POLITICO

"There is only the State. If you remember nothing else, remember that. The State, the State, the State."

POLITICO revolves around two friends who grow up in the future, a dystopian totalitarian state called Malistan founded by General Kristang Malistan, who was Premier when the country was created in 2084. Malistan is officially ruled by the “Official Communist Party Of Former Independent Southeast Asian Republics”, known in short as “Stagov” or the “State Government”,  the only party allowed to exist and it has complete power. STAGOV consisted of 2 representatives from each former republic. It was made up of 5 ministries, Education, Welfare (religion, housing, healthcare, pleasure etc), Industry , Innovation and Bureaucracy. At the age of 18, the children will be given the chance to choose which industry they work in, and thus become a party member. If they choose not to become a party member, they will be forced to live on the outskirts of Malistan, amongst the 'rightists' and political criminals in the labour camps.

 If Anna had the skills to become an engineer, she would be placed in the ‘Encom’ - The social Commune of Engineers but if she wanted to become a Farmer, she would be in ‘Farmcom’ instead. If she chose ‘Encom’ the government would ensure that Anna would go to university to receive a Bachelor’s degree in engineering. From this point on, the child would be under the Ministry of Industry who would be responsible for their welfare, wages and productivity. 

Ruled by the iron fisted General  Truyhok, every citizen must be given names from the Balochagan ethnic group (there has been several new ethnicities created after so much mixing) to signify their loyalty to Party, Premier and State. There is a division between the Party Members and those who have been labelled ‘rightists’ by the Party, and are forced to labour in work camps. There is no privacy, and people are encouraged to report non-comforming behaviour to the authorities. Intimacy towards members of the opposite gender is discouraged because it means putting the interest of yourself before the party. Couples require the permission of the Party before they are allowed to get married. Party members get priority for housing, education and job benefits. The Party organises a weekly assembly nationally during which everyone must assemble at their local Party Centre of Affairs, nicknamed Cencom, to sing patriotic Communist songs and praise General Truyhok, Marx, Stalin. They also sing Indochinese songs because China and India have merged to become a powerful Communist superstate, led by the General Ratik and his wife, Kauben (Comrade) Urkvik. 

Set against this tragic and miserable backdrop, Pahel Qandeelvi and Ertika Kagawasan turn eighteen and must choose their respective Encom agencies. Pahel, an intelligent and articulate orphan, is the more ambitious and patriotic of the two, anxious to gain Party membership to secure a prestigious job at the Politico Department in the Ministry of Bureaucracy, the secret service agency. As her eighteenth birthday draws ever closer, Pahel has become ever more patriotic and dedicated to Communism, increasingly under the influence of the mistress of her orphangage, Kauben Wrinfida , a former member of the Ministry of Welfare. She begins to religiously read the Manifesto, in the official language, Baloch and quotes it to Ertika frequently. Her zeal is driven in a large part by her parents’ pasts as rightists. They were exiled by the state for treason against the Premier as they organised a rebellion against the Party. KAUBEN Wrinfida plays on this feeling of guilt, and reminds her constantly of this so that she has the power to manipulate Pahel. PAHEL never fully confides her guilt about her parents to Ertika as she envies her ‘politically correct’ upbringing. Nevertheless, she develops a close friendship with Ertika. 

As they draw ever closer to their eighteenth birthday, both the girls must soon make the most important decisions of their lives- will they stand with the Party or against it? Struggling to remain humane in this cruel world where loyalty to the Party and the State must come at the price of familial love and kindness, their friendship is tested to the extreme. 

Will love be strong enough to fight the tide which cannot be turned? Or will they turn 'Politico' and become slaves to the Party?