The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam said groups that unite to dismantle an autocratic system eventually become each other’s enemies, causing repeated failures to institutionalize democracy in Bangladesh.
He made the remarks on Sunday, on the second day of the three-day Bay of Bengal Conversation 2026, organized by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Karwan Bazar, Dhaka.
Mahfuz Anam said: “In the past, instead of institutionalizing free and fair elections, we increasingly fell into conflict, competition and then destruction, and I think we failed because we really do not know how to run our country. We actually do not know what governance is. We really do not know how to bring together a people with all their strength, all their innovation, all their resilience and turn that source into national development.”
“In my view, one reason is that the nation becomes united while dismantling a dictatorship, but once the dictatorship is dismantled, the nation becomes divided. The groups that work together to destroy the dictatorship become each other’s enemies, and that is where we have repeatedly, repeatedly and repeatedly failed to institutionalize the rebuilding of democracy in Bangladesh.”
Mahfuz Anam said Bangladesh had an almost endless capacity to fail to build democracy after dismantling autocratic systems.
“Unfortunately, we have an almost endless capacity that we cannot build democracy after dismantling autocracy. We were born again as Bangladesh, which was against a very brutal military dictatorship, but we failed to build a democratic Bangladesh and then there was a military coup. Ershad fell and we returned to democracy in 1991, and we really hoped that this would be the rebirth of democracy in Bangladesh, and we had several elections under a caretaker government.”
“However, and in my view the reason is that in Bangladesh we have over-politicized every institution imaginable.”
He said: “Doctors are divided over which political party you belong to. They are divided in many other professions, including journalism. You have pro-BNP journalists, you have pro-Jamaat journalists. I mean, how can a journalist be pro-politics? I mean, you can have a personal preference and of course you are free to vote, but in a profession where credibility is your life responsibility, how can you publicly support a political party and still expect to enjoy credibility?”
Mahfuz Anam said excessive politicization had eroded the functioning of almost all institutions.
“So we have a system where excessive politicization in one way has eroded the functioning of almost all our institutions. You really run a country through an efficient bureaucracy. We have been politicized. The police are always used as a partisan extension of your party. Muscle power and intelligence agencies are again used for political purposes.”
“So constitutional bodies such as the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Information Commission, these bodies which are considered constitutional bodies and are independently operated, are all politicized. So, to cut a long story short, the truth is that we are so good at destroying autocracy, but the sad reality is that we are so bad at building democratic institutions.”
Mahfuz Anam said the main problem was excessive politicization, which had caused the entire governance system to fail.
“So when a party is elected through the democratic process, we celebrate the expression of the people’s will. But very soon we realize that the outcome of that election result is transformed into political reality instead of public interest.”
“Obviously, it is worldwide that every political party, whether the Labor Party wins in England, or the Democrats or Republicans win in the United States, there will be some partisanship. But turning your entire governance system into an extension of your own party is where the decline begins, and one of the first consequences is corruption.”
“One of its first consequences is nepotism and partisan favoritism. Day after day, month after month and year after year, our entire governance system collapses.”
He said modern technology had made governance a science.
“Now with modern technology, governance is a science. Governance is not just good wishes and dreaming a dream. Governance is how you translate that dream. Technology can now give us a highly efficient bureaucracy and an efficient police force and, at the same time, a fair police force.”
“And here I think Bangladesh now faces its biggest challenge, if we want to move forward. Because by definition Bangladesh is a country where governance is not easy. We have a small land area. We have a huge population. We have natural challenges, but we have enormous potential if we can turn our human resources into a valuable productive asset, which we can do through technology, education and good governance.”