Stories about Bridges (Closed)

[Fregerson]

Location: Somewhere in the north of Poafmersia, along the coastline facing the North Poafmer Seas
"Daddy, what is that thing on the sea?"
A little girl no bigger than 10, was asking his father this question on a routine travel around the nation. Despite the 30 year master plan to put Poafmeria on the World Map and open its borders, travelling overseas remains limited, and was mainly reserved for the richer people. Therefore, people chose to explore within Poafmeria, all around the outskirts, or even coasting around different cities, just to escape from their home and leave their working life behind. This father-and-child pair, however, was different. They leaved in the Northern parts of Poafmeria, away from the cities, and often come here to walk. Despite their frequent journey here, to the father, the structure on the river seems a little new and he does not seem to recognise the structure. "I don't know, Jasmine, it seems to be something that is built out into the big blue seas!"
"But Daddy, surely you have seen something like this before?"
"No, Jasmine. Nobody knows what lays behind this huge patch of water, and the amount of ships and boats here is so little! I have never seen something as big as this before!"
Technically, he was right about never seeing it before. However, he knows something about this mysterious structure seen in front of him.

14 years ago
"For decades, we have chosen to ignore the world around us, and took our own path in exploring development on our own. This, however, is out of date and cannot occur any more. Today, I am launching a 30 year master plan, which would help us regain our position in the world, show the world our abilities, and tell everyone who we are!"
Thunderous applause came from the crowd. Having seen the President Pikashru Nakisan and his government make sweeping reforms and changes across the board, the people of PotatoFamers (as it was still called then) were excited of this new masterplan of "globalising PotatoFarmers", as the plan was named. Though many have little to no idea what this meant, the promises of a better lifestyle and the benefits of more connection with other nations (groups of communities, as defined by the President) was enough to entice voters to give him the 2/3rd supermajority he needed to make constitutional amendments that election. It kicked start a huge plan of bringing the nation out of isolation, which started with a name change "to make the nation look more normal to others". There was also plans to improve connectivity with others, to build rail lines that connect into neighbouring countries, kickstart diplomatic relations and everything. Everything that was planned out was supposed to continue from the previous reforms, which included plans to make the country more secular, plans to reduce reliance on farming and primary industries in exchange for more manufacturing and service-based work, and even plans to stomp out partisanship that came with a party-list system.

 

[Fregerson]

A scene from the budget debate for the new financial year, in the Halls of the Ridimag
"Mr Speaker, I would like to raise a concern. Could anything be done about the widening income gap?" asked Hocrospai Daxon, a parliamentary member of the ruling party during a debate about the Budget for the new financial year. "Despite our very progressive taxes, our income gap has been increasing. With reference to the Gini coefficient, we have been rising from 0.27 around 10 years ago to 0.43. Being one of the few representatives of the minority Qingis race, I have found that our people are not the richest people around, with some of the families still reliant on national support to supplement their incomes. Many Qingis are not as well educated, living outside major townships, while working as farmers or even coal miners. Could something be done about their livelihood?"
"The problem with bridging the income gap, Mr Speaker," replied the Minister for Finance, Dorsia Kiasndis, "is that we might sacrifice economic growth. Our income gap could be small in the past because we were a closed nation that relied on nothing but ourselves. When we open up, we could increase development by calling for investments into the country, and to prepare for that, ultimately things need to be adjusted. Have an overly progressive tax system and you would chase away foreign expats. Have too high corporate taxes and we would not get any investment because expected returns on investment decreases."
"So what about the people that are not benefiting as much from the opening up?"
"Ultimately, the aim is to bring everyone up to a similar level. We are not a socialist state in any form, but we do have policies to protect the less well to do. We will slowly tweak the taxation and benefits system, but first of all, we need new companies from around the multiverse to come here and invest in our country. Once we get more investment and these people get employed, definitely it would help to raise their standard of living."

 

[Fregerson]

"I am really tired of living, can I end my life?"
That was what one of the banners read during the "march for euthanasia" campaign in the Mancodas City center. These liberals wanted to legalise euthanasia, an issue which is a seriously thorny issue that is very hard to settle. But the government would never give way. Nobody is willing to legalise euthanasia, lest they become even more bold and ask for other things like LGBT recognition.
For a diverse country like Poafmersia, attempting to bridge the gap between the different communities is a tough balancing act. As Johnson Sadik, the Minister of Social Affairs, once said, "Diverse communities like us have to really take a more neutral stand to things. When (we legalised) abortion, the conservatives were asking us what the hell we were doing, but in the end, they understood the purpose of allowing the people the freedom of choice. Although some would never accept abortion, we give them those rights and do not force abortion to them. But when we think about other issues, we need to slowly understand the consequences, and think about how to please everyone."

 

[Fregerson]

Somehow, the plans to open up the country to international attention did not really work...because people were not receptive about it.
Imagine that you have been in a nation where you thought you were the only group of people around. In fact, what is a country? Are there other countries around us? The notion of a "country" never existed to people in Poafmeria, nor do they expect that there are others who are outside their world. When you think from that perspective, then you would realise that it takes aeons to convince the people that there are nations outside.
It is how the country grew, how the people are educated, that makes this so called "globalisation strategy" fail. Only a group of individuals would believe in exploring the outside world. But to the others, they do not trust these "aliens" and would never work with them. And this gives a headache to the ruling government, to the President, and to those intellectuals who know that globalisation is the way forward. How do we let the masses understand it?
Besides, elections are coming, and other parties would inevitably use this failure to criticize the government. It wouldn't be surprising to see a new party form up, something which Poafmeria has not seen in a decade, just to go against this "globalisation" plan. Something needs to be done. And maybe it needs to come from outside, not inside.