| Issue XII |
TOP STORY: GREAT COUNCIL HEATS UP by Punchwood Debate at the ongoing Great Council has ignited since its previous extension. Initially the Council had been extended for one week due to a suggestion by Chair Farengeto. Shortly after, Sandaoguo proposed an indefinite extension of the submissions period due to the growing discussions taken place around the proposals to codify the responsibilities of Regional Officers and the creation of a separate head of government named the Prime Minister, as these had not yet been turned into actual bills. While the indefinite extension was initially approved, Farengeto later secured a change in the submissions period that ensured it would soon close and voting would end just in time for the opening of the general election on November 15. Sandaoguo and Farengeto engaged in a back and forth debate regarding the merits of the indefinite extension, with supporters saying that proposals need to be carefully thought out and accommodate real life schedules, while opponents argue that the Council has been ongoing for over a month and should end at some point. Currently there are bills on High Court reform, the codification of the duties of Regional Officers and the reintroduction of a Prime Minister. Most controversial has been the third proposal, which would make the Delegate serve indefinite terms open to challenging by any citizen, similar to the Brave Little Toaster system used before 2012. In addition, there would be an elected Prime Minister responsible for most of the offsite responsibilities currently discharged by the Delegate. Many citizens have expressed support for the proposal, citing the potential empowerment of the gameside community with the election of the Delegate, though others have expressed concern over the security ramifications of a gameside delegacy election and have argued that this would only further divide the gameside and offsite communities. It is unclear whether the proposal will achieve the requisite 75% once it is taken to a vote. Voting is expected to begin within the next 24 hours and will end at most on November 14, one day before nominations for the general election open. Regional Games Kick Off by Scylla Today the III South Pacific Regional Games kicked off, drawing 19 contestants from over four regions, currently divided into three teams known as Husky, Beagle and Pug. Teams have already been sent the information regarding the first of three challenges, which is a flagmaking contest and will have to be completed in under three days in order to receive the most points and attain the first place at the end of the Games. Hosted jointly by Minister of Regional Affairs Kringalia and former Vice Delegate Sam11, the Regional Games are hosted by the South Pacific Ministry of Regional Affairs and have already been highly successful in their previous editions. Previously the II Regional Games involved four challenges: a high-score competition, a songwriting competition, a picture identification challenge and a scavenger hunt, with Team Eagle eventually prevailing over Team Mockingbird. Kringalia and ProfessorHenn, hosts of that event, noted the collaboration within each team and commended them for their effort and resolve, as well as the closer relationships they formed within their groups. Minister Kringalia has said he hopes the current Games will have the same positive outcome. Hileville reforms the Foreign Service by Kringalia Foreign Minister Hileville announced on November 6 several reforms to the fledging Foreign Service, most prominently the discharge of all ambassadors and certain changes to the drafting and distribution of Foreign Services. In his statement, the Minister cited the evolving nature of the Foreign Service and the need to ensure it could be sustained long after his own tenure. He further noted in a conversation with the Southern Journal that he was inspired by the performance of Arbiter08 as Envoy to Spiritus, deciding that it was more important to "focus on meeting people in the regions and learning about their culture and regional happenings" rather than merely distributing Foreign Updates. As a consequence, Minister Hileville has honourably discharged all ambassadors and announced that he will personally distribute Foreign Updates. In addition, he has said Updates will produce original content and cite from regional media, in contrast to the previous system where officials were encouraged to indicate what news they would like to see included. The Minister has expressed his confidence that these changes and the prospective appointment of Envoys to allied and certain friendly regions will prove more sustainable than the previous ambassadorial system, their role being to engage with citizens of their assigned regions through casual conversations and Q&A threads on their embassies, as a way to foster good bilateral relations. Were we Tsu-Pen-dous? Analysing the Tsunamy Administration based on the results of the Government Approval Surveys. [Image: 5x91s3c.jpg?1]
ProfessorHenn was first elected to the Cabinet within two months of becoming a citizen Tsunamy was originally elected Delegate of the South Pacific on the promise of making the region tsu-pen-dous, a bold claim that placed a huge amount of responsibility on his shoulders and implied he would have a personal hand in the improvement of South Pacifican culture and society. Throughout his two terms, the Southern Journal conducted several surveys that measured public perception on his administration and the performance of other government officials. While three months have already passed since Tsunamy left the delegacy, the results from all these surveys are useful as a way of seeing how the public perceived his tenure and whether he succeeded in his primary aim of making the region tsu-pen-dous. We are now releasing the results of these surveys as a six-part series, with each part containing analysis on one Cabinet member during Tsunamy's second term. We hope this will shed some light and encourage debate about an important period in our recent history. PART 5: PROFESSORHENN ProfessorHenn had a conflicting reputation during and after his election. He was a newcomer and had been first elected to the Cabinet within his first two months as a citizen, a feat not many could equal. He also had a reputation for being a reformer, having promised during the preceding Great Council that he would get the Special Forces on its feet, following repeated calls for its dissolution. However, he was implicated with the heavily politicised Minister of Foreign Affairs campaign once logs emerged of him aiding Wolf in attempting to convince citizens not to vote for Sandaoguo, some even allegating that there had been intimidation in certain cases. It is thus not difficult to imagine why his first months in office suffered from lower approval ratings and higher negative ratings. We can see an Excellent of 6% contrasted by a Bad of 6% and a Terrible of 3% in April, followed by a rising Excellent of 29% with a 0% Bad and an also rising 7% of Terrible in May. What stands out is the sudden rise in approval in May that also suddenly drops in June. It could be argued that the rise is due to the performance review conducted by the Assembly on that month, which brought more visibility to achievements by the Special Forces that would not have been otherwise noticed. Comments from respondents also help understand the perceptions from residents, as can be seen in the following: "While certainly taking an active interest in recruiting, he lacks the true momentum that is needed in order to do true recruitment."
"He only works towards his own benefit and refrains from doing things that would negatively affect his standing with certain players. He should also start working for the Special Forces and training recruits all the time, as opposed to only when he needs to show he does something." "He's done a good job announcing his successes, but the region still needs to hear about it more." "ProfessorHenn has been good with activity, but a bit of dick otherwise." "Needs to be more vocal about what is going on. I think they have given some life to a dead arm of the South Pacific." One can notice that comments question his attitude and methods, but not necessarily his drive and determination. ProfessorHenn arguably did succeed in revitalising the Special Forces, though whether that success was self-sustainable can be a matter of debate, in particular because both the above comments and the Assembly review concided that recruitment and mission reports were vital to the continued success of the military. ProfessorHenn eventually lost a bid to the delegacy on the July 2015 election after logs surfaced of him offering a position to current Vice Delegate Arbiter08 in exchange for him not running with Feirmont. He remained an active contributor at the Ministry of Regional Affairs before resigning his citizenship a few days ago. PART 6: FEIRMONT will be published in the next issue! Technical Data: Data was taken from four surveys conducted on February, April, May and June 2015. Residents of the South Pacific were the sample. Raw data may be provided upon request. Former Delegate of the South Pacific
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