Raj of Sarawak

## Traits

### Weak

Positivist, Egalitarian, Internationalist, Libertarian, Individualist, Industrialist, Modern

## Overview

The Raj of Sarawak is a continuation of Brooke Dynasty rule over Sarawak. Charles Vyner Brooke, the Third Rajah, returned to his kingdom mere months before the catastrophic events that swamped the world, and cut lines of supply and communications. Brooke had been minded to hand his kingdom over to British rule on his return after the Japanese occupation. However, with the loss of regular contact with London, Brooke found himself suddenly catapulted to a new height of leadership position.

The Brooke Dynasty was able to bridge the various communities present in Sarawak and Borneo as a whole. Malays, Chinese, Iban, Europeans and others, to maintain some semblance of stability in the face of global ecological catastrophe. Nevertheless the past fifty years have seen the Brookes successfully establish; a functional parliamentary democracy, a thriving economy, and relatively good intra-community relations.

## Important Persons

The current Rajah is Anthony Brooke, who has now reigned for over thirty years, and is now 82 years old. While his predecessors Bertram and Vyner were proactive in influencing politics, Anthony's reign has seen the sovereign ceding much of his power to the cabinet, exercising his prerogatives generally only with the advice of his ministers. However, much of this is informal, and the cross-community popularity of the Rajah remains high.

The hair-designate to the aged Rajah is *Rajah Muda* James Brooke. As Anthony has retreated from public duties due to his advanced age, the fifty year-old heir has increasingly acted as the public face of the monarchy. His Anglo-Chinese heritage - the late Ranee, Mary Brooke, was Chinese - has made him especially popular with the Chinese and Anglo-Chinese communities that compose the majority of the Sarawak population.

The nitty-gritty of governance is, however, handled by the Prime Minister, the current officeholder is Gerald Lai. Lai is an Anglo-Chinese representative of the governing 'Liberal Party', and has been Prime Minister since 1989.

The current Leader of the Opposition is Awang Jati, of the Malay Party.

## Demographics

According to the latest census, the self-reported breakdown of the Raj of Sarawak is as follows:

 Anglo-Chinese
 European
 Iban
 Malay
 Others

Chinese and Anglo-Chinese are ill-defined groups, Anglo-Chinese does not necessarily denote only families of mixed heritage, but also ethnically Chinese persons that have assimilated to varying degrees into Anglophone culture. Similarly, some more or less assimilated families that have no European heritage report as Chinese, despite being anglophone, this is especially true of those that emigrated from South China and the rest of SEA post 1945, seeking Sarawak as a safe-haven due to culture similarities and a great willingness of the government to receive anglophone Chinese refugees.

In terms of religious demographics, Iban, Malay and other Bornean groups tend to follow Islam, with an admixture of native syncretic practices. Europeans and Anglo-Chinese tend to be either irreligious or Anglican, while those belonging to the Chinese community tend to follow a mixture of traditional Chinese practices along with a range of Christian practices, mainly Roman Catholicism and Methodism.

## Politics

The Raj of Sarawak is a representative parliamentary democracy governed along the Westminster System, with some key alterations.

The most noticeable difference between the traditional Westminster System and the Sarawak arrangement is the unicameral nature of Parliament. The Sarawak Parliament replaced the Council Negri in the 1970s, as its Indigenous/European balancing mechanisms became insufficient to account for the new demographic trends in Sarawak. The Parliament uses a mixed-member proportional electoral system, and utilises the D'Hondt method to allocate seats. It is a 300-member assembly, from which all government ministers and the Prime Minister must come. The franchise is universal, and elections are held every four years. The last was held in 1993.

Politics is multi-polar, with few parties ever garnering more than 100 seats. The Liberal Party has provided the core of most governments since the 1960s, so elections tend more to involve coalition negotiations between the Liberals and the various smaller parties. Other major parties include the Malay Party (unsurprisingly a party supporting Malay interests), The Democratic Party, The Farmer's Party, the Labour Party and the conservative Malay Islamic Party