Difference between revisions of "Halandra"

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The Federal Republic of Halandra or Halandra (Zeelandse: de Bondsrepubliek van Halandra, is a developed democratic country in the region of Futaba Aoi. Halandra is known for its strong tradition of military and diplomatic neutrality, official policies of multilingualism, and high population density.

Geographically, Halandra is comprised of an archipelago of 350 islands with the vast majority of the population residing on the largest island of Northern Terranova (Noordelijke Terranova). The country is governed by a democratic federal parliament and is divided into 21 prefectures which under certain circumstances act independently from the federal government. The Zeeland Autonomous Region is a self-governing division with its own head of state and a unicameral parliament that first convened in 1998.

People and Culture

See Article: Culture of Halandra

Demographics

Halandra's population is the product of some 200 years of immigration from Asia and northern Europe, with the vast majority constituting colonial settlers from the Netherlands, with large influxes of British, German, French and Spanish settlers arriving later to farm the fertile plains of along the Coetzee River.

60% of Halandra's population is anglophonic, with the majority of the remainder speaking a unique dialect of Dutch known as Zeelandse. Isolated French and German speaking communities still exist in more rural parts of the country, primarily in the prefectures of New Anglia and Mesopotamia.

Early in the 20th century, the first wave of immigrants arrived from Asia, primarily from China and Japan to work the sugar-cane fields of southern Halandra. The second wave arrived in the 1920s and 1930s as social turmoil erupted in that region, prompting large numbers to seek their fortunes abroad. The Chinese and Japanese immigrants of this second wave became a part of an immigrant merchant class in Valerius and Vissingenpolder. Today, the Valerius Chinatown boasts a population of some 50'000 ethnic Chinese, and a neighbouring ethnic Japanese neighbourhood has an estimated population of about 43'000. Since the late 1980s, the high levels of affluence and cultural assimilation among the Asian-Halandrian communities has led to a quickening diaspora, scattering Asian-Halandrans to different parts of the country.

Halandra also has small but growing community of ethnic Africans of mostly Nigerian and Algerian descent. As of the last census, Halandra's population is 85 million.

Holidays and customs

The following is a list of the major statutory holidays in Halandra.

• 01 January - New Year's Day
• 17 July - National Day
• 01 May - Labour Day
• 21 August - Treaty Day
• 01 June - National Environment Day
• 25 December - Christmas Day
• 31 December - New Year's Eve

Parliament is currently deliberating over the addition of Eid.

Suffrage

Universal suffrage (voting, drinking, smoking) is 18 years of age.

Religion

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides for 'the free exercise of religion and decrees a total seperation between affairs of government and religion.' (Article 2, paragraph 1), meaning that the government may not institutionalise or endorse religious belief and practise.

71.4% of Halandra's population define themselves as being of one religious belief or another, with the majority defining themselves as 'Christian.' The largest denominations in Halandra are the Anglican Church of Halandra and the Lutheran Church of Halandra. 17% of Halandra's population, according to the last census, is Jewish.

Language

The official languages of Halandra are English and Halandesduits, a variant of Dutch, spoken by Dutch-Halandrians. All official publications are produced in these two languages and the state broadcaster Rth facilitates both lingustic groups, with H1E serving as the main network for English-speakers and H1H serving Halandesduits speakers. All public signage and announcements are also made in the two national languages, and bilingualism is taught in the public schools.

Most speakers of Halandesuits live in the Zeeland Autonomous Region, where that language dominates. There are large communites in the rest of the nation.

Education

Pre-Primary

Age of students: 3-5 years
Pre-primary education is not mandatory but free within the public scheme and highly encouraged. Pre-primary education acclimates young students for social interaction in primary school, begins laying the foundations for multilingualism, and works to cultivate cognitive skills in preparation for the long academic career that lies ahead.

Primary education

Age of students: 5-13 years
Primary education focuses on the basics of fundamental mathematical skills, literacy in both of Halandra's national languages, national and world history, the sciences, and physical education. By the time a student graduates from primary education, he or she will be fully fluent and literate in both English and Halandesduits, understand basic principles of elementary physics and biology, and have an understanding of national and world histories and cultures.

Secondary education

Age of students: 13-18 years

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A high school in Valerius.

Secondary education is mandatory in Halandra for all children ages 13 through 18. The academic curriculum is known for its rigourousness but wide-ranging nature and numerous options of study.

Students in the public education system may choose from different disciplinary units: Arts and Humanities, Engineering, Health Sciences, Social Sciences, and Physical Sciences. Typically, students will choose a disciplinary unit by the start of their second year of education. This allows students to study subjects which engage their personal preferences while still preparing them to be productive members of society regardless of their field of study. All students are required to take the GME, the university entrance exam.

In spite of the difficulty of Halandra's educational curriculum, the graduation rate is 99%.

Post-secondary or tertiary education

Age of students: minimum 18 years
Halandra is home to twenty-seven institutions of higher learning, the most prestigious of which are the University of Valerius and Zeeland Staats-Universiteit systems. All universities in Halandra are accredited by the National Education Bureau to ensure high quality.

Universities in Halandra are completely free to high school graduates who fulfil entry requirements.

Sports

Major sport leagues in Halandra

• National League Football (football)
• The Federation Circuit (cricket)
• The Halandra Rugby Association (rugby)
• National Tae Kwon Do League (tae-kwon do)

Other Information

Individual sports that are popular in Halandra include Tae-Kwon Do, boxing, and shooting. Valerius Prefecture has one of the world's highest per capita numbers of martial arts schools and in a survey conducted in the Aeronafon City ward of Valerius, it was found that one in five hold a black-belt from an accredited school, earning Halandra's capital city the informal title of "most dangerous city to be a purse-snatcher."

Stereotypes of Halandrians

Halandrians are viewed internationally as being very open and socially progressive, but also very bureaucratic and rule-oriented. Tourists may find hordes of pedestrians waiting at a crosswalk for the light to change even when there is no traffic in sight. The stereotype also includes meticulous cleanliness, obsessive punctuality, and an almost irrationally exuberant love of new and sometimes impractical gadgets. Halandrians are also known for their extreme politeness and hospitality toward strangers and consciousness of organisational hierarchy. Going outside of the chain of command is virtually unheard of in some of circles.

Virtually every Halandrian over the age of 12 owns a mobile phone and the average Halandrian sends roughly fifteen text messages a day, mostly owing to the fact that speaking on a mobile phone in public places such as restaurants, trains, and buses is considered hugely impolite.

While the stereotype of Halandrian politesse and stuffiness may be true to a high degree, this is accompanied by the paradoxical stereotype of Halandrians are avid partiers and drinkers. The pop culture writer Andrea Zhou once wrote, "It's not uncommon to see large throngs of people rounding the club circuit of Valerius or Sophia at 2 AM midweek, stumbling home at four, and somehow ending up presentable and on-time at work the next morning. If the working day didn't begin at 10, this entire country would fall to pieces in one hung-over stupor."

Politics and government

House of Representatives

Halandra is divided into Representative Boroughs (voting districts), with one representative allocated for each. Elections are operated on the basis of single-member district plurality ("first past the post" or winner-take-all).

A representative serves a two year term of office, with no restriction upon the number of terms that one may serve. The minimum age to qualify as a candidate for a representativeship is 20 years of age and the candidate must hold Halandrian citizenship.

House of Councillors

Each prefecture may elect three councillors to serve in the House of Councillors (upper house) of Parliament. Councillors serve terms of 5 years, and may serve an unlimited number of terms.

Political parties

Administrative Subdivisions

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Parliament.

Halandra is divided into 17 prefectures.

• Alpen
• Aurelia
• Batavia
• Bergen
• Dorset Straits
• Formosa
• Groveland
• IJsselland
• Inverfenn
• Littoralia
• Mesopotamia
• Morgan Islands North
• Morgan Islands South
• New Anglia
• North Midlands
• South Midlands
• Suidvelden
• Valerius

Major Cities

• Las Aldeas
• Sophia, Halandra
• Valerius
• Vissingenpolder

Zeeland Autonomous Region

Justice and law

Halandra has an independent judicial branch, with the High Court as its highest judicial body. The high court consists of an eleven member board, appointed by the Prime Minister with the approval of the upper house of Parliament. High Court decisions are the only legal decisions that have a binding precidents in legal challenges.

The two lower tiers of courts are at the prefectural and ward (city) level, and these courts operate on a jury-based decision system for criminal offences.

Capital punishment is prohibited for all offences, though mild corporal punishment is now and has been common in prefectural legal systems, though this varies by location. The use of mild corporal punishment at the prefectual level was upheld by the High Court decision Yamamoto v. City of Aeronafon.

Economy

Halandra boasts a stable, diversified, and advanced market economy characterised by moderate degrees of growth in GDP. The economy is bouyed by moderate consumer spending and high rates household savings.

Economic diversity and business-friendly government policies have helped Halandra weather periods of global economic instability, with healthy agricultural and mining sectors underpinned by one of the most developed banking and international financial service industries on the planet.

In the mid 1960s, the government of Halandra undertook a comprehensive plan to shift the nation's economy from agriculture to heavy manufacturing and knowledge-based industries. This programme, known as Halandra 94, sought to modernise infrastructure, education, and create an economy that would raise the quality of life for all of Halandra's citizens to a level of parity with that of the world's richest countries.

This programme proved highly effective and 28 out of the 30 objectives outlined by the programme were reached by 1986, eight years ahead of the programme deadline of 17 July 1994. Among the objectives achieved was a virtual elimination of poverty.

On 17 July 1990, the Valerius-Las Aldeas Economic Corridor was announced, creating a free-enterprise zone extending 400 kilometres between the capital and the planned city of Las Aldeas, the proposed new capital city of the then-depressed Aurelia Prefecture. The VLADEC was completed in time for millenium festivities in 1999.

Economic inequality is remarkably low, with the richetst Halandrians earning only three times more than the average citizen.

Halandra's economic rise is regarded by experts as something of an 'economic miracle.' The economic momentum of the first 30 years of reforms has yet to diminish and as Halandra's government continues to place a high emphasis on pro-business policies, education, economic flexibility, and industrial and commercial diversity, it is generally accepted that Halandra will continue to enjoy a vibrant economic environment.

Transportation

Roadways

Motorways

The National Motorway Act of 1951 put into motion the large-scale construction of multilane superhighways, but by the 1970s, an environmentalist backlash to the encroachment of motorways and accompanying suburban sprawl led to a decision by the federal government to supplement highways with rail and air transport. As a result, motorways are limited to point-to-point routes between major cities. Halandra's motorways are known for their extremely high speed limits.

Major Motorways

1. M1 Valerius to Sophia, Halandra.
2. M2 Valerius to Vissingenpolder. The most heavily trafficked motorway in Halandra.
3. M3 Las Aldeas to Morganton. The longest continuous motorway in Halandra, running the length of North Terranova. The M3 also includes the 6.1 km. Heerenveen Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Halandra.

Maritime

Aerial

The major airport of arrival for international travellers is Benyamin Stoller International Airport (XSB) in Cronjedorp, a coastal suburb of Valerius. Commonly referred to by locals as Stoller Field (a previous name), the airport is by far the busiest air transit hub in the nation. XSB handles on average 70 million passengers a year. Completed in 1999, XSB boasts five runways, four terminals, and a direct high-speed rail link to the city centre of Valerius.

The other major international airports of Halandra are located in the cities of Vissingenpolder and Aureliana. Like XSB, all of these airports are directly linked to the national high speed rail system.

The largest airline is the 41% state-owned air carrier HLM, flying to 17 domestic destinations and 73 international locations.

Rail

Passenger Rail

Interstad is the national rail network, created in 1991 to provide a comprehensive system of bullet trains linking all prefectural capitals and major cities. The Coetzee River line opened in July of 1992, in time for National Day and completed the 450 km. journey between Valerius and Vissingenpolder in one hour and fifteen minutes.

Today, the Interstad system is by far the most popular form of intercity transit in Halandra, carrying some 215 million passengers per year. The system is world-renowned for its punctuality. Never in the history of Interstad has a train been more than one minute late arriving or departing, and the network boasts an impeccable safety records. Interstad has recorded only one death, that of a suicide jumper in 1994.

Freight Rail

Halandra has 10'250 km. of freight rail, linking all population and production centres.

Communications

Halandra has a highly developed communications network. There are many television viewing options and literally hundreds of FM and AM radio stations from which to choose. Halandrians enjoy one of the largest, most competitive and most advanced phone and internet infrastructures ever developed.

Telecommunications

100% of households in cities with over 25'000 inhabitants are wired for high-speed internet, and the city of Valerius has blanket wireless internet access that can be tapped into by any wireless device for free. As of this article's writing, the wireless scheme is in the process of implementation in Ainsley Bay and Vissingenpolder. It is estimated, based on company statistics, that 74% of Halandrians have and regularly use a mobile telephone, and some 80% of households have at least one television.

Telandra, Suidtel and Innora are the largest telecommunications firms in Halandra, together making up 60% of market share. These numbers tend to fluctuate year by year with competition.

Major media outlets (TV, radio, print)

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Rth logo

Television

Radio and Television of Halandra (RTH). Public broadcaster for Halandra, operated under a model similar to that of the BBC. RTH operates several terrestrial networks. H1E (English) and 1Z (Zeelandse) are the flagship channels, airing news, entertainment and informative documentary programmes. The network also includes the 24 hour news channel RTH24 and the weather channel RTW.

Channel 5. Channel 5 is a national commercial network providing news, information, and entertainment nationally. Channel 5 is by far the most popular commercial network in Halandra, boasting a 59% viewership amongst the coveted age 18-35 demographic. Channel 5's news programming has also won numerous awards for editorial integrity as well as the Halandra Free Press Institute award for investigative journalism four out of the past seven years.

Link. Link is a national commercial television network, operating three channels. Among these is Metrolink, channel 10 in Valerius, Bergen and Ainsley Bay, and 3 in Zeeland. Metrolink provides news and entertainment programming relevant to people living in the Valerius metropolitan area. The news programme Metrodesk is the most popular afternoon news programme in the capital region. Link also provides the channel H3, which broadcasts news, entertainment, and current affairs programming in Halandesduits.

Zeelandse Radiodienst (ZRD). Zeelandse-language commercial network based in Vissingenpolder, catering primarily to viewers in Zeeland, but available nationally by subscription. ZRD also operates Halandesduits language news channel NZ1.

HBS. Commercial broadcaster HBS provides a wide range of programming, broadcast terrestrially as channel 7 in Valerius and 9 in Vissingenpolder, Bergen, and Ainsley Bay. HBS also broadcasts the only Hebrew-language news programme in Halandra.

AHN. Broadcasts in news and entertainment in Chinese and Japanese.

Radio

Halandra's free-press policies guarantee the public the right to an open media establishment free from editorial regulation and limits on content. The radio airwaves are no exception. As a result, there are hundreds of radio stations across Halandra to cater to every musical, philosophical and lifestyle choice. Competition for listenership is fierce, and stations engage in occasionally outlandish tactics to gain ratings. In one famous incident, the morning show DJs for the Valerius-based station X100 broadcast the entire programme nude from a satellite truck at Centennial Park South and Kuriyama Road, the most heavily trafficked shopping and pedestrian street in Halandra.

The most popular news radio station is Radio One, operated by RTH.

Print media

Like the rest of the media establishment in Halandra, the print media landscape is varied and lively. The largest national paper is the Halandra Journal-Handelsblad, the oldest paper in the land. Widely considered to be the newspaper of record in Halandra, the J-H as it is widely known has newsrooms in every prefectural capital.

Other major broadsheets:

• Valerius Morning Post (English)
• The Times (English)
• Die Wereld (Zeelandse)
• Ochtendbericht (Zeelandse)
• Rekishi to Keizai (Japanese)
• Koku no Shimbum
• Women de Guo (Chinese)
• Corrientes (Spanish)
• El Mundo (Spanish)

Internet TLD/suffix

Halandra's internet suffix is .co.hl.

International Relations

Upcoming.

Military

The Armed Forces of Halandra (officially known as Die Halandra Landmacht) are comprised of the Navy (Marine), Air Force (Luchtmacht), Army (Leger), and the elite Army Special Operations Division (Speziale Verrichtingendienst).

• The army numbers approximately 350'000 active-duty personel and a further 120'000 young men and women fulfilling required reserve service.

• The navy consists of 43 frigates, 32 countermeasure vessels, seven submarines, 31 fast patrol boats, 11 auxilary vessels, 17 patrol aircraft, and 35 helicopters. The navy's major bases are Colijnsdorp, South Ainsley Bay,

• The air force consists of 17 strike fighters, 3 AWACS planes, and 3 reconnaisance aircraft.

History

• 1992 - Dictatorship ends..
• 1994 - Federal Republic Founded.

Other Readable References: List of Halandrian Prime Ministers

Geography

Location, Frontiers and Area

Description.

Climate and Terrain

Halandra is a country of hundreds of lakes and islands. 71% of Halandra is mountainous, heavily forested terrain, limiting viable locations for settlement, industry and agriculture. Thus the vast majority of Halandrians reside on the Coetzee Plain of Northern Terranova, on the southwestern side the island. As a result of these factors, Halandra has an extremely high population density at 731 people per square kilometer. The highest point in Halandra is Mount Schlessinger, at 2'310 meters.

Halandra's climate varies with its geography. The southernmost islands are are relatively warm year-round, while the majority of the main island of Northern Terranova is temperate with cold, wet winters and mild but humid summers.

Vast amounts of Halandra's terrain is earmarked for protection as greenbelts and national park lands.

The greatest natural threats Halandra faces are typhoons and earthquakes, both of which are relatively common. Though current technologies in construction and early-warning have helped substantially in reducing damage to life and property, the country still remains at relatively high risk for a catostrophic event. The last great natural disaster was the earthquake of 1981, which destroyed four hundred homes and killed sixty people in northeast Zeeland. Most of the damage was caused by an earthquake-induced landslide.

The Environment

Current Issues

The most contentious issue being debated is urban sprawl and land-use policies. Due to the ever-increasing population density and the pressure this is placing on urban infrastructures, developers and certain interest groups have been pressuring the government to relax land-use laws to allow urban expansion beyond the current boundaries. The idea of filling in parts of the expansive Bay of Terranova for has been raised, so that the greenbelt might be preserved, but this too has come under scrutiny and criticism. The red-green coalition led by PM Park has shown no signs of compromise on land-use and greenbelts, and it is generally believed that the previous policies of "upward-not-outward" growth will continue for the foreseeable future.

Public opinion polls generally side with the environmentalists when it comes to land-use and urban expansion. In a poll released by the independent Civic Policy Institute, 93% of those polled believed that preserving the greenbelt and Halandra's natural landscape was "a matter of ethical responsibility" and 92% of respondents said they supported "maintaining the current laws that restrict Halandra's urban sprawl"

Energy Policy

Halandra's energy policy revolves around the use of renewable sources of fuel and energy-generation such as wind, solar, natural gas, biomass, and the use of other organic and inorganic refuses.

The exhaust created in the burning of natural gas and refuse is captured and converted into solid matter, which is broken down into its base elements and used in the fabrication of other materials.

Energy by Source (percentage)

• 38% - Natural Gas
• 31% - Wind
• 28% - Solar
• 11% - Hydrogen fuel-cell.

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Wind farm east of Las Aldeas. Wind farms produce 31% of all electricity generated in Halandra.

In a bid to completely eliminate dependence upon foreign energy sources, Halandra has been in the process of phasing out natural gas and constructing new wind farms, solar generator facilities, and hydrogen fuel cell plants. The project, known as Independent Halandra 2010. As the plan suggests, the plan involves phasing out both polluted and imported energy sources by 2010.

Automobiles

A part of Independence Halandra 2010 is the elimination of fossil fuel burning private automobiles. 80% of vehicles on Halandra's roads are already powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Commercial vehicle fleets such as delivery vans are 71% converted to non-fossil fuel energy sources.

Rail

All passenger and freight rail in Halandra is electrified and thus already produce zero emissions.

Trivia

• Halandrians drive on the left side of the road.
• There are more speakers of Zeelandse in the city of Sophia than in Zeeland, a special area in which Halandesduits is the only language of government and education.
• The average life expectancy of a Halandrian man is 78 years and 81 for women.