Fri 24 Aug 2007
Rezwan’s summary of Curphew Day 2 events are here.
BBC News has a very interesting overview by Sabir Mustafa:
Key Highlights:
Who was in these protests:
Many of these demonstrators were the dirt poor of the city - slum dwellers whose homes had been demolished by the authorities, and street vendors who had been evicted from the street.
“The army chief should resign. They are killing us to keep themselves in power. They think the public are idiots. But we are not idiots. They have come to organise elections, so they should just hold elections and leave”, said one irate street vendor.
Govt Reaction:
“Some evil forces used the events on the university campus to spread chaos in many parts of the country including Dhaka. Under the circumstances, the government has demonstrated extreme patience, and taken some steps to protect the lives and property of people and put an end to illegal activities,” he said.
Journalist Reacts
“We have seen in the past that whenever people have demanded an end to emergency powers or military rule, autocratic governments have always responded by calling the protesters evil and conspirators,” said Nurul Kabir, editor of New Age newspaper
On Direct Military Rule:
While many see these demonstrations as simply a manifestation of people’s anger at the continued state of emergency, others fear such chaos could be used as an excuse to impose direct military rule.
“Every event and action has consequences, and the consequences can be very serious,” said Dr Ali Riaz, head of department of politics and government at Illinois State University.
“Direct military rule would be catastrophic for the country’s economy as well as the political process,” he said
On exit strategy:
“Replacement of the current caretaker government with a broad-based government of national unity would enable the army to make an exit from the current impasse,” he said.
But the idea of a government of national unity - with representatives of all political parties - has remained an elusive one.
Few believe that ideologically diverse parties would be able to reach the kind of consensus needed to form such a government.
A more realistic exit strategy for the army would be to lift the ban on political activities and bring forward the date of elections from December 2008 by perhaps a year.
There are fears of the military taking over power
To many, there could be no better strategy than to hold early elections and handover power to an elected government, with a clear understanding that the anti corruption drive would continue without hindrance.
Would be interesting to hear your views on exit strategy and beyond because the reality is conspiracy or no conspiracy as the article stated, these protests will not go away. If you think it was done by the political and corrupt business group, then they are not going away. If they can now manage destablizing the whole country like this, then they can do that again and again. Similarly, if you think the protests are genuine, then its even worse. They will keep coming back as well. If that is the case, then what can we do as a possible alternative where both anti-corruption drive continues and army has a graceful exit and keeps its professionalism intact. Even the strongest supporter of the current policy will not disgagree that economy is at a low point due to uncontrolled inflation and lack of economic activity. Are we willing to sacrifice are economic potential and growth which is caused by all of these uncertainty?
August 24th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
We all need to be pragmatic and realistic about a solution and look for an honorable exit for all. I don’t see status quo working out for the next 15 months. There are lot of interests at play and if we want to remove the uncertainty which is detrimental to business and economy, we need to acknowlege it and move on.
Option 1:
Status quo: Like it or not, it will be impossible to go back 8/20. The pre-clash days. The credibility, legitimacy, popularity — all of them has taken a hit. Also, if the stories of money coming in to destablize things is true, then it is also a reality that we need to take into account. Will it go away just because the government is more hard line? No. Because, the 7 months the government has done every possible things to prevent money laundering and the recovery of black money. Yet, the accusation is there are tons of black money to be spent on this. With this reality in mind and also the fact the popularity of the government has gone down sharply, the status quo maintaining is definitely not a viable option.
Option 2: Early election. Would have been great but the current power brokers will not let it happen without the key institutional reforms in place firmly (assuming they are sincere about it). Understandably they would want to have a role in it as well. With voter id cards etc not happening soon and the government keen on doing local election first, it is also an option that will not be attractive.
Option 3: That leaves us with the last option of a national unity government with involvement from all the political parties and other sections of the society including the army and intellectuals. The goal will still be to have an election in December 2008. This will give the much needed legitamicy for the government and the political parties will be involved in the process. There are plenty of reasons why both army and the political parties should agree to this. Will leave that discussion for others or will later elaborate on it.
August 24th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Last few months have made two things clear.
First, technocrats don’t necessarily make good leaders. Leaders have to make difficult trade offs between different policies. Politicians, for all their faults, are better able to do this. Why? Because they have to serve their constituents. Even corrupt politicians serving their narrow bases have to serve someone. Technocrats don’t have to serve anyone, so even when they act out of good intentions, they can make the wrong choice. Raising government revenue through tax reform and cutting government expenditure through closing inefficient jute mills are good economic policies - any undergrad can tell you that. But doing so in an environment of tight food supply and rising food prices is stupid public policy - something obviously technocrats in the regime has failed to understand.
Second, like command economics, command politics doesn’t work. Back in March-April, the Election Commission published a set of reforms to the political system. We discussed them in this forum. If these reforms were/are instituted, many of the worst excesses of pre-1/11 politics would have been curbed. But not being content with these, some powers-that-be decided to play command politics with the leading parties. The result of this is that instead of being marginalised, Hasina-Khaleda are being restored in public eyes.
Now for the questions in the post. Any solution will have to have legitimacy in the public eye, and I don’t see how anything other than a free and fair election will deliver that.
But the solution will have to give the army a safe and honourable exit strategy. And it will be good to institute at least some of the reforms this regime has promised. One possible way to do so is through a National Accord negotiated at a Round Table Conference involving the generals and politicians. The Accord will cover the following: election reforms, appointments made by the regime to be respected by the next government, free and fair election at the soonest, and indemnity to the 1/11 architects and the current regime.
There is at least one precedence in our recent history to this. In 1990, then opposition parties agreed to a framework for a post-Ershad politics that included a free election followed by a sovereign parliament.
The status quo isn’t tenable. No one wants a martial law. As AsifS above says, a national government can confer legitimacy for the time being, but in the post-election scenario, what alternative is there to National Accord if we are to avoid more instability?
August 24th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Well Major problems of this Interim Govt
I divide in to two points-
1) detachment of them from root level people
2) Scared of press and criticism
Basically I found 2nd point is major in here.
One thing we can’t deny in here this GOVT has lots of problem and If they want to hide the truth from own people how can they run the things confident way.
I feel Some of the advisers of this CTG is become hugely unsuccessful and unpopular.
My opinion is Reshuffle of these advisers are needed very much . Some widely popular
respected advisers should be here. Hasan Mashud and Shamsul Huda are good choice for
ACC and EC.
Even Chief adviser is ok.
Now I feel there must be some accepted advisers in every part of the society and political party.
State of Emergency should be lifted with out delay. Most important freedom of press is important.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
1. There must be an early election by the end of 2007. 2008 is out of question! Voter list is there.It only needs to be updated and the irregularities fixed quickly. Civil administration can do it faster.There’s no need to waste time and money on expensive electronic devices. This government is unable to feel the pulse of its UNPOPULARITY.
2. The EC must act on its own. It must not be manipulated by the ARMY anymore. They must realise the tidal surge in public dissent and uncooperation they have to overcome to get the election job done if they meddle in election matters to engineer it according to their plan.
3. The current CTG has lost its credibility. It should work on a backdoor exit without being disgraced.
A senior judge should be appointed as the CA and credible appointees with impeccable record should man home, information, telecommunications and transportation ministries.
4. The new CTG will only work on holding a election in 90 days AND NOT A day more. It must not take any major policy decisions on finance or monetary or any important national issues. ONLY an elected government can do so.
5. Any new elected government will understand the gravity of reforms because we cannot evert back to the bad old corrupt days anymore. I am sure our politicians understand it now more than ever before.
6. BANGLADESH MUST BE RUN BY AN ELECTED PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF DEMOCRACY WHICH IS TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE TO PEOPLE OT TO ANYONE ELSE.
August 24th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
I think one of the reasons why violence broke out (and may again in future) is that the plans of the commanders are at odds with what the people want. Bangladesh has a 80-million-strong electorate, mostly rural and mofoshhol, which basically is now less interested in the political plays and jailing people and corruption cases etc etc. Outside the elite, they have been waiting for elections for months now, for a number of reasons. The first priority is to think from their perspective (rather than who will exit with honor, etc), and from their perspective there’s only one solution: quick restoration of democracy, run by political leaders they have some access to.
A national unity government may be the most feasible in terms of the army’s exit, but it’s not the right solution because of 3 reasons:
(a) it further damages our constitution, which is our most important legal institution,
(b) it will delay elections rather than accelerate them (and I fully agree with Jyoti’s point about the dangers of technocrats running the show)
(c) it may allow the military to remain as a strong decision-making body in national politics, like in turkey or suharto-era indonesia.
The real honorable exit strategy is to focus on elections, and hand over power to elected leaders, keeping its original word. Any other exit strategy would be less honorable than that, because it would mean that CTG deviated from the original goal which gave it legitimacy. What the EC should do is forget about local elections, and instead accelerate the national election schedule.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Jalal bhai,
Point noted. However, I need to clarify on one point, if 80 million electorate are looking for an election, why wouldn’t they be happy with the local elections in early 2008 as per the road map?
August 24th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
“Unity and Regeneration” should be the rallying calls for Bangladesh now. Not repression and chasing selective corruption initiatives. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where you sit) a strong-arm military regime has proved itself to be unequal to the task of bringing unity and regeration to Bangladesh.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Good to see a more rational discussion. We can agree to disagree between us, but if we start jalao-porao on this blog to vanquish our opponents, we will be nowhere. I too have been guilty, in the heat of the moment, of turning the sarcasm stun-gun on people I disagree with, and I apologize for my role in that.
This thread has been the most constructive– talking about real solutions that are finally taking into account realpolitik.
August 24th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Asif - true, true. They will be somewhat happy with at least local elections in early 2008. Something is better than nothing.
I do think national elections should come first, however. My reservation about local elections first is that it would make it tougher for the CTG to administer the country afterwards. Some form of local authority would emerge but national authority would still be in CTG. CTG will run into problems/resistance in trying to do things at the local level, and local leaders may similarly run into problems in resolving local issues. Just one example: the local police is supposed to be managed locally, but CTG will definitely continue to manage law enforcement. Local-level democracy and national-level authoriatarian government is very tricky to manage, esp. if national elections are supposed to take place a few months down the road.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
I think few things this government has to do:
1. Somehow, let judiciary sytem take a shot at the top brass political-corupt leaders, to establish that no one is beyond the law. While doing so do some balancing act to response to the reality in the ground.
(a) don’t touch Hasina, khaleda and Dhaka University for now (even if they are corrupt, millions will be ready to fight for them, thousands will be ready to die, all of the above three have stood by the people at some point of time)
(b) Involve economists to understand dependency of our current growth to the black money. I do not think we can uproot all levels of corruptions in 2 years, “lome bachte komblo ujar” hoye jabe.
2. Make judiciary system truly (that does not convene at Fajr Oakt by some mysterious call) independent, so that I can go to court and expect justice when the next political goon (AL or BNP) hijacks my local school’s governing body, defiles Saheed Minar or throws acid on my little girl.
3. Formulate powerful, corruption free Tax system (gradual cutting down of corruption).
4. Make police fair, well-paid and independent of political influence.
5. Let election commission really deploy the rules, like spending limit, candidate qualifications etc.
6. Organize natioanl dialogue between political parties, and let them list common goals, their philosophical and strategical diffrences. Let them avouch in public, in writing with their blood or by what ever other means we can find that they recognize the existance of each other and they truly believe that in democratic system they have to take the opposition bench once in a while. (I am too naive … figure out a way of doing it)
7. A dialogue with goverment, that certain actions taken during this period can not be reverted, laws and rules will be passed in the parliament immediately after the election. Goverment can propose a list (like no mercy to the jailed people, no reestablishment of ..) and then both political parties have to respond in public whatever part of that list they agree with and what they disagree.
8. Get the hell out of here and let people exercise their rights.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
This is fantastic. Keep them coming, folks. We will put something together from this in the next couple of days and have them published in Bangla and English in Bangladeshi papers for the policy makers. Let the rational discourse on our future start right here, right now.
August 24th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
One student demand that could have received a sympathetic hearing is the demand for resignation of Barrister Mainul Hossein. Unfortunately, they botched it by then combining it with a demand for resignation of Fakhrudding Ahmad & Moeen U Ahmed. That made the whole thing a hodge-podge and lose teeth.
Even within the Army there is a growing realization that several of the Advisors are a liability, especially Mainul Hossein, Tapan Chowdhury, Geetiara Chowdhury and elsewhere in the structure Gen (ret) Matin. Hoever, it’s not realistic to expect these people to be plucked out and replaced as that would be a major admission of error.
What’s most likely is to ask for the entire Advisor Council to be replaced by a more representative body, that can run the country until the 08 elections. This would require some legal juggling, but would offer a face-saving exit for all. Students get rid of their chokkhushul. CTG gets rid of incompletent people, and replaces them (hopefully) with more competent technocrats.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
#12….
I think Barrister Mainul is rather a “Donald Ramsfield” here…He’s not the source of the power..
There are several hardliner experimentalists in the background…
They are the main culprits
p.s: No sympathy for Mainul though.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
After reading about the incidents of the past few days that have been tearing the country apart, my head is full of conspiracy theories.
Up until a few days ago I was a very vocal supporter of the current government. It gave me a lot of pleasure to see corrupt politicians made to lose their wealth and put behind bars. There were also several headlines about the government efficiently dealing with contracts in the power sector so that the country’s power shortage problems could be dealt with as quickly as possible. Even though the budget formulated by this government was very disappointing, the way they went about evicting slum dwellers and street vendors was vicious and unfair, I only had the past governments of BNP and Awami League to compare their tenure to, and in comparison this government almost seemed like a knight in shining armour for a while.
But the way this government has been implementing economic policies recommended by multilateral lending agencies has really had me questioning their motives. Any well-read man knows how these agencies are controlled and why they are there in the first place and any economist who knows the Bangladesh economy well, will tell you the policies being implemented are totally wrong. Are the people in power taking their cut from the loans provided? Are they on their way to becoming overnight millionaires? They know that the country will never be supportive of military rule and perhaps this is their only way of making a quick buck, in their case, millions.
I agree with all the recommendations made on the 10th reply to the original blog entry, but the sad fact there is a 5% chance of anything like that happening.
In a way maybe the riots and the their aftermath will be a good thing. The common people are making their voices heard. The time for talk is quickly coming to an end. A time of great change is coming soon. I sincerely hope that change is for the better.
August 24th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Love it all so far. Keep it coming people!
August 24th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
@ Nirobe
You forget one thing. He is the information advisor. He is like a spokesperson for the government. That means all the critical information or decisions come from his mouth although it might not have been his decision. this makes him the target.
August 24th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Idea mongers keeps moving with ideas, silent listeners smiles. Who is best comes with specific suggestions for a resolve.
Let us go back (unfortunately) to the reign terror of Tareq Rahman, Bangla Bhai, Jamat, Shamem Osman, Joynal Hazari, Maya, Mokbul, H. Abdullah.
Present government is also not so perfect which closes Jute Mills, thinks to increase price of Oil, electricity, gas etc where already price hike of essential are about to smash poor, middle class people. Jamat and its Anti Independent Forces have not taken into account yet etc.
Why we have to kiss the shoes of IMF, WB and ADB being the independent nation? Simply not understand why and why.
Lots of work to do, elected government just can not do that. Let us bring about a change where from elected government will start for a new journey.
Just think if this government fails what will be the consequence of the country?
Let us call the evil force an evil. Fact is, none are foreigners in their own country whatever their position, profession or status is.
The nation will never prosper where teachers instigate students to damage and destroy public properties and life.
Army, police can not be the enemy of the students and vice versa. So, it is better understood now who were behind the instigation of 8/20.
ALO
August 24th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I would like to share some of my feelings on the events in Bangladesh.
After angry and violent outburst of students, the millitary has responded with an even more aggressive and ruthless reign of terror against students and journalists.
After what they have done and said, I think this government of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed has lost all moral right to rule. Now they are not a ‘millitary-backed civilian caretaker government’ - not anymore . Instead they have become a (what it always has been anyway)a mask of the millitary. They don’t have any right to talk about reformation in politics, or fair elections, or of war against corruption. The advisors have become a bunch of clowns. This caretaker government is a lame duck, and politically finished. Imagine Mainul Hossain - himself an editor of a newspaper - having to threaten newsmedia with emergency powers to impose censorship, like PID officials during Ershad’s rule.
I also wonder what he is going to think of himself when he goes to sleep at night. Think about the other advisors who joined the caretaker government with lofty and noble agenda - and what they now have been reduced to.
Who is going to keep faith on them now? They have failed, the politicians have failed before them (after all it is them who squandered the opportunity of building up democracy in the country after the 1990 uprising). Now I feel that the caretaker government system itself has failed for ever.
Will these advisors - if they have any self-esteem at all - resign now?
August 24th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
I think everyone is aware that five university professors (including an ex-vc of RU) arrested last night and brought to an unknown location.
I am having difficulty to understand the motive behind thses arrests. MBG is unconstitutional to begin with and what give them power to arrest. I know its a childish question…its the same power that brought this MBG to limelight.
Now, the MBG seems taking the whole country to destructive path. The only solution is to remove this government….
August 24th, 2007 at 7:02 pm
# 8, Eyshob_Dinratri Says,
“I too have been guilty, in the heat of the moment, of turning the sarcasm stun-gun on people I disagree with, and I apologize for my role in that. ”
KUDOS. A lession in Democracy 101, rights come with responsibility. You taught us how to live by example. I wish all our rulers and politicians read this apparently small but valuess posting.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
So from all these thoughts coming in, we at least agree that this Interim Government will need time to complete the processes you have listed.
Its very striking what Journey2Infinitive #2 wrote…. this govt seems unsure of criticism and of the comments from the press. This is not a recent phenomenon, but has been exposed time and time again with the slum evictions, the Biman issue, the Jute mills, Hasina-Khaleda, etc.
Why is there this lack of confidence? Why is it so wrong to admit mistakes? If the govt has lasted because of the press’ candid liberalism, then this is the biggest favour the press is doing by pointing out its flaws.
I have no sympathy for those people (politically affiliated “student” leaders, teachers) being detained for their suspected involvement in the riots. But the heavy handedness and blind repression of any and all (esp the press) really turns the tide around towards themselves.
August 24th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I have read many thoughtful arguements here,
I don’t think the CTG will pay attention to what people are saying, they don’t need people’s vote so they are not worried of being unpopular and they care little about the ordinary people.They are not thinking about early election or exit strategy, they are here to ensure that the “listed” corrupt politicians get punishment, to ensure law and order and they will do it in their own way, by evicting the hawkers, closing down the jute mills and all educational institutes, making the press and media silent.Ziaur Rahman once told that
” I will make politics difficult for the politicians.” CTG has made things difficult for everyone, except Jamat.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
If you folks haven’t yet read Shahidul Bhai’s take on this, you should.
*The Barren Banana*
Some excerpts:
Despite their claims, this government had never been called in by the people. We had no say in who the advisers would be. It was not military rule the people had welcomed, but the cessation of violence and the fear of further anarchy if the rigged elections were held. Banana trees would have made equally good replacements. However, banana trees would not have sold national interests. Closed down environmentally -friendly jute mills. Made slum dwellers homeless, or tortured and killed adibashis protesting the military acquisition of their ancestral lands. So while there was initial relief, as the price of essentials soared, news of nepotism and the partisan manner in which Jamaat -e-Islami was being shielded soon made people realise this banana tree would never bear fruit, let alone run a government.
The US has declared support for the chief adviser’s statement. What he lacks is the support of the people.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Some very interesting ideas. Some are very good. I agree that the country should go back to democracy as soon as possible. However, I don’t see an early election at this point as we don’t have a voter list. This current govt. declared the previous voter list invalid with the new election proclamation earlier this month. Now they could again revive it if they want! Anyway they are doing whatever they want. But in doing so, they have to admit that the mistake(s) that they have made.
Indemnity for the current govt.? Why? For what? This should be considered carefully. I think a debate should be held in the next parliament about what the country would accept and what it will not. If you tell them today that whatever they do, that will be accepted without questioning, then what guarantee do we have that they’ll be the good boys?
Unfortunately the basic institutional reforms that were needed have not been completed. Judiciary became more controlled by the govt. Election commission is “dhal-Talwar-bihin” “nidhiram sorder”. What power does the election commission have over spending of black money, “vote-churi”, “kendra-dakhal”, etc.? We used have somewhat independent media….last few days, we have lost that too.
Bottom line, we have not moved forward over the last few months. All we did is to change the faces….remove one group and put another in their places. Systemic clarity has not been established. bureaucracy gained more power, more control over the administration. So when the next elected govt. will come, they again will try to control the bureaucracy and we’ll be back to square one. Balance between the power of the parliament and that of the prime minister’s office is not there. May be power should be divided equally among the prime minister, the presidency, and the parliament. But none of these are in place and there is no sign that they’ll be in place any time soon.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Ramadan in less than a month. The political turmoil would be stagnant than.
CTG should hold free and fair election by the end of 2008 December. New Goverment should be form and take oath and lead the country. Peoples verdict should decide who will leade us. If people want BNP and AWL as majority its fine. A nation deserve the leader it gets.
Before that
Independent Judiciary
Completely independent ACC and ECC ( Let them make some calls these are educated and experience people they don’t need to be told what to do and say from cantornment)
Complete all the trials that are pending on the court for the arrested leaders and others.
Set up strong rules and regulations and foreign media survilence during the election time.
Outsourced the Election monitoring to any independent foreign country from EU.
Put CCTV cameras in each and every polling both.
Put Live coverage from all around the country about then poll preparation and polling day.
Crack down on arms and ammunination in DHAKA and arrest all the political goondas and mastans before election.
Mandotory voter identification for any person to vote during the election.
Do the national election on the same day for all around the country.
If the election doesn’t happen on December 08, we should all get together and start our protest on any means to bring down this CTG by Jan 11th 2009. I will be the first on the line to protest. Till than I will give this CTG some breaks and benefit of doubt to lead the nation.
They are atleast not looting the country so far.
Last but not the least level playing field for all political parties during the election.The normal people don’t care if BNP or AWL come to power as long as the individuals and leaders are not the same old corrupt and crooked. We need new faces in the parliament.I would urge few NRB’s if you really love the country and have urge to serve the nation join politics.Don’t just blame the politicians as corrupt by sitting in your coffee table. We need competition. We need competitor of Tareq Zia, Mahi, Joy and Sohel Taz or Khokon.Let them fight and win not just let them take the crown so easily.
Thanks
Kawser Jamal
To whom Banglades comes first.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:01 am
Folks,
All good ideas for the CTG to do now, didnt we furnish exactly same lists as in #10, seven months ago?
Since then Hasina-Khaleda in custody, people getting frustrated, prices going up, students complain army camps, floods came, and Ramzan coming - one catastrophe after another has diverted the CTG away from the list! But this WILL happen - and change is the only constant.
Will CTG ever get time to accomplish the REAL list - while people get more and more impatient, and new disasters arrive daily?
CTG may need to assign special “FIXED TASK-FORCES” for specific tasks - like one for voter-list, one for anti-corruption, one for student reforms, etc. while keeping sub-groups stand-by for (non-fixed) disasters (floods, ramazan, prices, etc).
August 25th, 2007 at 12:09 am
[admin: Please do comments relevant to the thread. Irrelevant comments may not be posted or get posted with a delay for the sake of a good discussion ]
The human mind is like a super computer, or if you will like a galaxy with myriads of star systems floating about and a giant black hole around which the whole system whirls around. Thousands of factors affect our decision and bias. But how is it even from few written words from the blog we can see the inside of someones heart sometimes I wonder or is it really that easy to see the bottom of someones heart.
We love our country, our people, we are patriots and sometimes we move and live faraway and out of sight is out of mind. But we know something is missing, the sense of belonging, or is it really so, what if we totally loose sense of belonging.
I am not expert like many of you here, but I have seen in the past that if I try to understand a problem and find a solution, I usually can, given sufficient time. It is unfortunate that I cannot leave my place and go live it like I did before, I guess I am too selfish and I play defensive now. I cannot leave my secure job, pension, benefit etc. And also there is the fear that what if I make no difference, what if no one listens to what I have to say, then the effort will be wasted and as an old man I would have nothing to live on. But I am tempted sometimes, mainly because I can feel and see that there are no good strong hands to hold the steering wheel. If someone gave me a chance I would still leave everything and give it a fight, but who will believe me and who will give me that chance. Some of you may ask, why do you not fight for your chance, I would say I am too tired and too disinterested, I don’t care much any more one way or the other.
Posting in a blog like this is not the solution. It will get us nowhere. Having superficial knowledge and not knowing what is really at stake on the ground will get us nowhere.
Please do not misunderstand me, your intentions are good (may be there are a few bad apples, I could not resist saying it), just like the CTG but its not enough. We need to be on the ground or need to be organically connected with the decision makers, so we know all the factors that should go into decision making. But continue on, as I am rambling here, pay no attention.
There is only sadness in my heart, I was bred like a thoroughbred horse that could take on the world and win the trophy, but it never had the chance to run the race. Now it is quietness that I like and being left alone.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:30 am
Our main focus/aim should be:
- corrupt politician/leadership.
- fair election.
- establish strengthen vital institutions.
Lets not have a incident like this shift our focus from that. My fear from some of the blogs is the attention is shifting to the wrong side. Bringing down the CTG does not help anybody. We will be shooting ourselves in the foot.
How about logical take on the whole incident without bringing in emotion, conspiracy & history.
- Army guilty as charged.
- Students protest.
- There are some police excesses.
- Army removes the person and withdraws camp to staisfy student demand.
- At this point we can not justify meaningless damage to public property.
- So the law enforcers should do what it takes to control the troublemakers within legal bounds.
So
- this does not mean CTG has lost all support[bunch of students + street hawkers etc is not all BD].
- moving election sooner to hand over power is a suicidal idea. This playing into the hands of the ‘devil’. How can we hand over power to same bunch of people who got us in this mess ?
Respected freinds, lets not be short sighted and get carried away. If we mess up this one Bangladesh would be ‘bye bye’.
- Ehtesham
August 25th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Jalal (9),
What’s wrong with strong local governments? One reason - perhaps the single most important reason - why democracy became a winner-take-all melee by 1/10 was because all power was concentrated in Tejgaon.
If there are strong upazilla and zilla councils, run by elected members and mayors in charge of local affairs including development issues, what’s wrong with that?
I can think of a number of benefits it would bring. It would make the elected representatives more accountable - your MP can live in Dhaka, make money and not even bother with re-election; the local chairman will have to live in the upazilla and people will hold him accountable on a routine basis. It would also diminish the MPs’ involvement in non-legislative matters - in Bangladesh MPs had become de facto local bosses, but that’s not their job; with strong local governments, MPs will focus on making laws and holding ministers to account.
I don’t think holding local government election should be an excuse for delaying a national election. There is/was a danger of local govt elections to engineer the national election outcome - this is a time honoured way of dictators, going all the way back to Ayub Khan. The way to avoid this is to hold all elections simultaneously, or within a week of each other.
As for the process/logistics issues taking time, these should be explained in a transparent manner. The regime should stop with gimickry like arrests and demolitions, and use its PR efforts on explaining what election oriented efforts have been taking place.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:56 am
See two identical news in two different newspaper. Dari, comma, semicolon shob kichu porjonto ek. Now you can understand who is trying to establish what.
http://www.amadershomoy.com/news.php?id=194837&sys=3
http://www.amardeshbd.com/detail_news_index.php?NewsID=128519&NewsType=bistarito&SectionID=home
August 25th, 2007 at 3:41 am
#29,
That’s really interesting!! I used to think Amader Shomoy has a good moral stand. The army and DGFI are really playing hard!
August 25th, 2007 at 3:59 am
#24 Sensible
“Indemnity for the current govt.? Why? For what?”
No blanket indemnity and no blanket rejection of all the good things happening now.
Few reasons I can think of,
1. You have to make room for peaceful exit
2. Three way dialogue between people, political parties and CG. We like to see what CG proposes. Are they trying to cover up someone’s back side or trying to keep alive the fight against the corruption? We would like to see, before election - live debate and the reaction of political parties towards the ongoing changes.
3. Here is a chance to attack the culture of indiscriminate elimination of all the programs/projects of last administration - renaming buildings, centralize decentralization, decentralize centralization, dig canals, fill up canals, give free birth control pills, give free fertility pills(i made this one up)
4. Ensure transparency rather than close door negotiation between CG and political parties about who forgives what.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:11 am
Hi Jyoti (#29)
Absolutely nothing wrong with strong local democracy - agree with all of your points.
My reservation is not about local democracy but about the proposed sequencing of holding local first and then national. Prioritizing local election is not CTG’s main mandate. Plus it’ll introduce administrative problems (local level democracy, national level autocracy). CTG shouldn’t aim to bite off more than it can handle, at the risk of delaying national elections or doing an unsatisfactory job of organizing it. Too much is at stake.
As you put it nicely: “I don’t think holding local government election should be an excuse for delaying a national election. There is/was a danger of local govt elections to engineer the national election outcome - this is a time honoured way of dictators, going all the way back to Ayub Khan.”
That’s why I think the CTG needs to prioritize holding national elections.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:23 am
The unpalatable truth is that we are left with a series of band-aid solutions. This Government should have restricted itself to strengthening EC, ACC, and the Judiciary, and left reforms within political parties to take their own course. Instead, it tried to impose reform and paradoxically stifled the process altogether.
Apart from its monumental failure on the political front, this Government through a plethora of outmoded interventionist measures has landed a body-blow to the economy. According to at least one study, GDP growth this year is likely to be zero or slightly negative.
In essence, this Government has squandered its once enormous public mandate to engender change.
So, there is little choice but to gravitate back to the first-best solution. Therefore,
(1) Strengthen EC and ACC with special emphasis on devising an efficient tamper-proof procedure for selecting key office bearers.
(2) Ensure that the process of separating the judiciary is irreversible.
(3) Hold elections as soon as possible.
(4) Let political evolution take its own course within a strengthened legal and institutional framework (i.e. point no. 1).
Of course, none of the above is likely to happen. We are probably looking at martial law or a National Government that sucks up to the military.
August 25th, 2007 at 5:32 am
#30 Abeydin, #31 Bilash
This is alarming. Loosing respect at an accelerated pace for the CG. Their propaganda machine has chosen the road to further the conflict rather than reconciliation. Either they are tactically incompetent or exercising their own brand of vendetta-politics, pretty much like AL and BNP. Even if I have to believe the character assassination in that article, how did the professor managed the army personnel to be present in the right place at the right time? Why didn’t you arrest the teacher who awarded first class by taking bribes earlier? Why now?
Sooner or later, one of these allegations will be proven false and malicious. People will start doubting the truth in the genuine cases. Immediately all other corruption cases will fall apart and the criminals will be reestablished with more power.
Taking University teachers to an unknown place in the middle of the night, for interrogation, will not go away. This brings back the eerie memory of 1971. How about suing 42,000 people for rioting? Buffoons! Doors behind them are closing rapidly, unless the CG comes back to senses right now, there will be no exit strategy other than the one paved with blood.
August 25th, 2007 at 8:40 am
I have just heard from a source in Bangladesh the following:
Some food importers are getting harassed by NBR who are asking for legitimacy of money sources. Also, AL/BNP associated food importers are not opening L/C and Banks (many of whose directors are allied with AL/BNP) are also not allowing to open L/C. BDR tried to import from exporters of food items, but the exporters refused to sell, at the instruction of their long established business partners in Bangladesh. Only a small number of imports are getting through this blockade.
The above is the reason for the price increase of food, which is now affecting tens of millions.
About this unrest and resulting curfew, the army beating the student case was settled within the nightfall with the Jawan apologizing to the student, but some AL/BNP allied police officers used excessive force in later confrontations with student demonstrators in a preplanned manner. In short, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, a plan was set in motion to orchestrate this popular student led revolt scenario, based on the first incident as a trigger point.
What CG/Army needs to do is the following:
- start getting harsh with food importers, distributors and bankers and warn them with treason charges unless they start importing to replenish the food shortfall, food is a national security issue
- punish all police officers that used excessive force against public or students, disobeying orders and service regulations
The CG/Army is not getting ready to give up yet, but it has been making many grave mistakes from the beginning. In order to break the cycle of AL/BNP control, it will take a lot more brains than what they have in their pool of current human resources. They will eventually be able to prevail, if they are motivated and correct their deficiency in different areas including proper human resources. They need to first concentrate on:
- bringing back normalcy
- remove the curfew
- work on food imports
- getting more power stations setup
- rehabilitate the hawkers
- find alternative location for slum dwellers
- de-emphasize the anti corruption drives and start concentrating more on running the country well and
- getting prepared for the election with proper ID cards.
August 25th, 2007 at 11:52 am
The following message is from a friend of mine who resides in Bangladesh. I see lots of truth in this message:
“The reason of this unscheduled & unexpected curfew (haltage of normal life) is almost known to us all which are as follows :
01. Prolong staying of this caring of very special formated of CG
02. The CG is being backed & governed by cantonments-clear to people.
03. Gradual diffusion of army in to the civil administration i e indirect militarisation
04. Decision taken on long term “Dec’2008″ election to be made but process of doing a real fare & free election is really slow.
05. Taking care of “Flood 2007″ was not that efficient & timely as this massive relief distribution job was not possible to make successful by military alone. How much military we have to tackle the situation by avoiding mass participation.
06. Continuously hiking the prices es of essential ls causing lives of middle & lower middle class people just miserable, beyond the tolerance or limit.
07. & finally the time taking “Chor Chor-Police Police Khela” with some biz-people, with some politicians , again with some govt servants becomes frustrating to the common people. They could rather make the process soonest as possible through effective use of “Druta Bichar Tribunal”.
May be sending the corrupt & culprits to the jail for 5/7 years is not enough. People were expecting more to punish above. Frustration also comes seeing of putting one failure lady in to the jail & another one moving outside.
And finally the outburst comes to the reality starting hassle/quarrel between army & students of DU centering a game at DU play grounds and story then after , is known to you all.
Yes, if you Mr Fakruddin really intends to do some thing good for the nation on long term basis , practise your leadership qualities boldly with courage like Mahteer of Maleysea, Monmahan of India, Parvez of Pakistan and so on. Still we are hopeful, the whole nation waiting for the real light at the end of the Tunnel having so many sufferings on shoulder. Please do the right thing very first time though it becomes late. Still we be live late is better than never.”
August 25th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
I just read that two professors have been taken to the court and they were sent to remand for further questioning. This might sound like the medieval times in any western country. However, I actually support this move by the government and people who truly know the landscape of student and teacher politics in Bangladesh would actually rejoice this decision with cautious optimism.
Student politics has a glorious past in Bangladesh’s history. Language Movement of 1952, Freedom Fight of 1971, Movement against General Ershad in 1990, etc are very important events in our history and in all of these events students had a large part to play. However, role of students in politics has changed dramatically since 1990. Now they are nothing more than muscle power for BNP and Awami party. They are being exploited at every occasion by our dirty politics and politicized professors spearhead this campaign very effectively. I saw Dr. Anwar Hossain (one of the detained professors) giving that interview on BanglaVision. It was obvious he was trying to further agitate the students. He is the head of the legendary Blue group, politicized faction (Awami) of teacher’s association in Dhaka University and the crackdown on corruption and student politics did not bode too well for his future in politics. As a dean and head of a political wing he has tremendous influence on the students. His role in promoting agitation makes him partly guilty in my eyes.
Student politics in Bangladesh has lost its past glory and needs to be limited before it cripples a whole new generation of students. Thankfully current Caretaker Government (CTG) has been taking steps to curb student politics and that has really pissed of people who are involved in it and we have seen the consequences in past few days of violence.
August 25th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
BBC Sanglap today recorded discussion on current situation with 4 guests
Emajuddin Ahmed (former VC, DU)
Shireen Akhtar (feminist activist)
Ghulam Quader (ex-chief of Army Engineering Corps)
Amir Khosru (former Law Minister, AL)
It will be broadcast on Channel I on Monday, 8 PM BDT
http://www2.jumptv.com/seo/BBC_Sanglap/BBC_Sanglap.htm
August 25th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
I think the disposable government attitude is a sign of a real lack of esteem. We need ministers and representative capable to grapple with the big problems facing the country. Not tittilators, not fools, not theives, not weak people caught in antisocial webs of patronage.
The MCTG could go around searching for advisors who were better. Maybe unofficially they are relying too much upon the unaccountable budhijibi complex.
There has been no systematic monitoring of the current advisors by the beloved press so a lot of achievements have gone unnoticed. However how can a single man perform 100% with 3 ministries to look after? They need to start recruiting some really experienced ‘cream’ types and not aim to pleasure everyone.
How can there be any question of doing an election before the cast iron roll is completed? This was the awami league’s chief sticking point last year. I feel its a real lack of patience of some, eager to get back the influence that they had by proxy of the most vulnerable and troubled in society.
When they have been working towards 2008 for some time, I’d prefer to wait until that time before jumping up and down.
The 6 to 11 curfew breaks are going down well, and people here realise why they are necessary. Many people, no idea what proportion, deeply appreciate this temporary equilibrium, settlement. Furthermore, they have noticed that this govt is capable of listening and learning.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:26 am
A good writeup about some of this by one Abeer Mustafa
http://www.progressivebangladesh.org/
All good ideas above. Problem is the way this government is doing things, I dont think they’ll listen to any rational suggestion we submit from here. They’re not listening to reason. They just want to protect themselves. But good to see constructive discussion!
August 26th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Naya Diganta reports today the gov’t is going to take hard line against protesters. 30,000+ charged.
Unfortunately looks like a golden opportunity may be slipping. If DU protests had stayed focused and non-violent, I think the CTG would have been forced to accept some (though not all the demands). The clearest evidence is the speed with which they accepted demand to remove Army Camp (which shocked all of us on the ground). I believe that was one bloc asserting “let us deal with this calmly, there are genuine issues.” But the violence on Day 2.5 and Day 3 had made it easy for the hardline bloc to assert itself within the Army.
Let us see what happens next.
Interestingly, BNP has been dead quiet. Not one word. AL has made statement.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
I thought the comment was made by Information Minister Anwar…actually it was Brithish High Commissioner
UK Envoy on Recent Violence
Initially spontaneous, later money involved
Staff Correspondent
British High Commissioner Anwar Choudhury yesterday described last week’s demonstrations as initially spontaneous, which later took a sinister dimension because significant amount of money and coordination got involved.
He made these comments at the foreign ministry where all foreign envoys were summoned by the foreign adviser for a briefing about last week’s demonstrations at Dhaka University and the subsequent imposition of a curfew.
“Our assessment from what we have heard is that it was initially spontaneous and then it was not. It became much more than the incident. It soon became something much bigger, something much sinister,” said Anwar to the media, adding, “A lot of money and coordination came into the equation.”
“We understood that it was a serious disturbance which has strategic consequences and we saw the government take quite concise and quite decisive action very quickly to try to bring the situation under control,” he said referring to the government’s decision to impose the curfew.
The Bangladeshi-born British envoy added, “Most neutral people could not understand why the escalation went into that dimension and that has caused a lot of question marks among the people.”
No other envoy however was willing to speak to the media after the meeting.
Anwar said Britain’s assessment that the incidents were coordinated, stemmed from the fact that the demonstrations continued even after the government had issued an apology and met the students’ initial demands by withdrawing the army camp from the Dhaka University campus.
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury later told the media that the government received the full support of the envoys, “At least, no one disagreed,” he said.
“I told them that their [the diplomatic community's] safety is ensured during curfews,” Iftekhar said adding, “The situation is fully under control. The aims and goals of the government will not be disturbed.”
The British envoy also condemned the reported harassment and beatings of journalists and called for an investigation, but added that the media could have exercised ‘restraint’ in their coverage for the sake of progress of the country.
Pressed for comments on the beatings and harassment of journalists by law enforcers during and between the curfews, Anwar said, “I condemn the incidents. I am really sorry to hear about that, I wish those didn’t take place. I hope the authorities will look into it and take action.”
But, when asked about the requests for ’self-censorship’, Anwar said the media was allowed to be ‘very free’ since the state of emergency had been declared. “All parties should act responsibly so the country can progress. So if you [the media] exercise restraint then it might also contribute to the country’s progress,” he added.
Asked about the detained university teachers, Anwar quoted Iftekhar as saying that the government will release those detained individuals who will be found not connected to last week’s incidents, but it will spare no one connected.
“They are making a lot of progress on a critical path, lot of reforms…but 18 months are a long time and you would expect some bumps on the road,” he said stressing that the government cannot be distracted from the goal of holding general elections by the end of 2008.
But, he did call for ‘calm on all sides’ and asked for due process to be followed and respect for human rights.
Asked whether he thinks that the demonstrations were an expression of the people’s resentment against the government’s policies in the past seven months, Anwar said, “Price hike of essentials is a problem for the country, but at the same time they are doing a lot of good work and they are on target to meet the election roadmap deadlines.”
“That’s what it should be about [election]…it should be held without any disruption in the process,” he added.
(www.dailystar.net)
August 27th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I think the command and control attitude in trying to force desirable outcomes may be at the root of the problems the CTG is facing now.
It is trying to do too much in too short a time, paying more importance to desired goals than due process. In failing to do things right, it stands to negate any gains in the post 1-11 era.
For instance, there is a strong feeling among those who I have spoken to in Bangladesh that anti-corruption measures has negatively affected trade and commerce, contributing at least in part to inflation. With bank officials reporting transactions worth more than 5 lacs, an intimidating atmosphere has been created for business, particularly since in the culture of corruption that permeated the society for years, nearly every one has some skeletons to hide. Add to that the perceived arbitrariness of enforcement and severely limited access to due process under the emergency rules.
The anti-corruption work should have been left to the ACC only. There was no need to involve the joint forces. True, only a handful would have been prosecuted in a due process, but the intended message would have been heard loud and clear. By trying to be over-vigilant in the anti-corruption drive, and paying less attention to due process than its goals, the CTG has managed to aleinate a significant fraction of the population and has created fears about the future of democracy.
The lower courts seem to be toeing the government line. The intimidation of the press is obvious. Fear of selective retribution in the form of anti-corruption charges seem to have silenced many. The army is riding supreme; no one can even file charges against an army official, regardless of the gravity of charges. This is no way to a democratic future.
I agree with some of the suggestions made:
1) Let the judiciary be completely independent at all levels.
2) Scale down the army involvement in anti-corruption drive. Let the ACC do its job without interference/assistance.
3) Withdraw the 5 lac transaction reporting law.
5) Call off the state of emergency as soon as possible; or at least do not wield some of the draconian powers such as denial of bail on bailable charges.
August 28th, 2007 at 5:43 am
No doubt the quasi-military regime in Bangladesh has not been even-handed in its deeds, and as a natural consequence frustration is creeping up. However, the panic gripping the skilled/educated class and the businessmen is very natural as corruption is pervasive amongst these people. No amount of fair play can assuage this panic. It is also true that if getting bail is quite easy, crooks will get unfair leeway as in a so-called ‘democracy’ like India. ‘Bailable offence’ should be redefined, I think, as Bangladesh is passing extraordinary times, and an extraordinary time demands extraordinary measures.
August 28th, 2007 at 6:35 am
So many intersting comments. I am surprised why so many people think election is the solution to all problem? I think we should let the CTG go on. There have been some mistakes. But they did minimum mistake compared to any other govt and the challanges they face. We all should support for the reforms, unless we want Mr. Joy or Mr. Tarek Zia to be in power in 2113 election.
I wish there was a 3rd party which we could choose over AL/BNP. It is not duty of CTG to create this 3rd force but it is duty of all of us.
Instead of spending hundreds of hours of hours in the blog, we can better utilize it forming a 3rd force with relatively honest people.
I wish prof Yunush did not quit. I hope some known face with good organizational power comes out and form an alternate. Almost all BNP/AL top leaders are corrupt and so a change is necesary. Jamaat/JP cannot be an alternate too. So we must find alternate. CTG does not neeed to sponsor it, but people should
August 28th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Ahbab Aziz bhai,
I’m glad you brought up the issue of corruption among skilled/educated classes and the businessmen. But what do you say about corruption amongst the non-political parts of our previous elected governments (who are also skilled and educated), the ones who are in power now?
If a businessman or a professional had to give/take bribe to survive in the toxic environment of the last 15 years, then I also have to ask, what did the people currently running the government do during those 15 years to attain the positions they did? In that toxic atmosphere, everyone had to be corrupt, but only parts of the population - the ones you single out - are being suspected, harrassed and maligned.
This isn’t to argue against the highly justified arrests of January/February. This is not related to the big fish. Those people were the creators of our corrupt system.
This is to say that if you go after people who were forced into corruption thanks to that system, then you should expect some discontent. That system left nobody untouched, so please don’t single out the private sector and ngo people.
August 28th, 2007 at 7:15 am
#45-Layek
“So many intersting comments. I am surprised why so many people think election is the solution to all problem? ”
Ans: Yes It is very natural. In Civilized society people need individual right. From root level to upper class every one has right to select their representative. Here If we want to teach our people democracy by doing all undemocratic manner it is pure insult of human right and I hope you will also understand this.
43# Thanks Saleh Tanveer Bhai for the excellent Points raise.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:27 am
45 Mir Layek Ali:
Very good points. Honest politicians are the key. I propose a system and strategy below to achieve this objective. We should try to develop systems instead of depending on individuals, no matter how outstanding or great they are.
Corruption has become so much a part of parcel of Bangladesh since 1971, that if we try to catch all corrupt people then very few from the educated class will be standing. By trying to catch many corrupt people the CTG is creating too many powerful enemies who are threatening its existence and trying to make its every move very difficult.
Whatever happened has already happened. We should not concentrate too much on the past and try to make every wrong a right. The problems with this approach are how far in time are we going to go back and at what level do we stop. We are bound to make mistakes and show partiality for some group as compared to others creating a perception of unfairness and resentment. What CTG needs to do now is concentrate solely on the future and take on as little or as few challenges as possible:
- reduce emphasis on fighting corruption in society to lift the climate of fear
- start concentrating on running the country efficiently, even if it means working with corrupt people, as long as they are not getting involved in corruption from this point onwards, as the country cannot come to standstill till the election at the end of 2008, the wheels of economy need to be running
- work on election preparation, voter list, ID card etc.
- the only corrupt people we need to go after now are the politicians of every party with equal vigor, because we cannot afford to let them come back for election and become MP again
My vision is that CTG and a future National Security Council must ensure that no politicians can make money or engage in any other corruption after becoming MP using their position. This should be the core principle and we will need to adhere to this at any cost.
And it should not matter if these honest MP’s come from AL, BNP, Jamat, LDP or any other old or brand new party.
Also, during election, vote buying and giving incentives or any form of intimidation should be strictly prohibited, so that honest and capable candidates with moderate financial means can win elections and become MP. If MP’s can no longer make money or abuse their power then greedy or power-hungry people will avoid this honorable but thankless job.
For an MP, to be eligible and to continue his/her duty, there will be four simple criteria:
1. Honesty and Integrity
2. Ability
3. Proven career track record for both of the above
4. Sincerity and dedication for serving the public
If an MP fails in any of the above after being elected, then the NSC will have the power to call for an independent inquiry and refer the MP to judiciary for removal. If after a trial, the judges and jury find the MP to be unfit to carry out the duty of an MP, then this MP will be removed and a new by-election will be called for replacement. If the judiciary fail to remove an MP, but NSC still feels that this MP should be removed, then after conducting its own investigation, it will have the right to remove an MP. This veto power of NSC must be used very sparingly and it will be best to resolve all issues through Judiciary, as this power will be retained by NSC as a tool of last resort as a safe-guard for a situation where the Judiciary has become partisan, politicized or corrupt.
I propose this model as a new Bangladeshi version of Democracy where power of the nation will remain with three main bodies:
1. Elected Parliament similar to what we have now
2. A completely independent judiciary, similar to the US
3. A new entity called the National Security Council with the job to safeguard the nation against corrupt, inept or negligent MP’s, who will intervene, only as a last resort on rare occasions, if at all, when Judiciary could not properly carry out the duty of removing an MP who has proven to be unfit. The Anti Corruption Commission will be budgeted and run under NSC and its head will be appointed by and answerable to NSC
The new govt. that will be elected at the end of 2008 must agree to incorporate this new system in the constitution for the greater interest of the country and its future.
I propose the following members for NSC:
1. Head of Army
2. Head of Navy
3. Head of Air Force
4. Elected President of BGMEA
5. Elected President of BKMEA
6. Elected President of BTMA
7. Elected expatriate professional/executive from North America/Oceania
8. Elected expatriate professional/executive from EU
9. Elected expatriate professional/executive from the Middle East and rest of the world
The expats will be elected by professional and executive class voters (the candidate must also meet the voter requirement), with minimum education or job status requirement to avoid politicization of these posts. They will not be required to be physically present. They should be able to attend meeting by video conference from Embassy’s or consulates, or from their own homes, or just express their opinion by email on minor matters. But on important occasions, it may be required to visit Bangladesh for a few days or weeks.
The NSC will serve several critical function for nascent democracy like ours:
- eliminate the necessity for Armed forces to come to power by coup in a moment of national emergency or crisis
- all MP’s, Ministers including Prime Minister will avoid corruption, as they could loose their position and job
This is just a rough draft and my own idea, I welcome readers to express their opinion and suggest changes. I believe Bangladesh must start with a democratic system like the above and later we can modify the system as our economy develops and the society and its leaders evolves and no longer needs such safe-guards.
I have many other ideas on how expats can help the govt. of Bangladesh run their affairs, specially in decision making for important national matters. But these I would leave for another day and concentrate on the current problem at hand, how the CTG should go forward and in what direction.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Asif Y,
It is neither possible nor acceptable to judge who committed corruption out of choice, and who did so out of compulsion. However, as the overwhelming majority of the top corrupt people of Bangladesh are believed to be educated, it is simply ridiculous to send them all to jail for that. A balancing act must be done here so that the country does not get paralyzed for skill shortage due to blanket arrest of the educated corrupt people. Concentration should be more on judicious imposition of non-confinement penalties like confiscation of ill-gotten property/money to get Bangladesh out of the suffocating morass.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Ahbab bhai,
Your last comment is almost exactly a copy of my own thoughts. Rather than asking for punishment for all, I was asking for leniency and understanding for all. Even confiscation is a punishment of some sort. How much can you really punish one side and not the other without someone getting upset?
August 29th, 2007 at 1:53 am
I guess the option of “national unity government” is almost moot now as Mainul Hossain declared the current government as “army backed national government”.
#50 Ahbab “Confiscation rather confinement”: Loved it. Confiscate all the money they hoarded by corruption plus rest of their money, to the last penny, as penalty. May be not to the last penny, then we have to setup some sort of “Tran Tahabil”. Oh man, I would love to see some of those Falu, Lalu come to my company (which I don’t have) as job seekers with their checkered resume. It feels so good to let my vindictive self out once in a while …
#46 Mir Layek Ali Says “I am surprised why so many people think election is the solution to all problem?”.
Because, arguably that is the best known governance system to the human civilization. I would not agree that all these hundreds of hours in Blog are going in vain. If you brush off the intellectual value of all these comments, at least you would agree we are learning to tolerate differing opinion even the most absurd and almost offensive ones. Maybe this alone is a tremendous contribution to our national development and will one day lead to your relatively honest people led politics.
# 49 khilji: Though I would like to differ some of your suggestions, it is still lot better than #36, where you suggested to arraign business community for treason if they refuse to do business under the “command economics” environment. Along with your many nice plans, you suggested a NSC which is basically a supreme guardian council with the ability to fire any MP even when the independent judiciary finds him or her innocent. I was wondering your choice of three non elected members in that proposed council. Either subconsciously you are giving up, admitting there is no solution other than handing over the supreme power to the Generals or you truly believe that they are the impartial, most virtuous ones. They can sit in a NSC, but I would not agree to adorn these people with supreme ombudsmanship. No matter how much you urge them to exercise their power only in extreme situation, they are THE GENERALS! Think about it.
One of the admin said that compiling all these discussions, a list will be forwarded to the national media. Can’t resist putting forward one more for your kind consideration in addition to what I have already suggested in #10:
Politicians will not be allowed to add their nick names (Falu, Maya, Dulu, Minu etc.) as suffix. Save them for your friends and family. Terrorists will not be allowed to add ugly prefix like MURGI Milon, PICCHI Hannan, KALA Jahangir etc. It hurts my national pride.
I will be in trouble, may be banned for life, if any of our admin shares the example names I used. After all, like me, they grew up in the same intolerant society ruled by brutal force, devoid of democratic culture and values.
August 29th, 2007 at 3:35 am
Except for 4 advisors, other CTG members seem to be invisible, they are hardly seen or heard from by the public. In recent days we have only heard from Mainul (mostly), Iftekhar and Finance adivers (can’t remember the name). Fakhruddin hardly talks to the media 1-2-1, isn’t he the head of state!! I have no idea where Matin is, he has completely disappeared.
The invisible advisers should be fired (or resign) and replaced by people who are able to face the public and the media. Public relation is a major component of governance.
It is the politicians who are mostly responsible for corruption in Bangladesh. When in power politicians sell coveted government postings with an understanding that bribe taking and influence peddling will be overlooked by the state.
It is impossible to get approval for high profile business ventures without bribing MPs, their family members and file handlers. In the process most business people are forced to become corrupt.
Many of our politicians have also become involved in business activites on their own right or through their proxies (Giasuddin Al Mamun) and have the tendency to award lucrative business deals/licenses to themselves - satellite TV channels are a prime example - Falu, Mirza Abbas, SAKA chowdhry etc.
— Politicians are responsible for the corruption epidemic which has consumed the nation —
I think all the major corrupts have already been arrested except for for - Khaleda, Coco,Saifur Rahman and Morshed Khan. Khaleda and Coco should be arrested immediately and put to trial for their massive corruption. I have mixed feelings about Saifur, he along with his sons/daughter were involved in massive corruption. IMO the CTG is sympathetic towards him. Mannan Bhuiyan is also a suspect character but I have not seen any news reports linking him to massive corruption, the fact that he is working againts Khaleda also works in his favor.
After the arrest of Khaleda, Coco and Morshed Khan (when he returns to the country) Dudok and the joint forces should scale down their anti-corruption drive until after the 2008 election. Business people should be told Doduk will not be pursuing anyone else until after the election.
The CTG is to lift the ban on indoor politics shortly. EC announced today it will be sending invitation to all the eligible political parties for discussion. Frankly speaking I don’t see the point; as most of the EC policies seem reasonable to me. The political parties will use the discussions to raise hue and cry about trivial matters as they always do. But EC should go ahead and hold the discussions.
EC should concentrate their efforts on preparing the Voter ID (National ID) cards and complete the job asap.
The advisers and Mr. Moyeen should go on a PR offensive. They should record TV and radio messages reasserting their commitment to transfer power to an elected government by the end of 2008. All TV and radio stations should broadcast these messages until elections are held.
Once power is transferred to an elected government, no matter how bad things get in the future, the army should not intervene.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:02 am
52 SC: Thanks for your kind comments. The Generals by themselves are only 3 out of 9 and will not be able to fire any MP on their own, they will need at least 2 more civilian members of the proposed NSC (5 votes out of 9) to intervene. This should be a sufficient safe-guard against a take over by the armed forces on a constitutional basis.
Also, the unelected the Generals were included in this proposal to strengthen the power base of the proposed National Security Council, since it would not be able to move against an elected Prime Minister (in the extreme and unlikely case), the head of the govt., without this power base providing the physical power behind the proposed NSC’s constitutional authority.
Please find below the details on Turkish National Security Council:
http://www.mgk.gov.tr/Ingilizce/Tarihce/tarihce005_en.htm
I proposed a slightly different plan for Bangladesh, to exclude politicians from it, but include elected representatives of productive civilian groups that are largest foreign currency earning sources for Bangladesh.
Please note that Turkey is recognized as a democracy by the “International Community” and I believe, so will the form of govt. that I have proposed.
As I mentioned in previous post, this is a rough draft and outline, the details will need to be worked out.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:01 am
#54 Khilji:
You may built in 3:6 safeguard in your proposed council, but our experience says, in [1 general]:[14 crore civilians] council, the one vote somehow wins. So, you have a very little chance of saving your democracy.
Look at the current situation; do you think civilian poodles are calling the shots now?
By our government laws, is army chief allowed to go to media and public meeting for exchanging views? I admit I do NOT know the relevant laws but I remember the following story. Refer back to 5-6 days after Ershad’s fall, right after the then general was back from China trip. The uniformed general went to TV and sang the song how army is all about democracy and how they are standing by the fighting people. The general was called in and censured by the president for going into national TV. He was warned not to do it again without permission and reminded that he was merely an employee of the state.
Now on Turkish Democracy: I agree with you that there are many different forms of democracy in the world. Why would we pick the most fragile one? Was not there 4 military coups since 1960 (60, 71, 81, forgot the other one) in Turkey? Did not the general threatened last week only to take over again just because the wife of the democratically elected president wears veil?
Yes, Turkey is recognized as a democratic state … somewhat! Look at their geographic location; you will see why their form of democracy is recognized. A secular, strong military is very much desirable at the doorstep of Europe. The moment they ask for EU membership, they get a long list of how their democracy does not meet the European standard. I guess Thai generals are rewriting the constitution in a somewhat similar manner.
Since we are regrouping, and kind of agreeing to start from zero again, let’s go for the best, not the Turkey or Thai model. The road will be bumpy, but let it be. If we expect that Bangladesh will be all corrected, corruption free, shining model of democracy by Dec ‘08, we are living in Utopia. The best we can expect is to turn the country to the right direction, let all the social forces play out and hope that journey to our desired destiny will be exponential.
In a completely separate note, people who were referring to British HC’s testimony to prove the conspiracy theory should read the clarification came out of their embassy. I guess Mr. Anwar got some “pedani” from homeland.
August 30th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Dear all,
Thanks for your input. This was a great thread. I am compiling this with my own thoughts as well. I have taken ideas from the above comments ( 2, 5, 10, 24, 34, 44) . Other comments are also good but I have taken ideas from people who believes some sort of change in the way things are being done should be in the order. Please write to blog @ drishtipat dot org should you want your name to go in the byline and so that I can show you the draft before submission. Most likely it won’t change a damn thing but by this we will show our constructive means to give suggestions and show differing opinions. Noone likes jalao porao. But at the same time govt needs to show they are willing to engage with the people somehow and listen to differing views.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:08 pm
55 SC: Let us agree to disagree on this point. I maintain that according to theory of socio cultural evolution (my own) we must follow systems (nation state, country, polity etc.) that closely resemble ours and are closer to us in their evolutionary stage and level. So a Turkish or Thai model would be better for as, as we have already tried the perfect sovereign parliament model without any safe guard and it has brought us where we are today.
I promote the NSC not as an exit strategy for the CTG and their backers, but as a safeguard against MP’s who might go astray and engage in corruption, if there is no mechanism in place to stop them from doing so, essentially it is to safeguard our democracy so that our version of democracy can evolve as our leaders and population evolve through the various stages of socio-economic development.
I would also like to append some changes to the NSC idea. I think I have overlooked the large NGO community, foreign and local, who have done excellent work in our country and has been recognized internationally. As representatives of this community, I would propose to give two membership seats to the founders of Grameen and BRAC, for their large personal contribution in creating world class examples of how to uplift socio-economic conditions of the poor and ultra-poor and has demonstrated their concern for the welfare of our people with a proven track record.
So the revised proposed NSC will have the following members:
1. Founder of Grameen, Dr. Yunus
2. Founder of BRAC, Fazle Hassan Abed
3. Head of Army
4. Head of Navy
5. Head of Air Force
6. Elected President of BGMEA
7. Elected President of BKMEA
8. Elected President of BTMA
9. Elected expatriate professional/executive from North America/Oceania
10. Elected expatriate professional/executive from EU
11. Elected expatriate professional/executive from the Middle East and rest of the world