Perspectives
The electoral roadmap: Motorway to nowhere
Amid the plethora of pronouncements emanating from the ruling interim regime, the one thing that is clear that it is determined to change the traditional course of the country's politics. The stalwarts of the government have assured us that they will clean up the inherent slease and graft culture in our politics. The interim regime wanted to rid our politics of criminalisation as well as the influence of muscle power and black money.
The chief adviser, while addressing the nation on several occasions, talked of real and enduring democracy in the country by catapulting able and honest people into the political arena. The civil society, with familiar figures at the helm, propitiously prognosticated the country's prospects and potentials, provided the old, inept, corrupt leadership yielded space to a new one. The assorted quarters clamoured also for good governance.
With a sense of earnestness, the Election Commission has been reforming and preparing itself for the government's top agenda, a credible election for the ninth parliament. It drew up a roadmap for holding such elections before the end of 2008. After having exchanges as to its fine details with the media and then the representatives of the civil society, its dialogue with political parties has now been going apace since September 12. The preparation of voter ID cards started ceremonially even earlier. These were all positive developments to reach a democratic destination. Yet, a doubt persists with regard to this optimism.
Many still hold that even if we reach somewhere in our attempts to restore democracy, it may not be the promised green pasture of democracy. Instead, we may, at best, hop into an inextricable morass. Because, in the meantime, the country has undergone a tectonic metamorphosis and its body politic suffered a serious jolt, denting its institutions perhaps beyond repair. As a result, all old calculations, the political equation, and the familiar grammar of politics are rendered irrelevant. In the ensuing milieu, a democratic transition is extremely difficult, if not totally impossible.
The present caretaker government came into being in extraordinary circumstances, by replacing the old controversial one headed by President Iajuddin himself. Unprecedentedly, it then chose to broaden its agenda beyond overseeing the elections and also extended its tenure. The government undertook far-reaching reforms, and a drive against corruption which the last political regime was besmirched with.
Naturally, the government's actions were received with applause, which gradually cooled down when the authorities were perceived to have, perhaps inadvertently, mixed politics with their widely admired drive against the plunderers of the BNP-Jamaat government. The country seemed to be on the verge of national catharsis.
But suddenly the government's hitherto undisclosed political game took over the whole process. It is an irony that some of the actions believed to be favoured by the establishment seriously damaged or destroyed the existing political leadership, the parties, and public opinion, all of which are quintessential institutions of the democracy. Whereas this exceptional dispensation, with its historical mission, was entrusted with the efflorescence of democracy, it is worth asking whether the very ambience for that to happen is denied with the suspension of basic rights and freedom of expression under a prolonged state of emergency.
As far as the promise of real democracy is concerned -- it has become almost a cliche -- no one has undertaken, thus far, that venture, except a few failed and disgruntled politicians from major political parties. The critics say that they are in this political fray mainly to curry favour with the establishment, with a variety of motives. Few think that they could be the architects of real democracy in the country. A number of celebrities, including people known for their expertise in this or that, availed the chance, only to quickly give up. The new "hopefuls" in the field also are hopelessly charlatan.
This being the general picture and ground realities of our politics, where are we really heading -- election or no election? The government may still go ahead with an election of sorts, but in the absence of recognisable political leadership and in a vacuum resulting from the lack of political activity, it might turn out to be an exercise in surrealism and take us nowhere in our democratic odyssey. Many of the government actions are indeed praiseworthy, but the apparent politicisation inherent in ousting this or that politician from the arena has perhaps dampened public enthusiasm for elections somewhat.
In the thick of power, the ruling elite many not be able to sense it, but their appeal has been eroded because some of their steps fly in the face of public sentiments and aspirations. The people are again increasingly resigned to their fate -- a symptom not conducive to the flowering of democratic politics. The phenomenon is visible from the passivity of the people who do not react or protest in spite of their endless sufferings. Do the power-wielders ensconced in the safety of high offices hear the deafening sound of their mute silence and see the invisible writing on the wall?
Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.
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