Indonesian Commonwealth[Long-ish]

Looking at the GZGpedia, it occurs to me that no-one has volunteered to
write
up the Indonesian Commonwealth.

So here's a proposal: Comments invited.

Indonesian Commonwealth (IC)

Government
The IC is an Oligarchy, whose Government is dominated by "The One
Hundred Families"
(though the actual number has varied from less than 90 to over 130). No
more
than 40% of these powerful Clans are of Javanese stock: a majority are
direct
successors to the ruling families of Malaysia, the Phillipines,
Indochina and
Thailand. All operate something along the lines of Feudal Overlords
within their
own territory, paying only lip service to any centralised authority.
Thus the
IC is more of a close federation of despotisms rather than a Nation
State. There
is a Central Government, with an elected President. The latter is
whoever can
command the support of the majority of the 100, and his power is
proportional
to the size and stability of that majority, rather than any legal
stature.
Competition within the IC between the various factions is fierce, yet
remarkably
peaceful. A great body of unwritten rules and conventions has been
formed over
the years, and these are far more important than any written laws.
Intermarriage
between the various families has led to a series of semi-permanent
alliances,
or at least, non-aggression pacts, and overt bloodshed is rare.
Each Family has a well-defined "Home Ground", usually geographical, but
in some
cases a commercial monopoly or place in a cartel, such as those that
exist in
shipping, weapons manufacture or electronics. Each Family has as its
basis of
power its own "Private Army", with units funded by the Families rotated
into
the IC Central Forces under Presidential Command on a regular basis.
Within its Home Ground, the Family's word is law, and by convention, no
other
Family is allowed to interfere in that ground on pain of being attacked
by the
victim's allies (and others who see an excuse to expand their own sphere
of
influence). 
The  last time the IC fought a war was in 2112. The Private Armies also
hardly
ever engage in combat with each other. Yet IC regular troops have a
great deal
of Combat experience, mainly due to being hired out on a regular basis
as Mercenary
forces. This appears to be deliberate policy: a Family that hires out a
proportion
of its forces keeps them "up to scratch" without the need for costly
training,
and they even make a (sometimes substantial) profit. The Senior Officers
of
such units often add significantly to their own personal wealth, either
via
direct looting or creative accountancy. Despite this, the IC is a "net
importer"
of mercenaries. There are strictly set limits on how many retainers (ie
Soldiers)
a Family can emply. Therefore, mercenaries are hired from outside the
IC, often
ones that have performed particularly well against IC forces in the
past. This
is usually accomplished by agents of the Family in the Defence Ministry
hiring
through official channels for "internal security". There is no love lost
between
the "retainers" and these "Outsiders" though, and some ugly incidents
have occurred.
Rival families within the Defence ministry have been known to hire
mutually
antipathetic groups, notably  in 2128 and 2131.

History
The IC was originally confined to the core islands of the Indonesian
archipelago.
After a period of instability at the beginning of the 21st century,
"Gotong
Rojong" Sukarto united a people sick of ethnic and religious
factionalism by
the simple tactic of finding a scapegoat. Evidence was found - or
manufactured
- that interests in Singapore had funded much of the lawlessness. A
surprise
attack on that City State in 2038 was incredibly successful: no-one
could believe
that even such a small-scale amphibious assault could be mounted without
warning.
Most of the troops actually flew straight in to Changi, and had the City
under
control in a matter of hours. With suspicious haste (the same day in
fact),
a coterie of Singaporean families was put in charge, and the rich flow
of Profits
from Banking and Industry continued uninterrupted (just diverted into
other
pockets).
What worked well once was tried again, with equal success: from numerous
jumping-off
points, Malaysia was subdued in little more than a month, again with the
same
old families remaining in control. 
The sudden doubling and re-doubling of GNP brought economic revival to
the newly-named
"Indonesian Commonwealth ". Indonesia had always had a flourishing
hi-tech electronics
and aviation industry. Soon these expanded even further, and IC-ICs
became the
standard by which others were judged. Much of the world's Cargo was
flown in
IC Garuda transport aircraft, and standards of living for even the
poorest peasant
increased (though not as fast as that of the Ruling Families, whose
wealth grew
from merely Obscene to Beyond Belief)
 As the IC grew in power, the IC's neighbours - or rather, their ruling
families
- soon saw the advantages of joining up rather than waiting to be
swallowed.
In almost all cases, the same families ended up controlling the same
little
area they always had, and there was little change except to the
stationery and
outwards appearance of Government. The "Thirty Families" soon became the
"Forty
Families" and eventually "The One Hundred Families" or simply "The 100"
with
the mass joining of the Burmese SLORC faction's Ruling Families and
consequent
annexation of Burma in 2053. 
At the tail end of this  "Great Co-Prosperity Expansion" period from
2039 to
2053 (viewed within the IC as something of a "Golden Age" ) the IC's
further
ambitions were continually thwarted when it ran up against the
Australian (and
from 2050 OU) forces to its South. For a long period, a Cold War was
fought,
involving various small-unit and "plausibly deniable" forces on both
sides.

During this period, Interstellar travel became possible, with the first
IC interstellar
vessels in service by 2075.
But when BioWar disarmament became universal in 2109, the IC had the
opportunity
for yet another "Short Victorious War". Initial successes came from
Surprise:
West Papua and East Timor, lost for over 100 years, were swiftly
regained in
2110. OU forces were annhihilated in northern New Guinea. The further
successes
that came were mainly due to the widespread use of revolutionary new
Grav technology
in military vehicles. But such successes were brief, as although the IC
had
more Grav vehicles in service, the OU had superior technology in the
labs. The
OU first caught up with, and then surpassed the IC in this area (and has
kept
its lead thereafter). Soon the war became a stalemate, and was ended by
mutual
agreement (though with mutual disatisfaction) in 2112.
For the last 75 years, the IC has been content to expand its colonial
holdings
in Space, rather than attempt further expansion on Earth. It has
remained neutral
in all of the major conflicts, being quite willing to sell anything to
anyone
for the right price. Various of the Families have close commercial
contacts
with other Nations, and Quasi-National groups such as the bigger
Megacorps.