Interview with our future President OkayOK
Vincent Pain
Interview with OKayOK.
What is your history in eBelgium? Have you always been here or do you come from another eCountry?
Originally I am from eSouth Africa. I think I was born in KwaZulu-Natal but it was occupied at the time by Indonesia. I served a long time in various roles such as Congressman, Vice President, President and founder of the Liberal Party of South Africa, Country President, President of the South African Government in Exile, Minister of Security and Minister of Foreign Affairs. After eSouth Africa was TO’ed by the Lazocrats, I went into two click mode for a while. I really can’t even remember which country I was in. I watched keenly as Fhaemita The Apostate seemed to be accepted as an equal and leader in eBelgium, and decided to make the move as he was my past MOFA in eSouth Africa when I was president there. This was about February 2019. I joined ATO and ran for congress but never actually managed to get super involved in the society. ATO was very dead, seeming happy with the status quo. I eventually e-died. I started developing a MMO game similar to eRepublik, and decided, as a test, to give the political aspect of the game a try. I revived and made the move to HOPE, and could not be happier with the spirit of change I have encountered in HOPE. I have been so involved here that my MMO has stopped development for the time being.
What was eBelgium like when you first started playing here?
In all honesty, Director 9 and CurlyBear were assets to me, however, as a party in general I felt they have very little time for inexperience, not knowing the game mechanics as scripture, and there is a major feeling of hierarchy that seems almost impossible to break. This was the reason that I e-died. We can never let any player that is born here or comes to our country to be left to die like I did.
How has it changed, and what do you think changed it?
The first thing that shocked me when I revived was that ATO seemed to still be uncontested and that it seems the population had decreased even more (Fact check me with pleasure, that is the impression). I think as a small country we forgot how to take chances, how to make the most out of our situation and we forgot to grow. This must have been a very comfortable situation for many, but at the same time, the situation did not allow for growth. I think with a huge effort from HOPE and all my party compatriots, we have grown this country, and we have created an environment of competitiveness. All awesome if you are playing a political simulator.
If you were to become country president, what would be the major change to the way you run the country compared to the current president?
What I plan to do is simple. First and foremost I will push for the creation of a constitution. This does not need to be a complicated document. It needs to highlight protections from abuse, and protections from TOs. A simple constitution can also be a force for unity as we all know where we stand with each other.
The next step I would like to achieve is building bridges with our opposition. A strong country is a united country and if we can find a place where we all can work together, only prosperity can follow. We are not there yet, but this needs to be achieved.
I will work harder and create a system of transparency. Direct Democracy is the ultimate goal of what we want to achieve as a party. Unfortunately with the way that the country is at the moment, there is simply not enough activity to allow for a pure system of Direct Democracy. What we need to achieve is transparency and a system of Public Consultations. This is very close to my heart. Being President is not simply a title. If I am elected, I am a player just like all of you. However, I would have been entrusted with a great task and it will take every single one of you to work with me to make this a success.
Lastly, I would like to work on getting more funds into the country treasury. More funds will mean more programs. I believe that we need to, under the Ministry of Education, create a Social Security System. Education is vital for player development, getting house’s through the BHA is also just as important but what about the little guy. What about the new player that signed up in October 2020 and no one has told him yet that he should upload an avatar? Has he got food, or has anyone bothered to send him a message and say “Hi, nice to have you here with us. How can I help you”? We cannot and should not allow any new player in this country to fall through the cracks. It is a sacred duty of us all to make them feel welcome and integrate them into our unique society.
How would you use taxes to benefit the country?
Food, housing, weapons, especially air weapons. I would also like to look into a way of running a government loan system for eBelgium Citizens who want to achieve in business. Investing in businesses for profit share and interest is a way to grow our money. We really need to achieve something else besides simply accepting that our local business climate is shot.
How would you support growth going forward?
Safe immigration, player support, marketing the county, social program expansion. Growth will be my number one goal in my presidency. It is at the heart of everything that I believe. I have a passion for taking this country and making it an active, happy place for all.
How do you plan to structure the government if you win?
Besides the Ministerial positions such as Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Education I would also like to have a few more government departments, constitutionally appointed for a year by the president unless impeached by congress. These will include Department of Security (Risks such as TO, vetting new players), Department of Trade (Development and fund new business) and Department of Treasury (handle and report back on Reserve Bank matters, to be headed by a Reserve Bank Governor). These posts will be technocratic and the most capabil will be selected for each post regardless of political affiliation.
I would also like to have players from other parties in my cabinet. If we can achieve unity, we can ensure that certain players in this game, who are undeniable assets, are retained and are part of the solution.
What do you believe eBelgium has to offer to those who wish to come here?
As a predominantly English speaking community we have a lot to offer players who wish to join us. I do not speak Dutch, I do not speak French but I am right here, communicating with you in a way that you understand. We have a small country which offers players the ability to grow whereas they might have been forgotten in other countries, overlooked for advancement, we are a fertile field of growth.
Do you believe that eBelgium can truly be rescued from the clutches of inactivity and stagnation?
Yes, absolutely we can. We need to change attitudes towards immigration, we need to change attitudes towards new players, we need to change our attitude to change! Given the right drive and motivation I have no doubt that we can achieve greatness as a county.
What would you say to your fellow countrymen to encourage them to build up eBelgium again?
You get good guys in this game and you get bad guys. I believe fully that we are the good guys. No matter who you are, or which party you belong to, you are the good guys. I believe that we can build this country up to a place where we are respected the world over for the way that we play, for our honesty and candor. I believe that we can be a beacon of hope for all countries that are struggling. It will take a commitment from each and every one of you to achieve this. Ensure that you activity is up. Comment on articles, be active on Discord, like feed posts. These simple tasks can be a game changer!
Comments
This is OK!
More then OK... OkayOK
Not great, not terrible.
@OkayOK
Can you explain in detail what safe immigration is for you?
Cause is not explained in the article.
Safe, as in... not getting killed on the way in. 😛
I asked to Okayok, not to you.
Safe immigration is not accepting people who could be a risk to the country. Any immigration has risk but there are things that we can do to limit this. We can look at friendlista to male surebthat there is no major affiliations with known TO groups. We can look at past articles, ban history. How many times they have changed their names. We can look at other aspects like their avatar. Multis often have avatars that are very generic.
What we cant do is reject someone because of their language, past political activity, or country of origin unless that country is deemed a threat
The recent massive immigration of HOPE suggests that there is no criterion of the ones you have just described.
The proof is the fact that another HOPE member has been banned. So the selection that HOPE makes is not working. What will change if you are elected? Will there be a committee that will decide?
Can you explain in detail what the immigration plans will be and will there be any reforms?
As an immigrant yourself I am often perplexed as to how you are so anti immigration. I will however do my best to put your fears to rest.
As former party, our policy has always been to identify players that are looking for a new home, send them an invitation to join us in a Belgian, and then if they accept, to vet them and make sure they are safe to enter the country.
The process of checking and making sure they are safe is handled in party. The reason for this is simple , Belgium has no constitution, and thus the executive branch cannot have an authority to dictate to Congress what they should not do with a democratically won powers. Unless Congress agrees to a rule that falls under the Constitution, any such rule can only be politically manipulated to benefit those in power. This type of top down approach of the previous government is what I really have an issue with. The people are meant to rule the government through the Representatives in congress, not the government ruling people, bypassing congress. Unless a constitution is at play, there is no way that we can say that Congress is representing the people to the full extent that it can.
This is the reason why we as a party have never felt comfortable getting permission from the executive branch to have someone immigrate to the Country. We feel that a government in that position, and having that authority, can and more than likely will abuse the rules that they put in place to serve their own political objectives. So let's say immigration threatens future election for one party that is currently in power. What will happen then? Well they more than likely will use rules that they put into place to limit immigration, ensuring their continued rule.
Not one player that we have attracted to this country has posed any substantial threat to the Fabric of our Society. I myself was once an immigrant, so where you! I think there are a great many people in this country that were once immigrants. The question has to be asked, why has your party refused to befriend these people that are immigrating? The country is growing whether they like it or not. Your party has as much potential to attract new players to this country as we do.
If I am elected, I will let the right people handle immigration. The right people in this case is congress. I will encourage and promote the election of a congressional speaker who will work with the executive branch of government to ensure that rules and regulations agreed to in a constitution by two-thirds of the congressional caucus is treated as law and that all principles and procedures that protect our country are implemented. During my presidency I will do my utmost to decentralize power from the executive and give more power and decision-making to the congressional body. There is no better vehicle for direct democracy than those who have been elected to represent the people. If we are to be a party that gives power back to those that elected us we have to practice what we preach. Giving Congress more decision-making and more power have to form part of this Vision. So once again we have someone from your party complaining about immigration. This seems to becoming a major obsession, it has to be asked why does your party have such a major hate for growth, for activity, for our country becoming better and better through inviting and attracting more people that can only help us achieve our goals?
"If I am elected, I will let the right people handle immigration. The right people in this case is congress."
Wait you promised to do that already, and then failed to provide a person to arrange the thing. How different it will be this time?
@OkayOk
So if I understand correctly your immigration program will be to set up a representative (chosen from among whom? Voted by whom?) Who will collaborate with the congress through I suppose the vote for every immigrant?
o7
V!!
VOTE
HOPE
Best luck, hopefully you'll enjoy your term more than me.
I'd love to spend my entire term doing nothing. Lucky you
So the interview with our already elected president is occupied by 9 photos and 1 youtube video which is 4 times the space dedicated to the information that matters.
But that's right, if the answers are short and devoid of content, somehow the space must be filled.
I have a great friend from Belgium in real life that he came to visit Iran and we just meet at fb before so I been with him at half of his trip with a car and had best times after he came back to Gant I asked him for creating account at erep for Helping me at my party and he only for my request did that and started. Game with Iranian citizenship I found You peoples as Noble man My Ormazd bless you all
Vote vote
It's OK, it happens 😃
Good luck on the 5th!