Prized inheritance

The contagious exuberance now sweeping the country has put the politicians, particularly the governing coalition, in a difficult position to play truant any longer as the entire nation is waiting with bated breath for the announcement that demands made by the opposition combine for holding a free and fair election have been met.

If the talks fail then the country could plunge into darkness perhaps comparable to the horror that countries with failed governance like Sudan or Somalia experienced during endless lawlessness and turmoil that engulfed these countries. Such despair is within the realm of possibility if one were to go by the picture drawn of possible unraveling of North Korean regime premised very recently by Professor Robert Kaplan in which the collapse of the ruling regime could give rise to independent fiefs informally controlled by warlords along with widespread corruption to circumvent a failing central government through resistance against the central government and the ultimate fracture of the regime.

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Though Professor Yunus has brought a breath of fresh air to a Bangladesh otherwise widely perceived as the most corrupt nation on earth, besieged by confrontational politics, afflicted by extreme politicization of almost all organs of the state, suffering from deteriorating law and order situation, infested with Islamic extremism that is determined to establish an Islamist government to be run in accordance with their own interpretation of the religion, and no less importantly, as a friendless country in the world.

Why should Justice KM Hasan insist on becoming the next head of the caretaker government when it is crystal clear that a large number of people would prefer a consensus head of the CTG? Why should the present CEC and his deputies cling on to their posts when they have palpably failed to prepare a non-controversial voter list which is a sin qua non for holding any election? How can one not feel embarrassed faced with the incessant call for resignation of the election commissioners and for the next probable CTG head to decline to accept if he is called upon to take up his responsibility?

That no one is indispensable has been ordained by nature through the loss of immortality by human beings. More than fifty years ago US Justice Frankfurter had written that a society in which each is willing to surrender only that for which he can see a personal equivalent is not a society at all; it is a group already in the process of dissolution and only Bedlam will emerge from a regime of unbridled individualism.

But Professor Yunus's lesson to us in the midst of stifling anxiety about the politico-economic future of the country holds the promise that the sacrifices made by the people in 1952, the victory of 1954 (though nullified in 1958), the revolt against the military regimes in the sixties, the war of independence of 1971, and reinstallation of democracy in 1991 would not go in vain.

His characterization of the nature of this Nobel prize as being totally different from the ones awarded earlier in that this year's prize is a recognition that marginal group of people in our society who are not only poor but are overwhelmingly women also count and his conviction that Bangladeshis can succeed are refreshing in the backdrop of lack of good governance which has portrayed us to the world as an irretrievably corrupt and inefficient people unable to achieve.

If revolutions are basically mass-based affairs of great magnitude, brought on and carried through mobilization of masses, then it would be prudent to remind ourselves of Kansat, Phulbari, Barapukuria, Shanir Ankhra, and restive workers in the readymade garments sector that these spontaneous outburst of the people without political machination do not take the form of episodic occurrences through coalescence of political, social, and cultural actors.

It is unacceptable that when international organizations assess that China by 2040 could be the largest economy in the world, with India becoming the third largest economy, turning the 21st century into an Asian century, that Bangladesh will remain mired in underdevelopment, having a minuscule part of the population living in opulence while the great majority will just eke out a sub-human level of existence.

Instead, we should try to pursue an egalitarian system akin to what Joseph Stiglitz calls "moral growth" i.e. "growth that is sustainable, that increases living standard not just today but for future generations as well, and that leads to a more tolerant, open society (where) the benefits of growth are shred equitably, creating a society with more social justice and solidarity."

The people in power set to ride into the sunset would be committing a grave mistake if they consider the existing disequilibria in parliament as carte blanche to refuse to absorb the dissenting views which by now have become popular demands and obstinately continue to "stay the course" which can only bring ruination to the country.

The country wants a change. Indeed craves for a change. The country wants good governance. The people want security, the minority community do not want to live in fear of Islamic fundamentalists, the people want water, electricity, consumer goods at affordable prices. The poor want dignity of life. The ultra-poor want to be graduated from their existing decrepitude.

These are not tall orders. These are the basic minimum that a people should expect from their elected government whose kleptocracy should be bounded and corruption be called to account. Unless these are done immediately the nation could implode with incalculable consequences. No one's ego can be more important in the face of a country's impending disaster.

Kazi Anwarul Masud is a former Secretary and Ambassador.