The goal of solving national economic problems and improving the living standards of people is indeed achievable. However, feudal agents and so-called politicians always play games with the people’s well-being, and they have been doing it for generations. Instead of offering reasonable and sensible solutions to people’s social and political sufferings, they spread fear, instill discord amongst people, and extract material benefits for themselves.
A leader, on the other hand, strives to bring the suffering of his people to the forefront and create an environment for positive political change. A leader offers solutions and blueprints for a plan to cure the nation from its lingering problems in the long run. A leader tries to create a movement for economic and political development.
When a leader is lacking, however, socio-political movements are unsuccessful because they fail to implement a social order through academic, technological, legal, political, and economic development with the support of the common people.
Today, a political movement has to ensure the certain measures in order to earn the trust of the people, and to satisfy their needs. We must eradicate corruption from the governing system and from the private sectors at the roots as well as provide an education system that would prepare people to be morally, ethically, and spiritually fit to take responsibilities and perform professionally.
We also need to integrate people into one big society under a strong national and constitutional framework of law and justice. We must develop infrastructure, communication, and an efficient transportation system to reduce time and distance for productivity and launch investment and productivity programs to create well-paying jobs and effective human resource management systems. Supplying continuous energy for the economic engine to run uninterrupted is also crucial.
Today, however, I am going to touch upon the importance of eradicating corruption and establishing a new education system.
Corruption has been eating away the soul of the country just like termites gnaw out wood from the inside while keeping the surface intact. Between 2000 and 2010, Bangladesh was named amongst the most corrupt nations in the world. Corruption in all sectors of Bangladesh has become organised and syndicated. No initiative or program -- public or private -- can be found that does not have a touch of corruption.
One can easily find the link of corruption from recruitment to disbursement anywhere. The ability to think rationally, which is absolutely essential for economic development, has indeed become a rare thing amongst many government officers and employees as a result.
Education is key to socio-political improvement, economic development, and lasting peace. One country’s education policy may or may not be compatible with that of other nations. However, there is a common denominator. An education system should prepare people to uphold their moral and spiritual obligations, duties, and responsibilities against all odds.
Today’s education system does not have that common denominator. In reference to Western education, Allama Iqbal said: “Be not complacent about the education you receive, through it the soul of a nation they can kill.”
A new movement is required to reform the century-old education system, and guarantee people an education that will allow them to prosper in their careers and as human beings. It must be given the highest priority in order to prepare people to take responsibility for their own actions, and for their families and society.
No such vision has so far been articulated. No long-term comprehensive economic development planning has been undertaken in the post-independence era.
Now, in such a vicious environment of corruption and mindlessness, no one can create an economic program that would ensure higher wages, consumption, and economic growth. It is unlikely that a leader would come out prepared to sit on the helm of the nation and be capable of serving people rightly.
However, only an economic movement along with a political one, could stave off a lot of blood-shedding in the form of a complete collapse. Bangladesh, one cannot help but predict, is heading for such a state of civil unrest. There is a strong possibility that this is going to turn into a civil war for both economic and political reasons. As a result, people should take part in politics and help build a new productive governing system in order to safeguard the interest of Bangladesh’s nearly 160 million citizens.
Therefore, in order to put the national economy onto the right path and to save the nation from the grip of corruption and dysfunctional governance, we, as a nation, must come to an agreement on certain economic policies and programs. To initiate the process of constructive and sustainable economic development, we must declare war against corruption and subsequently earn total independence from it, as we did against colonialism.
An efficient functional governing system would gradually find its way to serve the people, thus averting a political crisis -- which potentially could lead to a civil war -- which is currently looming in the political horizon of Bangladesh.
