Ampersand

Ampersand is a small, developing, and established nation at 104 days old with citizens primarily of Pacific Islander ethnicity whose religion is Christianity. It is a backwards nation when it comes to technology and many refer to it unkindly as a 'Third World Nation'. Its citizens pay high taxes and constantly express grievances about their government and work environments. The citizens of Ampersand work diligently to produce Aluminum and Cattle as tradable resources for their nation. It is a mostly neutral country when it comes to foreign affairs. It will usually only attack another nation if attacked first. Ampersand is currently researching nuclear technology for the use of nuclear power plants but believes nuclear weapons should be banned. Plans are on the way within Ampersand to open new rehabilitation centers across the nation and educate its citizens of the dangers of drug use. Ampersand allows its citizens to protest their government but uses a strong police force to monitor things and arrest lawbreakers. It has an open border policy, but in order for immigrants to remain in the country they will have to become citizens first. Ampersand believes in the freedom of speech and feels that it is every citizen's right to speak freely about their government. The government gives foreign aid when it can, but looks to take care of its own people first. Ampersand will not make deals with another country that has a history of inhuman treatment of its citizens

First Records
Christmas Island was an isolated island and remain unhabited. The first European to discover was Captain William Mynors, who worked for British East India Company. He sailed past it on Christmas Day and named the island Christmas Island. More people, such as William Dampier, made records about this island.

Exploration & Annexation
After it was discovered, there were many attempts to explore the island. However, the coastal cliffs blocked many people from entering deep into the island. The first successful exploration was done in 1887, when Captain Maclear of HMS Flying Fish anchored on a bay, which he named it the Flying Fish Cove, and collected interesting plants and animals. Next year, Pelham Aldrich landed on Christmas Island and sent Dr. John Murray much larger biological and mineralogical collection. In the collection, it included pure phosphate, which led to British annexation on June 6th, 1888.

British Rule
Soon, George Clunies-Ross, the owner of Cocos (Keeling) Islands, made a small settlement to get to supply the industries in the Cocos. Mining phosphate started from 1890s by Chinese and Malay.

World War II
During the World War II, the Japanese army targeted Christmas Island because of its abundance in phosphate. The first Japanese attacked was carried out on January 20th, 1942. It resulted in damaging a Norwegian freighter and evacuation of most staffs. After some more aerial bombing and attacks, the island was occupied and surrendered on March 31st. The Japanese occupation lasted roughly 3 years, when HMS Rother reoccupied Christmas Island in Octer 1945.

Australian Rule
After Australia requested Britain, the British moved its sovereignity to Australia. Since then Australia had been controlling Christmas Island.

Foundation
Ampersand was founded by compassmaker on April 18, 2012, as a democratic country with The Settlement as the capital. It joined Bull Moose on the following day. Foundation ended as of April 24th after it reached NS of 525.

Beginning
As Ampersand joined Bull Moose, It became 4th member to join in.

First War
On July 13th a member of Nuclear Fire declared war on Ampersand. The next day it bombarded Ampersand with nuclear weapons and lost huge amounts of army, land, and infrastructure. This caused massive riot around Ampersand and was put off after changing government to democracy. The war ended on July 21st.

Government
The Ampersandese government follows democracy since its start. It focuses on internal growth than war & conflict. Usually neutral in foreign affairs. When there is an conflict, it tries hard to avoid bloodshed and uses every possible diplomatic chances to solve conflict. The type of the government is a semi-presidential system, where both the president and the prime minister exists.

History
As Ampersand was founded on April 18th, the Democratic Party of Ampersand (DPA) governed the country with leader as Compassmaker. During this time, the country joined Bull Moose. The economy of Ampersand was also growing at a fast rate. On May 7th, military leader Jeffrey "Locksmith" Whitehead, overthrew the government. Many members of DPA were either exiled or became under house arrest. He became the president of Ampersand and ordered martial law in Ampersand. He called his government Transitional Government of Ampersand, and promised that he will give up his positions in 3 months. However, the economy started to level off after decrease of trades, and there were mass protests in the capital city of The Settlement. On June 1st, he gave up his position as president. After President Whitehead resigned, the minister of internal affairs, temporarily acted as president for 25 days. On Jun 10th, a presidential election was held, and Michael Monsoon was elected as the 3rd president of Ampersand. Michael Monsoon, though president, couldn't do anything, because most politicians were either exiled or died during Whitehead's reign. Even when there was a war between another country, very few soldiers ever fought against the enemy, and the capital was eventually nuked. Monsoon, taking responsibility of this, resigned, once again resembling Whitehead. Another election was held following the day Monsoon resigned in July 20th. This time, Compassmaker, the first president of Ampersand, won the election. His term is going to be 3 months (which officially ends of November 19th).

Legislature
The legislature is Ampersandese government is represented by the parliament. The parliament is divided into the chamber of foreign affairs and chamber of internal affairs.

The Chamber of Internal Affairs
The chamber of internal affairs is similar to that of the House of Representatives in the US or House of Common in the UK. Members of this chamber can make laws about internal affairs, education, transportation, environment, economy, and military. A seat will be givern per 53 civilians, and the chamber of internal affairs currently have 61 seats. A term of a member of this chamber lasts 3 months.

The Chamber of Foreign Affairs
The chamber of foreign affairs, in other side, is limited to making laws about foreign affairs, economy, and military. 12 seats are givern per region, and currently has 36 seats for them. However, the president can choose another 6 members besides the regional members, thus giving the final number of 42. A term of a member of this chamber lasts 9 months, 3 times longer than that of the chamber of internal affairs.

Parliamentary Election
Every 3 months there will be parliamentary election. In this election, civilians can vote for both chambers. However, it is only limited to whole chamber of internal affairs and 12 seats of foreign affairs.

Executive
The executive in Ampersandese government is represented by the president and the prime minister.

President
President of Ampersand can execute any orders about foreign affairs. The president can elect 6 members of chamber of foreign affairs. He/she can be elected/impeached by the members of chamber of foreign affairs.

Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Ampersand can execute any orders about internal affairs. The prime minster of ampersand can be elected/impeached by members chamber of internal affairs.

Judiciary
The Judiciary in Ampersandese government is represented by supreme court and regional courts. They will interpret the laws, and use it to solve any conflicts.

Supreme Court
The Supreme Court, located in the capital of Ampersand, The Settlement, acts as the place of final decisions (3rd decisions).

Regional Court
The regional courts are courts that often gives first decision and second decision about any case. There are one per region, and if needed, more courts can be built.

Elections
Elections have become quite easier after some violent history of Ampersand (though only 3 months long in the real world time). First 4 weeks before the end of a president's term, regional election will be held. Next week, election for upper house and lower house is held. Finally, presidential election will be held a week later. The results of all elections will be open to anyone after the day of election.

Parties
The Ampersandese government allows freedom of parties. And there are some 10 parties in Ampersand as of July 30th, 2012. Here are the list of the parties in Ampersand from the largest.
 * Democratic Party of Ampersand
 * Nationalist Party of Ampersand
 * Ampersand Socialist Party
 * Green Party

Military
The Ampersandese military is mainly for defense and safety net for citizens in Ampersand. However the government is willing to deploy soldiers when its allies call.

Soldiers
Soldiers are within 15% - 30% of total population. Their sole duty is to protect civilians & allies.

Tanks
Tanks are also part of the Ampersandese military. They are for the back-up in case if there is more problems than the soldiers can handle.

Deployment
Some soldiers and tanks are deployed overseas to handle any chance of war in case Ampersand is called for help.

Currency
Ampersand's currency is Ampersandese Shilling. A shilling is divided into 100 cents. The official set of legal tenders are 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 shilling, 5 shillings, 10 shillings, 50 shillings, 100 shillings, 500 shillings, and 1,000 shillings. However, the full set also divides a cent to 10 clips. There are 1, 2, 5 clips, but is not used in ordinary uses, and is only for commemorative uses.

Citizens
The Ampersandi citizens are primarily of Pacific Islanders (83%). However, there are some people besides Pacific Islanders for asylum, notably Chinese (6%), Australian (4%), and Indonesian (3%).

Refugees
The Ampersandese government will accept any person seeking for asylum for 6 months. If the person's home country is not in war, the person will be given two choices: either to get Ampersandese nationality, or to return to his/her country. If his/her country is in war, the person will be given an permanent residency that lasts until the war ends. When the war ends, him/her will be given the same choice.

Languages
The government has set that English is the only official language. However, Bahasa Indonesia and Chinese are often spoken by the citizens, and are allowed to use for documentation. So, anyone who wants to be part of the government requires at least to be able to use English and Chinese.

Religion
Any beliefs are allowed to practice and spread to another. The main religion is Catholic (34%), Buddhism (23%), and Islam (18%). There are few Jewish and Hindus that make up the remaining.

Location
Ampersand is located on Christmas Island. Christmas Island is surrounded by Indian Ocean, 360 km south of Jakarta, Indonesia, 2600 km south of Perth, Australia, and 975 km east of Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Claims
The Ampersandese government claims Cocos (Keeling) Islands as its territory. Also, it has a claim on Ashmore and Cartier Islands. However, both is not control by Ampersand.

Climate
Christmas Island is a tropical island with some heat and humidity caused by trade winds. Its average temperature remains around 25 - 26 °C. Heavy rainfall occurs during January to April, while it's relatively dry on July to October.

Topography
Around the coast of Christmas Island are steep cliffs that are impassable. The cliffs make the boundarys of central plateau.

Regions
Ampersand's region is divided into 3 main regions: Northern Christmas, Western Chirstmas, and Southern Christmas.

Northern Christmas
Northern Christmas is the center of Ampersand. It's where the population is concentrated. The capital of Ampersand, The Settlement, is also located in Northern Christmas.

Western Christmas
Most of Western Christmas is tropical rainforest, and Christmas Island National Park is located here. The highest point of Christmas Island, Murray Hill (361 m), is also located in Western Christmas.

Southern Christmas
Southern Christmas has rich amount of phosphate, and phosphate mine are common in this area. There is a train track from Northern Christmas with length of around 18 km that connects the mines.