Our 'home-grown' democracy

Liberal democracy: Grugel provided a minimalist definition (Democratisation: A Critical Introduction, 2002): "Democratisation is the regular holding of clean elections and the introduction of basic norms (for example, the absence of intimidation, competition from at least two political parties, and an inclusive suffrage) that make free election possible. A slightly more inclusive definition would also encompass the introduction of liberal individual rights (freedom of assembly, religious freedom, a free press, freedom to stand for public office and so on". If we take this theoretical interpretation of a liberal democracy into consideration, by all measures it is evident that at present Bangladesh is nowhere near to attaining all these democratic values.

Moderate Muslim democracy: Former US President Bill Clinton paid a state visit to Bangladesh in 2000. During his visit Bill Clinton dubbed Bangladesh as a moderate Muslim democracy (MMD). Conceptually, there is no place for such a term in democracy literature, except that the Oval Office awarded this so-called honour to Bangladesh because, as a Muslim majority nation, the country has two female leaders, who by turn have been elected Prime Minister and Opposition Leader from 1991. According to the Oval Office, both Turkey and Indonesia are also moderate Muslim democracies since these countries have had in the past and still do have female heads of governments. President Bush's administration maintains a similar view on MMD.

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According to Robison (What Sort of Democracy? Predatory and Neo-Liberal Agendas in Indonesia, 2002), in Indonesia, "the new democracy is dominated by the same broad alliances and coalitions of state power and social interest that dominated the Soeharto regime". One could also argue that Bangladesh has also been following Indonesia's footsteps. The predatory form of democracy has made Bangladesh politics a politics for elites. It appears that almost four-fifths of the total (300) members of the current parliament have an established business and military background. The major reason for such a transformation was due to both the BNP (to a greater extent) and the AL (to a lesser extent) being keen on nominating those candidates who have the capacity to spend large sums of money in the electioneering process.

Home-grown democracy: The literal meaning of this term is obvious to all: Some thing grown on home soil or produced without copying or having any influence from outside. It can, however, safely be said that Bangladesh has its own style brought in progressively by the BNP government over 1991-96, the AL government over 1996-2001 and the BNP-alliance from 2001 to the present.

Let us identify, firstly, the major features of the 'home-grown' democracy that has evolved out of the so called democratic practices since 1991: parliamentary democracy has been largely ineffective; religion has become a part of democratisation under the present BNP-alliance government, compromising and, in some cases, destroying the liberal process; power has been concentrated in the hands of the prime minister due to the incompetence of some ministers; civil and police administrations have become politicised, creating a major crisis in maintaining law and order; minorities and political opponents have been persecuted and stripped of their rights. With these non-liberal features becoming normative in Bangladesh's democracy, one sees that this style of democracy has grown out of Bangladesh's own soil.

How have we arrived at this point? The major sources are not difficult to identify, however, if one examines the three democratically elected regimes that came into being after the 1990 people power movement.

BNP regime (1991-96): The first five-year term of Begum Zia as Prime Minister was marred by unprecedented and unexpected political unrest and chaos. The unrest was triggered by the government's unnecessary manipulation of a by-election outcome at Magura. The government of Begum Zia came into direct loggerheads with the opposition AL, on the outcome of two more by-elections held at Manikgonj and Mirpur. By this time, the AL realised that the incumbent BNP was not genuine in its resolve to institute a liberal electoral process, and thus the Opposition resorted to violent protest (numerous hartals). Magura, Manikgonj and Mirpur have been considered as the beginning of the end of liberal democracy in Bangladesh. As a result the seeds were sown of Bangladesh-style 'home-grown' democracy. It remains a mystery, why the BNP as a popular party in 1991 made such a move to crush the opposition. If these by-elections were even lost, the party no way would have lost a majority in the parliament.

AL regime (1996-2001): Begum Zia's government, however, paid a heavy price in the next general election held in 1996. The BNP was thrown out of office and the AL came into power with the support of two minor parties led by General Ershad and ASM Rob. The AL government led by Sheikh Hasina although was making some progress in bringing political turmoil under control, but her government behaved exactly the same way the BNP did to run the by-elections and made the whole by-election process farcical. Again, it has remained a mystery why a popular and relatively elite-free party such as AL needed to swallow the pills of the predecessor.

BNP-alliance regime (2001-present) In the 2001 general election, the AL faced the same music as did the BNP in 1996. The BNP-alliance brought down the AL from office by bagging a two-thirds majority in the parliament, an unprecedented defeat indeed. In the present term it has introduced a new dimension to the 'home-grown' democratic practices. It is now well known to the nation that the so called 'Hawa Bhaban' plays an important part in the affairs of the alliance government. The Opposition even claims that this Bhaban allegedly runs a parallel administration. This has been, however, denied by the BNP. It appears that, in such a denial, the government did not heed the opinion of the general public. However, a litmus test for the BNP-alliance on this allegation is fast approaching. What role it plays in the upcoming by-elections in Tejgaon and Munshiganj would be a matter of great interest to the nation. On another front, recently the alliance government has been humiliated by the development forum partners for failing to maintain law and order and keep corruption at bay. Law and order reached such a low recently that a popular and honest sitting opposition member of parliament, Ahasanullah Master, was assassinated in broad daylight in his home town. He was recognised as one of a few non-elite members in the parliament.

These days, two statements of our two leaders constantly haunt us. The late President General Zia once said, "I will make the politics difficult in this country" and in the last election, Begum Zia (then opposition leader), by pointing a finger to the opponents stated, "I will teach you a good lesson on the politics of votes" (Vote Shikhha Debo). Indeed, they were right. The opposition, on the one hand, as finding politics hugely difficult under our 'home-grown' democracy, on the other hand, the PM certainly taught a good lesson by bringing 14th amendment to the constitution. This will transform our 'home-grown' democracy into a democracy for 'elites', via 45 female members of parliament.

Moazzem Hossain teaches in the Griffith University, Australia.