Time to strengthen institutions
THE people of Bangladesh now have the benefit of stewardship of a government that enjoys an overwhelming electoral mandate. Quite naturally, the expectations from such a government are very high thus placing onerous responsibilities on the new guardians. Such responsibilities assume special significance because we are passing through a period that is characterized by a loss of sense of values.
There is a feeling that the inner strength of our people which enabled them to hold their heads high despite economic adversity is in the danger of being lost without durable measures. It is true that in a democracy the majority view should prevail but perhaps that does not mean that the validity of a proposition or the correctness of a strategy should depend on the number of people and their representatives who believe in it. There is an old saying that in the fields of politics and economics, the soundness of a policy is often in inverse proportion to the popular support it commands.
There is equal significance in the belief that the quality of life in our democratic polity is largely determined by the availability of the basic human rights and civil liberties, which are placed in the chapter on 'Fundamental Rights' in our constitution. Without these fundamental rights the quality of life would be gravely impaired. The guarantee of the aforementioned fundamental rights is largely conditional upon the fostering and sustaining of a healthy debate on the country's social and economic problems.
Our institutions are not in total decay, the present crack and all the efforts to create an institutional vacuum notwithstanding. It is true that violence is widespread in our society. The writ of the government does not run in some pockets. In urban focal points there is lawlessness, which has aggravated the feeling of insecurity. To make matters worse, there is the near breakdown of the urban infrastructure. However, for records it must be stated that many other countries have faced a similar situation at various stages of their history but their educated and privileged classes did not pronounce that their country was doomed. The fortunate in those countries played their part with responsibility and helped in bringing the country back on rails.
There are premonitions regarding the rise of Taliban type militancy. While it has to be admitted that religious fanaticism, bigotry and militancy were on the rise with allegations of foreign supporters and financiers and local protectors, the same definitely does not compare with the phenomenal rise of Taliban in Afghanistan in the recent years. The so-called fanatics or fundamentalists no doubt represent a new underclass with all the potential of causing unrest and turmoil in the country but democrats in our polity have not embarked upon adequate countervailing measures to ensure that the obscurantist elements do not strike deeper roots than the political party and taking advantage of the situation turn people's resentment into a subversive movement. Such a scenario is not unlikely in the background of authoritative indiscretions, the vulgar life style of the new rich and the stark disparities in income distribution. We have to take guard.
The obvious question as of now is, if the problems are not appreciated in depth and the diagnosis made accordingly then how would we arrive at real solutions? There are recent examples which illustrate this inference. Urban unrest is taken merely as a law and order problem and mostly treated as such. Instead of venturing to change the colonial police structure and stopping its use as a political arm of the government, an answer was sought in creating the so-called 'elite' forces, or increasing the number of police personnel. Similar myopia prevailed in the education sector where new institutions were established without ensuring their proper functioning.
One may ask if we are witnessing an institutional crisis of state authority. Black money holders and violators of other descriptions have created centres of power nearly parallel to that of the state, according to many discerning observers. However, for any programme of social and economic development to be durably implemented, it is necessary to fully establish the writ of the government and make it run throughout the country.
Paramount importance needs to be attached to the repair and rebuilding of vital institutions that nourish and nurture a democratic society. Collapse will overtake our country if our institutions, particularly the political ones, do not acquire durability through experience and tradition.
We have not appreciated that out democracy cannot survive without law and order and that public interest requires the real professional promotion of the entire criminal justice administration and not its denegation and destruction. We continue to forget that crime is not a problem for the police only but for the whole society.
Successful democratic experience indicates that we cannot be truly free without doing away with ignorance. We have to realize that our leaders have to rebuild and also produce the required institutions for doing the needful. In course of time, those institutions will produce the leaders.
One may reasonably ask as to what has happened to our nation-building institutions, particularly the educational institutions that will generate excellence? Some say that in Bangladesh, instead of establishing excellent educational institutions, we have downgraded and devalued the fine universities which existed when we became a republic. It would only be stating the obvious to comment that meaningful democracy would be impossible without literacy and education and that the absence of earnest efforts in this regard will help the vested quarters to continue to benefit from public ignorance.
One would not be far from reality to say that in Bangladesh we have devalued the judiciary, as we have devalued every other important institution. Instead of defending our judges against political pressures and threats and instead of insisting upon integrity and impartiality in judicial appointments we have permitted the executive to supersede judges of calibre and courage.
The politicians and the media complain that higher judicial appointments have been given to persons who are suspected to subscribe to the notions of the ruling party. Therefore, it would be prudent to recognize the underlying moral, political and constitutional implications of such gross indiscretions. It is perhaps time to initiate corrective measures to effectively halt the irregularities and hold aloft the majesty of judiciary in public interest.
Realists have to admit that cronyism has assumed new heights. Cynics say that cronyism has become an accepted practice, and that at a higher level many cronies get plum jobs. In the recent past, ruling party functionaries including influential ministers have ensured large recruitments in police, education, Election Commission in utter disregard of all rules or regulations. Members of Parliament and other ruling party influentials were allegedly allocated their own quotas for jobs.
It needs to be emphasized once again that the above-mentioned cronyism brings with it the problems of delinquency, incompetence and of course, pliability. In addition, a clique of corrupt courtiers will continue to surround those who wield power. They become the link between the rulers and the ruled.
The above practices give rise to arbitrariness and irrationality. As against institutional development, we had developed a patron-client relationship. A whole network of patronage was built around quotas for jobs, admissions, urban plots, connections for electricity, gas or telephone and dispensation of development funds. The distinction between public property and private gain was totally blurred. Another ominous development is the contempt for rule of law. There was establishment happiness with people who are pliable and corrupt but claim to produce 'results'.
We seem to have forgotten that the foundation of a state rests upon the impartiality and resilience of some institutions; and that the partisan behaviour and attitude of the government and the perilous polarization of our society did marginalize the public services.
We have to hope and pray that institution building in Bangladesh, now, would mean that there will be a change from privilege to talent and from accident of birth to accent on calibre. It shall also mean that money is something to be earned rather than to be got or won; it shall mean putting extra effort before extra leisure; it will mean stopping our society from disintegrating into hostile factions; it will mean enabling our leaders to perceive the truth and empowering them with the courage to say it to the people; it shall ensure that there is no substitute for knowledge and integrity in public life and that persons are appointed to high public offices for their real worth.
Muhammad Nurul Huda is a columnist for The Daily Star.
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