Republik Bebas Ketiga
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Third Free Republic Republik Bebas Ketiga | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Motto: Kebebasan, Pembebasan, Kemerdekaan | |
| Anthem: TBA | |
| Capital | Bandar Sungai Berkembar (Twin River City) |
| Largest city | Bandar Sungai Berkembar |
| Official languages | Modern Murut (Malaysian), Mutli, Other |
| Recognised national languages | M-Murut, Mutli, Nyele, Raji |
| Recognised regional languages | Rejang, Embaloh, Salako |
| Ethnic groups (2018) | Murut, Mutli, Matara, Other |
| Demonym(s) | Keturunan |
| Government | Tricameral Parliamentary Republic |
• President | Dumadi Kepli |
• Federation Minister | Khairi Haleem |
| Formation | |
| 1864 | |
| 1959 | |
| 1969 | |
| Population | |
• 2020 estimate | 18 million |
• 2020 census | 18,216,198 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $75,000,000 |
• Per capita | 4,117 |
| Gini (2022) |  64.5very high |
| HDI (2022) |  0.501low |
| Currency | RBK Cip |
| Time zone | East Ochran |
| Date format | dd/mm/yyyy |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +45 |
| Internet TLD | .rbk |
The RBK, officially the Third Free Republic (Modern Murut: Republik Bebas Ketiga) is a country in East Ochran comprising the land immediately around the Badan Kembar, the twin bodies of water which the early Murut population would congregate around. The Third Free Republc is a Tricamerial Confederal Republic, comprised of approximately 13 provinces, each of which possess autonomy over the vast majority of policy, excluding control of structures established by the federal government within their territory. It shares no direct land borders with neighboring powers, but is geographically close to Kiram and Shimlar-Pashmir. The Third Free Republic is one of the poorest and smallest nations in Ochran- with a total GDP of 75 billion fueled primarily by the cobalt extraction and export industry and a population of 18 Million, with the vast majority of the population in some form of poverty.
Etymology
The RBK is the third unified nation surrounding the Badan Kembar to follow the "Free Republic" naming scheme, which originated from the Pertubuhan Pegawai Republikan Percuma (Organization of Free Republican Officers) which emerged as a major anti-state force in the prelude to the First Murut Revolution. The name was also chosen to attempt to assist in the organization of the new state- with the lack of an overt mention of the Murut pseudo-majority, it was hoped that it would reduce the conflict between ethnic groupings within the new nation.
History
Pre-Siriwang
The Tahamaja and Bayarid would use the area around the Badan Kembar as a point of both trade and struggle- with the Tahamaja eventually coming to the forefront in regards to influence, leading a mass influx of Tahamaja who would eventually form the basis for the Murut population in the states which would descend from the pseudo-colonized territory of the eventual RBK. This influx would also see the decline of the previously major native population, who would be forced from key lands by newly-entrenched economic figures in the search for fertile land near the banks of the Badan Kembar.
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Siriwang
The collapse of Tahamaja control over their collaborators and administrators would lead to a short-scale conflict between these figures, who would begin placing themselves in direct positions of power via carving out the entities which would later form the provincial concepts exhibited in later political developments. Also around this period would be a return to prominence of the native population, who were given land in exchange for service and guidance in the armed groupings of these carved-out nations.
Uluujol Colonization
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Mutli Colonization
Main Article: First Murut Revolution
Independence
Main Article: Republik Bebas Pertama
Civil War
Main Article: Republic Bebas Kedua, Second Murut Civil War
Modern Period
Main Article: 2018 South Kembar Scandal
Geography
The RBK possesses a generally tropical climate, although with an pseudo-arid north. The main site of fertile land and noticeable agricultural development is the small stretch of land surrounded by the Badan Kembar, although growth also occurs in the land bordering the Northern Kembar. The RBK lacks major mountains, excluding in the northernmost regions surrounding the Badan. Monsoons are a semi-common problem, which has lead to economic issues for the southern provinces surrounding the severe costs required for the repair of cities, and which has encouraged movement north.
Government and Politics
Branches
The RBK is governed in a Tricamerial fashion, with the central government being arranged around the Federation Parliament, the State Parliament, and the Popular Parliament, the former and latter being controlled at current by the Kesatuan Demokratik Popular Baharu, while the State Parliament remains in the control of the Party Rakyat Popular Kebangsaan, more specifically the modernist wing lead by Khairi Haleem, the current Federation Minister. All three parliaments handle separate policy groupings- with the State Parliament drawing and passing provincial-level legislature targeting groupings of provinces or those within them (such as the expropriation of certain buildings owned by figures associated with the South Kembar Scandal), the Federation Parliament doing the same with (variably enforced) national-level laws, and the Popular Parliament acting as a check on either by holding the ability to veto certain acts of policy if they are found to be counter to the interests of the people as a whole. Governmental budgets must be approved by a plurality of all three parliaments.
The Federation Parliament is organized around a group of 150 directly elected officials from 15 "Federation Districts" organized around major cities, with 10 candidates of potentially (and usually) differing parties being chosen from an overall party roster based on the amount of votes they receive. This system has generally been found to benefit the party in control of the State Parliament, although scandals and other major political disruptions have broken this usual system, instead bringing other parties to the forefront, which often experience great electoral success in the State Parliament.
The State Parliament consists of an approximate 130 members- comprising individuals appointed in relation to which province-level parties have won the elections for governorship of the province, these groupings often being in coalition with another major party (the southern provinces traditionally favoring the PRPK, and the north more recently favoring the KDPB), with this relationship often being the main source of entrenched support for the ruling party in times of notable crisis. This system has commonly been noted as undemocratic to some degree, with systems proposing that these individuals be elected during the overall provincial elections being considered (and, in the case of Kataha implemented), but aside from Kataha no major progress has been made on this goal, and to some degree it has been dropped from most political manifestos.
The Popular Parliament is similar in conception to the other two parliaments- consisting of 180 (a number adjusted based on the current population) directly elected officials from across the entirety of the nation (as organized by taking locations directly from the census and utilizing them as the informal voting "districts"), in an attempt to remove the biases inherent in both of them (more specifically to reduce the power of the primarily urban-focused Federation Parliament). The success of this effort is debatable.
Major Parties
Main Article: Political Parties in the RBK
Confederal States
Main Article: States of the RBK
Foreign Affairs and Military
Military
Main Article: Angkatan Pertahanan Diri
The Angkatan Pertahanan Diri (Self-Defense Forces) is the military of the RBK, split into three branches (the Angkatan Pertahanan Diri Udara (Air Self-Defense Force), the Darat Angkatan Pertahanan Diri (Ground Self-Defense Force), and the Pasukan Pertahanan Diri Tentera Laut (Naval Self-Defense Force)). The Angkatan is widely perceived to be corrupt and generally ineffective, with a lack of exercises or active training (most notably- soldiers being restricted to using a single bullet when performing live fire excercises) for its members being compounded by the movement of funds away from military matters towards personal recreation for major members of the higher staff.
Foreign Affairs
Main Article: Foreign Affairs of the RBK
The RBK maintains a close relationship to a variety of nations, based primarily on its cobalt export industry. This list includes Tsurushima, Pulau Keramat, and others. The RBK has also, in the relatively recent period, attempted to broach the concept of membership into a variety of international organizations, including the Forum of Nations and the Harmonious Covenant of Ochran
Economy
The Economy of the RBK follows the Zulkarnain Model, which encourages low interventionism and the opening of the country to large-scale foreign investment, two policies which the majority of Party Rakyat Popular Kebangsaan leaders have followed to a great extent. These policies have been criticized greatly for the perceived amount of power they have handed corporate leadership in regards to determining policy, and for the social struggle and outright worker-lead violence said corporate policies have caused. Supporters, however, have argued that the policy is the only thing maintaining the still-sluggish pace of industrialization and advancement, and that economic changes now would throw the RBK into social and political chaos from which it would be unable to recover.
Mining
Cobalt mining remains the primary vessel for economic growth and foreign interaction, with mining as a whole making up an approximate 40% of the GDP of the entire nation, with cobalt making up an approximate 25% of that high percentage. Mining in the RBK, despite the efforts of key political leaders, remains highly unsafe, with casualties being a regular occurrence and benefits for such work being low. The poor conditions have driven the creation of worker-operated "Parallel Societies" wherein the working population of a town associated with the cobalt mining industry will siphon resources from the mine and sell them on grey-or-black markets to fund the capability to acquire access to healthcare or other key resources/services. Approximately 3.2 million tons of Cobalt exist in the territory of the RBK. The majority of mines are controlled by the Syarikat Pembangunan Bersatu, a private corporation which has been active since the 1930s, and owned by the Uqbah family throughout this long span of time.
These cobalt families often maintain their power via the utilization of stock-buyback programs weighted towards their interests, alongside official state support in the process of said buybacks.
Agriculture
Another 20% of the economy is made up by the fertile land of the area surrounding the Badan, and the agriculture which occurs on such. A majority of crop-growing land is owned by major agricultural corporations, with small-scale farming being near-eradicated due to the lack of restrictions upon the actions these corporations can take to "encourage" the leaving of rival agriculturalists.
Service
Tourism
Trade and Imports
tba- RBK imports Uhlangan Oil, Uhlangan Frog (approx.600-800 tons/20-25 million USC) and mining interests have contacted them for establishment of their own coal liquification capabilities. Remittances from workers within Pulau also makes a fair portion of the economy, and efforts to join them in seasteading projects have been broached. Much of its military vehicles are importen from ON