Sense & Insensibility
Faces of power and corruption
THIS week I am tempted, almost like a high school kid, to reproduce some quotes on corruption as said by some important people who lived in the past (Alas! Why all the good words have already been said! Since nothing is there for us to say, we tend to forget those words and merrily indulge in all sorts of forbidden things -- corruption for example!). Yes, the quotes are on corruption, both institutional and political corruption. And I know we never get tired of reading incredible tales of corruption committed by the high and mighty.
Discerning readers, please allow the following words gradually seep into your mind and then take a while to contemplate in quietude. The import of the wisdom would stir your soul, as you have been an avid thinker and analyzer by your own right and merit.
Amos Bronson Alcott, an American academic and social reformer had said the following words more than 170 years ago: "A government, for protecting business only, is but a carcass, and soon falls by its own corruption and decay." Now, dear readers, haven't we seen examples of "governments for the business, of the business and by the business" in this country? Such governments corrupt both governance and business through destroying the fundamental principles one needs to adhere to for gaining success in either business or politics.
Here are words from Decimus (Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal (c.55-c.130), the ancient Roman Satirical poet who found another dimension of corruption. He says: "The examples of vice at home corrupt us more quickly and easily than others, since they steal into our minds under the highest authority." Hmmm… it's worth a thought!
Now let us hear what someone has to say about blind support and sycophancy in politics. He is none but Friedrich Nietzsche and he said this over a century ago: "The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." By Jove! Did he say, think differently? Heads would roll in Paltan Maidan if supporters of one political party held leaders of another in high esteem for thinking differently!
Here is one on graft or bribe and Graham Greene, the British novelist has articulated it so skillfully. He said: "I have often noticed that a bribe has that effect -- it changes a relation. The man who offers a bribe gives away a little of his own importance; the bribe once accepted, he becomes the inferior, like a man who has paid for a woman."
Well, I wish to end this part with the last one. Karl Kraus, an Austrian satirist has to say this about corruption: "Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country."
Well, I guess we have had a substantial dose of quotes on corruption. Now it is time to see some action at the national level. Yes, sir, it's time to go to jail and stay there for many, many years. This is the ultimate destination at the end of the road that awaits people like CBA leader BM Baqi and Dr AZM Zahid who had partaken in a senseless binge of corruption during the rule of the last government.
Each of the two has been sentenced to 13 years in jail along with fines of Tk. 10 lac each. The court has also given their wives prison terms for three years each. These two men had openly and blatantly used their position to let loose a reign of misrule in their respective arena of work with the blessing of corrupt people above them.
Dear readers, you will remember seeing the ubiquitous face of Janab Baqi behind every single senior leader of BNP in public meetings. He was there on the dais even behind the Prime Minister in such meetings looking intently at the TV camera. He began his career as a lower division clerk in a nationalised bank. But soon became a CBA leader. He began to control appointment, transfer and promotion of staff members of the bank and thus earned crores over the decade.
He began to join political meetings bringing along with him hundreds of bank employees, leaving work behind. He had donated crores to become the president of guardians' association of a local school.
Dr. Zahid grew in power beyond his own belief during the rule of the last political government. Absolute power as the DAB leader began to make him feel wooly in the head. He began to control every recruitment, posting, promotion etc of doctors. Those not supporting his political party were given worst types of posting in far off places.
The worst possible case of corruption against him is allegation of tampering the results of a lottery ticket through which he earned Tk. 30 lac as the first prizewinner. He butted his nose in large-scale purchases of government hospitals and had the last word in selecting NGOs to work in health programs and projects.
Well that was a short journey through the catacomb of corruption and it should end here with the last paragraph below. A nation will surely slide to an abyss of despair if it becomes insensitive to the corruption and abuse of power of those who were part and parcel of the political parties that were in power in the past. Over the last fifteen years we have seen many facets of corruption, some unheard of before, to make many sensitive people take vows to leave the country. We surely do not want good people to leave. We want the bad ones to be sent to Andaman, like the good old days. Not a bad idea, eh?
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