Post Breakfast
Cooperation and tolerance
MOST consider a free, fair and credible election to be the first step towards the achievement of the eventual goal of democratic governance. Special emphasis is also laid on arranging a "level playing field" so that controversy does not surface after the polls.
Elections in Bangladesh are volatile to say the least. We have seen how the previous administration tried to "load the dice" so that the election planned for January 2007 would prolong their tenure in office. It included efforts to affect the existing rules of engagement even in selecting the possible head of the next caretaker government. The retirement age of judges was changed to facilitate the appointment of a particular individual. The voter list was diluted with spurious entries.
Since then almost two years have passed. Within this period, efforts have been made to establish a credible paradigm. Full credit goes to the armed forces for helping the Election Commission in revising the electoral rolls, and starting an ID base with photographs.
Despite these positive movements, the political situation, as has been pointed out by the International Crisis Group from Brussels, continues to be "complex and fragile." The next government and the opposition parties will face "the challenges of making parliament work and contending with an army that wants a greater say in politics." The new Parliament will also have to finish the task of ensuring greater transparency and accountability. It will require bi-partisanship and political will. I trust that these principles will not be in short supply.
We have watched with dismay how returning to democratic governance was made unnecessarily difficult through lack of coordination between the Election Commission and the Returning Officers, the opaque nature of decision making by the Election Commission, the introduction of controversial rules within the polls process and the continuation of the emergency provisions. Principles related to being a defaulter, the providing of documentary evidence in support of a candidate's educational or wealth status or written support of one percent of that constituency's electorate similarly became stumbling blocks.
The ideas had merit, but the methods of implementation caused disagreement and, in many cases, led to judicial appeals. This left a bitter taste that could have been avoided if the entire process was handled with greater care. Hopefully, the next time round, the lessons would have been learnt.
It needs to be noted that just having an election should not be considered as enough. In the book of democracy it is just the first chapter. For all the political parties, the challenge will only start after the polling day. A smooth transition to a functioning democracy will require resisting the "winner-take-all" mentality and cooperating in the tackling of serious national issues within the Parliament and its Standing Committees by identifying least common denominators.
It has been heartening to note that the larger political parties, in their respective manifestos, have laid emphasis on some common issues. The want to successfully tackle the problem of spiralling prices, graft control (the Awami League suggesting capacity building within the ACC), the power and energy crisis (with Awami League suggesting the exploitation of renewable resources), disaster management, food self-sufficiency, gender empowerment, water management and the providing of proper sanitation. Special attention may also be given to the creation of a comprehensive employment policy and skill development training.
The Awami League has also stated that, if elected, it will initiate necessary steps to try war criminals, and to complete the trial of those involved with the August 15 massacre, the 1975 jail killings and the grenade attack carried out on August 21. I believe that if these trials are completed, it will strengthen the rule of law and the factors associated with accountability. Steps should also be taken to uphold human dignity through the effective implementation of human rights, to cease extra-judicial killings and deaths in custody, and to carry out a careful parliamentary review of all the Ordinances issued during the Emergency.
Most political parties want to make the Parliament more effective. The Awami League and the BNP have already proposed that their parties will offer one post of deputy speaker and also chairmanship of important parliamentary committees to the opposition. This is a good initiative. It would, however, also be useful for arriving at a consensus in dealing with the controversial provisions of Article 70 (crossing the floor) of the Constitution. This is vital for democratic norms within the process of parliamentary democracy and also within the political party itself.
The members of Parliament will also have to find common paths on how to become more business friendly and agree on measures pertaining to e-governance, foreign direct investment, business process outsourcing and economic zones. They will also need to continue the ongoing drive against institutional corruption and "systems loss," ensure effective decentralisation in local government and set in place a community and village-based marketing system and strategy. Whoever wins will also need to introduce more effective management in the rural areas of the educational and health sectors.
Achieving these objectives might be difficult, but they are definitely not impossible. Political parties can accomplish their tough objectives if they discard the cronyism of the past and dysfunctional government and adopt consensus-driven politics based on vision. We have resource constraints, but we must now stand up and demonstrate that democratic political governance, intolerant of corruption, can turn us into the middle-income country that we dreamt of during our War of Liberation in 1971.
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