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Books on Bangladesh
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Update No: 012 - (20/12/06)
Whatever Happened to Bangladesh's Democracy?
Given the background of ongoing political violence, the American envoy in
Bangladesh has urged its bickering political parties to stop meddling in the
electoral process and called on the interim government to play an impartial role
in the vote. A 14-party alliance has been staging a series of often violent
street protests and has threatened to boycott the January polls, demanding the
removal of two election commissioners and postponement of the vote. The alliance
has accused the interim government of bias toward former Prime Minister Khaleda
Zia's coalition. US Ambassador Patricia Butenis called upon the political
parties to "stop trying to manipulate the caretaker government", and
urged the government to "actively resist such interference, whether the
pressure comes from the streets or from behind the scenes."
Butenis said the future of Bangladesh's democracy, economic growth, and its
fight against poverty, extremism and corruption would depend on a successful
election. "Just about every issue that we care about that involves
Bangladesh hinges on a successful election," she said at a seminar on
democracy and the upcoming election, organized by the Bangladesh Association of
American Studies at the American Center in the capital, Dhaka.
According to Butenis, the coming election would be acceptable to all if it all
political parties participated in it and cast their votes according to their own
choice without any fear.
The Ambassador reiterated her country's disapproval of unconstitutional means
such as military intervention in Bangladesh politics. Asking all the political
parties to work with the Caretaker government in the run up to the January
elections, she, however, said the interim government has failed to act
neutrally. "Unfortunately, the Caretaker government has not always
conducted itself neutrally, and the nation has suffered as a result," she
said adding, "We hope that is behind us now." What comes across
clearly from Butenis's statement is that the United States has significant
interest in Bangladesh's upcoming election because crafting any future policy
with Bangladesh depends on the outcome of its elections. The US interest is
focused on the electoral process that meets international standards of fair play
and that is consistent with Bangladesh's own laws and constitution. Butenis
observed that election means an election in which all parties participate, whose
outcome is broadly accepted as legitimate and accurate, an election where
violence and intimidation did not keep people from voting or expressing their
opinions, an election where the playing field was more or less even. America
wants the creation of political parties that are genuinely democratic in
practice and outlook and parties that focus on issues and national interest
instead of personalities and perceptions.
It is quite a shaming contrast that while Bangladesh recently produced a Nobel
laureate, its entire democratic edifice is in question. If a benign third party
needs to come into the picture and tell you what to exactly do and how to do it,
then essentially your democracy is in trouble and Bangladesh sooner or later
needs to wake up to this fact. It isn't as though the politicians are not very
well aware that the world can see that they put private gain and party power -
amounting to the same thing - before the public interest. The problem is that
the ordinary citizens either are so wretched as to be unable to find better
leaders, or are of a type that themselves look for personal advantage, by
linking to one or another of the power cliques. Any country deserves better than
this but lasting change has to come from within the country itself. One can only
hope that a new generation of genuinely selfless leaders, may one day emerge.
ECONOMY
Political Instability and Its Effect on Growth
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had produced a report saying that political
uncertainty in Bangladesh ahead of next year's election is continuing to strain
the country's economy and poses a risk to sound macroeconomic management. In its
Bangladesh Quarterly Economic Update September 2006 released a few days ago, the
bank cited disturbances in the run-up to the January 2007 election as added
constraints to the development of infrastructure. At least 41 people have been
killed and hundreds injured in clashes between rival political activists over
the past month and security analysts have warned of more violence unless major
political parties settle their differences, allowing free and fair voting.
"Infrastructure constraints, including power and transportation, are
critical impediments for moving on to a higher growth path." Bangladesh's
economy grew 6.7 percent in the year ended June 2006 and the ADB forecast 6
percent growth in fiscal 2006/07. The ADB report said Bangladesh's economy has
also been affected by external factors. "... volatility in oil prices and
stiff competition following the multifiber arrangement (MFA) phase-out pose
significant risks." During July-September, the first quarter of 2006/07
fiscal year, the manufacturing sector continued to maintain steady growth as
indicated by robust growth in manufacturing exports led by the garment sector,
the import of industrial raw materials, and private sector credit, it said.
What Yunus Thinks of Globalisation
Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus, who invented the practice of making
small, unsecured loans to the poor, has cautioned that the globalised economy
was becoming a dangerous ''free-for-all highway.'' At the gathering of Nobel
Peace Prize winners, Yunus argued that it is necessary to cultivate
organizations at the grass-root level or else, there will be no room for these
local entrepreneurs in a globalised world. Challenging economic theories that he
learned as a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee in the 1970s,
Yunus, 66, said glorification of the entrepreneurial spirit has led to
''one-dimensional human beings'' motivated only by profit. Yunus also criticized
the United States for its war on terror. He told about 1,000 dignitaries at
Oslo's City Hall that recent American military adventures have diverted global
resources and attention from a more pressing project: halving worldwide poverty
by 2015, as envisaged by the United Nations six years ago. He called the Grameen
Bank, the Dhaka-based micro-credit institution he started 30 years ago, the new
corporation that was neither non-profit nor profit motivated. He talked about it
as a form of "social business." The bank has lent nearly $6 billion to
help some of the poorest people on Earth to start businesses, build shelters and
go to school. Yunus argued that similar structured institutions such as the
Grameen Bank could bring health care, information technology, education and
energy to the poor without requiring infusions of aid. Therefore, his definition
of entrepreneur is very broad which inevitably changes the way we look at
capitalist societies. Yunus, gives the grassroots entrepreneur new hope and
vision in a globalised world filled with imperfections. If only the nation could
find leadership like that which he has given to the Grameen bank!
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