WILSON

## Chapter 1

The day after his inauguration as the President of Omurium, Wilson Yong woke up early in the morning in anticipation of a hectic day in office. After taking a shower and putting on his suit, he waddled straight to the office suite, where he was slated to receive some Members of Parliament from his political party. While waiting for their arrival, he asked for the butler to serve a bowl of oats served with yoghurt and berries, along with 1 cup of espresso. Almost before he was about to finish the meal, the representatives started entering the room.

Wilson: "Good morning folks, do have a seat."

The representatives sat on the sofas. The Parliament majority leader, Dr. Thomas Leong, clears his throat before speaking.

Thomas: "You said that you'd like to discuss a bill with us, Mr. President?"

Wilson: "Yes, before I ascended to this office, President Kwok had hinted that he would like to have an entertainment establishment opened in Omura."

Another MP interrupts Wilson.

MP 2: "That is impossible. The National Front only has 86 out of 166 seats in the Parliament and not all MP's will follow the party line. I'd like to remind you that the Spiritual Party holds 43 of those seats and the military holds 33 of those seats. The military will likely abstain from such a vote, so your bill will likely fail."

The ultraconservative Spiritual Party, in the past, acted as confidence and supply to the centre-right National Front. However, beginning from President Kwok, the National Front has grown less tolerant of their ally's anachronistic rhetoric. Meanwhile, under the constitution, the military is also entitled to roughly 20% of the Parliamentary seats.

Wilson: "Is there a way to get members of the Spiritual Party to defect?"

One of the MP's, a man by the name of Prem Rajanathan, speaks up.

Prem: "There is, in fact. We need to convert some of them into independents."

Wilson: "Do elaborate."

Prem is an influential figure in the National Front. A member of the Secretariat, which is nominally responsible for the party's administrative operations, he is also the head of the National Front's intelligence gathering arm.

Prem: "We can either incentivise them to vote for the bill, get them to defect, or get them kicked out."

Wilson: "Which would you recommend that we pursue?"

Prem: "I'd say we can get some of them kicked out of the party. It is the ideal approach because it does not incriminate our party."

Wilson: "Alright, pursue this idea. I'll meet all of you later."

As the guests leave, Wilson wondered why he took up the job in the religious country in the first place. It is not a stretch to say that Omurium, a small island in the Sub-Antarctic whose closest neighbour is Westion at 138 miles away, is irrelevant on the Antarctic stage. After a period of military dictatorship, democracy was reinstated not long ago, but the military and the Omurian church continues to hold vast political influence in the country. In addition to that, economic growth has been low ever since his predecessor's term. Despite having run on a socially conservative platform, Wilson desired to implement much needed social and economic reforms to the formerly socialist country.