This question happens in the same universe as my other questions:
- How should a country introduce a constructed language as the official language?
- How many years could you trim from schooling?
- Could large but sparsely populated country control its borders?
TL/DR My story happens in a country which is large by land area, relatively well off economically but with a small population. The country is ruled by an autocrat who is keen on social engineering.
The problem for our Dear Leader are those pesky liberals asking for silly things like: Independent media, rule of law, equal rights for women, recognizing minorities, releasing political prisoners etc. Our Dear Leader already slashed all those unnecessary fields where liberal professors brainwash innocent students, such as the arts and humanities. Unfortunately it turns out that some people still indoctrinate themselves with the ideology of our enemies.
Though our Dear Leader never shied away from trying to help liberals see reason by either the re-education through labor program, or failing that the good old-fashioned murder, he noticed that families of the lost sheep aren't too appreciative of his efforts . Unfortunately population of our country is very small, so helping them perceive the wisdom is out of question, at least for now.
Is there any way to encourage those pesky liberals to leave the country?
Our Dear Leader is ready to spend money and help them champion their causes somewhere else. They could protect the environment all they want as long as it's in some other country. The families will be happy that their loved ones are safe. And our Dear Leader would happily sign mining contracts for the glory of our nation.
IMPORTANT
Dear Leader wants people who dislike government policies to leave the country, preferably somewhere far away. The country has a reverse Iron curtain where everybody is allowed to leave but nobody is allowed to get back without permission. The industries are very capital intensive, there is no benefits in political prisoners harvesting woods in the Taiga when the same job could be done by contractors using heavy forestry equipment. Entrusting 1,000,000 forestry equipment to intellectual who hates the regime is not a good idea.
Political prisoners tie guards that are needed elsewhere while providing zero benefits to the country. Killing them enrages the families of the liberals, who ask for clemency.