Bitter Truth
In quest of right candidates
THE forthcoming parliamentary election now scheduled for December 29 could well be a poll that marks a turning point in Bangladeshi politics. Exasperated with the experience of three democratic governments with one party coming to power twice and protracted bouts of non-governance, the voters in the country have again a chance of either putting things straight or catapulting the country into crisis.
The 2008 election may be very crucial in the country's development into a mature democracy while it will be an occasion for the voters to ask and exercise their real options : (1) Can pre-poll coalitions provide greater stability than post-election expediency ? (2) Is religious identity espousing radical views, policies and actions more relevant than actual governance ? (3) Should professed ideology take precedence over cohesiveness?
These are complex questions with no easy answers. But it was the inability of the electorate to address these questions that led to the past governments becoming non-performers in governance. People are afraid that repetition of the same drama will have a tell-tale effect on the body politic of the nation.
With the election due in about a month from now, we will hear much from the contestants how much their hearts bleed for the people, how it is only for the electorate that they work and how it is only the electorate's interest that they care about.
Voters have to be cautious about the candidates playing religious card again. Zealotry, fanaticism and fundamentalism have no place in a progressive society destined to carve out an independent and dignified place in the contemporary world. Today preservation of any closed system is not only unacceptable but untenable. But this awakening could only come when voters are literate and have risen over the depths of abysmal poverty. Apparently deliberate efforts they were allowed to remain mired in ignorance and poverty because they constituted vote banks for such vote banks cease to exist when people get some education. Voters have to be cautious about the high profile leaders, known for their corrupt practices in the past, who would again fiddle around with silly schemes and lofty promises.
The Bangladesh landscape for the last seven years excluding one year after 1/11 appears awash in turmoil. On the political front chaos, divisive war and factionalism reign. The business area too is gripped by a crisis of confidence. More obvious now is the discord as regards nomination of candidates in the forthcoming parliament election following grass roots selection and reform measures in the party structure and its constitution. Away from politics, economic expectation turned into economic disappointment as the recession took a strong hold on all business.
We missed the bus first during the period after the fall of Ershad regime and we missed the bus totally during the erstwhile alliance rule. As the prime minister with the largest mandate in the post -Ershad regime, Begum Zia could have done anything she wanted --installed power plants, invested heavily in infrastructure, insisted on real growth of literacy and education in the villages, changed healthcare methods, brought about judicial reforms -- and today we could have been a dignified country instead of languishing among the odd 100 poorest ones of the world. Without paying lip service and offering false promises to the electorate as usual, these election seekers have to realize what went wrong in the country.
Elected to parliament this time, the MPs belonging to either treasury or opposition bench, must, on the basis of a consensus, ask for repeal of the article 70 of the constitution that debars an elected representative from retaining his membership in the Parliament if he votes against the party from which he was elected. Dr Zahir, a senior constitutional lawyer in the country while participating in a TV channel talk show questioned the incorporation of such a anti-democracy clause in the constitution.
The big question for the voters now is, how they will vote for the honest and committed candidate because the anti-corruption drive, as it appears by and large, has failed. Most of the persons, mainly politicians, arrested on corruption charges have come out on bail before the election. All of them were given 'heroe's welcome' at the BSMMUH prison gate and the electorate are now inclined to believe that they were all innocent until proved guilty by the country's highest court. Unmistakably they are very actively participating in party activities and most of them would be given nomination because of their clout.
Voters in such a situation would be put in a dilemma in making the right choice. Many people in the country harboured apprehension about the efficacy of such arrests and wondered if that would end up in a failed endeavour. Meanwhile the local elections have proved that country's political culture has not undergone any qualitative change and the national election might witness the same scenario.
But gloomy though the situation is, the country's abundant resources and human capital are readily available for a national revival -- if only there is enlightened and determined leadership. Bangladeshis even after traumatic experiences during the five years of alliance rule tend to invest goodwill in their leaders, even overlook transgressions. But only up to a point. That point surely has been reached, and the country's politicians should understand that. Reports have it that most of the country's grassroots organisations comprising youth groups have been telling candidates willing to contest elections that young Bangladeshis want their leaders to be more accountable.
Mired in grinding poverty and illiterate as the voters are in rural Bangladesh, they can hardly make independent and pragmatic choices in electing the most competent and honest person. They look to the village 'matubbar', who often plays the most vicious tricks in collecting votes for the person who wields money and muscle power with little record of service for the community. This has bred an unhealthy political climate and a crisis situation in the country.
In the euphoria of coming to power, it will be unfortunate if the top leaders forget to examine what went wrong in the country. Captains of industry, economists and civil society members have all sought to impress the future rulers of the country with deep comprehension of what ails the country. The stark fact is : the past alliance government have done little to improve the lives of ordinary Bangladeshis. Starting from the chief executive, ministers and elected representatives in the past days seemed to have their own narrow causes, often in disregard of the national interest. So we didn't have enough electricity, no new strategies in agriculture despite the looming threat of climate change and didn't find any new gas deposits to augment what we found a decade ago.
Now the electorate has to be very cautious and display utmost sensibility and discretion in electing their representatives to the parliament. This time we will elect such parliament members who will be role models not only in politics but on our way forward. The election scenario in the country at the moment has been clouded by spiraling prices of food items and also pangs of hunger. Our leaders must realize that hunger and democracy cannot go together.
Our political leaders elected to parliament this time will have to do some serious home work about augmenting agricultural production in their regions and enlarging the literacy base in the real sense of the term because literacy is the key to development, healthcare and jobs. Above all, it is the key to population control and there can be no empowerment of either women or any other sections of the populace without literacy.
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