Ca'onja

Ca'onja, officially The United Federation of Caroline and Ontong Java, is an Oceanian sovereign country comprising the major archipelago groups of Caroline and Ontong Java. The neighbouring countries are Micronesia to the north; Marshall Islands to the northeast; Kiribati and Nauru to the east; Tuvalu to the south-east; Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands to the south; and Indonesia and Palau to the west. Ca'onja's capital is Kota Wantaim and its largest city is Derosten. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Dataran Subur, Motuwei and Oaio.

Ca'onja is multi-ethnic and multi cultural, with a significant majority of the population are Oceanian people. East Asians, Europeans and Southeast Asians, as well as the mixed ancestry of Eurasians and Euronesians, form up the population minority. Ca'onja gained independence from Australia in 1958 and formed a federation of three countries: Bwanaba, Eauripik and Nukuoro. Sorol joined the federation as the fourth country in 2000 after gaining independence from Indonesia earlier in 1992. As a unitary federal parliamentary directorial republic, the leaders and representatives of each country co-governs the federation as the Federal Council.

Etymology
The name Ca'onja, is a portmanteau of the first syllable of "Caroline", "Ontong" and "Java". The apostrophe is added to symbolise the two archipelago groups sharing the same name. The name was adopted following the Caroline and Ontong Java Act 1949 which granted the nation's independence from Australia.

Ancient history
Small empires sprout up across the archipelago since the first millennium. At the dawn of the second millennium, the sphere of influence from a few empires begin to outmatch its neighbours, eventually resulting in the four great empires by the 16th century.

To assert its dominance over the Caroline archipelago, Sorol goes to war with Eauripik in 1519. The advancement starts off well but was stopped by 1534 when some of its army had to be redirected to fend off the Tidore invaders that landed along its southern shores. Territories between the three empires exchanged hands several times throughout the 16th century. Sorol is slowly losing the lands it captured from Eauripik but it is on track to regain back its lands captured by Tidore. However, the situation became worse in 1585 when Ternate enters the fray. This forced Sorol to give up its expansion plans into Eauripik in order to repel both Ternate and Tidore, which they eventually did so in 1591.

Colonial period
The European involvement in the Ternate-Tidore conflict eventually led to the discovery of the Caroline and Ontong Java archipelagos from 1526, which later became fully colonised by the European empires by the 19th century. Eauripik was first colonised by the Spanish Empire in 1565. The [w:Dutch Empire|Dutch]] colonised Sorol in 1808. Nukuoro was colonised by the British colony of Queensland in 1883. Bwanaba is the last of the four Great Empires to be colonised, with the Germans colonising it in 1884. The Germans later obtain Eauripik from the Spanish from the German-Spanish Treaty.

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German colonies of Bwanaba and Eauripik were seized by Australian and Japanese troops respectively. The Treaty of Versailles officially hand over the two German colonies to both Australia and Japan after the war. Later in 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, which kick-starting the Pacific War as part of World War II. By 1942, the entire archipelagos of Caroline and Ontong Java fell to the Japanese, providing natural resources to fuel the Japanese war machine. Massacres and forced labours fell upon the locals, especially to those sympathetic to the allied forces, over the next couple of years.

After a series of successes throughout the Pacific, the Allied Forces begin plans to recapture the two archipelagos. Both the Caroline Campaign and the Ontong Java Campaign were executed in 1944 and lasted till the end of the Pacific War. Japan subsequently surrendered in September 1945, leading to the allied occupation of Eauripik and the liberation of Bwanaba, Nukuoro and Sorol.

Civil administration of Bwanaba is restored by the Government of Australia in 1945. Eauripik becomes a United Nations Trust Territory in 1947. Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom became the trustees of the territory, with Australia largely handling the administration.

Independence and Sorol Civil War
The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence sparked a 4 years conflict between the pro-independent groups and Netherlands from 1945 to 1949. Eventually, Netherlands acknowledges Indonesia’s independence, while Indonesia accepts the Netherlands’ sovereignty over Netherlands New Guinea and Sorol for a year, after which negotiations would reopen over its rightful sovereignty of the two territories.

In an act to introduce self-governance to the archipelagos, the Parliament of Australia passed the Caroline and Ontong Java Act in 1949, which combine the administrations of the three territories into one. The local governments then decide to band together and start the process for eventual independence. The Netherlands Sorol was invited into the process given his historical linkage but declined to participate in order not to anger Indonesia. A federation, Ca’onja, is formed between the three territories and gained independence in 1958.

Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, a series of failed negotiations with the Netherlands and the failure to receive a favourable solution from the United Nations prompted Indonesia to seize Dutch interests in the region and launch a campaign to infiltrate Sorol and West New Guinea. The Soviet-aided Indonesian military build-up also encouraged Ca’onja to do the same thing.

Under immense pressure from the United States to avoid a Soviet-aligned Indonesia, Netherlands eventually agree to give up the two colonies under the New York Agreement. A UN trusteeship is then established in 1962, transitioning the administration to Indonesia in 1963. The Act of Free Choice plebiscite takes place in 1969 per the New York Agreement. The unfair plebiscite, however, resulted in maintaining Indonesian control over Sorol and West New Guinea.

Widespread protests sprung up across Sorol, rejecting the results and demanding for a proper referendum. The Indonesian Army and Police is called in to quell the protest, leading to clashes between the two sides. The clashes escalate into a full-scale civil war towards the end of the year as several groups of pro-independent militants fight against the Indonesian forces.

Refugees have been fleeing into Ca’onja since 1965 following the Communist Purge in Indonesia which target communists and ethnic Chinese. Following the outbreak of a civil war in Sorol, more refugees flow into the country, prompting the public to call on for governmental action to protect the interests of their historic brothers and sisters. In 1970 onwards, the Ca'onjaian Government begins to fund pro-independent militia groups in Sorol. Indonesia eventually got hold of Ca’onja’s action, then engage the Ca’onja forces in several skirmishes after Ca’onja refused to back out from the war.

Ca’onja successfully conducts a ballistic missile test within its territory in 1981. The test, as well as Ca’onja’s technological know-how to build a nuclear weapon, prompted Indonesia to offer a ceasefire over the Sorol Civil War following vague remarks from Ca’onja regarding the usage of such weapon in the conflict. By 1982, an armistice is signed between the Ca’onja, Indonesia and militant forces. A referendum will also take place in due time to determine the status of Sorol. In the mean time, a joint Ca’onja-Indonesia administration will be in-charge of the territory.

Despite some delays, a referendum is held in 1992 as decreed by the 1982 armistice agreement. Of the 73% of eligible voters who voted during the referendum, 63% voted for independence, while the rest voted to remain in Indonesia. As such, Sorol gained independence later in the year. However, violent events occurred in the months leading up to the referendum, some resulting in deaths. Bombing attempts not only occurred in Sorol but also in Ca’onja and Indonesia. There were also some clashes between Indonesian forces and pro-independent militias and between Ca’onjaian forces and anti-independent militias.

Since gaining independence, Sorol has been seeking closer economic and military cooperation with its historical neighbour Ca’onja. Following a referendum in 2000 with 86% support from the 92% of eligible voters who voted, Sorol becomes the fourth country of the federation. The main reason for the high voter turnout and the subsequent huge support for merger was the multiple attacks conducted by pro-independence militias. In particular, the hijack of Caroline Airways Flight 124 a few days before the vote resulted in an up-swing of support for merger. The passenger flight was travelling from Dataran Subur to the federal capital city of Kota Wantaim when the militia hijack the flight on-route and eventually enter the restricted airspace around Kapingamarangi Nuclear Power and Mining Complex. Receiving no response from the plane, the air force made the tough decision to shoot down the plane to prevent a larger disaster.

Contemporary history
With the post-war population boom happening, the country enters into a period of industrialisation through numerous agricultural, economic and societal reforms. Transport and infrastructure works spring up across the country, beginning with the upgrade from pre-war technology. The discovery of uranium deposits in the Kapingamarangi Plateau help fuel the growing energy needs. By the 1990s, the government begin to push for the mass production of high-technology products.

The 1982–83 El Niño event caused a heat wave to sweep across the region. In the Caroline and Ontong Java archipelagos specifically, it leads to widespread drought and crop failures. Forest fires were also reported.

Higher energy consumption eventually led to the failure of the East Ontong Java Grid on one evening in 1983, causing widespread blackout for the 20 million people within the affected area including the Derosten metropolitan area. Power is gradually restored over the next few days. The blackout prompt the Government to increase spending on the power infrastructure, especially on nuclear power. The Chernobyl Disaster in 1986, however, forced the Government to reconsider its reliance on nuclear power.

As the transport infrastructure failed to keep up with the demands of the economic and population growth, the Parliament pass a bill in 1993 that effectively begin the five-year process of nationalising the road, rail and public transport industries. New transport infrastructure projects are also being planned and constructed over the decades. Due to the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the plans were revised and stretched out to soften the impact of the recession. The air and ferry transport industries, as well as seaport operations, are added into the nationalisation plans due to a series of related private company bankruptcies.

Earthquakes are common in the region as it lies in between several tectonic plate boundaries. Small tsunamis that may occur after the earthquake are also common in the region. In 1998, however, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake unexpectedly produced a tsunami up to 15m high that slammed along the northern shores of New Guinea. Tsunamis of up to 1.5m high were also reported along the southern shores of Caroline Besar and some southern islands of the Mussau archipelago. Ca’onja and Sorol suffered little to moderate damages. However, 2,100 – 2,700 died in Papua New Guinea and several villages got wiped out, making this event the worst natural disaster for the country since independence. Ca’onja, along with the international community, sends humanitarian aid to Papua New Guinea.

Following the September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombing, a faction of the Sorol independence militia split and pledge allegiance to Jemaah Islamiyah and, by extent, al-Qaeda. This leads to several incidents of infighting between the two factions, with the Ca’onja military getting involved. There were also several bombing incidents throughout the 2000s. In the 2010s, ISIS-related militias pop up within the region, going as far as to claim a caliphate over the Caroline archipelago. Ca’onja also contribute some military personals to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On March 2003, a citizen infected with the SARS virus admitted to a hospital in Derosten after returning from a business trip from Hong Kong. Local transmission of the virus soon spread throughout the hospital, then city wide. As Derosten is a major trading hub of the federation, the virus also spread to other major cities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) soon declared Ca’onja an infected area. Most schools and public areas closed nationwide and compulsory quarantine for infected individuals are enforced in attempt to limit the transmission of the virus. Three months later, the WHO remove Ca’onja off the list of infected areas as there were no further cases for 20 days prior. Of the 437 cases, 64 died directly or indirectly from the virus, with a 14.6% fatality in Ca’onja.

Following the largely successful 1993 Transport Act, the Government announced in 2007 an ambitious countrywide 50-years master plan on the future of the urban and rural communities of the federation. It largely focus on upgrading major hubs into smart cities, investment in clean energy and implementing measures to safeguard food and climate security. The global recession in 2008 however force the government to delay most of the projects, even putting some on hold indefinitely. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 further put nuclear energy related projects on hold, increasing the consideration of other clean energy sources.

Ca’onja has been hammered by intensified weather phenomena throughout the 2010s so far. While tropical cyclones commonly slam the country, the 2010-2012 La Niña event resulted in massive floods made worse by Typhoons Bopha and Haiyan. As the region transition into the El Niño event from 2014-2016, it brought about widespread drought and forest fires during the dry seasons. Haze events are made much worse, often creeping into the hazardous levels and breaking past air quality records. Typhoons Hagupit and Maysak also bring about more widespread flooding during the wet seasons. Another El Niño event is predicted to have up to 70% of happening near the end of 2018, though its intensity is not yet known.

Following 20 years of positive transportation infrastructure growth, the Government amends the 1993 Transport Act to allow some form of privatisation. High-speed rail projects will also be built across the country as domestic flights will be gradually reduced.

Decades of relative political peace come to an end following the release of the Panama Papers in 2016 and the Paradise Papers in 2017. Several high profile people listed in the papers are from the Government and state-owned companies, including the President of Eauripik, Jameson Davani. The possibility of alleged tax evasion led to widespread protests across the country. A parliamentary committee is formed to investigate alleged tax evasion within the Government. Davani step down in 2018, weeks before his designated appointment as Federal President of Ca’onja. His action resulted in early elections in Eauripik due in 2019 and the early appointment of Nukuoro President Martina Rande-Olea as Federal President of Ca’onja.