Rocca's comments

Rocca adds her voice to what has already become something of an 'international concern' due to irresolution for a long time. Speaking to the Asia Society in New York, she has mentioned that bitter rivalries between two leading political parties in Bangladesh and the highest corruption rates going by default are weakening its democratic stability and impeding her economic growth. She advised Bangladesh leadership to 'take immediate action' on democratic, economic and legal reform agenda 'in the interest of Bangladesh and that of the entire region'.

Frankly, it is neither palatable nor desirable for any sovereign country to be told by another country what it should or should not do. However, our leaders have acted and behaved in a way that they have virtually courted such normally unwarranted comments and advice from abroad. In actual fact, we find it difficult to roundly criticise Rocca for what she has said. Can we be dismissive about hard truths we have ourselves uttered a few times over? During the last 12 and a half years through democracy and two and a half years down the BNP rule, the responsible media, important civil society figures, opinion leaders and publicists have repeatedly urged the ruling BNP and the opposition AL to constructively engage each other and not swear mutual self-destruction. But they contemptuously ignored our advice.

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That an internal affair of a country should attract so much active attention overseas must be something unique in the case of Bangladesh. But it is a uniqueness we have worked for and earned as bad currency. So irrepressible have been the comments that even though these gave us a round of applause for a number of gains made over the last thirty years, these could not help mention our Achilles' heels which is bad politics or political culture.

Unless our leaders wizen up and behave, we are afraid, that is the way it is going to be, that's the pattern of criticism and imaging we are in for, like it or not. So, one more time we say, wake up or perish.