Who failed in Bangladesh -- the people or the leadership?

The "failing state" score was computed under twelve indicators: demographic pressure, movement of refugees and internally displaced persons, group grievances, human flight, economic divide, general economy, criminalisation or de-legitimisation of state, deterioration of public services, violation of human rights, police and security apparatus, rise of factionalised elites, and intervention of other states. Like all other gradation of states, the FSI is neither perfect nor infallible; nevertheless it gives an overview of the state of affairs of a country.

Judged according to these criteria, states range from the Most Failed, Sudan (ranked 1) to the Least Failed, Norway (146). Expectedly, top 60 positions in the list were occupied almost exclusively by African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries. The top 12 Least Failed states are Nordic and other West European countries, Japan, Canada and Australia. Interestingly, big five economic powers e.g. Germany (124), Italy (127), US (128), France (129) and UK (130) are not in the top group.

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Bangladesh has been ranked at 19 this year, as compared to 17 last year, and we still remain at the red zone of 25 Most Failed states. We made minor gains this year as some states have tumbled. However, we have again fared poorly in the areas of group grievance, uneven development, criminalisation of the State authority, deteriorating public service and rise of factionalised elites. These are our well-known vulnerabilities. Other international bodies have also pointed them out to us in the indexes they had prepared in their respective areas of operation.

Are they all ganging up against us? Not really. We cannot hide the facts from the outside world in this era of information technology. As the Bangla proverb says, "Shak diye mach dhaka jay na" (you cannot hide the fish under the spinach). We have far too many fishes on our plate and too little spinach. Paid government publicity campaigns in the popular western dailies or weeklies do not improve the image of any country; image can be improved only through hard work and wise leadership.

Bangladesh has been rated as the most corrupt country by the Transparency International for four years in row. We have protested against such grading but have done precious little to rectify the situation.

Likewise, we have gone down in the Human Development Index (HDI), compiled by the UNDP, on the basis of a nation's achievements in three key areas e.g. education, health and quality of life. Our rate of progress has gone down since 2003 while other South Asian countries have overtaken us. Yet we continue to overlook them as if the problem will solve by itself.

How did we fare at the Growth Competitiveness Index (GCI), compiled by the World Economic Forum, and based on the country's macro economic stability, general condition of public institutions and level of technological readiness? Well, we were ranked at 110 out of 117 at the last GCI. This means that our overall situation continues to be grim.

How have our neighbours fared at the latest FSI? It is a matter of concern that South Asian countries, other than India (93), have been placed high on the failing list: Pakistan (9), Afghanistan (10), Myanmar (18), Nepal (20), Sri Lanka (25), and Bhutan (39). Maldives was not included in the list.

Pakistan has moved from 34 last year to 9 in the new report -- one of the dramatic changes in the overall score of any country. Islamabad's inability to police the tribal areas near the Afghan border, failure to cope with recent earthquake disaster, the rising sectarian violence and the overall security situation were the principal factors that caused the tumble.

China has also lost ground and moved to 57 from last year's 75 on account of "inequality and corruption" which, the authors allege, led to widespread discontent, especially among peasants. India, on the other hand, has moved from 76 to 93 as it has "greater social mobility" and is "less centralised" than China.

One could argue that the whole exercise has some political connotations and that vulnerable third world countries have been targeted while more critical situation in other countries with friendlier ties with Washington have been overlooked. Well, such allegations may not be true. The FSI frankly acknowledges that over all situations in Iraq (4) and Afghanistan (10), the two countries of primary interest to the US, have deteriorated since last year's survey.

Why do States fail? Does it have anything to do with their geographical location or economic strength? The authors of the report have pointed out that ranking has nothing to do with these factors as two next door neighbours have often fared differently in the evaluation. While Zimbabwe fell, neighbouring South Africa remained strong; oil-rich Nigeria is failing, while its relatively less resourceful neighbour Ghana is stable. Myanmar has tumbled but Thailand, despite ethnic unrest, is stable. The authors point out that in the final analysis, "it is leadership, not location that matters most".

Bangladesh has not failed. Our farmers, through their hard work, have kept pace with our population growth from 75 million in 1971 to 140 million today. The rice production has doubled in last three decades. Is it not fascinating that Bangladesh, roughly, with the size of Wisconsin, sustains half of America's population?

Our illiterate women have come out of their homes, and are the main labour force in our burgeoning garments industry. They are also the engine of growth behind our innovative poverty alleviation and micro-credit programmes. Millions of our unskilled and semi-skilled people are working abroad and sending their hard earned remittances back home. Manpower export and garments are our principal exports.

We have a reservoir of highly intelligent, hard working and remarkably homogenised population living in a compact area. Unlike others, we do not have any ethnic, racial, tribal, linguistic or communal problem. Our population is our main strength. It is a pity our leadership has failed the people and the country. But all is not lost. We can still turn around and build our cherished "Shonar Bangla." I have infinite faith in our people and I am sure we will.

Syed Muazzem Ali is a former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh