Hutama: the nations of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific were insulated from the constant warfare and economic despair that had wrecked much of the world. While it had its fair share of ecological disaster as the Outback burned and the fully-industrialized nations of Maphilindo choked in endless smog, the wealthier city-states of Singapore and Penang built vast prototype Buckminster Fuller bubbles, covering entire metropolises. As China seethed and the Americas shattered, the countries of this calmer part of the world banded together in mutual defense, trade, and enforcement of strict bio-containment protocols to prevent myriad new diseases- pathogens both of novel mutations and laboratories- from spreading to their shores.
It was in this newly-founded Oceanian Alliance that Hutama made his mark. A student activist turned populist MP of the Lifeboat Party, he was known for his crusades against government corruption and for harping on the inequalities between the former ASEAN north and the Australasian south. Hutama built his political career on the platform of "Tucker, Tidak Ada Lagi Korupsi, and Trade Justice." Food for the people, no more corruption, and radical new agreements to redistribute wealth in Oceania. The hoi polloi of the north loved it. While his office never seemed to suffer for want of funding and his posh lifestyle was ogled at by tabloids, Hutama pushed for "ice box" cold shelters for his constituents to survive the increasing temperatures, evacuation efforts for easily-ignored lesser islands threatened by rising tides, and amending the Alliance's electoral system to be population-based, unless the less-populated south gave more damn doku to the less-wealthy north.
Despite senatorial censure and even a supposed poisoning attempt- his critics claim that he had simply drank some bad beer- Hutama's political star grew to the dismay of the elites in Canberra, Wellington, and Nouméa. And as his reforms passed at the barrel of internal tariffs, his attention turned outwards as he finagled a foreign ministry role. Despite being renowned as a bulldog at home, Hutama was genteel abroad, securing favorable deals for Chinese technology in exchange for Australian ore and Indonesian timber. To regions with excess suffering, he accepted slightly greater numbers of refugees- properly screened for biological and ideological hazards, of course- in exchange for greater access to their markets under favorable terms. He became an international figure when he achieved a peace settlement between Great China and the United States Western Command. Forging a landmark compromise, disputed territory between the two powers was acceded to neutral Oceanian trusteeship for 99-years. And thus, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi became the newest member of Oceania. For this innovative diplomatic solution, the U.N. took interest in his rising figure. Hutama's political opponents were happy to appeal to his ego and extrasolar avarice by wholeheartedly recommending him for the Unity project. Despite knowing that it was a ploy, he accepted the offer, for he always believed that the trip would not be one-way and that he would return his homeland again bearing gifts after all his rivals were gone.
Hutama was appointed Public Affairs Officer with a rank of Lt. Commander on Unity. His duties were to convey command orders to the various ship's departments, manage relations between their teams, and manage relations between the command staff and the colonists once hibernation had been lifted. While it was ostensibly an over-glorified spokesperson gig, it did place Hutama in the vicinity of Captain Garland himself, and was intended as a humbling role during the voyage that would orient the young politician towards leadership roles on Chiron itself. Far from shrinking from the task, Hutama launched into action, delivering word from on high with his charismatic personality and sense of levity. As among the last to go into cryosleep, he spent much the early voyage building strategic social relationships with members of the crew, including the quartermaster, who gave him greater freedom in accessing Unity's stores. It is likely that the development of an informal black market for rationed goods was facilitated by Hutama.
During Planetfall, PAO Hutama found his charisma often crowded by dueling personalities and competing visions of the future. While he coordinated communications between the crisis teams with ease and made sure that the captain's word was law, he found that the mood of the ship was far from receptive. While he cajoled and coaxed, threatened and jested, it was not because of a lack of personality that his messages went unheeded- it was because many of the crew had simply decided to choose new messengers. Dodging firefights between Spartans, Anarchists, peacekeepers, and the remnants of the ship's security team, Hutama decided it was not worth dying for. After news of Garland's assassination broke, he instantly headed for the storerooms to secure crucial supplies for the inevitable emergency landing. It was then that CEO Nwabudike Morgan personally approached Hutama. The stowaway offered the Oceanian a job at Morgan Industries. While the intention was that Morgan would seek a market monopoly, there was always room for commerce between the future civilizations of Planet. Besides, Morgan said slyly, would he rather work for ideological fanatics, bookworms, or paper-pushers, instead?
Hutama is still an employee of Morgan Industries. While his official role is Senior Trade Representative at Morgan Trade Center, his real job is to wear many hats as the CEO's fixer, wheeler-dealer, and mouthpiece. One of the early celebrities within the faction known for his amusing holoshows (he cultivated ties with the future execs at Morgan Entertainment even before the division was founded), Hutama's renown only grew after Planetary Networks delivered Morgan content- and his hologenic image- to all of Chiron. Morgan was only too happy to accommodate such a worthy subordinate, giving him with new challenges including hidden games including contrived competitions against other ambitious underlings, or to secure difficult deals with the likes of Yang, Élodie,or Santiago. While Hutama has so far been content to be making deals, both trade and otherwise, and ensuring that Morgan's citizens are pampered in luxury, a distant part of him does wonder if it's possible to bring that standard of living to the other colonies. Another part also wonders if his ambitions are cut short by not being his own boss. And so, after receiving his Longevity Vaccine among the first class of the Morgan Top 500, Hutama ponders on the market opportunities of breaking the monopoly with his own enterprise...