Pragmatic leadership need of the hour

President Iajuddin Ahmed underwent a successful bypass surgery at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore on May 26 last. After his return to Bangladesh, the way he was received at the airport and driven to CMH for further checkup to ascertain his fitness to assume charge of the office gave rise to haunting questions in public mind. As it turns out in all countries following democratic process, there must be some genuine concern about the 'First Citizen,' meaning the President of the country, especially when he has fallen ill or become incapable of assuming the charge of office in a situation when there is no daily news bulletin regarding his health condition. In such a situation when the country is lurching from one crisis to another speculations sometimes bordering on rumours are not unusual.

However the Prime Minister this time guided by prudence and foresight steered the nation clear of the debacle. As Prime Minister and head of the government she has an unenviable task of keeping the people and the party she heads happy while trying to stay afloat. It is an enormously difficult but extremely vital job. As long as the country boils, none of us whatever position we hold and which party we belong to can ever live in peace. However much ornamental the post of the President might be in the parliamentary form of government, it is undeniably true that people look forward to the Bangabhaban in their hour of distress. With national elections due in just six months and the issue of EC reforms and Caretaker Government still unresolved and street fighting taking a vicious form with every passing day on such contentious issues concern about the President's well being who is to shoulder a momentous responsibility after this government leaves office on October 28 next, was very genuine.. This is what makes the speculation about President's health or fitness a more serious matter than idle speculation. As the government started playing down the talk about President Iajuddin Ahmed's health, such hide and seek policy had raised the speculation to a high pitch.

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There is a popular adage going the rounds "a burnt child dreads the fire". People still remember the situation that led the immediate past President of the country to vacate Bangabhaban with ignominy writ large on his face. Drawing conclusion from such facts of the recent past, people felt that the president's fitness or illness was literally a matter of national importance. Coincidentally, India witnessed a similar situation during BJP government rule in 2000 concerning its Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who needed to undergo knee surgery, a fact that the BJP government did not make public at the beginning. But they had to bow down to public demands and media pressure before Vajpayee was admitted to the Beach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, where the whole PMO was temporarily housed in two adjacent rooms for five days. Because of media outcry that echoed public sentiment the whole medical history of Vajpayee was made public. The story did not end there. In the face of public speculation mounting over the PM's health, Vajpayee, then 76, had to appear before the media and talk to them to allay all rumours and speculations.

The conspiracy of silence and cussed refusal to publicly accept that septuagenarians and octogenarians may suffer from the usual ailments that accompany age is not unfair but actually counterproductive. The voter has a right to know if his chosen representative is in fine fettle. This should apply to all from members of the parliament to ministers and last of all the president of the country. In absence of concrete, easily verifiable information, rumour rushes in to fill the vacuum. Francois Mitterand, Ronald Reagan and Nelson Mandela underwent major surgeries while in office. They did so after taking their people into confidence and neither democracy nor France, the United States and South Africa suffered. Bangladesh deserves similar trust. Is it too much to ask our MPs and Ministers to place their medical files in the public domain?

Pragmatic leadership could possibly put the country on the right track and pave the way for political and economic stability that it so direly needs at this critical juncture. It is worth recalling what Abraham Lincoln said about the leaders of the society. Interestingly, Abraham Lincoln relieved General Fremont of his Missouri command during the civil war: "His cardinal mistake is that he isolates himself and allows nobody to see him. The key to being an effective leader is getting around". Lincoln was always out and about picking up information. He was not a prisoner in the White House. Lincoln said, "You have got to find the facts for yourself and many of the good ones come from outside your inner circle. There's too much you miss if you don't forage around yourself". Could there be anything more revealing that should be brought home to the leaders fighting and squabbling on contentious issues now? Can't they place the country above self, above party?

The stakes are too high to leave the contentious issues unresolved. None in the country would be immune to the pain in the event of an all out conflict. None holds sufficient cards to prevent any titanic chaos. Worse, aggravated by self-anointment and party interest and hardening extremist lines, party feuding could wreak havoc far beyond party interests. And with recession and economic slowdown gripping the country, the donor countries' generosity comes hard, especially when donors fear that this country's political and economic chaos and unbridled corruption would swallow up limitless funds.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.