EDITORIAL COMMENT: December 29th Elections - A Watershed for Bangladesh

The latest developments on the political scene of Bangladesh are very encouraging. Finally, the Government has announced that emergency would be lifted from the 17^th of December and from 12^th of December, restrictions would be withdrawn on political meetings and rallies. Both the mainstream parties have welcomed the decision and now there seem no more obstacles to the holding of the parliamentary elections on the 29^th of December.

Nearly two years of military backed caretaker government, under the cover of emergency, would finally come to an end. Bangladesh was created in 1971 because her people considered nothing more important than living in a free country with a democratic system of government. To establish such a country, many hundreds of thousands of people gave their lives. Thus the last two years, under a government that had suspended people’s fundamental rights, was not an experience that the people of Bangladesh were comfortable with. But then in the period around 1/11, politics had been vitiated to such an extent that the same people for whom a military rule or military backed rule is completely unacceptable, accepted the government of Dr. Fakhruddin with a quiet approval because they considered that their beloved motherland’s very existence was at stake.

Unfortunately, the reasons for which the people had given this Government approval have not been largely achieved. Corruption which was a major issue for supporting this Government has hardly been dealt any serious blow and a lot of those that the people thought would be forever banished from politics have returned. There seems to be little doubt that those who have not yet emerged on the political scene for one reason or another would do so soon after the elections are held. The reason for this government’s failure to deal with corruption effectively has been due to the fact that it went for over-kill and went after too many people with the corruption issue to be able to deal most of them a death blow. Thus although the people are happy that the military backed government is on the way out; they are disappointed and even apprehensive about the shape of things to come.

When this government went after politicians with the corruption issue, the latter were rightly upset that they went about in a manner that suggested that all politicians are corrupt. Nevertheless, the politicians must also realize that corruption did enter politics in a manner that had to be confronted and tackled. Now that government is again returning to them, let them prove that this Government is wrong by assuming all politicians are corrupt. They should not have any doubt that people generally are convinced that Bangladesh was rightfully given the title by TIB as the most corrupt nation on earth, once under the AL and thrice under the BNP. They now should deal with corruption because if they do not, Bangladesh will slide into a abyss at a time when if they do, they will not be able to come out of it in decades, given the current global economic condition.

Conversely, if the politicians cooperate amongst themselves and bring into governance a bipartisanship where the government and the opposition can come together on issues of economic development and foreign affairs, then the two years that they suffered under the caretaker government will not be wasted. To start that process, they should see that the 29^th December elections are held peacefully and when the results are announced, the loser has the spirit and courage to congratulate the winner. Once the Government is formed, the winner and the loser should make the parliament functional and in its first session, declare hartal history. If they can do this simple thing then they would be remembered in the country’s history in the same way those who laid down their lives for Bangladesh’s independence are remembered.