The last chance for Bangladesh

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Enayet Rasul
People's memories should not be so short that they should fail to distinguish right from wrong or the grain from the chaff. Some disgruntled politicians are once again trying their luck at rabble rousing, trying to discredit the incumbent government in Bangladesh with wrong doings or undeserved political ambition. It is, of course, up to the people whether they should be charmed by these semantics or remember the long and short of their accumulated experiences.
Only months ago, the nation had come to edge of the cliff. And this situation was not created in weeks or months. It has been going on since the birth of Bangladesh and continued for the last thirty-six years. Only the flash- point of a worst political turmoil and pushing the country into a cauldron of civil war and anarchy was reached in the closing month of last year that dictated the urgency of a redeemer. This redeemer is the present caretaker government.
People's expectations from this government are understandably very great. The avalanche of expectations is building pressure on the government to deliver like the rainmaker. They are expecting too much too soon. But in their impatience the people must not miss the point that it is unrealistic to expect this government to deliver miracles. It acquired a very corrupt governing structure and confronted walls of vested interest groups. Only a little over four months time is hardly sufficient to even start evaluating its performance against the backdrop of the mountain like mess of the last thirty six years that this government now have to face and clear to move towards its objectives.
But what things they have accomplished, so far, are not small either. The most important thing for the people to recognize and appreciate is that the government is tenaciously pursuing goals the reaching of which alone will ensure the future well-being of this country in all respects. And already the government has effectively addressed the basic expectations of people like restructuring of the Election Commission, setting the stage for holding of truly free and fair elections, cleansing corruption and facing up to major economic issues such as very inadequate power generation and rising prices of essentials.
It is extremely important for all to visualize one aspect that supremely justifies the remaining in power by this government as long as it takes. In every way , it represents the last opportunity for Bangladesh and its people to secure their future on a long lasting basis. It should be in their vital interests not to miss the bus. The choice is very simple : whether to allow the government of Fakhruddin Ahmed time to go for a comprehensive clean up in all spheres , appropriate reformation and introduction of sound policies or programmes or to limit its task to only staging an election somehow at the earliest to once again put leadership of the country back into the hands of tried and tested self seeking persons. Presented with this simple choice and asked to opt for either of them, what course countrymen ought to support with all their mite, should be obvious.
Enabling this government to complete all its identified and perceived tasks would mean a rebirth for the country with hope. The politicians have made the word politics a very dirty and very undependable one. The accounts of plunder of national resources amounting to billions and billions of Taka now being divulged by politicians after their questioning by law enforcement bodies, plus confessions of their other very serious instances of individual depravity and immorality, have been sensed and suffered by the people for a long time. Now, these are only getting confirmed after their internment and interrogation.
Thus, it is a reality in Bangladesh today that people no more believe that the politicians or their so called representatives do politics for the good or the people or the country. It has become so transparent that the main motivator of the politicians is power and nor for power's sake alone. Power brings corrupt opportunities for amassment of private fortunes for them at the expense of the people and the country. Thus, people have no stake in enabling these politicians to stage a comeback. The political process, political parties, political culture and political values, all must go through a complete and positive metamorphosis before the politicians and the parties can be trusted again to exercise national leadership. The incumbent government is working to fulfill this aspiration of the people.
A Bangladeshi who represented a famous foreign news agency in the past on being questioned about the political reforms being attempted by the caretaker government, questioned where from this urge for political reforms initiated or who demanded the same. He was alluding as if the endeavour for political reforms is the brainchild of the present government itself and does not form a longing on the part of the people. But this person is a poor apologist for the political parties and their very degenerate leaderships who have generally lost all their shine in the eyes of the people except their diehard supporters and direct beneficiaries. If a referendum is taken right now and people are asked to freely give their suggestions of how the arrested politicians specially from the immediate past ruling party should be treated, there is likelihood of an overwhelming response for their lynching in public for their very great sins. So great is noted to be the public indignation against them.
People would not be even agreeable to showing consideration such as giving division to these robber baron politicos in the jail houses. Only the ferocity of people's feelings and views needs to be sampled by our former foreign news agency correspondent, to realistically gauze the depth of people's resentment against how politics is conducted in this country and the simmering demand for an absolute qualitative change in politics and the political process.
There is speculation about resumption of politics after application of the 'minus two' theory meaning excluding the two ladies and the corrupt ones in their parties. There would be nothing wrong in this approach because both of these parties and their leaders in varying degrees, have been at the root of the very great suffering of countrymen. It is only fair, just and in the fitness of things that the leaders of these two parties should be submitted to the due process of law and convincingly shown to be dealt with accordingly to do justice without discrimination. If a commoner has to rot in jail for what is relatively a petty crime, then why should the ones who were entrusted with the highest positions in governance of the country not be specially and symbolically punished for their very serious crimes. Their political organisations should be also prepared to shake them off to retain any credibility or qualify to make a restart in politics. And this minus theory must not be limited to only the two main political parties. It should be, in all fairness, ' minus four' really to include the two other political organisations that shared in the misdeeds of corruption and abuse of power for over a decade and a half. The party led by the former autocratic leader and the religious fundamentalist party that shared power in the immediate past government, these two must not also escape the present anti-corruption and serious crime drive for doing justice comprehensively.
There are no vital institutions in the country which have been spared the evil activities of the top leaders of the political parties that ruled during the last two decades. They have most unconscionably and flagrantly intervened in the republic's civil services to ensure that only their stooges remained in positions of responsibility to loyally do their bidding. Brazen politicization of the civil services at the cost of merit, ability and seniority of the civil servants reached a peak under the immediate past party government. The police force was similarly grossly remodeled and turned into a juggernaut for carrying out very loyally the illegal directives of the ruling party and for the repression of political dissenters. Even the highest court of the land was sought to be tuned very pliant towards the wishes of the ruling party by appointing as High Court judges persons with hardly any caliber or background to deserve the gracing of such positions. Even the Public Service Commission (PSC), the body that recruits civil servants or holds examination for entry into the civil services, was similarly made an instrument to carry out the diktats and designs of the ruling party. Thus, Bangladeshis have been veritably living amid a sort of man-made hell with only the exception of its makers who could rip-off the fattest fruits of the land for their amusement and pleasures from the worst manipulation and degradation of vital state institutions.
The caretaker government must be allowed to play its part fully in response to such evils and remove the same for good so that the evil systems cannot make a comeback or grow back. All concerned quarters should bear with the government and strengthen its hands so that it can carry out its agenda thoroughly from end to end. Only this happening will create any assurance that the country can expect a better governance and, therefore, an improved existence in all respects in the years to come.
But the caretaker government also needs to tread the path carefully. There are opportunistic political elements who have had no luck in dominating the political centre stage in the past. They are seeking to exploit the vacuum that has been created from the falling of the axe on the two main political parties. It would be a great tragedy if these opportunists with probably no better intention or abilities than the presently discredited politicians, are facilitated to come to power in the wake of the political reforms. There is every need to guard against this possibility as well.