katchen
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Is that a badger or a binturong?View attachment 213598
Sarawak Royal Ground Forces roundel.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, mushroom, mushroom...
Sarawak TL Redux - Planning Thread
- Thread starter Woolly Mammoth
- Start date
Sarawakian Democracy - 1933
Regarding the government of Sarawak basically the key part of this TL is establishing a parliament after the PoD to start shaking things up a bit and developing the country. What I am thinking of is having the 1932 Regency council of Anthony Brooke be a group of around 10 notables, they convince the new Rajah to allow democracy and establish a constitution granting powers to the Council Negri in exchange for receiving a regular pension and having veto and overall head of state powers.
The constitution itself would be written with British supervision and be organised by the Regency council in late 1932 - it would establish a democratically elected lower house by FPTP having 48 members, elections would be open to all men over 21 [Not trying to be sexist but I think this is realistic for the time - if not happy to change it] A government of the country would require a majority to rule, the Chairman of this Council Negri would be appointed by Anthony Brooke from the largest party of the parliament. Members of the Council Negri would serve 5 years or however long the government retains the confidence of the majority of the parliament. The upper house would be notables elected from 10 areas of Sarawak on a life basis akin to an appointed British style house of lords - they would all be subject to White Rajah approval. Anthony would remain official head of Sarawak armed forces although running of such would be run by government.
Articles of the constitution will guarantee free, fair elections, state the rights of the press, establish Sarawak Armed Forces and reorganise the Sarawak Service and Sarawak Constabulary.
What I'm thinking will happen is that the 1933 elections will be somewhat disorganised with the "parties" being focussed around notable figures as loose groups of supporters, the 1938 elections will be fully organised Westminster style election. The "parties" that I propose being properly established by 1934 are the following:
[SSP] Sarawak Setiaraja Pihak
Royalist party obviously being largely supportive of Anthony Brooke, following a patriotic, nationalist line of close co-operation and loyalty to the ties with Britain whilst attempting to improve the infrastructure and strength of the nation. Led by Tom Harrison who IOTL was curator of the Sarawak Museum but ITTL gets drawn into the political scene of the Brooke Regency and eventually becomes first Chairman. Support derived from majority of Dayaks and royalist Malays.
- 19 Council Negri seats
[MPL] Masyarakat Progresif Liberal
Party of liberalism and the moderate left mostly developing in the middle classes of the towns such as Chinese businessmen.
- 10 Council Negri seats
[PRKS] Pihak Rakyat Kebangsaan Sarawak
Tun Jugah as the paramount chief of the Iban people is the sort of leader of the Nationalist Party who are very much in favour of focusing on military strengthening, Sarawakian people being in dominance in government, build up of Sarawak buisnesses and eventual full independence from the United Kingdom.
- 8 Council Seats
[SPK] Sarawak Pihak Komunis
Pretty much straight forward communist party with support mainly found in the urban Chinese population. I'm worried these are implausibly early - don't know what everyone else thinks ? They might name themselves something less obvious to avoid anti-commie intervention.
- 5 Council Seats
6 independents - mostly supporting the government.
Sorry for an overly wordy post about this which is quite boring - hopefully I can have some advise on this.
Regarding the government of Sarawak basically the key part of this TL is establishing a parliament after the PoD to start shaking things up a bit and developing the country. What I am thinking of is having the 1932 Regency council of Anthony Brooke be a group of around 10 notables, they convince the new Rajah to allow democracy and establish a constitution granting powers to the Council Negri in exchange for receiving a regular pension and having veto and overall head of state powers.
The constitution itself would be written with British supervision and be organised by the Regency council in late 1932 - it would establish a democratically elected lower house by FPTP having 48 members, elections would be open to all men over 21 [Not trying to be sexist but I think this is realistic for the time - if not happy to change it] A government of the country would require a majority to rule, the Chairman of this Council Negri would be appointed by Anthony Brooke from the largest party of the parliament. Members of the Council Negri would serve 5 years or however long the government retains the confidence of the majority of the parliament. The upper house would be notables elected from 10 areas of Sarawak on a life basis akin to an appointed British style house of lords - they would all be subject to White Rajah approval. Anthony would remain official head of Sarawak armed forces although running of such would be run by government.
Articles of the constitution will guarantee free, fair elections, state the rights of the press, establish Sarawak Armed Forces and reorganise the Sarawak Service and Sarawak Constabulary.
What I'm thinking will happen is that the 1933 elections will be somewhat disorganised with the "parties" being focussed around notable figures as loose groups of supporters, the 1938 elections will be fully organised Westminster style election. The "parties" that I propose being properly established by 1934 are the following:
[SSP] Sarawak Setiaraja Pihak
Royalist party obviously being largely supportive of Anthony Brooke, following a patriotic, nationalist line of close co-operation and loyalty to the ties with Britain whilst attempting to improve the infrastructure and strength of the nation. Led by Tom Harrison who IOTL was curator of the Sarawak Museum but ITTL gets drawn into the political scene of the Brooke Regency and eventually becomes first Chairman. Support derived from majority of Dayaks and royalist Malays.
- 19 Council Negri seats
[MPL] Masyarakat Progresif Liberal
Party of liberalism and the moderate left mostly developing in the middle classes of the towns such as Chinese businessmen.
- 10 Council Negri seats
[PRKS] Pihak Rakyat Kebangsaan Sarawak
Tun Jugah as the paramount chief of the Iban people is the sort of leader of the Nationalist Party who are very much in favour of focusing on military strengthening, Sarawakian people being in dominance in government, build up of Sarawak buisnesses and eventual full independence from the United Kingdom.
- 8 Council Seats
[SPK] Sarawak Pihak Komunis
Pretty much straight forward communist party with support mainly found in the urban Chinese population. I'm worried these are implausibly early - don't know what everyone else thinks ? They might name themselves something less obvious to avoid anti-commie intervention.
- 5 Council Seats
6 independents - mostly supporting the government.
Sorry for an overly wordy post about this which is quite boring - hopefully I can have some advise on this.
Fixed it for you.
EDIT: SUPP must be in! There's no party like party soup! (pardon for the pun)
Again I'm darting back and forth from one time period to another and fixating on aircraft but there is also this to consider.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_P.1081
It was put forward to answer a 1950 Australian specification for a swept wing jet fighter.
With Australia having a much more developed aircraft industry ITTL it's possible there might be a request to build the design under licence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_P.1081
It was put forward to answer a 1950 Australian specification for a swept wing jet fighter.
With Australia having a much more developed aircraft industry ITTL it's possible there might be a request to build the design under licence.
Fixed it for you.
EDIT: SUPP must be in! There's no party like party soup! (pardon for the pun)
Thank you - if you have any suggestions regarding this then I shall take them on board - obviously with this being such a large change from OTL I am rather guessing.
Might indeed be possible - perhaps a co-operation between Hawker and the RCA to develop the design ? I notice the OTL result of that specification was the CAC_Sabre which was a CAC development of an American design. Maybe a co-operative redesign of the British rather than American aircraft.
Perhaps it could incorporate Singapore in the early decolonisation years when it was less developed but as Singapore's population and economy begin to build up it could lead to political arguing and eventually Singapore becoming independent - particularly given the demographic disagreement. Mind you if that was handled well it could result in good relations and co-operation.
Mind if I put in my 2 cents? I don't think it's feasible if you're thinking about a federation. Singapore is weak post-war but it has very little common ground with Borneo, unlike Malaya. Especially many of the issues are cultural and perhaps even geographical.
I tend towards this opinion when thinking about it - even if it is possible there are not many obvious advantages to becoming part of a geographically separate, demographically different, monarchical country with which you have little common history or development possibilities.
My opinion of purchasing tanks to be used in Sarawak is kinda tricky, the only situation you'll be using it in a useful role is fixed emplacements like Taiwan.
Mobility in Sarawak is always a problem, even today with its crappy broken roads and lack of proper landmarks.
I can actually draw some parallel to how things are handled in the Philippines during World War 2.
I'm curious if there are espionage involved here? Percival had engineers to rig the oil industry to blow after seeing the Japanese coming down on bikes to Singapore. It's too late to have any additional work done but if they knew about it even way earlier, I suppose it might work.
It's not very difficult to have a Japanese spy posing as a Chinese merchant in Kuching.
Mobility in Sarawak is always a problem, even today with its crappy broken roads and lack of proper landmarks.
I can actually draw some parallel to how things are handled in the Philippines during World War 2.
I'm curious if there are espionage involved here? Percival had engineers to rig the oil industry to blow after seeing the Japanese coming down on bikes to Singapore. It's too late to have any additional work done but if they knew about it even way earlier, I suppose it might work.
It's not very difficult to have a Japanese spy posing as a Chinese merchant in Kuching.
My opinion of purchasing tanks to be used in Sarawak is kinda tricky, the only situation you'll be using it in a useful role is fixed emplacements like Taiwan.
[1]Mobility in Sarawak is always a problem, even today with its crappy broken roads and lack of proper landmarks.
I can actually draw some parallel to how things are handled in the Philippines during World War 2.
I'm curious if there are espionage involved here? Percival had engineers to rig the oil industry to blow after seeing the Japanese coming down on bikes to Singapore. It's too late to have any additional work done but if they knew about it even way earlier, I suppose it might work.
It's not very difficult to have a Japanese spy posing as a Chinese merchant in Kuching.
DON'T. Just don't. It was not hard, its IMPOSSIBLE. Tanks in Sarawak was only possible at Kuching area, and from one strip of land bordering Brunei called Lutong to Bintulu which is quite swampy except if your tank was light enough... OTL Japanese landed their tank only at Kuching...
OTOH, it was possible to have a Japanese spy in Kuching, though...
[1]EDIT: Now how do you know that?
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I would actually say it's impossible but this is his TL after all. Might be a chance to prepare for tanks if you got the terrain for it.
Also, Malaysian here. Always traveling between Miri and Bintulu because of family but I have long shifted to Selangor.
Spies weren't that hard to utilize between Asian countries if you're Japanese. There were already a lot of spies in China and prior to the war, there were spies checking out things in Malaya.
Also, Malaysian here. Always traveling between Miri and Bintulu because of family but I have long shifted to Selangor.
Spies weren't that hard to utilize between Asian countries if you're Japanese. There were already a lot of spies in China and prior to the war, there were spies checking out things in Malaya.
I would actually say it's impossible but this is his TL after all. Might be a chance to prepare for tanks if you got the terrain for it.
Also, Malaysian here. Always traveling between Miri and Bintulu because of family but I have long shifted to Selangor.
Spies weren't that hard to utilize between Asian countries if you're Japanese. There were already a lot of spies in China and prior to the war, there were spies checking out things in Malaya.
Orang siney kau gik ku maok dengar?
There was a small Japanese community in Malaya OTL... Also, due to Sino-Japanese War, it wasn't so hard to sneak a spy or two under disguise of refugees...
P/S: Another Malaysian... Megaman03 would be proud...
EDIT: You know about Miri and Bintulu... So you know the coastal area was flat...
I would actually say it's impossible but this is his TL after all. Might be a chance to prepare for tanks if you got the terrain for it.
Also, Malaysian here. Always traveling between Miri and Bintulu because of family but I have long shifted to Selangor.
Spies weren't that hard to utilize between Asian countries if you're Japanese. There were already a lot of spies in China and prior to the war, there were spies checking out things in Malaya.
I have no especial desire to burden Sarawak with expensive, unusable and unrealistic tanks just for the sake of it. I would be grateful for advice on matters like that - otherwise its just me being a bumbling nit and randomly creating things that I like
What would be the best way of improving logistics and mobility in Sarawak ? Road building I guess or is that just too impractical or difficult for a government of the time to seriously consider.
I have no especial desire to burden Sarawak with expensive, unusable and unrealistic tanks just for the sake of it. I would be grateful for advice on matters like that - otherwise its just me being a bumbling nit and randomly creating things that I like
What would be the best way of improving logistics and mobility in Sarawak ? Road building I guess or is that just too impractical or difficult for a government of the time to seriously consider.
Do it slowly... Vyner wasted 10 years not doing any progress since he took the throne... With Anthony in charge, he could cut a deal with Shell for a bigger royalties or build refineries in Sarawak instead diverting it to Brunei... More money equals more funds for infrastructures... And he need to find another source of income for the people with rubber price going to the drain... Or he could tell the farmers to diversify the crop... Does oil palm plantation existed in the 30's?
Uh yeah, I'm going to have to go with Volks on this one and say that the idea of adding a colony like Singapore to an independent protectorate such as Sarawak is way overreaching. Up until 1942 they'd been a part of the Straits Settlement along with (small) parts of the Malayan mainland, that combined with similar culture and geographically being right next to Malaya, as opposed to being dissimilar and six hundred miles away across the South China Sea, I just can't see a logical way for them to be given to Sarawak. North Borneo and Labuan however I could quite easily see going to them since they share borders with each other.
If you really had your heart set on getting some tanks then what about a troop of Carden Loyd Tankettes light tanks or Light Tanks, or if feeling really adventurous then Vickers 6 Ton tank? They're small, light - good for less developed areas, and mechanically less complex than what people immediately think of when you say 'tank'. Now since Sarawak has only a few major targets - Kuching, Miri, Seria - you basically use them defensively as mobile pillboxes, to help strengthen defences and very limited counter-attack. They're only armed with machine-guns, well except for Type B variant of the Vickers 6 ton, but considering what you could reasonably expect an invasion force to bring, much as the Japanese did in our timeline, an armoured heavy machine-gun should give any prospective invaders more than enough trouble.I have no especial desire to burden Sarawak with expensive, unusable and unrealistic tanks just for the sake of it. I would be grateful for advice on matters like that - otherwise its just me being a bumbling nit and randomly creating things that I like.
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Well the Jungle Carbine ITTL had accuracy issues (specifically a Wandering Zero). I susect that, as with the Boomerang's lacklustre performance in the fighter role, that this was because of its rushed wartime development cycle. If we assume some kind of paralel development with the No. 4 Rifle (which began in 1936 if memory serves) then it could be ready for issue by 1939 or 40 and with a few more years to correct the problems, would be a fully reliable piece of kit. Although here it would probably officially be called the No4 Carbine rather than the No. 5 Rifle.