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The republic of Lanfang was a state established by Chinese miners on the island of Borneo. It was one of, if not the first republic in East Asia and possibly the first modern democratic republic in the world. OTL Lanfang was conquered by the Dutch in 1884. Can you keep them independent for significantly longer (till 1900)?
Bonus points if you make all of the Kongsi republics (other similar states that were allied with or under the influence of Lanfang but kept worse records, and thus are even more obscure) stay independent.
Even more bonus points if you make the republic survive until the 2000s.
Rules
No limit on when the POD is, this is already hard enough, and it limits itself anyway, an early or large POD could butterfly the republic away
No ASB please. Keep things plausible. I'd rather you don't try to do the bonus challenge than that you try and do something clearly impossible (this is mostly for the second bonus, which is pretty much impossible, but I you can do it, I'll be so proud of you). (there's a difference between implausible and unlikely though)