East Ramay
Republic of East Ramay Republik Ramay Timur (Eastern Ramayan Standard) | |
|---|---|
| 1925-1981 | |
 Flag | |
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Motto: Abdi praja dharma satya nagara jaya bhakti Continuous devotion towards the state for a glorious nation | |
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Anthem: Lagu Kebangsaan Ramay Timur The National Anthem of East Ramay | |
| Capital and largest city | Sragen |
| Official languages | Eastern Ramayan Standard |
| Recognised regional languages | Regional languages |
| Ethnic groups | 25 recognized ethnic groups |
| Religion | Buddhism, Haqiqatan |
| Demonym | Ramayan |
| Government | Unitary Parliamentary Republic |
| President | |
• 1925-1973 | Suwiryo |
| Legislature | People's Council |
| Council of the Land | |
| House of Representatives | |
| Establishment | |
• Independence granted | 1 May 1925 |
• Death of President Suwiryo | 16 June 1973 |
• Dissolution of the Republic | 17 October 1981 |
| Area | |
• | 400,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 0.9% |
| Population | |
• 1975 census | 54,371,390 |
| GDP (PPP) | 1975 estimate |
• Total | $683 Billion |
• Per capita | $13.202 |
| Currency | Austral |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +174 |
East Ramay, officially the Republic of East Ramay (Eastern Ramayan Standard: Republik Ramay Timur), was a sovereign state that existed between 1925 and 1981. East Ramay is the direct successor of the Eastern Ramay colony of the Samot-Sertofian empire which was granted independence on the 1st of May 1925 as designated by the treaty of Holmgard. East Ramay, while democratic in practice, some elements of leadership remained autocratic with the most notable example being the post of president being mostly unopposed throughout President Suwiryo's term in office. The country ceased to exist on the 17th of October when communist revolutionaries took control of most of the country and occupied the capital.
For most of its existence, East Ramay was ruled by President Suwiryo, who held a strong stance on brotherhood and unity over the ethnic groups in the country. With a history of ethnic tension, integrating and unity policies were enacted by the government throughout most of its early years. As a result of the stronger central government and the cooperation between the peoples, economic growth during the first few years showed a healthy balance. Many East Ramayans were lifted out of poverty during the first decades of the Republic. During the Kesh War, East Ramay officially remained neutral and continued to trade with both sides. This led to a massive economic and population boom in East Ramay with the GDP tripling in only fifteen years. East Ramay became one of the most prosperous states in Kesh at the point and was nicknamed the pearl of Kesh.
Following the end of the Kesh War, East Ramay invested heavily in reconstruction efforts in Kodeshia, helping the nation regain its footing and stability. The built up infrastructure left after the Kesh War economic boom enabled East Ramay to project its products not only to Kesh and trade with Artemia and Avalonia, however, export volumes after the first few years of more widespread trading began to decline, commonly known as the era of stagnation. The era of stagnation was marked by the death of President Suwiryo in 1973, leaving a massive power vaccuum. In 1975, elections were held and saw President Raditya be elected. President Raditya died in 1979 ahead of the 1980 elections, a massively contested election between three presidential candidates in which all three candidates claimed victory and begun organizing their own governments and cabinets. The split excarbated the worsening political and economic situation in East Ramay.
A civil war erupted in June of 1980 between supporters of different candidates, with each candidate having different foreign backings and support. A side effect of foreign powers meddling in the elections of East Ramay made the anti-foreign communist revolutionary group the red warriors gain massive traction between the populace. The massive support for the red warriors and the fractured central government made it very easy for the red warriors to seize control of large swaths of land and cities, eventually capturing the capital on the 17th of October 1981, thus formally declaring a new state called "Democratic Ramay", marking a formal end to the Republic of East Ramay.
During its 56 year existence, East Ramay grew from one of the poorer states of Kesh into one of the most prosperous ones during the span of only 40 years. Its economic and political systems were once praised by experts and analysts alike. The social integrity of East Ramay was once a prime example of coexsiting. East Ramay joined various international organizatons such as the commonwealth and the Kesh summits.
History
Formation (1924-1925)
On the eve of the treaty of Holmgard, the intellectual community in the colony of Eastern Ramay had been notified by their counterparts back in Samot-Seratof that the empire would be disintegrated per the treaty and all of its colony be granted independence immediately. News of such disintegration reached the governor-general of the colony, which gathered the intellectual few to discuss the terms of the departure beforehand to avoid a bloody conflict as witnessed before the arrival of the Samot-Seratofian empire on the coasts of Southern Kesh. The governor-general would then present the results of the meetings to the Samot-Seratofian colonial authority to be forwarded and be included in the treaty of Holmgard. Although so, the governor general, who was an ethnic Seratofian, still hoped that the colony would remain either under Seratofian or Samot rule, but this was sternly rejected by the gathering. Hopes of the colony remaining under Seratofian or Samot rule eventually died out when the notification of the partition of Seratof were to happen upon the signing of the treaty.
Suwiryo Sastrodiharjo, the leader of the native youth organization and one of the few with a university education at that time, was chosen to be the interim leader of the transitional government before the signing of the treaty. With support from all backgrounds and ethnic groups in order to create a new nation in former colonial lands, he convened several times publicly with the endorsement of the governor-general, discussing the future of the country by drafting a constitution and the terms of the state, such as its make, government, and judicial system. Most of the systems agreed upon in East Ramay were colonial vestiges remnant from Seratof and Samotkhe, and as a result, these institutions were already firmly in place when independence was formally given.
On the 1st of May 1925, coinciding with the signing of the treaty of Holmgard, the flag of the new Republic of East Ramay was hoisted on the old governor-general's palace which had been converted into the people's palace. The first inauguration of President Suwiryo Sastrodiharjo was seen by hundreds of thousands of spectators.
Early years (1926-1943)
The republic, upon independence, was one of the poorest states in Kesh, owing to centuries of colonialization and mismanagement on behalf of the colonial authorities. On the 13th of January 1926, the first elections in East Ramay took place, in which voters elected the 200 member assembly along with the 150 member body responsible for drafting a constitution. The constitutonal convention would eventually convene beginning on the 17th of March 1926. The East Ramay general assembly ratified the new permanent constitution on the 13th of November 1926, which solidifies East Ramay's state as a Semi-presidential parliamentary republic, however, the same assembly also granted the title of "president for life" to President Suwiryo, which was initially opposed by various factions, but eventually passed with a slim margin.
A five-year development masterplan was approved by the general assembly in 1927 outlining the goals and ambitions of East Ramay. Contained within the first five year plan was an ambition to secure the international awareness on the existence of East Ramay as a sovereign nation and to restructure the economy away from a colonial-inherited one to one fit for international trade. On the 12th of April 1927, Sulistyono Margono was sworn in as the country's first prime minister. The first cabinet assembled in front of the people's palace on the 15th of April. Between 1927 and 1932, East Ramay opened up diplomatic and economic ties to various nations in Avalonia and Artemia and strengthened its already burgeoning economic links and market with West Ramay and Prabhat.
As an act of national solidarity and pride, PM Sulistyono, with the backing of the general assembly and President Suwiryo, nationalized several privately-owned holdings and corporations such as the CV Listrik Ramay, which was the main electric supplier to the nation, and PT Air Sumberejo, a large water-needs company. The East Ramayan Monetary Authority which had been issuing and regulating the East Ramayan Austral since independence was also upgraded to a formal central bank named the Central Bank of East Ramay in 1929. As a result of the massive acquisitions and purchases done by the government between 1927 and 1930, in 1931, a massive holding for all the SOEs were lumped as one and publicly traded in the Sragen Stock Exchange beginning on the 2nd of October 1931. New capital entering the state coffers enabled the government to invest in numerous infrastructure projects throughout the young nation, most notably the trans-Ramayan road which spanned the entire country's length. An ambitious project to connect Banyuasin Island to the mainland was also approved in the 2nd five-year masterplan of 1932-1937.
Ethnic tensions reached all-time highs in 1934 when two unknown men broke into the home of a wealthy Yafan business owner, in which the suspect was a Rajungan man, fuelling anti-Rajungan head lead by the Yafans in virtually all aspects of life. As a result, many ethnic Rajungan were fired from their positions at work, and were discriminated elsewhere, creating a stereotype that the Rajungan were dirty and corrupt. In response, President Suwiryo dismissed the chief of police for his inadequate performance and replaced him with a Rajungan man to instill trust and a sense of brotherhood between the peoples of East Ramay. PM Sulistyono resigned on the 27th of August 1934 after growing pressure on him to address the ethnic imbalance was touted by the masses as a failure.
Early elections were called on the 12th of January 1935, where Sulistyono’s centrist Ramayan National Party flunked the elections, losing more than half their seats in parliament and replaced with a center-left coalition known as Ramay Bangkit. The RB coalition nominated Yudhartono Andhikaperkasa as prime minister after forming their coalition, and Yudhartono was inaugurated on the 18th of January 1935. He decided to stick to the previous five year planned already approved and in progress at the moment while severely paying higher attention towards the well-being of all ethnic groups in order to foster back confidence of the East Ramayan people on the central government. In an effort to improve the economic standings of rural East Ramayans, the then Minister of Finance Juliananta Satyanagara devised the “fortress program”, which prioritized East Ramayans’ produce over other nations. Any farmer who wished to advance their business was able to receive a 30 year loan from the government to buy equipment and hire more employees.
In addition to the fortress program, irrigation was also ramped up to support farmers and the desert region of Gurunjaya. In 1937, the Ramay Bangkit coalition strengthened their position in parliament by gaining an additional 14 seats across 3 center-left parties, and passed the controversial 1937-1942 five year plan, which stipulated the increase of taxes and the reorganization of the very popular fortress program. PM Yudhartono attempted to implement several social democratic ideals into East Ramay before it was too late as in some countries. The East Ramayan Public Health Body under the helm of the ministry of health was created in 1938 with the funding of the tax increases and the cuts in spending. The system proved to be very popular and controversial at the same time, with estimates projecting the collapse of the health system by 1957 due to its underfunding and the growing number of East Ramayans who now seek medication in formal health institutions rather than the use of natural medication and local shamans to cure various forms of diseases and sicknesses.
Education was attempted to be stripped of any of its costs in early 1940, but the program was only applied to several major cities such as the capital Sragen and Klitren due to their capability of funding such system using the 1937 scheme of increased taxes. PM Yudhartono and his coalition still deemed the programs a success, attributing to the state of the nation which is not as wealthy as other nations but has already been able to create a system of universal healthcare. In 1941, a merger of 12 bauxite mining companies under the collective name of Ramayan Bauxites occurred, with the government having a 51% share. In late 1941, four months before the general election, the RB coalition was disbanded due to disputes in the running of both universal healthcare and education, and was replaced by a coalition of center-right parties known as RamayBisa (coincidentally also nicknamed RB). The RamayBisa coalition would nominate PM Sargiyananta as Prime Minister, inaugurated on the 18th of January 1942.
Prelude to the Kesh Wars (1943-1950)
The new coalition government took office immediately and immediately passed the fourth five-year plan, focusing on industry and the economic situation in the agrarian provinces of the west. A massive 3 million Austral project to irrigate 25,000 hectares of fields was initiated in early 1943, with private contractors winning their first bid in constructing government works. In other areas of the country especially in the north, an increase in bauxite production became a priority for both the local and the central government, and churned in some of the funds used to support the extensive education program for the development of several new bauxite mines along with their equipment as well as two new smelters and aluminum foundries in the south east of the country. PM Sargiyananta, aware of how popular the universal healthcare and educational systems are as a remnant of the old coalition, promised the eventual return of these policies with new capital coming in from the mines and developed agriculture.
The tone was set for industrialization and a move from an agrarian lifestyle, and many people flocked to the cities, especially in the southeast and in Banyuasin island where the capital Sragen was located. The then famous fortress program was reinstated in its full capacity and upgraded where business owners would get loans in order for a set number of goods and capital harvested. In 1944, the government sold half of its shares in its massive holding, and disbanded the holding in late 1944 into smaller branches, meaning SOEs are free to do whatever they deem necessary free from direct government control. Although many SOEs were semi-privatized, businesses which touch on important aspects of life such as healthcare, education, water, and electricity were not privatized at all, remaining at the hands of the government. With an increased budget from the sale of several major assets, more development could be undertaken as early as 1945 in the form of the initial construction of the Banyuasin bridge connecting Banyuasin island and the mainland. The bridge would eventually be finished in 1954 after eight and a half years of construction.
As people flocked into the cities, many were also lifted out of poverty and for the first time in the nation’s history the share of the population living under the poverty line dropped beneath fifty percent, meaning that there were more people that could afford basic needs than ever before. With an increased economic output and warming relations with other nations of the world, especially with both its immediate and regional neighbors, a trade surplus could finally be seen in 1946.
Parliament convened on the 17th of June 1946 to discuss the state of the economy, and after a lengthy debate decided to completely sell off all the non-essential SOEs to private companies, but with stronger regulations alongside it to try and prevent massive inequality. PM Sargiyananta’s approval rating increased upon him releasing plans and promises to return universal education to the East Ramayan populace. In addition to that, universal healthcare would be expanded and colleges would be subsidized by the government if his coalition gets reelected into parliament in 1947. In the 1947 general elections, the RamayBisa coalition swept the general assembly clean, possessing a supermajority of seats in the parliament, and immediately passed PM Sargiyananta’s vision of East Ramay in 1960 through a set of five-year plans.
After rapid industrialization and exploitation of natural resources, PM Sargiyananta focused on improving the country’s human resources, as exploitation of natural resources and manufacture would be unsustainable in the long run. The 1947-1952 five year plan contained many leftist proposals, to which the old center-left parties also admire. The three center left parties agreed to merge into the Partay Rakyat Ramay (PRR) and agreed to support the RamayBisa coalition on the basis that they uphold the people first and not profits. At this point, the RamayBisa coalition had shifted into a centrist big-tent coalition due to massive influx and influence of parties and politicians who later became affiliated with the RamayBisa pact.
Starting in 1947, many primary schools and healthcare facilities were built along with the expansion of several medical and institutional facilities and places of learning to cope with an increased demand for doctors, nurses, and educators in these new buildings. In 1948, the birth rate increased which is mainly attributed to the abundance of resources and child-bearing support facilities in almost every corner of the country. Ramayan families, especially in the cities, began to have more children and were eyeing out of the city to live in the suburbs, causing a real-estate boom as early as 1950.
Seeing the potential for this population boom, the Ramayan Housing Council was created in 1949 by the central government to regulate the quality of houses in fear of mass-produced suburban houses possessing little to no safety measures built into it, and laid down the first housing and council regulations regarding gated communities, suburbs, and the extent of a suburb before hitting a theoretical “greenbelt” in which all types of development are prohibited for the sole cause of protecting the environment.
Kesh War Economic Miracle (1950-1960)
Early fighting in the Kesh war began in June of 1949, and PM Sargiyananta’s coalition grew anxious on the toll it might have for East Ramay, as the newly broadened trade network the country had established with the rest of Kesh might be in jeopardy, with nations having to take sides and their economies in ruins as a result of the war. Many proposals ran afloat from public discussions throughout East Ramay sponsored by the coalition. On an extraordinary plenary meeting session on the 12th of November 1949, several noted diplomats and generals were invited into the session to provide some insight to the government about the unfolding situation. A clear message could be seen by the parliament members, that is to remain neutral at all costs.
The Minister of Defense General (Ret.) Abhikusnadi Sartana, through the ministry of foreign affairs, condemned all acts of violence on both sides of the war and urged for a more peaceful approach towards the conflict. Meanwhile, the situation in both fronts of the war worsened, and trade was dwindling. However, Minister of Trade Hari Subagya proclaimed that the Kesh wars were a blessing in disguise towards East Ramay, as these nations, now incapable of producing their own raw materials, must buy them elsewhere, and therefore would require foreign goods, especially bauxite and other raw ores to be made into goods to help support the war effort. Subagya urged PM Sargiyananta to explore the options in massively increasing both bauxite extraction and aluminum production as well as the production of steel and pig iron to “profit” off other nations. In a similar tone, the ministry of agriculture also supported the idea of selling food to whoever was willing to buy.
PM Sargiyananta saw the opportunity his ministers have seen and gathered parliament once again in disguise of discussing the war and East Ramay’s role in it. PM Sargiyananta along with four ministers voiced their ideas and concerns regarding the war, most importantly the five proposed a crucial amendment and revision of the five-year plan which focused on education and human resources to instead be a continuation of the former industrialization plans, but taken on a much larger scale now that the country will be entering into times of uncertainty at the face of the Kesh wars. In a gesture of unison, the RamayBisa-held parliament approved the proposed amendments and agreed to take in East Ramay’s official stance in the war, which was total neutrality. This declaration was broadcasted by President Suwiryo himself to the international world, although plans where East Ramay would continue to trade with whoever was willing to conduct business with them was officially still concealed as it may bring backlash against the East Ramayan government.
The 1951 labor in times of war act guaranteed employment for anyone willing to work through a system of both privately owned industries and semi-state owned industries in the fields crucial to the war. Productivity was said to double in only three years’ time between 1950 and 1953 to support the ever growing need for war. East Ramay began selling its goods and resources to various nations such as XXX, YYY, and ZZZ at lower prices, attracting the increased sale of its products. Although open to both sides of the war, in reality the East Ramay government dealt more with one side of the war, and due to this fact many war historians and scholars do not fully accept East Ramay as a totally neutral state, but only as politically neutral.
With increased funds and capital from the sale of its resources, East Ramay was able to invest some of the money into research, which had been stalled in the past to focus on more immediate needs such as healthcare and housing. The East Ramayan government invested 10 million Australs into the development of a national car, as the East Ramayan government predicted that by the end of the war, East Ramay would be a regional powerhouse with a higher standard of income compared to the war-torn east and north Kesh countries, which would increase consumerism and the need for automobiles and other means of transport. In 1952, the first highway network program was unveiled in Kotarame, western East Ramay. Initially done as a program to support East Ramay in the transport of goods between cities, its original purpose has been extended shortly before its unveiling to be “the veins of the country” once the war is over. PM Sargiyananta’s coalition gained seats in the 1952 general elections, and PM Sargiyananta was sworn in again as the country’s prime minister.
In 1954, the war reached its peaks, and the East Ramayan economy recorded its biggest growth in history due to both external and internal factors. With the lowest unemployment rates ever seen and the most people in the workforce, including more women than ever, families in East Ramay saw their incomes double in a matter of decades, growing the consumer market for the country. With more women in the workforce, 1955 recorded the first time birth rates dropped since 1948. Such birth rates would not be seen again in the future of the country’s history. As a result of a growing middle class, numerous efforts were made to accommodate their growing needs, such as more tertiary items and services. The service industry in East Ramay in 1955 was still very lacking, with few banks and financial services offered to the general population.
The growing incomes and equities of East Ramayan households spurred the boom of banking and financial services. Many banks propped up across the country to accommodate capital lent by the citizens of East Ramay. In early 1956, the Central Bank of East Ramay formed four regional cooperative assemblies to oversee the running of these new banks as some banks before the foundation of this assembly were sham investments, founded only to steal its customers money. The widespread introduction and growth of credit-based payments beginning in 1956 and offered by the banks was seen as the start of East Ramayan consumerism of the 1960s, with families now being able to purchase expensive goods and services without having the money at hand, to which the only requirement was to have a steady job, something many already possessed.
Towards the end of the 1950s and as the Kesh wars subsided, growing concerns of loss income started to afloat. Minister of Trade Hari Subagya urged the government and companies to market their products to a wider range of consumers, such as that in Artemia and Avalonia. Hari Subagya viewed that the growing consumerism in East Ramay was not an isolated case, and that the whole world is ever changing into one where families could now buy a lot of the items once reserved for the wealthy and the elite. Subagya tried to market East Ramayan bauxite and aluminum as well as some other agricultural products as the “products which survived a great war” towards the Artemian and Avalonian market with little to no success at first. However, a Seratofian automobile maker signed a deal with the East Ramayan Bauxite Holdings in 1958 which ensured their supply of Bauxite. As a result, other companies in various other nations started to conduct business with East Ramay, initially with bauxite trading but eventually trading all sorts of items.
East Ramay at this point was a growing power in the southern tip of Kesh with free and fair elections as well as a high regard of human life and rights, as pointed out by numerous academics of the time. This fact combined with the healthy business atmosphere it created attracted more and more foreign companies to set their regional branches in East Ramay, and create factories and other service-related products in the country now that most of the factories built and repurposed to support the war effort had been changed back into their original purpose, abandoned, demolished, or repurposed into other spaces. Many agree that this is the driving factor behind East Ramay’s continued economic growth after the war.
Regional Powerhouse (1960-1973)
The end of the Kesh wars in 1959 was seen by many in East Ramay to be one of the most crucial points in the country’s history, as noted by senior political analyst R.H. Sawitoro of the University of Sragen in early 1960. He urged to increase East Ramayan influence, especially in the war-torn regions of eastern Kesh, to increase East Ramay’s market scope and its trade. HSeveral noted government officials in the Sargiyananta administration, after the Kesh wars finally ended in 1959, held secret meetings with Sawitoro to discuss the future of East Ramay’s goods and influence in the war-torn remains of north and east Kesh. Several key metrics such as East Ramayan capital as well as its goods were highlighted across the meetings. The final result was brought unto PM Sargiyananta and in front of other cabinet members.
The ministry of defense urged that East Ramay prop up its propaganda message towards the general East Ramayan populace as well as ramp up international presence and standing. Several propositions were put forth to the general assembly and was circulating strong throughout the populace, especially the entrepreneurs, who sought to reenter the east Kesh market after several years of dormancy due to the war. These groups eventually coalesced and formed the Greater Ramay Trade Federation, as a conglomerate of several key industries such as the bauxite industry, the automobile industry, and several financial service institutions and companies. Without the oversight of the government, these groups decided to privately reenter the east Kesh market by investing their own capital and establishing regional offices and branches of their companies in these said nations as a part of the reconstruction effort. By 1962, more capital left East Ramay in the forms of investments and foreign aid. Sargiyananta and his coalition won a whopping fourth term back in office, with performing ministers retaining their positions in the coalition government.
PM Sargiyananta caught an eye on the actions of the GRTF, and initiated a partnership with these entrepreneurs to elevate East Ramay’s position as a regional power. The government, with excess money from the Kesh war economic boom, would also provide for the capital for these businesses to operate in those said countries and would also help diplomatically to secure the interests of the East Ramayan entrepreneurs. This coalition of both government and private forces was eventually molded into the East Ramay Initiative (ERI) headed by long-time friend and economist of President Suwiryo Aginoto Sudartono, fuelling good incentives for the East Ramayan economy and bringing in more capital from various Artemian and Avalonian companies to conduct their business in East Ramay. As a result of this synergy between outgoing and incoming capital through either Artemian and Avalonian investments and the return of capital from various Kesh countries, East Ramay experienced another economic boom similar to that seen during the onset of the Kesh wars. In 1963, the first East Ramayan-badged economic investments and incentives were launched by the Sargiyananta government.
New factories and plants were being built across east Kesh, especially in Kodeshia, to help the country rebuild itself from four devastating decades of war and famine. The Republic of Kodeshia was willing to take in East Ramayan investments and incentives as the money and capital brought into Kodeshia was a great stimulus towards the fragile and shattered Kodeshi economy, giving many of unemployed workers and former soldiers a restart in life by working in these establishments and factories. These actions, along with other foreign investments in Kodeshia, was thought to have helped the country regain its global standing as a major economic power, with East Ramay enjoying some of the profits the Kodeshians enjoyed due to contracts and agreements made during the negotiations now officially sponsored and guided by the East Ramayan government.
The ERI eventually spread to other nations, offering economic help and investments to aid the faltering economy. Several key trade deals and other agreements were officially signed and ratified between East Ramay and Prabhat between 1964 and 1965, including a free trade deal and the integration of both country’s spying and espionage program, nicknamed “the eyes of the south”. With Prabhat and East Ramay now abolishing tarrifs, new border crossings and posts were constructed, and a new friendship highway connecting Prabhati border towns with East Ramayan highways was unveiled in 1965, taking one year to complete and finally being officially opened for public use in 1966. Relations with the neighboring country of Ramay also warmed, and increasing trade volumes in significant amounts could be seen for the FY of 1965-1966.
Politically, the situation in East Ramay was at its calmest in the region in recorded history, with decreasing crimes and increasing life expectancy and peace. Birth rates continued to decline in accordance with demographic shift, and an overall tendency towards universal healthcare and education was conducted. During the span of 1960 and 1965, seven new universities were built and inaugurated catering to the growing need of an educated population in East Ramay. As more people left for the cities, farmers gained access to new and more modern equipment subsidized by the ministry of agriculture through government incentives and capital coming from abroad, and western East Ramay had some of the most extensive irrigation and agricultural cultivation in the region, enough to produce food for the entire population and even exporting some of it abroad.
A major issue for the current government is that workers who had worked for either private enterprises or semi government-owned facilities to back the war effort were going to be jobless since these factories specifically catered towards the war effort. With the growing industrialization and impeccable growth of the service sector, coupled with government subsidies for workers who have contributed their strength towards supporting the East Ramayan economy during the Kesh War period would be granted a 75% off on their tuition in the various universities set up between 1960 and 1965 to encourage enrollment. Many took the opportunity, and the country saw a massive shift from industrialization to a service-based economy in the latter half of the 1960s. Automation of several factories led to the decline in manufacturing jobs while keeping productivity high, leaving a big pool of people jobless, many of which enrolled in university courses designed for workers or former workers.
PM Sargiyananta would win his last election in 1967 during the height of East Ramayan influence, wealth, and power. By 1968, East Ramay was as rich as some Artemian nations, and became one of the most developed states in the continent of South Kesh. Owing to this fact, East Ramay tried to brand itself as an exotic tourist destination in the southern Kesh region, developing infrastructure to support a massive tourism industry. President Suwiryo initiated an airport be constructed in the outskirts of Sragen to help East Ramay’s burgeoning tourism industry. Several hotels and beaches were revamped as well as improving the connectivity between provinces to encourage internal tourism. By 1970, a million foreign travelers was recorded to have entered East Ramay, with many of those being Prabhati nationals. These eras was also the period where an ever increasing number of East Ramayans started to vacation abroad, bringing East Ramay’s name abroad as a rich and wealthy nation.
The very late 60s and early 70s was seen as the peak of East Ramay by many scholars, academics, and former citizens alike, citing that the population "had a high level of income, developed social facilities, and strong economic growth for their children and grandchildren to live in." Poverty at a point reached an all-time low in 1972, with only 1.4% of the population living under the poverty line.
Stagnation (1973-1980)
In the midst of its economic, political, and societal revolution and peak accomplished by the work of PM Sargiyananta along with his cabinet, the prime minister suddenly died of a heart attack on the 15th of August 1971. Millions of people would attend his funeral service as a sort of last respect towards the man which had uplifted East Ramay’s name unto the world. President Suwiryo declared one whole week of mourning in honor of PM Sargiyananta, and all forms of entertainment, including TV and radio, were prohibited from airing or presenting “contrarian themes” during the period of mourning. Post-humously, President Suwiryo granted the nation’s highest honor, the badge of Sri Mahendrawarman, to the late prime minister, accepted at an official ceremony by his widow. The RamayBisa coalition nominated the then minister of trade Hari Subagya, which had been a close friend and ally to PM Sargiyananta, as prime minister, and was inaugurated on the 17th of August 1971.
PM Sargiyananta’s sudden death brought shattered the strong economic incentives the country once enjoyed, although with the appointment and inauguration of PM Hari Subagya, conditions remained afloat. PM Subagya promised to continue all of PM Sargiyananta’s policies, and maintained the status quo for quite some time. In the 1972 East Ramayan general elections, the RamayBisa coalition, for the first time in its electoral history, lost seats in the general assembly with a growth of ethnic nationalism and interests after the death of Sargiyananta. Initially, President Suwiryo quelled these nationalist tendencies like the government has always did, but without the charismatic presence of PM Sargiyananta, such efforts were rendered less useful than before. RamayBisa lost a supermajority in parliament, and the opposition, a combination between several far-left and ethnic political parties, promised to critic the new prime minister as harsh as possible for the “progress of the nation.”
The economic growth of East Ramay was slowing down due to a multitude of factors, including lessening faith in the central government by some provinces, as well as a brewing conspiracy that the country was run by ethnic Yafans, as it has always been since conception. Many other ethnic groups accuse the government and by extension the entirety of the Yafan population for manipulating the government to make laws and legislation favor their ethnic group above the rest. Old tensions one dissipated by Suwiryo-Sargiyananta’s coalition and pack began to reignite after the 1972 elections, and the slow response of PM Subagya in responding to clashes between ethnic groups. In early 1973, small scale riots against the presence of Yafans in the western half of the country erupted, but was once again quelled by security forces under the command of PM Subagya.
President Suwiryo would pass away in his sleep on the 19th of July 1973. His death was once more the source of national attention, and millions more attended his funeral service and burials. Many academics and historians agree that the death of President Suwiryo marked the formal beginning of the great East Ramayan stagnation period, in which old tensions and rivalries began to reignite among the various ethnic groups. PM Subagya, along with the general assembly agreed to pass legislation allowing for the direct selection of the president via a two-round system which would occur no later than the 1st of March 1975. A final set date was chosen, and the first rounds of presidential elections would take place on the 6th of February 1975, and if a second round is needed on the 20th of February. Under the new provisions, presidents are required to be of non-partisan origin and be at least 50 years old.
Until the final cutoff date for candidate registration, a total of five presidential candidates passed the initial background and financial checks and were eligible to run for the post of president. Among the five presidential candidates, two were Yafan, one was Manan, one was Rajungan, and the final one was Molitian, in which PM Subagya hoped that the variety of the candidates in respect to their ethnic background could diffuse tensions between ethnic groups and regain the trust of many East Ramayans on the central government. However, on the 13th of February, exactly one week after the general elections, the East Ramay election board announced that the top two were both Yafans, causing much rage in the general population and further distrust in the central government. Raditya Sanjaya was elected as president, and was inaugurated on the 12th of March 1975.
The following years were a very uncertain period in East Ramay. While economic productivity increased, beginning in 1975, growth was slowing down at unprecedented levels, and the birth rate was declining very fast. The political arena was also in a very fragile point, especially during the periods leading up to the 1977 general elections. The RamayBisa coalition campaigned on the success of PM Sargiyananta’s work and their promise of building a better East Ramay, while many opposition groups shunned their efforts and called it a form of mockery and a joke. While ethnic tensions increased, violence actually decreased, to which PM Subagya attributed it to the increase in police and security spending over the last few years. The increase in police spending was seen by many as an effort by the Yafan-led central government to keep its eye on the other ethnic groups, in which the effects of decreasing violence was actually a false hope of success for Subagya’s government.
The RamayBisa coalition lost big in the 1977 general elections, with only one seat giving them the majority and the ability to rename a prime minister for 1977-1982. After much internal debate and meetings, Subagya was reselected and renamed as prime minister of East Ramay, and was inaugurated shortly after the general elections. Opposition parties raked in many seats, especially from the western and northern provinces. Many analysts have warned both President Raditya and PM Subagya about the impending doom the situation might bring to East Ramay if nothing is done about the ethnic and political instability that is starting to plague the nation. PM Subagya, with the approval of President Raditya, conspired to increase the police and security budget to maintain law and order, which was vehemently opposed by half the parliament. In 1978, the RamayBisa coalition lost their majority in parliament after several members left the coalition to become independents.
Although now in the minority, PM Subagya was still the prime minister of East Ramay as the RamayBisa coalition was technically still in government, albeit with a minority of seats in parliament. The situation continued to deteriorate with more internal conflicts and disagreements within the RamayBisa coalition, and the coalition finally being suspended in 1979. The post of prime minister then went to the leader of the opposition Matoka Alambangan, who sought to remove and replace both the Yafans and the Manans from important posts and change them with the other ethnicities in East Ramay. President Raditya, enraged at such acts, condemned the new prime minister. President Raditya was stabbed in the back by Rajungan nationalists during a visit to the region, and died ahead of the 1980 elections. The death of President Raditya is now symbolized as the final nail in the coffin for the East Ramayan state by many historians and scholars alike, as his death marked a period of soaring high tensions between political and ethnic groups, all left in a power vacuum.
Collapse (1980-1981)
Three presidential candidates came forth with their platforms and registered their candidacy to the national elections comission, each having radically different views and solutions towards the problems East Ramay has been plagued over the past five years. Although so, the presidential candidates mostly relied on ethnic backing and their counterparts to win the election rather than competing purely on a merit and ideological basis, and for most of the campaign period candidates would focus their campaigns towards the ethnic groups which already supported them, denouncing the rest and creating a sphere of unstability and negative remarks towards the other candidates. The elections were held on the 15th of March 1980, and yielded razor thin margins. The national elections commission were very frightened at the results, and decided to reveal the data completely to the public to avoid any suspicion, and did not declare a winner.
On the allegations of massive fraud, the three presidential candidates backed by their supporters and several foreign powers in the form of increased funding and some off the book weapons and arm shipments declared that they would contest the elections, and "use force if necessary if results are not transparent." The supreme court of East Ramay sided with the official notion that "all three candidates failed to show evidence of massive fraud, and that the results published by the elections comission of East Ramay shall be the official results, and the declared winner the official president-elect of East Ramay." With tensions at an all-time high, the three presidential candidates very closely monitored the counting process in various counting centers scattered throughout the country.
On the 7th of September 1980, a supporter was shot and killed by police for trying to breach the premises in which the counting of votes was conducted. The next day, massive protests against the police and government were held in major cities throughout East Ramay, most notably in the capital of Sragen. The massive mob marched its way to the people's communion hall, the legislative wing of the East Ramayan government, and managed to breach and take over the building as police were overwhelmed. This sparked greater unrest among the other supporters, who took matters to the streets by organizing similar demonstrations in protests of the actions done by one specific group. The clash turned to be very violent, and was thought to have been the official start of the East Ramayan Civil War.
As the situation degraded and the military and police force unable to stand its ground as cracks emerge from within, East Ramay fell into civil war on the basis of candidate preference and liking. The presidential candidates have, at this time, established their own "legitimate" governments and commanded military and supporters loyal to them to "secure the nation of any domestic intrduers and terrorists," and encouraged them to "fight for the nation." With the backing of foreign powers and funds, each of the presidential candidates managed to secure the financial issue of the war, and fighting kept on raging. With no central authority in East Ramay, a small Volkovist group and revolutionary army colloquially named the red warriors began to rally the people, especially those in the countryside, to join the ranks of the red warriors in an attempt to subdue the fighting and reunite East Ramay as an agrarian and peasants' paradise, where peasants rule the country. Also on the pretext of deterring foreign influnce from Ramay, many joined the ranks of the red warriors and helped secure several strongholds of either presidential candidate through guerilla fighting and tactical maneuvers unexpected by the defending army or garrison.
The official notion that the red warriors were a legitimate group or party in the conflict had been disputed by the international world, citing that they were merely just small time revolutionaries wishing to take control of the situation, however, with the growing territory and membership of the red warriors, especially entering mid-1981, the three presidential candidates, for the first time in a long time, agreed that the red warriors were a common enemy from within towards the democracy and the moral standing of the country, and agreed to "join forces for the forseeable future and hope that a common ground could be reached between the candidates", to the dismay of many international governments backing the various presidential candidates. However, such efforts were futile, as the red warriors managed to secure town after town and province after province with the backing of the largely agrarian and rural population already convinced by the party to join their ranks. This large movement eventually swept the country clean and entered Sragen, the capital of the country, on the 17th of October 1981, marking a formal end to the Republic of East Ramay.