Everyone now claims they saw the global economic crisis coming (the earliest claim known to Harrison George dates from 1854).  But few are predicting future scenarios.  This week’s column foresees a dystopia 20 years from now.  Next week’s column will offer an opposing vision called Future Good.

 

 

 

Internal Security Operations Command Headquarters

Quarterly Report, July-Sept 2028

 

 

ULTRA TOP SECRET

 

 

ISOC is pleased to present the attached report to the Supreme Commissariat of the People’s-Military Alliance for Democracy.  Attention is drawn to the following points.

 

 

National Security

 

The policy of Perimeter-Secured Cantonments for Inside People (developed from the Gated Community prototype) is proving effective in maintaining law and order and is recommended for nationwide implementation.  The relocation of the national capital to Phetchabun as a result of climate change (see below) allows the development of a large secured facility housing the seat of government, military command structure, and other important organs of state.  The Myanmar military government has offered the service of advisors with experience of building and running Naypyidaw.

 

Areas outside the cantonments have been divided into controlled areas, where Outside People are employed under work-for-food schemes in agriculture and resource extraction under military supervision, and outlaw areas for minorities, migrants and political dissidents, which are effectively free-fire zones 

 

This system minimizes security risks and provides Inside People with most of their necessary resources.  There have been exaggerated reports of incursions into PSCs by Outside People by means of tunnels, breaches of poorly maintained sections of perimeter security, or concealment in resource deliveries.  These are always quickly detected by ISOC personnel attached to every sub-district (Outside People wear distinctive rags and generally look malnourished) and offenders are summarily executed as a deterrent. 

 

More problematic is the fact some military personnel on duty in controlled and outlaw areas become infiltrated with anti-state ideologies, including such dangerous concepts such as social justice, human rights, and metta (Buddhist compassion).  It is therefore imperative that the government maintain a strict programme of correct education for all Inside People, together with a sufficient supply of appropriate psychotropic drugs for use by military personnel while on duty.

 

Energy

 

The provision of energy to Inside People PSCs continues to prove problematic as global supplies of fossil fuel become more scarce and expensive.  Pipelines and electricity transmission lines have proved impossible to guard on a 24-hour basis. 

 

Energy from biomass (secured by massive deforestation) is a short-term solution, especially when, despite extensive security measures, this source is accessed also by Outside and Outlaw Peoples. 

 

Trials of mini-nuclear power plants have been abandoned following the accident that destroyed Chiang Mai PSC in 2026 and rendered nearby resource areas inaccessible due to radioactive fallout.

 

Climate Change

 

Rises in sea level and storm surges make the lower Chao Phraya basin and other coastal areas uninhabitable in the long run.  The polders currently covering Suvarnabhumi airport, military areas in Dusit and culturally significant sites are increasingly difficult to maintain, requiring constant pumping for which energy is in short supply.  It is therefore proposed that a plan for the conversion of these areas into outlaw areas and the relocation of current facilities and populations be drafted as soon as possible.  Facilities that cannot be relocated, such as airport runways, must be destroyed to prevent them being used as an asset by Outside People

 

Economy

 

The collapse of world trade following the 2008 financial crisis has made it difficult to source materials that cannot be found or manufactured locally.  Climate change has reduced the area of agricultural land, and adversely affected the productivity of many crops, putting food supplies at risk.  This problem has been managed by cutting rations for Outside People (see also the section on Population Control). 

 

Fortunately supplies of weapons, ammunition and hand-clappers continue to be available from the People’s Republic of China at friendship prices. 

 

The replacement of the baht with the yuan and the merger of the Ministries of Commerce and Foreign Affairs under the tutelage of the Chinese Embassy have achieved the anticipated results.

 

Foreign Relations

 

Thailand’s foreign policy continues to be aligned with that of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Zone, led by Beijing.  Thailand therefore continues at war with the United States of America, the United States of Europe and their allies in Australasia and elsewhere.  Apart from the provision of non-commissioned infantry, easily recruited through conscription among Outside People, the burden to Thailand is minimal.  Thailand’s long-standing request to occupy Phra Viharn temple and inflict punitive raids on Cambodia is still under deliberation by the Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing.

 

Politics

 

While a 70% appointed legislature allows the People’s-Military Alliance for Democracy to maintain politician hegemony, the presence of certain elected representatives has in the past allowed seditious dissident views to be expressed under the cloak of parliamentary privilege.  Current countermeasures, mainly focussed on use of the Election Commission and compliant courts to disbar representatives with such views, are successful only after the fact.  It is proposed that a more effective solution would be a 100% appointed parliament, which would then be required to sit for only 5 days per year.

 

National Budget

 

The report presents a provisional costing for government operations over the next financial year.  It is imperative to recognize that the costs of maintaining national security are subject to great upward pressures.  ISOC therefore proposes a 37% increase in its budget over inflation to ensure the stability of the government.  Military expenditure would then amount to no more than 79% of total government budget, more or less in line with other nations who continue to survive the ongoing international economic crisis.

 

About author:  Bangkokians with long memories may remember his irreverent column in The Nation in the 1980's. During his period of enforced silence since then, he was variously reported as participating in a 999-day meditation retreat in a hill-top monastery in Mae Hong Son (he gave up after 998 days), as the Special Rapporteur for Satire of the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and as understudy for the male lead in the long-running ‘Pussies -not the Musical' at the Neasden International Palladium (formerly Park Lane Empire). And if you believe any of those stories, you might believe his columns.