Foreign Affairs and Policy Reform Act, 2024

FAPRA Act, 2024
Parliament of Pinang
Foreign Affairs and Policy Reform Act (FAPRA), 2024
Territorial extent	Pinang
Enacted by	Parliament of Pinang
Date passed	17 November 2024
Date enacted	18 November 2024
Date assented to	17 November 2024
Legislative history
Bill	The Foreign Affairs and Policy Reform Act (FAPRA), 2024
Introduced by	Dinesh Rajagopalan
Summary
Reform and streamline the foreign policy approach of Pinang to promote diplomacy, international engagement, and sustainable development. Creation of the Pinangese Foreign Service (PFS). Creation of an honour for diplomatic service called the Ordino di Buena Diplomazia.
Keywords
Foreign policy, diplomatic service
Status: Current legislation

The Foreign Affairs and Policy Reform Act, 2024 or in short, the FAPRA Act is an act passed by the Parliament of Pinang, authored by Dinesh Rajagopalan, of the Conservative Unity Party. This legislation codified the foreign policy of Pinang, establishing the Pinangese foreign service and the Order of Good Diplomacy (Italian: Ordine di Buona Diplomazia).

History

Bill history

Dinesh Rajagopalan became the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee on 1 November 2024, after previously serving as Vice Chairman from 24 January 2024 till 24 April 2024. The first draft of the bill, introduced in the committee, created three tiers of diplomatic relations:-

• Alletinazione ("Ally nation"): Same conditions as Allies, in the final bill.
• Amicinazione ("Friend nation"): Same conditions as Friends, in the final bill.
• Piccolonazione ("Tiny nation"): This tier was created for budding micronations, that wanted to establish diplomatic relations. There will be a clause establishing the nation establishing it as a protectorate of Pinang.

I ask the MP from CUP to remove the problematic clause of the bill which would make Pinang an imperialist power, which is not an abhorrent violation of the constitution.

— Michael Pocci

The founder of Pinang and the current Chief Justice, Esty Carpentieri, criticized the bill for the names of the tiers, saying the names are not grammatically correct in Italian and must be changed. The author of the bill agreed to these criticisms and changed the bill to its present format.

It's unnecessary. I don't see the point in it beyond self indulgence. Still, in micronations awards are merely just to flatter others and to indulge in what I see to be silly titles.

— Thomas Jacobs, Prime Minister of Pinang on the Order of Good Diplomacy

Fellow party member, and Deputy Speaker, Josh Ford, supported the bill.

Voting

Voting for Foreign Affairs and Policy Reform Act (FAPRA), 2024
Ballot →		15 November 2024
Required majority →		7 out of 12
	Yes: Josh Ford (CUP) Jewele Olsen (Vision) Rafe Hargreaves (Labour) Dinesh Rajagopalan (CUP) Rafaela Luiz (PGP)	5 / 12 (42%)
	No: Alfred Smith (Vision) Ezio Auditore (PRL) Michael Pocci (PRL)	3 / 12 (25%)
	Abstain: Lorenzo Marquez (Ind) Thomas Jacobs (PRL)	2 / 12 (17%)
	Not voted: Roy Jackson (CUP) Connor Hetner (PRL)	2 / 12 (17%)

Contents

The bill is of 3 pages, 850 words long, consisting of 5,571 characters. It has the following features:-

Foreign policy

The current foreign policy is formulated by Dinesh Rajagopalan under Article 2, Sections 1 and 2 of the Foreign Affairs and Policy Reform Act (FAPRA), authored by him. Under this Act, Pinang shall conduct its foreign policy based on the following principles:

• Peaceful Coexistence and Leadership: The nation shall pursue peace in its relations with micronations and avoid conflict whenever possible. It shall take the lead in creating and reforming micronational organisations that are beneficial to its allies, and have common interests.
• Mutual Respect and Sovereignty: Relations with other states shall respect their sovereignty and independence, fostering cooperation without interference, unless it is against the interests of Pinang and of moral conscience and ethics.
• Promotion of Human Rights: Advocate for and support basic human rights in micronational partnerships, upholding respect for human dignity.
• Promotion of Native Heritage: The promotion of Pinangese and Italian culture will be encouraged during diplomacy and other matters.

There are two tiers of diplomatic relations, that demarcate the relations between Pinang and the micronations. They are “Allies” and “Friends” under the act:

• “Allies” is the tier given to micronations that have special relations with Pinang. Such nations have full-fledged ambassadors, appointed by the President, allotted from Pinang to the respective nation and vice-versa. They also have cultural centres. A yearly summit will happen between Pinang and the allied nations, headed by the Minister of External Affairs of Pinang, in an even number of years, and by the nation chosen between the “Allied” nations, in an odd number of years. If an Allies nation has hosted a summit, it cannot rehost a summit, until all nations have done one summit each.
• “Friends” is the tier given to micronations that have diplomatic relations with Pinang, and sign treaties of mutual recognition. These nations under this tier can be promoted to “Allies”, by the sole jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry.

Currently the following nations are classified as "Allies" and "Friends" under the bill.

• Allies:
  • Republic of Belcity
  • State of Rovia
• Friends:
  • Empire of Imvrassia

Pinangese Foreign Service

The Pinangese Foreign Service (PFS) was established under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Article 2, Section 3 of this bill. The Foreign Service shall be led by the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, appointed by the President of Pinang, with advice and consent from the Parliament of Pinang. The Dean shall be the senior-most or longest-serving diplomat of Pinang, serving under the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The bill also simplified the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, establishing the posts of ambassadors and consuls in Pinang. Currently

Ordine di Buona Diplomazia

Main article: Order of Good Diplomacy

The Order of Good Diplomacy (Italian: Ordine di Buona Diplomazia) is a diplomatic honour of Pinang, created as part of Article 3 of this bill. It comprises three ranks of Grand Commander (GCOBD), Commander (COBD) and Member (MOBD). The President of Pinang is the fons honorum of the honour and is an automatic recipient of the Grand Commander rank. The Order also has a chancellor, which is ex-officio held by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is an automatic recipient of the Commander rank.