes with Songha (which it also borders on the west); by Trenggulun on the east; and by Majisia on the south. It lies between the latitudes 6°N and 5°S, straddling the equator, and longitudes 108° and 118°E. It has an area of 667,566 km² (257,749 sq mi) and a nominal coastline length of 1,111 km — although this figure could triple, depending on how river deltas are measured. Excluding riverine islands and semi-coastal islands, Bansunay has few offshore islets, and none that are inhabited.

By virtue of the difficulty in traversing its terrain, parts of Bansunay are among the most inaccessible in the world. The Felding Mountains rise higher in Bansunay than in any of its neighbours, sharing the eponymous Mount Felding (the tallest mountain in Isuan) with Majisia along the southern border. The northern foothills of the Feldings possess a high amount of geological folds, which results in the formation of numerous river valleys carving their way towards the coast. Bansunay has the highest concentration of rivers, streams, oxbow lakes (sungmadi), confluences, and bifurcations of any country in the world. Some cartographic maps of the country are so detailed that they must be updated once a year in order to keep up with the changing paths through the swamp and marshland. The Jaluran River, which flows into the Sea of Qes, is the second-longest river in Isuan (1,336 km) but has the largest volume of water. Bansunay also possesses the headwaters of the Iniha River, which flows to the Demontean — and even sources some tributaries which join the Hsia River (the longest river in Isuan) as it flows to Liu-Hu, on the Bay of Padmer.

Mount Felding, which sits astride the border with Majisia.

Geology

The Trans-Isuan Highland Cordillera dominates Bansunay topographically, beginning sharply in the south and trending lower as foothills toward the northern coast. The ranges are known by a variety of names in common parlance: Duri-Duri ("thorns"); the Ambulus; the Bai'akisa Mountains; and the Felding Mountains, with most names originating locally but being extended to refer to the entire cordillera. This is the case in Trenggulun, where "Ambulus" refers to the Trans-Isuan highland region as a whole. In Bansunay and internationally, the term usally only refers to the mountains in central Trenggulun and northeastern Majisia. Used in this sense, the Ambulus is a newer mountain range formed by the shallow subduction of the Antonesia plate beneath the much larger Auresurucian plate in the mid-Cenozoic. The older Felding Mountains ("the Feldings") are considered to comprise the remainder of the cordillera, and were first formed as a collisional orogeny during the late Mesozoic, around the same time as the Gyo-chin Mountains. The Padmer plate, having split from eastern Idica when the Agana supercontinent dissolved, converged with the south side of the Surucia plate over a front of over 7,500 km.

Despite being younger, the elevation of the Ambulus range is not as high as the Felding Mountains. One aspect of this is the ongoing erosion of the Ambulus, which does not affect more inland areas of Isuan. The Feldings are also particularly tall because of the displacement of the oceanic crust between the continental Padmer and Surucia plates: ongoing obduction ensures that mountain-building (including volcanic and seismic activity) continues to be present in the Feldings. Where the Feldings and the Ambulus overlap, the coterminous Ambulus magmatic arc creates additional volcanic activity in eastern Isuan — as a result, volcanoes are found in greater numbers in Majisia and Trenggulun, which lie closer to the Antonesian arc-trench complex than Bansunay. The Antonesia-Northern Demontean mid-oceanic ridge (near the Trenggulunese Demontean territories) also poses a risk to the coast of eastern Isuan, since seafloor spreading is associated with undersea volcanism and seismicity that can trigger tsunamis.

Bansunay lies on the Sea of Qes, an interior mediterranean sea of either the Demontean Ocean or the Estatian Ocean (sometimes both). The Sea was originally limited to its western half, and was a shallow epeiric basin in continental Surucia, rather than its current status as a marginal sea. The eastern portion formed when the Northern Demontean plate, one of the oldest and densest oceanic plates, subducted at a deep angle beneath Surucia. The subduction zone underwent trench rollback, which separated the Twin Heads (Bukkang and Ken-ting Peninsulas) from the remainder of Isuan as it was stretched by the older plate. This formed a back-arc region, with the Heads remaining above sea level as an orogenic remnant arc. Flooding caused by glacial melting and minor tectonic drift caused the disappearance of the Ta-Puia isthmus over time, leaving the now-ancient Paleozoic Ta-Puia orogeny — formed in the same era as the Tianzhu Mountains — as the only major land above sea level between the eastern and western seas. The Sea remains bathymetrically split north of Ta-Puia: the eastern section drains into the Demontean through the Twin Heads Strait, whereas the western drains into the Estatian Ocean through the Thammachot Strait. A majority of the individual rivers in Bansunay drain into the west, but a greater volume of water is discharged into the east via the Jaluran watershed near Tanjang.

Government and politics

Bansunay is a federal republic operating under a presidential system, with a popularly-elected president serving separately from the legislature and judiciary. It is divided into nine federated entities, which are called states (negara bagian) and have their own elected legislatures and governments; and one federal territory (bagian federal), which does not have self-government. Some of the states also call their head of state "president", so the President of Bansunay is sometimes called the "federal president" (Presiden Federal) to distinguish the position from state presidencies. The president serves as the head of state and head of government, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Bansunese military (Tentara Tanah Bansunai). The president is expected to form a Cabinet with the approval of the MPR and outline intended aspects of "state policy" (kebijakan negara) and "foreign policy" (kebijakan luar negeri). The president possesses veto power against the legislature and law-making power in the form of executive orders (considered to be delegated legislation), but can also propose ordinary bills for parliamentary consideration. The federal president serves four-year terms, usually with a two-term limit. Term limits are not legally mandated: but after two terms, several so-called "protections" on the presidency expire, which opens the incumbent president to being more easily removed or circumvented by a number of entitled state actors.

MPR chamber in the Badan Legislatif complex.

The bicameral Parliament of Bansunay (Badan Legislatif Bansunai, lit. "Legislative Body of Bansunay"; "BLB") consists of the People's Deliberative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat) as the lower house and the State Representative Discursive Council (Dewan Perwakilan Wacana Negara) as the upper house. The MPR has 307 sitting members elected from single-member constituencies for three-year terms. The MPR originates and debates most legislation, oversees executive appointments and decisions, and can begin the process of convening both houses with respect to the president (inauguration, impeachment, policy adjustment). The DPWN has 92 members elected for five-year terms, comprising 10 councillors from each of the nine states and two additional representatives from Kubujuara. On the whole, the DPWN is the weaker of the two houses: ordinarily, it can only delay or suggest amendments to bills that have passed the MPR, and can only originate legislation if specifically addresses an issue pertaining to all states. However, it does have some notable specific functions. When a presidential bill passes through the MPR, the DWPN is empowered to reject it outright — this is considered to be a contingent legislative veto power equivalent to that of the president, rather than an inherent function of the chamber itself. Additionally, the DWPN is invested with the most entitlements in the event of a three-term presidency: it gains equivalent power to the MPR, and becomes the only house able to propose a recall election, which is distinct from the process of impeachment.

Bansunay is usually considered to have either a mixed legal system or an incomplete common law system. The judiciary is one of the main areas in which Tyrnican colonisation continues to maintain a strong influence in Bansunay, with many Tyrnican common law principles remaining relevant — most prominently, separation of powers and the use of case law in maintaining stare decisis. Similar to civil law systems, though, Bansunay does not have a single apex court. The Supreme Court (Pengadilan Tertinggi) is the final court of appeal with relation to civil law (non-criminal) matters; it takes cases from the state Civil Courts under its appellate jurisdiction, and may hear certain important cases under its original jurisdiction. The Constitutional Court (Pengadilan Konstitusi) is the only court that may hear matters pertaining to validity of laws (both constitutional and statute), including the ability to conduct judicial review on executive orders — and, in a three-term presidency, overrule vetoes if the bill does not contradict presidential policy. The Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court both function under adversarial systems. However, the Federal Criminal Court (Pengadilan Pidana Federal) works under an inquisitorial system (as do some state criminal courts). Most notably, the PPF is not the apex court for criminal matters — the Grand Tribunal of the Bansunay Armed Forces (Pengadilan Agung Tentara Tanah Bansunai) has no original civilian jurisdiction, but hears cases on appeal from the PPF. Its proceedings do not change for PPF appeals, and extend Bansunese military law and military justice to non-military personnel; principles of common law do not apply. Although many features of the Bansunese legal system are similar to those found in civil law, discussions of Bansunay as a pluralistic system consider it to consist of common law and customary law, rather than common law and civil law.

International observers assert that Bansunese democracy is severely compromised by the elements of stratocracy and corruption extant in its political system. The 1919–26 Basic Law of Bansunay (Undang-Undang Dasar Bansunai) described the federal presidency as a "protector" of emerging state capitalism and mandated that only members of the Tentara Tanah Bansunai (TTB) could stand for election to the office. The Basic Law was explicitly repealed during the 1943–48 Coalition occupation, and replaced with the Western-inspired Constitution of Bansunay (Konstitusi Baru Bansunai). The "New Constitution" persisted for some years until the 1953 election of Agung Tahyadi, who espoused a return to the Basic Law. Under pressure from Kubujuara and Providence, the Constitutional Court considered both to be binding precedents and introduced the legal concept of "simultaneous obedience" to resolve the conflict. This effectively combined the two constitutions insofar as they are compatible with each other. In 2012, the Valschaffën Institute for Democracy outlined a list of 5 primary factors that "blur political lines between democratic republic and military junta" in Bansunay.

1. The Basic Law mandates the president be a serving member of the Tentara Tanah Bansunai, whereas the New Constitution forbids ever having served. By post-1955 tradition, the Federal President is almost always a former member of the military.
2. The president typically has military connections, and consequently cabinet members are frequently also soldiers or have affiliations with the TTB.
3. Electoral constituency boundaries for the People's Deliberative Assembly are determined by the states. Several southern states (negara bagian selatan) form some of these as "military constituencies", in which only TTB personnel are eligible to stand for office.
4. The appellate process for criminal matters eventually ascends to the Grand Tribunal, in which civilians can be subjected to a kind of pseudo-martial law which is indefinite and undeclared. Only one party needs to file an appeal from the PPF for the PATTB to hear the case; prosecutorial corruption can result in anti-military defendants being dealt military justice; conversely, any defendants with military connections may escape criminal conviction by appealing to the Tribunal.
5. In spite of the Constitutional Court's adherence to judicial independence, it has rarely challenged the fusion of powers evident between the presidency, the legislature, and the criminal court hierarchy. The reasons for this may be twofold: judicial activists intent on on severing the link between the military and the government may be brought up on "unrelated" criminal charges in the PPF and the PATTB; or, the Constitutional Court could be disempowered or abolished entirely by the MPR, which has legislative (including constitutional) power.

Demographics

Ethnicity and language

Ethnic makeup of Bansunay

  Bansunese ("kota") (68.5%)

  Bansunese ("tradisi") (6.9%)

  Trenggulunese (12.2%)

  Auressian (6.1%)

  Songhese (4.2%)

  Huranian (1.8%)

  Other (0.3%)

Bansunese people are officially divided into two broad groups of pribumi ("native people"). Pribumi perkotaan ("urban native people") make up the majority of the population, and are identified by their "participation in the state". This is determined by the government, which makes its judgement based factors such as voting, employment, and applying for social benefits — but especially by living in urban cities, towns, and villages connected to the rest of the country by road, rail, or river. Conversely, pribumi tradisi ("traditional native people") live in more isolated rural areas and may only be accessible by air or by overland travel through dense jungle, even if they are in regular contact with the rest of the country. With increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, especially in land-clearing industries like logging and agricultural plantations (including palm oil and coffee), pribumi tradisi people are steadily being enveloped into pribumi perkotaan groups, leading to questions over protections for prospective expansion areas and their traditional inhabitants. In the most remote areas of Bansunay, there are groups of peoples in voluntary isolation. There is no definitive number of these groups, but the Ayacona Organisation has raised concerns about retaliation by Bansunese government forces when faced with hostility by uncontacted peoples.

The largest non-Bansunese ethnic group is the Trenggulunese, which have constituted a separate and distinguishable ethnic identity since the arrival of the first Alawokambese traders. The Trenggulunese are almost entirely present in the coastal cities, and are very rarely found in even the biggest inland urban areas. Large communities of Auressian-descended people have lived in Bansunay since the colonial period, and rose in number after the Second Great War with the influx of Albrennian businesses and international visitors. Huranian people are extant in small numbers, with many emigrating to Bansunay during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Bansunay is one of the only countries in which the Twahiqe' (the Songhese diaspora) are accepted by both the host country and the Songhese government. It does not have the largest population of Songhese expatriates — refugee and settler communities in Albrennia and Amandine are larger — but it does have the greatest fluctuation in its population, since Songhese citizens can easily move into and out of Bansunay without facing political persecution or violence. Dual citizenship is not permitted in Songha, but it is recognised in Bansunay and many Bansunese Songhans are registered dual citizens.

The sole official language in Bansunay is Bansunese (Bahasa Bansunai), which is one of the Tapuan languages that are believed to have originated in the Songhese Ta-Puia archipelago (Pulau Tapu). Tapuan languages have official status in every country in Isuan — Songhese in Songha, Bansunese in Bansunay, and Kakawin in Trenggulun.

Religion

Macakkanism is the majority religion in Bansunay, with around 86% of the population self-registering as practising Macoes under the Lankung school. Macakkanism has been present in Bansunay since the post-antiquity era, when it was spread to the northern coast by Alawokambese thalassocracies in Trenggulun. Bansunay is considered to be part of the Macakkanist "heartland", with only neighbouring Trenggulun having a higher proportion of adherents as a whole. However, while Trenggulun's religious identity has been characterised by tolerance, Bansunay embodies the reverse. Almost all Macakkanists in Bansunay are Lankung, with followers of the Barukung school and Neo-Macakkanism being nearly non-existent. Barukung is culturally associated with Huran, whereas Neo-Macakkanism corresponds to the West. There is a strong presence of religious conservatism across Bansunay, meaning that locals are usually even more critical of non-Lankung Macoes than they are of foreign faiths or even irreligion. This is expressed in the common Bansunese idiom kekurangan alih-alih kecurangan ("absence [of faith] over [its] corruption"), which is used not only in reference to non-Lankung methodologies, but also "poor devotion" (ketaatan buruk) to Lankung practices (failing to fast, making offensive offerings).

Kuil Arupeti, the largest temple in Isuan.

Freedom of religion laws were introduced to Bansunay by Rythenean and Tyrnican colonisation, and were not considered to have been extinguished in the post-independence period. Religious liberty was reaffirmed by MPR statute through a series of reforms in the mid-late 2000s and early 2010s, with the government under pressure from international observers. However, the political establishment still discriminates against candidates who are not Macakkanist. It is only in the northern states, which are more heavily influenced by an Auressian and Albrennian presence, that non-Macakkanists can rise to public prominence.

Significant Perendist minorities exist in the northern states, mostly attributable to colonial influence from Rythene and Tyrnica. Consequently, most Perendists in Bansunay are members of the Apostolic Church. Apostolic missions are common in Bansunay, and they are responsible for Perendist populations in areas that were not the target of extensive government colonisation. Classical Perendism is insignificant in Bansunay: although Albrennian influence has been present since the 1940s, the Rotiferist culture of the upper-class Establishment has not been present in any noticeable sense. The same is true of other religions common to Auressia and the Galeo-Hemetrian: Morism, Senit, and Aulaism do not represent any major populations, and are usually associated with international tourists. Notably, irreligion is counted as an "Auressian religion" for the purposes of census data, although there is historical evidence pointing to some atheistic practices in some areas for centuries before Auressian contact.

Seungism is present within and almost entirely limited to the Songhese expatriate community, with very few Bansunese people ever adopting it. The Bansunese government actively discourages practice of the traditional Songhese folk religion, generally to appease K'an-Hsia and avoid “rocking the boat” by fostering religious dissent. While simple adherence is not prohibited, "public profession of faith" is criminalised as an activity "intending to destabilise Bansunese international alliances". Because of Bansunay's extradition treaty with Songha, traditional practitioners of the Songhese folk religion can be deported to meet criminal justice in their home country.

Before the arrival of Macakkanism, traditional Bansunese petty kingdoms (kerajaan kecil) adhered to local forms of animism. Little is documented about these traditional religions, although they are still practised by many rural groups of traditional Bansunese people (pribumi tradisi). Notably, early Jyanist traditions made their way eastwards from Mathastan via Kaona and the Sea of Qes during antiquity — it is generally accepted that these influences were adopted by traditional Bansunese religions syncretically, and as such there is no discrete "Jyanist" religious population that exists in modern-day Bansunay. However, aspects of Nabaian language and architecture remain noticeable holdovers from this cultural transmission.