Politics of Bai Lung
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The politics of Bai Lung has a complicated history. It was ruled by a Monarch for a large portion of the 19th Century through World War 2 when the Japanese invaded the country and killed all of the royal family. From 1946-1949, it ruled under a Nationalist Government with complete freedom. From 1949-1950, the country was taken control by Mao Zedong's government. From 1950-1962, the country was governed by a Military Junta influenced by Nationalistic ideology. From 1962 onwards, it took place in the framework of a single-party dictatorship thanks to a coup staged by Chen Jong Sun. Bai Lung's political system is built upon the principle of centralisation. While the constitution supposedly asserts human rights and democratic government, virtually every power is within the hands of a ruling elite dominated by Chen Jong Sun. The government is considered to be highly authoritive and severely limits freedom of expression (see Human rights in Bai Lung). The ruling party is the People's Democratic Republic Workers Party of Bai Lung (PDRWPBL), which allows next to nothing inner-party democracy. The PDRWPBL has ruled since Bai Lung's political beginnings in 1962. Minor political parties do exist in Bai Lung but many are deemed as illegal. The most notable minor party is the Nationalist, who continue to hinder Chen and his abilities to run the country. As well as leader of Bai Lung, Chen served both as General Secretary of the PDRWPBL and as President of Bai Lung. Recently, he gave himself the affectionite titles of Eternal President of the People's Republic, symbolizing that he forever holds the position of President, which is formally occupied. Most critics of the regime believe the title is merely a product of the prevailing cult of personality in the country.
Bai Lung is widely considered a Communist state in the East Pacific, but the government follows policies which are strongly reminiscent to that of a Nationalist Government. It claims to follow the constitution with the locally developed concepts of Juche and Marxism-Leninism.
The Central People's Bank
Unlike their North Korean counterparts which have seperate Legislature and Executive branches, Bai Lung has an organisation which combines the 2 called the Central People's Bank, headed by Chen. The reason to call it that remains a mystery to this day. Reportedly As the CPC is the highest organ of state power, it employs 687 employees annually with membership of over 25,000, all male aged 21 and over. Those who are of working class, have certain disabilities, not within the legal age limit and/or females are not allowed to apply to work with in the CPC. There are 2 branches of the CPC located in Bai Lung, one in the capital and the other in New Jian Sha Zui although the former will be where Chen will be likely to hold meetings. The head of the CPC is (in theory) headed by the Premier (who also is Prime Minister of the country) and (supposedly) is the dominant administrative and executive agency. Nominally, the Premier is head of government but the real power lies within Chen Jong Sun, head of the PDRWPBL and the military. Chen holds several titles the most important one being Great Leader of the Republican Worker Party and Chairman of the National Defense Commission and Supreme Commander of the Bai Lungese Army. Within the country, he is known is well known by the title of Great Eternal Leader although other affectionite titles include The Leader or Supreme Leader. In January 1967, he appointed himself as General Secretary of the DPRWPBL. In March 1968, he appointed himself Chairman of the National Defense Commission. Although the CPC adopts and implements any laws, it is actually Chen who gives the final say and any opposition to Chen's final decision often results in the termination of the employee. Despite it's responsibility for dealing with civilian and domestic matters as well as to make and implement laws, many critics of Chen's regime regard the CPC as a rubberstamp assembly. Chen Jong Sun's domestic policies have created a cult of personality around him, as well as that of his admirer, Mao Zedong. The current Premier is Han Lin, though it remains unclear what holding the postition actually means. The country is also noted for its lack of Judiciary system as this role is taken by Chen himself and he reserves the right to deliver the final verdict. In this case, Chen is essential the judge and the jury combined.
Following the murder of General Fang Jia Wei (a friend of Chen), the 2006 constitution states that General Fang is to be "Eternal General of the Republic" and the post Eternal General of the Army was established.
Legal System
Bai Lung's current constitution has been ammended no more than 23 times. The recent ammendment was in March 2006, which effectively voids any previous ammendments. Like with North Korea, Bai Lung has an unusual legal system based upon German civil law and strongly influenced by Japanese theory. Criminal penalties are extremely stiff, although one of the basic functions of the system is to uphold the power of the regime. Due to the lack of available information regarding the legal system, it is unknown what the true extent of law does. In any case, Bai Lung is highly notorius for it's extremely poor human rights situation and regularly holds millions political dissidents without trial or benefit of legal advice. The judicial system is theoretically held accountable to the Central People's Bank but in reality all trials are conducted by Chen himself. Unlike with North Korea, there is no interference from the executive branch in regards to the operation of the judicial branch, Chen has made it very clear that he is the one who has full control of all 3 branches and continues to make laws and punish people as he sees fit. According to an East Dannistrian report on human rights practices, the government of Bai Lung frequently punishes the criminal's family along with the perpetrator. The same report also suggests that the youngest member of the family is punished first before the perpetrator, usually castrating/spaying the victim whilst conscience followed by severe beatings by Interal Security Bureau (ISB) officers.
Political Developments
Aside from the two World Wars, Bai Lungese politics have been dominated by the ownership of one island located 350 miles east of Bai Lung. The Bai Lungese call it Jong Il Shan but the Dannistrians call it Lord Howard island. From 1975 to 2000, relationships between the Bai Lungese and Dannistrians had been generally poor with increased tensions by the mid 90's. Many Dannistrians were denied access to live in Bai Lung and when the few are allowed in, they were given even fewer rights than the locals. At the time, many Dannistrian food aid workers were not allowed to speak in English and Dannistrian in fears that they might bad mouth the administration of Chen. The government also invested heavily on its military, hoping to develop the capability to claim the other half of Jong Il/Lord Howard island by force and repel any attacks by the Dannistrians and the United States. Despite ethnic and political tensions, there was only two small scale conflicts happened on the island, one in 1979 and the other in 1994. There were a few injuries and all deaths were accident related.
By the end of the 1960's, Bai Lung has faced several decades of economic crisis including severe shortages agricultural and industrial goods. Bai Lung main priority is to find a way to sustain its economy without jeopardizing the internal stability of the government or its ability to respond to percieved external threats. To date, Bai Lung has made efforts to improve relationships with Dannistaan and previous food aid boycotts have been lifted ever since, but Bai Lung's determination to sell uranium to the North Koreans has further dented relationships with the United States.
Although there were sporadic reports of opposition to the government especially opposition from the Nationalists, these appear to be completely isolated, and there is no evidence of imminent threat to the current government. Many foreign analysts have pointed to widespread starvation, increased emigration through Dannistaan, and new sources of information about the outside world for ordinary Bai Lungese as factors pointing to an imminent collapse of the regime, but despite that, Bai Lung has maintained stability in spite of more than 4 decades of such predictions.
