Chai Kong
Chai Kong 柴港國 Cháigǎng-guó | |
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 Flag
 Coat of arms
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| Motto: "Pearl of the Orient" 東方之珠 Dōngfāng Zhī Zhū | |
| Anthem: "Song to the Auspicious Cloud" 卿雲歌 Qīng Yún Gē | |
 | |
| Status | Limited recognition |
| Capital | Chai Kong (city state) |
| Largest district | N/A |
| Official languages | Chinese English |
| Official scripts | Traditional Chinese English alphabet |
| Ethnic groups | 92.0% Chinese 5.4% Malay 2.6% others |
| Religion | 70% Buddhism 20% Christianity 5% Islam 5% others |
| Demonym(s) | Chai Kongese |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• Monarch | Elizabeth II (Unrecognised by Elizabeth II) |
• Governor-General | Sir Kwang Ho Peng |
| Chow Tsu Koon | |
| Legislature | Parliament of Chai Kong |
| Formation | |
• Planned settlement (Unrecognised by Malaysia) | 11 April 2010 |
• Independence from Malaysia | 4 September 2015 |
| Area | |
• Total | 73.98 km2 (28.56 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2017 estimate | 480 |
| Currency | Chai Kong dollar ($) (CK) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (Chai Kong Time/CKT) |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +60 |
| Internet TLD | .ck .柴港 |
Chai Kong (Traditional Chinese: 柴港 Cháigǎng; formally 柴港國 Cháigǎng-guó, meaning "State of Chai Kong") is a self-proclaimed sovereign city-state in Southeast Asia, constituting an parcel of land on the Malay Peninsula. Chai Kong is bordered by the state of Perak in West Malaysia to the east, and the Indonesian province of Aceh and North Sumatra to the west, across the Strait of Malacca.
Chow Tsu Koon founded Chai Kong in 2010 as a self-proclaimed autonomous planned community for the Straits-born Chinese people, due to the accusations of racism stem from racial preferences embodied within the social and economic policy of the Malaysian government. The city-state declared independence from Malaysia, becoming a self-proclaimed sovereign nation in 2015, as the Malaysian government refused to recognise the legitimacy of settlement. To create an air of legitimacy, the Head of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth II, was initially installed as the Queen of Chai Kong without her recognition. Chai Kong became a member state of the Commonwealth of Micronations in its own right. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the Government of Chai Kong planned the construction of the city-state.
Chai Kong is a self-proclaimed Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. Her appointed representative in the country is the Governor-General of Chai Kong, an office held by Sir Kwang Ho Peng since 2015. Chow Tsu Koon has served as the head of government and prime minister from September 2015. Chai Kong is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with legislative power vested in the unicameral Parliament of Chai Kong. The two official languages of Chai Kong are Chinese and English. Hokkien, a variety of Chinese originating from the province of Fujian in China, is spoken by the vast majority of the population.
Chai Kong is a member state of the East Asian Union, Micro Asian Tigers, Asia-Pacific Micronational Economic Cooperation and the Commonwealth of Micronations.
Etymology
The source of the romanised name Chai Kong is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the spoken Hokkien pronunciation of 柴港 (Hokkien: Chhâ-káng; pinyin: Cháigǎng), which means "Firewood Harbour". This name may refer to the dense and tall forest that exists around the city-state or to the Tree of Chai Kong which represents the principles of the nation.
the name Cháigǎng-guó (柴港國) is used as a formal modern-day equivalent with the meaning of "the State of Chai Kong". Countries like Chai Kong whose long form does not contain a descriptive designation are generally given a name appended by the character guó (國), meaning "country", "nation" or "state".
History
Government and politics
Chai Kong is a self-proclaimed Commonwealth realm. As such, Queen Elizabeth II is its sovereign and head of state. The constitutional convention, which prepared the draft constitution, and Malaysia, the outgoing metropolitan power, had thought that Chai Kong would not remain a monarchy. The founders, however, considered that imperial honours had a cachet. The monarch is represented by the Governor-General of Chai Kong, currently Sir Kwang Ho Peng. Chai Kong is unusual among Commonwealth realms in that governors-general are elected by the legislature, rather than chosen by the executive branch.
The prime minister heads the cabinet, which consists of 12 MPs from the ruling coalition, which make up the government. The current prime minister is Chow Tsu Koon. The unicameral parliament has 27 seats. Candidates for members of parliament are voted upon when the prime minister asks the governor-general to call a national election, a maximum of five years after the previous national election.
In the early years of independence, the instability of the party system led to frequent votes of no confidence in parliament, with resulting changes of the government, but with referral to the electorate, through national elections only occurring every five years. In recent years, successive governments have passed legislation preventing such votes sooner than 18 months after a national election and within 12-month of the next election. In December 2012, the first two (of three) readings were passed to prevent votes of no confidence occurring within the first 30 months. This restriction on votes of no confidence has arguably resulted in greater stability, although perhaps at a cost of reducing the accountability of the executive branch of government.
Elections in Chai Kong attract numerous candidates. After independence in 2015, members were elected by the first past the post system, with winners frequently gaining less than 27% of the vote.
Law
The unicameral Parliament enacts legislation in the same manner as in other jurisdictions that have "cabinet," "responsible government," or "parliamentary democracy": it is introduced by the executive government to the legislature, debated and, if passed, becomes law when it receives royal assent by the Governor-General. Most legislation is regulation implemented by the bureaucracy under enabling legislation previously passed by Parliament.
All ordinary statutes enacted by Parliament must be consistent with the Constitution. The courts have jurisdiction to rule on the constitutionality of statutes, both in disputes before them and on a reference where there is no dispute but only an abstract question of law. Unusual among developing countries, the judicial branch of government in Chai Kong has remained remarkably independent, and successive executive governments have continued to respect its authority.
The "underlying law" (Chai Kong's common law) consists of principles and rules of common law and equity in England common law as it stood on 4 September 2015 (the date of Independence), and thereafter the decisions of Chai Kong's own courts. The courts are directed by the Constitution and, latterly, the Underlying Law Act, to take note of the "custom" of traditional communities. They are to determine which customs are common to the whole country and may be declared also to be part of the underlying law. In practice, this has proved extremely difficult and has been largely neglected.