The Elephant(s) in the Living Room
The Elephant(s) in the Living Room
It is immensely heartening to see the Caretaker Government moving aggressively in arresting the numerous corrupt and criminal politicians who have freely raped, pillaged and terrorized the young nation of Bangladesh. But what about the proverbial elephant in the living room? In this case, there happen to be two elephants in the living room – well, two and a half elephants. And from all reports, it is the ‘half’ elephant who may have contributed the most towards establishing and perpetuating the systematic looting of the nation. Does anyone really believe that the corruption in Bangladesh did not reach all the way to the top? Should we not hold the captains of the ship responsible when the crew has been busy robbing the passengers and has caused the ship to drift aimlessly and dangerously close to looming icebergs? Is there anything, the slightest hint of control or decency (the proper Bangla word is “chokkhulojja”) that these captains ever demonstrated during their tenure that should make us lenient towards them? I say not! Rather, they have done everything in their power and taken every measure to protect the guilty and prevent even the mildest controls from taking effect.
I think it is high time that we ask ourselves – are we going to be honest with ourselves and follow the source of the rot to its root? Bangladesh has been betrayed – not once, but several times. Shouldn’t there be a reckoning? Tony Blair is having to answer questions about selling knighthoods and American presidents have been through impeachment proceedings for much less!
Or are we going to be cowards and pat ourselves on our backs for landing the so called ‘big fish’ while the biggest fish of them all – two and a half of them, by my count – swim around the waters in plain sight? I take no pleasure in this introspection. But I fear that without the will to confront corruption in its ultimate form, without acknowledging the extent of the rot, we’ll be doomed to repeat what in our history, has been repeated so many times. Let us, as a nation, have the courage to acknowledge the elephants in the living room. Let us face up to them and their likely, thundering protests. Let them answer the question “where were you when your people were ravaging Bangladesh?” Let them account for their own ill gotten wealth. Let us see their assets and the sources of those assets. Let us see if they will at least apologize for their culpability! And then, only then, perhaps the healing can begin and we should think about forgiveness.
- Muhit Rahman