First Council of Ministers meeting.
Bingol Royal Palace, Bingol, Packilvania.
1 January 2023.
The Imperial Council Pavilion was the new venue for Council of Ministers meetings. As part of turning over a new leaf and starting a new chapter, Prince Luwadeen thought it would be best to move the Council of Ministers meetings to a pleasant verandah that had been enclosed with glass doors and overlooked the extensive gardens. A large table and comfortable chairs surrounded it. It gave the impression of a formal garden party than the meeting where the most powerful body in Packilvanian politics congregated to make decisions about one of the most powerful nations in the world.
For the first time in many years Princess Yadika was not surrounded by men alone but there were women as well. On her advise, Prince Luwadeen had the seating arranged such that everyone was mixed up to prevent the women from being pushed to one side of the table and symbolically isolated from the debates. As the members entered and greeted one another, taking their seats, he was extremely pleased with the fact that 3 of the 6 new ministers were his daughters. Although they were career politicians at provincial level in their own right, there was a sense that their filial relationship as well as policial alignment on many issues had de facto granted Luwadeen more power on the Council on top of the fact that his son, Prince Ashal was already a member.
Many years of devoted loyalty and companionship to one of the loneliest people he had met, then Prince Thumim, was rewarded many times over with seeing his household as the most overrepresented family in the highest echelons of Packilvanian politics (in addition to his eldest son serving as the Governor of Kemer). There was a sense that the rest of the Ministers were not ignorant to how Prince Luwadeen became even more powerful than he was over the past 12 years of his role at the head of the Packilvanian executive branch.
He opened the meeting with prayer and a reading of a verse from the Bas Magdamar, a rather overt reminder of their collective subservience to Paxism and their Goddess Noi. They opened their eyes and raised their heads with an âAmenâ.
âRightâ, he began, âI would like to congratulate the newly appointed members of the Council on their positions. The expansion of the Council will enable the national government to have greater political control over the nation while the appointment of the astute and capable women shows our collective march in the direction of women empowerment. The first order of business is to discuss outstanding legislation. Princess Abdina, you may go firstâ.
âThank you sirâ, she said proudly. She had previously served as a Junior Minister in charge of Imperial Affairs and was now the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities.
She continued, âI would like to thank my predecessor, Princess Yadika for her outstanding work in this department. Of note is the Deviant Sexual Identities Amendment Act. My department has consolidated the comments from the public and created a report which I circulated to all of you prior to this meeting. In summary, there is broad public support for the abolition of the death penalty and the creation of options for renunciation or self-imposed exile for persons with deviant sexual identities. As the Minister of Religious Affairs will attest, the Magisterium of Paxism has broadly shown support for the legislation. Thus, my department will be moving forward with submitting the legislation to the Legislative Council for a voteâ.
âThank you, Princess. Are there any other comments before we proceed?â
Prince Duwal, the Minister of Justice harped in, âPersonally, I remain staunchly opposed to this legislation! We are a nation of morally upright values! All immorality and deviance should be expunged by firing squad as far as I am concernedâ.
âWell sirâ, Prince Luwadeen replied, âYour opinion represents a dying breed and insyncronisity with the times. The work Princesses Yadika and Abdina have done is highly laudable. Additionally, it is not as though such behaviours and choices are decriminalised, it is that people ensnared in these vices now have avenues for redemptionâ.
Prince Duwal gave a hurumph. Prince Luwadeen motioned to vote for the legislation to be presented to the Legislature. The law was approved by barely over half of the Council, with a clear skewing to the younger and newer members.
âThe bill is approved. Prince Ashal, you may present the bill to the Chairperson of the Legislative Councilâ, Prince Luwadeen stated, âNext is the Morality Amendment Actâ.
âYes, sirâ, stated Prince Duwal, âDespite my preference for retaining separation of species insofar as marriage is concerned it seems that my opinion represents a dying breed, as the Esteemed Prime Minister has so astutely pointed out. However, opinions regarding fornication remain mixed among the public, but our compatriots and teachers in the Magisterium remain staunchly opposed to its decriminalisation. Thus, my department has prepared amendments to reduced the sentences for fornication, which I circulatedâ.
âSirâ, Princess Abdina stated, âI have reviewed the amendments and I do not understand why section 78 prescribes more severe sentences for women. This makes no sense as it takes two people to indulge in this act and thus he punishment should be equal. Furthermore, I think it would be remiss if we did not recognise the propensity for men to impose their desires and compel women into compromising positions including committing this egregious sin. As such, I think that there should be amendments to absolve women who were placed in such positions of any liability altogether. My department has prepared some proposals for amendments to the changes you presentedâ.
Prince Duwalâs right seemed to almost throb as a look of disgust and anger swam over his face. Prince Luwadeen tried to diffuse the situation, âThank you Princess. I share similar sentiments. I would advise that we postpone the vote for this bill until everyone has had a chance to review the amendments proposed by the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities and comment on them. Letâs move on to the High Net Worth Individuals Debt-Based Lifestyle Financing Tax Reform Bill. Bit of a mouthful there, Prince Binhameenâ.
The Council had a laugh and the mood lifted a little bit. Prince Binhameen, the finance minister stated, âYes, sir. Public commentary on this has been rather disproportionately represented by organisations that work for or represent the interests of high net worth individuals as it seems the public and civil society are largely ignorant of the issue. In general, the public was concerned that wealthy people could evade taxation though debt, but there was an absence of consensus. Generally, the mood is that, to use lay terms, âits not a big dealâ. Some members of the public felt that this was a violation of their rights and that it would drive away investors. I think from the view of the Imperial Treasury, the problem is that our nation has a serious tax issue and our continued reliance on hydrocarbon royalties and debt to finance our national budget is unsustainable and potential disastrous. We need more taxes and rich people are avoiding them because of this debt based structure. As such, my department has proposed placing a higher tax on goods that only people in this income stratum seem to be able to access namely luxury goods and services and increasing property taxes for housing purchases above a certain levelâ.
Prince Luwadeen nodded his head, and said, âThat seems sensible. Are there any comments on thisâ.
Prince Malakhai, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development stated, âI think we need to be careful about the property taxes because it might incentivise developers to focus on premium housing and mark up their costs to compensate for the taxes which may affect property prices across the board. And as the Minister for Home Affairs can attest, local governments will arbitrarily restrict the supply of residential land to extract as much property tax as possibleâ.
Prince Luwadeen stated, âYou raise a valid point here. I think, Prince Binhameen, it would be best if your departments did a joint study on the impact of property taxes on housing supply and report back with your findingsâ.
âI think there is also the additional problem of our tourism and luxury retail and manufacturing industriesâ, Prince Jahalal, Minister of Tourism stated, âI mean, Packilvanian products have long been lamented as cheap and poor quality. Luxury goods and services sales have ridiculously high profit margins. We need to be careful about crowding out consumers who are more price sensitive from access to these goodsâ.
Prince Binhameen replied, âWell, sir. I think we need to make a sacrifice between tax collection and industry success. Based on figures from the circulated report, these taxes could potential expand our tax income by 12 to 18 percentâ.
âI think there are many valid pointsâ, Prince Luwadeen stated, âLetâs come back to this bill as there a few things to be ironed out, but great work Prince Binhameen. Now to the new bills. Duchess Mawara, I believe you have something for usâ.
âYes, indeed, sir and thank youâ, she said âAs a woman, I recognise that we are not always as safe as we could be in this country. I have seen through my work as the Jumhuri Minister of Justice that the wheels of justice move too slowly to punish perpetrators of violent crime. It is for that reason that I would like to propose the Criminal Procedure Amendment Act. This act will make members of gangs whose members perpetrate violent crimes equally guilty of those crimes. This will empower the courts to wrangle not only the perpetrators but their enablers as well. Additionally, trial of such individuals can be held in their absence to enable court cases to be decided quickly. Furthermore, in the case where a person is charged with a capital offence and flees police custody, police officers can execute the punishment on sightâ.
Prince Duwal rebutted, âDuchess, I am all for being tougher on crime but this bill completely obliterates due process and an appropriate distribution of punishment. What should happen if the perpetrator would have been vindicated on appeal or a police officer makes a mistake and executes the incorrect person?â
âItâs interesting sir, that you are in support of harsher punishments for women who fornicate and for people with deviant sexual identities, but when it comes to criminals who actually go out commit heinous acts, you are more reticent. Itâs also rather remarkable that these crimes like compelled physical intimacy, egregious assault and murder are almost universally perpetrated by men. I am getting the sense that Minister of Justice has a gender preference in the enforcement of justice in this countryâ.
âMadam Minister!â Prince Duwal proclaimed, âHow dare you? I fought in the Second Packilvanian Civil War so that women like you could live free of Communism. It is an effrontery to state that I am more favourable to men. You are literally removing in-person trials as a prerequisite for conviction of a crime for which someone could be executed!â
âLetâs not forget, Mr Ministerâ, the Duchess stated, âThat our beloved Sultan was nearly assassinated by that malovent fiend! We live in a country in which it is possible for someone to do that because we are not tough enough on violent crimes because men want to protect each other. Well sir, if the women who are suffering at the hands of men does not compel you, how about the attempted murder of the greatest man in the land! Or should we question your loyalty to him?â
âMadamâ, Prince Duwal said. He tried to reply but was so angry and flummoxed that he began stammering.
âThat is enoughâ, Prince Luwadeen stated, âWe will not vote on this act today. We will wait until the next meeting. Please prepare amendments and supporting evidence thereto concerning for the Council to reviewâ.