17 hours Ago
The chhatra-janata uprising in July-August unexpectedly ended an entrenched authoritarian regime. A despondent nation had resigned itself to oligarchy, kleptocracy, and crony capitalism continuing for the foreseeable future. But brutal repression of the student protesters and the tyrant's hubris provoked the masses, already nursing long-accumulated grievances, to join the students' call to "march for justice.
" The students' demand for fairness in government job quotas turned into the people's agenda for nothing less than regime change and repair of the broken state. The interim government headed by Dr Muhammad Yunus was installed on August 8 with this popular mandate. Politicians, talk-show pundits, and sundry analysts tend to forget this origin of the interim government.
To define its job as that of arranging a parliamentary election and handing over the power to the winning party is tantamount to betraying people's trust and expectations and dishonouring the supreme sacrifices of the thousands who lost their lives and limbs during the uprising. The political parties—particularly the BNP, the presumptive heir to the previous regime—are becoming increasingly impatient about a timetable for elections. When Nahid Islam, a student member of the advisory council, said politicians eager for a quick election may be impeding essential reforms initiated by the government, BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir slated him for taking an anti-politics position.
According to some media reports, BNP's followers or those using the party's name are replacing the extortionists, influence-peddlers, and mastans of the old regime. At the same time, BNP leaders are equivocal about the interim government's reform mandate, demanding that it limit its activities to keep the government functioning and prepare for and organise the parliamentary election. Other political parties, though not as intensely impatient, have joined this chorus.
As the parties clamour now to reclaim power through a quick election, have they asked themselves if they promoted and practised democracy in their parties? What did they do when they were in power to ensure accountable governance to serve the public interest, stem corruption, and ensure fair elections and people's right to vote freely? Historically, relatively fair polling occurred under caretaker governments. Political parties grudgingly accepted those; sometimes they tried hard to bypass or undermine the ground rules of the caretaker government. The major political parties had agreed to strengthen democracy after the downfall of the military-backed regime in 1990, but they quickly abandoned the pact and betrayed the nation once elected to power.
What assurance is there that the mindset and values of those who misbehaved in the past have really changed, especially when many of the old players remain in the game and few have expressed any contrition or willingness to engage in collective self-reflection? The media and public discussion about the interim government's performance is dominated by alleged weaknesses, missteps, inefficiencies, and poor public communication about its objectives and strategies. Many may find these complaints justified, but how serious they appear depends on whether one considers the glass half-full or half-empty. That Bangladesh stood at the brink of becoming a failed state, that the current administration came just in time to halt the calamity, and that a reversal has begun do not often figure in public discourse.
Is this something to do with the fact that major print and electronic media outlets are dependent on the financial sponsorship of business houses, often with links to political parties? Can the interim government's commission on media consider steps towards creating a more independent public alternative in line with the BBC in the UK or National Public Radio in the US? A fair question is whether the interim government is hesitant to act decisively on the people's mandate, take on the task of making a new beginning towards "state repair," and create the conditions for fighting discrimination and injustice. Building a democratic polity with voting rights exercised freely by citizens is no doubt a key part of these conditions. Is the government letting the political parties and the less-than-independent media shape the narrative about what is happening and what should happen? A glaring political failure of past regimes has been in two vital areas of people's well-being and national development: health and education.
A commission has been set up for health, but no commission has been named for education. A consultative committee to advise only on primary and non-formal education has been appointed by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education. The public expects the government to at least set the course for transformative change in these two sectors and not leave them aside for a future political government.
A related question is why the students and youth, who brought down the seemingly invincible autocratic regime, are so slow and hesitant in forming their own political platform and offering an alternative to the tired and old political parties that did not serve the nation well. Also, why can't the interim government renew and strengthen its mandate? It can take two pragmatic and purposeful steps. First, the government can ask the newly established Election Commission (EC) to hold the local government elections at union, upazila, and district levels soon.
Without political parties' undue powerplay, as seen in the past, the EC can properly conduct an independent election in which genuine people's representatives are likely to be elected. Resources can be provided at the local level to bring various essential services to people. This would be a dry run for democracy under the new dispensation and a way for the interim government to engage meaningfully with citizens.
Second, when the constitution reform commission report is ready, the government, following dialogue with political parties and civil society, can ask the EC to hold polls to form a constituent assembly to adopt a revision of the constitution. The parliamentary election can then be held under the revised constitution. The constituent assembly can consider the commission's recommendations on constitutional reforms as well as recommendations of other commissions.
Some of the recommendations are likely to have legal implications that can be incorporated into the constitution. Meanwhile, the government, media, and civil society would challenge the political parties to be more introspective about their own democratic culture and conduct. The government would also present its goals and plans and encourage citizens to express their views and exercise their democratic rights at the local government level and in constitution-making, and then in electing a new parliament once the revised constitution is adopted.
Students and youth can form their political party or a coalition of parties to stake out their place in the constituent assembly and eventually in parliament. The interim government can try to demonstrate a model for how a responsive and accountable government should be run and lay the groundwork for various reforms initiated. The government must spell out this agenda and the time frame for accomplishing these tasks with confidence derived from the people's mandate.
It owes it to the martyrs and heroes of the "march for justice" to not let political parties' impatience for reclaiming power dictate the national narrative. Dr Manzoor Ahmed is professor emeritus at BRAC University, chair of Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN), and adviser to Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE). Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission . The chhatra-janata uprising in July-August unexpectedly ended an entrenched authoritarian regime.
A despondent nation had resigned itself to oligarchy, kleptocracy, and crony capitalism continuing for the foreseeable future. But brutal repression of the student protesters and the tyrant's hubris provoked the masses, already nursing long-accumulated grievances, to join the students' call to "march for justice." The students' demand for fairness in government job quotas turned into the people's agenda for nothing less than regime change and repair of the broken state.
The interim government headed by Dr Muhammad Yunus was installed on August 8 with this popular mandate. Politicians, talk-show pundits, and sundry analysts tend to forget this origin of the interim government. To define its job as that of arranging a parliamentary election and handing over the power to the winning party is tantamount to betraying people's trust and expectations and dishonouring the supreme sacrifices of the thousands who lost their lives and limbs during the uprising.
The political parties—particularly the BNP, the presumptive heir to the previous regime—are becoming increasingly impatient about a timetable for elections. When Nahid Islam, a student member of the advisory council, said politicians eager for a quick election may be impeding essential reforms initiated by the government, BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir slated him for taking an anti-politics position. According to some media reports, BNP's followers or those using the party's name are replacing the extortionists, influence-peddlers, and mastans of the old regime.
At the same time, BNP leaders are equivocal about the interim government's reform mandate, demanding that it limit its activities to keep the government functioning and prepare for and organise the parliamentary election. Other political parties, though not as intensely impatient, have joined this chorus. As the parties clamour now to reclaim power through a quick election, have they asked themselves if they promoted and practised democracy in their parties? What did they do when they were in power to ensure accountable governance to serve the public interest, stem corruption, and ensure fair elections and people's right to vote freely? Historically, relatively fair polling occurred under caretaker governments.
Political parties grudgingly accepted those; sometimes they tried hard to bypass or undermine the ground rules of the caretaker government. The major political parties had agreed to strengthen democracy after the downfall of the military-backed regime in 1990, but they quickly abandoned the pact and betrayed the nation once elected to power. What assurance is there that the mindset and values of those who misbehaved in the past have really changed, especially when many of the old players remain in the game and few have expressed any contrition or willingness to engage in collective self-reflection? The media and public discussion about the interim government's performance is dominated by alleged weaknesses, missteps, inefficiencies, and poor public communication about its objectives and strategies.
Many may find these complaints justified, but how serious they appear depends on whether one considers the glass half-full or half-empty. That Bangladesh stood at the brink of becoming a failed state, that the current administration came just in time to halt the calamity, and that a reversal has begun do not often figure in public discourse. Is this something to do with the fact that major print and electronic media outlets are dependent on the financial sponsorship of business houses, often with links to political parties? Can the interim government's commission on media consider steps towards creating a more independent public alternative in line with the BBC in the UK or National Public Radio in the US? A fair question is whether the interim government is hesitant to act decisively on the people's mandate, take on the task of making a new beginning towards "state repair," and create the conditions for fighting discrimination and injustice.
Building a democratic polity with voting rights exercised freely by citizens is no doubt a key part of these conditions. Is the government letting the political parties and the less-than-independent media shape the narrative about what is happening and what should happen? A glaring political failure of past regimes has been in two vital areas of people's well-being and national development: health and education. A commission has been set up for health, but no commission has been named for education.
A consultative committee to advise only on primary and non-formal education has been appointed by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education. The public expects the government to at least set the course for transformative change in these two sectors and not leave them aside for a future political government. A related question is why the students and youth, who brought down the seemingly invincible autocratic regime, are so slow and hesitant in forming their own political platform and offering an alternative to the tired and old political parties that did not serve the nation well.
Also, why can't the interim government renew and strengthen its mandate? It can take two pragmatic and purposeful steps. First, the government can ask the newly established Election Commission (EC) to hold the local government elections at union, upazila, and district levels soon. Without political parties' undue powerplay, as seen in the past, the EC can properly conduct an independent election in which genuine people's representatives are likely to be elected.
Resources can be provided at the local level to bring various essential services to people. This would be a dry run for democracy under the new dispensation and a way for the interim government to engage meaningfully with citizens. Second, when the constitution reform commission report is ready, the government, following dialogue with political parties and civil society, can ask the EC to hold polls to form a constituent assembly to adopt a revision of the constitution.
The parliamentary election can then be held under the revised constitution. The constituent assembly can consider the commission's recommendations on constitutional reforms as well as recommendations of other commissions. Some of the recommendations are likely to have legal implications that can be incorporated into the constitution.
Meanwhile, the government, media, and civil society would challenge the political parties to be more introspective about their own democratic culture and conduct. The government would also present its goals and plans and encourage citizens to express their views and exercise their democratic rights at the local government level and in constitution-making, and then in electing a new parliament once the revised constitution is adopted. Students and youth can form their political party or a coalition of parties to stake out their place in the constituent assembly and eventually in parliament.
The interim government can try to demonstrate a model for how a responsive and accountable government should be run and lay the groundwork for various reforms initiated. The government must spell out this agenda and the time frame for accomplishing these tasks with confidence derived from the people's mandate. It owes it to the martyrs and heroes of the "march for justice" to not let political parties' impatience for reclaiming power dictate the national narrative.
Dr Manzoor Ahmed is professor emeritus at BRAC University, chair of Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN), and adviser to Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE). Views expressed in this article are the author's own. Follow The Daily Star Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions, commentaries and analyses by experts and professionals.
To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see our guidelines for submission ..
