Doomsday Pillars

Chapter 234 - Economic System

These three VIP guests walked through the StarBase. It wasn't long before the streets were suddenly filled with people who wanted to see Indonesia's new president.

Even before he became the president, Rico was already very well-known among Indonesians. He was a very famous police commander. The two people next to him were even more famous than him.

The crowd filled the streets even more and they started to scream in support and admiration, as well as dependence and prayers.

"President Rico, we support you!!"

"General Suryo! Please take care of us!"

"Sultan Karta! May God be with you always!"

Even though they were currently safe from the threats of the apocalypse here in the StarBase, the presence of these three figures made them feel even more optimistic about their future. The presence of these three VIP guests assured them even more, as they were already prominent figures looked up at by countless people before the apocalypse came. The people already trusted them, so their arrival brought them great relief..

Devita apparently already prepared a stage for them to say a few words. President Rico was not a political man who was good at talking. He did not speak for long, but he was able to touch the hearts of those who heard him.

"Devita... you should've told me about it first so I could prepare myself," President Rico sighed and said to Devita after he finished conveying his words to the people.

"I'm sorry… I just think that in this condition, a spontaneous speech from the heart would be better..." Devita honestly spoke out her opinion. It was indeed true, since, in this chaotic situation, the people would need sincere assurance.

"Haha... It seems that Alex was indeed not wrong in choosing you to lead this city... you're very smart," President Rico complimented. It was a compliment for both Alex and Devita. They were indeed wise.

After taking a look around the StarBase, they gathered in the main room of the base.

In that room, the consuls of StarBase were gathered. They were Cahya, who was currently the second-in-command in this base, Jane, who was in charge of the base's agriculture, Tony, who was in charge of the development of the base, Villy, Devita's sister who was in charge of the base's supplies, Agung, who was in charge of the education in the base, and Major Sandi, who was in charge of the base's security.

They opened the meeting by showing the data of the island.

Total population in Bali: 981,288 inhabitants.

Administration: 1%

Children: 12%

Elders: 7%

Farmers: 17%

Construction Workers: 11%

Medical & Research Division: 2%

Supply Division: 13%

Unassigned: 1%

Total Civilians: 64%: 629,288

Military Personnel: 36%: 352,000

Elite Troops: 8,000

1st Division Soldiers: 110,000

2nd Division Soldiers: 90,000

Cadets: 70,000

Militia forces: 82,000

In the last three months, Bali's population had increased by 50%. President Rico saw this figure as quite significant. The population of the city of New Java, which was led by Rico himself, had exceeded the one-million people threshold, but this was not surprising considering how the island of Java was already so densely populated before the arrival of the apocalypse. But for the island of Bali to be able to gather more than 300,000 residents during the last 3 months, it was definitely not easy.

Of course, the best part of the data of the island which was shown was the unemployment rate, which was only at 1%. This was an extraordinary number, especially in the conditions of the apocalypse, where new refugees arrive every day.

"How could this happen? Only 1% of the population don't have a job at the moment?" asked the sultan with quite an interested tone. After all, this was an immensely small number considering their current situation.

"If it's about this, it's all thanks to Cahya's hard work," said Devita.

Cahya was a former governor who was greatly successful. If it weren't for his political case, he would have undoubtedly become a successful statesman by now.

"I didn't really do much, actually... Every new visitor will immediately choose between being a worker or a fighter. As long as we have a good economic system, we believe that everything will be fine," Cahya said, not raising his standing nor accepting the credits.

"I wonder, what system are you running for the economy here?" asked the regent next. The president and the sultan weren't the only ones interested in this matter, after all. After seeing how flourishing the island was, especially compared to other places, they were bound to be filled with curiosity. And they were not afraid nor ashamed to ask, as it would bring advancements to their regions.

"We know that there are three economic systems: Capitalism, socialism, and communism. But in the world today, there's actually no system that's completely 100% of these three. All countries in the world run a mixture of the three."

"Capitalism encourages workers to work harder and rewards those who are successful. This system is generally the best one for the modern world. However, in times of crisis like this, the socialist system, in which the state takes more roles and determines policies and distributes to each citizen, is certainly more appropriate to be used here."

"But for this island, we use both of those systems. We, consuls, decide the duties and positions of the residents here, but we give more rewards to those who can show more results."

"For example?" asked Rico.

Cahya explained that one of the divisions that had an increase in workers was agriculture. With the magic raisins, the agriculture department was in dire need of workers nowadays. However, in order to increase worker participation, apart from preparing land, materials, and seeds of spirit fruits, the government guaranteed purchases and also provided additional rewards for the agricultural workers if they managed to get more harvests.

"Each hectare requires 50 workers, and these 50 workers become a group. Each group is responsible for plowing the fields, planting, and processing the ripe fruits. They're given 10,000 seeds and have a target of producing 70,000 pieces in 15 days. If they can get more than the target number, then the remaining excess number can be a bonus for them. They can choose to sell them in the market or to keep them for themselves.

"The same is applied for the gunsmiths. They get one out of every ten weapons they make for them to sell on the market. Even so, there's still a small difference for the craftsmen of these weapons. The StarBase has to invest spirit stones in these workers personally so that they can break through the intermediate-level Earth Realm. Not only that, but the base also has to provide them a Tier 1 hammer, which is not cheap. For this reason, each of these workers is required to work exclusively for a year for the StarBase.

"Not only weapons and food, but the same is done with the other main equipment such as protective clothing and other services. That way, the residents will be motivated to work harder. On the other hand, the market that we've prepared is crowded with residents buying and selling with spirit stones," Devita explained in detail.

"Good, good! Very brave!" applauded the regent. "For the inhabitants of the island of Sumatra, we're still doing a full model of socialism, where all the people work and the government distributes it evenly. However, I'll try to slowly adopt this method."

The sultan then asked about the method of transactions carried out at the StarBase, especially for running the market.

Ever since the arrival of the Doomsday Pillar, the StarBase was already ready to start converting all existing vouchers with spirit stones. However, the StarBase strictly limited the repurchasing of vouchers with spiritual stones while still providing wages to the community in the form of vouchers that could be exchanged for food or other staples held by the StarBase. With this, the StarBase could more easily collect spirit stones to re-spend for equipment from the Doomsday Pillar.

"I hope that this economic model can be followed by other cities too."

Currently, most of the population of the island of Java was centered in Central Java. With New Java City, which was the new capital of Indonesia, and the southern coast of Yogyakarta, which was led by the sultan. The positions of these two cities were quite strategic, considering how Java island's Doomsday Pillar fell between these two cities.

For the island of Sumatra, which was in Western Indonesia, it was managed by the Regent Suryo. The islands of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua had also begun to form new bases to accommodate the local residents.

Currently, the total population of Indonesia from a total of 5 defense bases that had been formed was:

Bali's Base: 981,288

New Java: 1,271,086

Yogyakarta: 425,771

Sumatra: 821,374

Borneo: 182,621

Sulawesi: 231,448

Papua: 121,867

Total: 4,035,455

4 million was a lot. However, of the 260 million people in Indonesia, in less than 6 months, only 1.5% of them were gathered in these five headquarters. Of course, there were still lots of people who were still hiding in the mountains and the forests, especially in the islands of Borneo and Sulawesi, which were still very unreachable.

President Rico got up and said, "With the magic raisins and the Tier 1 hardened weapons, I think we can start cleaning the zombies up and save more stranded residents."

The president's words were welcomed positively by the regent and sultan. However, the president realized that Devita still had other information that she hadn't given them.

Devita said, "Mr. President, Sir Regent, and Sultan. Actually, if the magic raisin project and the production of the weapons are successful, Alex has already prepared another plan... this is what I want to discuss with you."