The turbid waters in which a society wallows
Harun-or-Rashid recommends a new work on Bangladesh
11 January 2008, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh in the Mirror
An Outsider Perspective on a Struggling Democracy
The University Press Limited
Thirty six years ago Bangladesh started its journey as a nation-state with great promise of a common national identity, democracy, social and economic justice, and religious non-discrimination or secularism. Soon the high ideals of the War of Liberation were vitiated by the seizure of state power by counter-revolutionary forces. The country went under military rule for 15 years following the coup d'etat of August 1975. It experienced changes of the governance system a number of times multiparty parliamentary democracy (1972-1974) to one-party presidential system (1975); military rule (1975-1990); again, multi-party parliamentary system (1991-to date). Democratic institutions, values, traditions, practices and procedures can hardly grow in such an unstable situation. The re-introduction of the multi-party parliamentary system in 1991 did not improve the overall situation much. For five consecutive years, both under the BNP and Awami League government, Bangladesh topped the Transparency International list as the most corrupt country in the world. Elections scheduled to be held in January 2007 could not take place because of disagreement between the two major power contending parties around the composition of the caretaker government, Election Commission and necessary electoral reforms.
The conflict between the two spilled on to the streets, creating a situation of serious national concern and prompting the government to declare a state of emergency that led the army into coming to the forefront and playing an influential role through backing the civilian-led caretaker government. Weak institutional basis, lack of consensus, absence of an effective system of local governance, a fragile electoral system, rampant corruption, street politics taking precedence over Parliament, boycott of Parliament by the opposition, continued political role of student organisations as fronts for national political parties, increased politicisation of professionals and other sections of people along party lines, and rise of Islamic terrorism (note Jamiatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh or JMB) are salient features of Bangladesh's politics.
Mainly based on newspaper sources (The Daily Star), Professor A.T. Rafiqur Rahman, a Bangladeshi expatriate in the USA, in his reflective work, Bangladesh in the Mirror: An Outsider Perspective on a Struggling Democracy (2006), attempts to scan the problems of Bangladesh's politics and governance in search of a cure. Spread over 10 chapters and an epilogue, the book makes a number of recommendations as remedial measures, which include: emphasis on institutional capacity building, consensus on fundamental issues of governance and administration, government of national unity at least for one term, i.e. five years, limiting the size of ministries, reduction of the period of absence for MPs from the present 90 days to 15 days before they lose their seats, registration of political parties and declaration of assets, a fully autonomous Election Commission, separation of the judiciary from the executive, autonomous local government system, an independent Human Rights Commission, de-linking students and teachers' politics from national/party politics, uniform curricula for all streams of education, professionalism in the police force and community policing, a high-level non-partisan citizens forum for parliamentary democracy and development, et cetera.
The book under discussion may be termed as a treatise on political and administrative reforms. It is a most timely work with special relevance to contemporary Bangladesh in view of the fact that the country is now passing through an era of reforms under a caretaker government. The long-standing demand for a separation of the judiciary from the executive was effected on 1 November 2007. Moves for an independent secretariat for the Election Commission are underway. Provisions for registration of political parties are being made by the Election Commission. The government is also actively considering the institution of an independent Human Rights Commission. Since the author has written the book from an 'outsider perspective', as he says, all his reform proposals may not be practical in our context and reality. However, many among them deserve our consideration.
Having said this, it is to be noted that like many other works the book is not without flaws. On the production side, many faults, including innumerable spelling mistakes and editorial oversight, are evident. The book suffers from genuine errors too. Parliamentary system was re-introduced in 1991 and NOT in 1990, as the author suggests in Bangladesh in the Mirror. The first parliamentary elections in independent Bangladesh were held in 1973 and not in 1972. This kind of mistake is repeated in respect of the 1954, 1991 and 1996 elections (pages 136, 139, 205). It is difficult to understand how the actual year of the founding of the Indian National Congress (1885) escapes the author's attention. He thinks it is 1888 (page 171)! Furthermore, the bomb blasts incident that occurred at Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina's public rally in Dhaka, killing as many as 24 people, including the prominent Awami League politician Ivy Rahman, was on 21 August 2004 and not in September (page 99).
However, the weaknesses as mentioned do not at all deflate the importance of the work. Anyone interested in Bangladesh studies can see its politics and governance truly mirrored in it. Besides, general readers, students and teachers of government and politics will find the book very useful. This is especially mandatory for those, especially policymakers who stand for political and administrative reforms in Bangladesh. This is a work of love and concern for his motherland on the part of the author, who has been living abroad for about four decades. Our unreserved appreciations go out to him for writing such a valuable book. One certainly recommends the book to a wide readership.
Dr. Harun-or-Rashid, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Dhaka, is at present in Dhaka Central Jail in connection with the campus incidents of August last year.
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