Belesia

DATE Pacific > Belesia ←You are here

Federated States of Belesia
Flag
Capital and largest city	Davao
Official languages	Belesian Indigenous Languages
Ethnic groups	Mindanoan Suluese (54.7%) Cebuan Suluese (14.1%) Olvanese (23.3%) Torbian (7.0%)
Religion	Muslim (86.8%) Christian (10.4%) Buddhist (2.8%)
Demonym	Belesian
Government	Democracy
• President	Aayiz Hermanto
Legislature	Public Assembly
GDP	estimate
• Total	$209.46 billion
Time zone	GMT +8

Political

Main article: Political: Belesia

The Federated States of Belesia is a relatively young, post-colonial democracy in the region. The political structure and environment of Belesia seems to be under constant threat from a variety of challenges, ranging from bureaucratic turmoil and popular unrest, to the threat of domestic terrorism. Despite these challenges, Belesia’s growing economy continues to have a stabilizing effect on the entire country. Belesia is also becoming increasingly active in the international community as its economy continues to grow and it seeks to compete with other regional actors.

Military

Main article: Military: Belesia

The Belesia Federation Defense Force (BFDF) include the Belesian Army, Air Force, and Navy. The military components have a relatively high degree of cooperation and interdependence. This is largely due to numerous complex and evolving security missions. These roles are generally divided into national defense, internal security, counter-insurgency, and stability support operations. Belesia’s physical environment, along with the wide-range of security issues it faces, has led to the BFDF being organized into four regionally aligned security groups. Each group is typically manned and equipped to handle the mission sets relative to their area of operations.

The BFDF maritime security and anti-smuggling efforts span the waterways across the archipelago, however the Sulu Sea, and Gabal’s limited ability to secure its western edge, remains a significant security concern.  The BFDF has been primarily focused on internal concerns over the last several decades and has gained a large amount of experience against non-state actors, however this has left Belesia at a disadvantage when compared to state actors across the region.

Economic

Main article: Economic: Belesia

The Belesian economy is an emerging economy attempting to expand from its original agrarian base. Seeking to follow the example of other Pacific nations that have developed strong economies, Belesia has created manufacturing base centered on goods processing. A combination of a relatively skilled but low-cost labor force and policy changes that opened up the country to greater foreign investment created a fast growing economy over the last five years despite both international market fluctuations and domestic political turbulence.

The country possesses a large supply of human capital and significant natural resources, however its infrastructure is inhibiting industrial growth. The industrial transformation to manufacturing of electronic components is beginning to show profitability, although at the expense of traditional agricultural output. Economic and government reforms are generally seen as positive increasing the likelihood of both international trade and foreign investment. Wealth distribution is extremely inequitable and while the unemployment has steadily declined over the past decade, the majority of available jobs are tedious and for low wages with high underemployment.

Social

Main article: Social: Belesia

Belesian society has been heavily shaped by its physical environment. There are a wide variety of cultural differences between social groups located on different islands within the archipelago. Religion, namely Islam, has been a unifying factor for the population throughout Belesia’s short history as a nation. That said, the same physical environment factors that have shaped cultural differences between the islands have also enabled different religious interpretations to take hold among different islands. This has led to the Belesian government struggling with radicalization among segments of its population.

Information

Main article: Information: Belesia

Belesia’s information sharing and management is very progressive. The government and population seized on the opportunities that technological advancement offers to enhance quality of life. Fifteen years ago, the government instituted the Belesia Technology Institute (BTI) to direct the development of information technology. BTI actively conducts information, communications, and technology (ICT) programs to achieve the goal of developing a regionally competitive communications sector. Government programs support many sectors, including government regulatory support, science and technology education, business, and technology development and implementation. BTI established and maintains the country’s social media presence using the applications popular not only with Belesia’s population but also with the region at large. This is no small task considering the vast number of languages, dialects, and cultural nuances.

Infrastructure

Main article: Infrastructure: Belesia

While the region’s five major countries have a significant number of urban residents, Belesia has almost half of its population living in rural areas. The country contains a mixture of both modern cities, primitive rural villages, and everything in between. Modern utilities are found predominantly in the major cities and at reasonable levels throughout the rural countryside.

Rapid urbanization is stressing the Belesian infrastructure to its limits. Despite this, Belesia can still claim to be among the best in the world in regards to some of the services it provides. Belesia has a robust mass transit system. Several bus companies provide transportation in major cities and to rural areas. Airports range from large international airports that can handle almost any aircraft, to small, unimproved dirt strips. Some seaports are modern that can handle the vast majority of global cargo vessels with dolphin platforms for the offloading of petroleum. The country suffers from high levels of pollution in the urban areas and the government has made policies to combat pollution in urban environments and water supplies.

Physical Environment

Main article: Physical Environment: Belesia

Belesia’s physical environment has shaped its development as a nation, hindering communication and the even development of infrastructure. The country’s islands consist primary of forested mountains interspersed with low valleys, with some of the primary islands being Borneo, Luzon, and Mindanao. The valleys are typically fertile and comprise most of Belesia’s arable land. Both vegetation and climate are tropical in nature. Belesia touches four large bodies of water: the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south, and the Sulu Sea being primarily within Belesia’s territorial claims.

Time

Main article: Time: Belesia

Belesians’ approach to time is polychromic, meaning that they tend to perform multiple tasks at the same time, as opposed to the in-sequence (monochromic) view of Americans. That being said, the younger, more urban generation is beginning to adopt aspects of monochromic thinking. Belesia sits within the South Torbian Time Zone (STTZ), which is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/Coordinated Universal Time (UTC); the country does not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Significant Non-State Threat Actors in the Belesia OE

Group Name	Type	Country	Description
Black Societies	Criminal	Olvana, Belesia	These criminal networks are normally family affairs, with each family staying local to avoid conflict with other groups. These criminal networks are involved in armed robbery, racketeering, smuggling, narcotics trafficking, prostitution, gambling, and contract killings.
Tantoco Cartel	Criminal	Multiple	The Tantoco Cartel was founded in the Republic of Torbia, it also operates in the largest cities of Olvana. The Tantoco Cartel is involved in almost every type of criminal activity imaginable: drug and weapons smuggling, extortion, motor vehicle theft, illegal gambling, money laundering, counterfeiting, and murder-for-hire.
Visayan Peoples Front (VPF)	Insurgency	Belesia	The Visayan Peoples Front is an armed insurgent group, committed to establishing an independent entity composed of the islands of Panay, Negros, Cebu and Bohol.
Free Sulu Movement (FSM)	Insurgency	Belesia	The Free Sulu Movement is a conglomerate of anti-federation and independence factions of the Belesian archipelago.
Satu Pulau Satu Negara (SPSN)	Insurgency	Belesia	The Satu Pulau Satu Negara believes that all of Luzon should be united under a single national flag.