In search of national unity

There are times in the life of a nation when it faces an abyss, a situation of such grave danger that its very existence as a viable entity is at stake. At such times the collective consciousness of the whole polity is forced to realise that a supreme effort is required. For example, when wars break out, the government and people of a country are obliged to declare a state of emergency in order to harness all their energies to cope with the severe stresses brought about by international conflict.

Allied to such a declaration of emergency, the usual response at the political level is to create a National Government. This was the case during the Second World War when the UK created a national cabinet in which the two major parties, Conservatives and Labour, served equally. The point to note is that these two political parties, which were otherwise bitterly opposed in peacetime, felt that it was necessary to work together in the face of the greater external danger represented by Nazi Germany.

Regrettably Bangladesh now seems to be facing just such an existential crisis. Last year’s looting with impunity of the nationalised banking sector, far from being “no big deal” as our Finance Minister would have it, actually represents a breakdown of core principles on such a scale that the entire banking industry has been shaken to its roots.

This was of course only the latest of a series of other developments which have left us with major institutions, such as the stock exchange, the universities, the police services, the civil administration, the parliament, the justice system, the Election Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, which have been hollowed out and generally not fit for purpose any more.

Despite misgivings

There is no point ascribing blame for this huge failure as it is shared by all. We can see that this is the culmination of a historical process of over 50 years of systematic erosion of the structures of good governance. All the political parties, and the military when it ruled, have contributed to this downhill slide and, as with all downhill slides, the worsening momentum has increased as time has gone on. As a result we are now on the very brink, about to go over the edge. The only entity which is blameless is the general public which has put its faith in each succeeding government and has been betrayed each time.

The tragedy is that this looming disaster is such a contrast to the bright future that could be ours, building on what has already been achieved in many fields of activity. If we are today not totally ruined it is only because of the heroic efforts of ordinary people in all spheres of life. The rural agricultural sector continues to function as the engine of the economy because of the dogged and determined work put in by farmers, growers and the associated service sector.

The massive NGO operation has touched every inch of the country, except perhaps the urban centres, in helping to alleviate the stresses of the weaker sections of the populace. The entrepreneurs of the country have achieved miracles of organised corporate growth both in the export as well as domestic industrial and service sectors, though not without some severe distortions when it comes to the exploitation of the pricing of consumer commodities.

We need hardly fail to commend the expatriate Bangladeshis whose backbreaking work in foreign countries enables them to send the remittances on which our Balance of Payments depends so heavily.

And all this has been attained, as the catchphrase has it, not “because of government but despite it!” All that we really need of government is that it play a facilitating role, but this is precisely what is lacking, whether in basic infrastructure (power, transportation, health services) or in the structures of society (law and order, corruption, justice).

What’s really going wrong?

However, it is not the case that the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) is incompetent – running a country as complex and varied as Bangladesh is a constant challenge and the civil administration’s ability to pull this off day in day out without severe breakdowns is in itself an achievement of sorts, for which we should be appreciative.

The problem lies in the lack of planning – to foresee future situations and devise solutions in a pro-active manner while taking an integrated view of the whole system. This failure of governance is not the responsibility of the civil administration alone. Rather the blame for it can be laid squarely on the political administration of the country.

It is the political administration that should be on the high ground, determining and directing the overall strategy of the country’s development. It should be the driving force which aims to satisfy its constituents – the voting public as a whole – by providing it with the peaceful and orderly environment within which to achieve general and particular prosperity.

Instead we have the spectacle of the political administration not only doing nothing to solve the problems of basic infrastructure but also undermining the underpinnings of a healthy society by actually fostering evils such as corruption and biased policing. Not only is the planning function of government totally neglected by our political masters but even the ordinary administration of the country is also hampered by unwarranted interference.

We see that this is the crux of the issue. The root cause of Bangladesh’s problem is our dysfunctional political system. From which it follows that any solution must address the political dimension first and foremost!

The major problem is systemic not personal – any politician who achieves power under this system will behave in exactly the same way, as we have seen in our recent history. Unlike the political systems in force in most other countries, the main structural distortion in Bangladesh is that all power is concentrated in a single House, the Jatiyo Sangsad.

There is no other countervailing source of power, such as an Upper House, to monitor or check the activities of the Lower House. Whichever political party wins power in the Jatiyo Sangsad acquires a free hand to do whatever it likes during its term in office.

As a direct result of this monopoly of power the prime minister of Bangladesh (whoever it may be) cannot help but act, in practice, like an elected dictator, and this, in turn, inevitably morphs into a monarchical system, and not just any monarch, but an absolute monarch.

In fact this system is even worse and more prone to tyranny and oppression because, having been elected, the PM has an aura of additional legitimacy which was denied to the Kings and Queens of the past!

A monarchical system, in theory, is one in which a single person, or family, claims “ownership” of the entire resources of a country and all its ceremonial trappings as well as demanding the unconditional obedience of all its people, (and it spawns many courtier-types who claim to exercise similar unconditional authority in their smaller jurisdictions).

Incidentally this is also why any person holding such a quasi-monarchical role feels extremely disinclined to believe in the concept of stepping down from power, in the wake of so trivial a matter as a general election!

That is why it is so vitally important to break the dynamic of this slide into authoritarian government. We cannot any longer afford the luxury of business as usual. In the face of a developing political crisis, allied to a potential breakdown in healthy governance, we must as a nation first recognise that we are well and truly facing a potential “emergency.”

The paradigm shift

What then is the correct response to such a severe crisis? It would seem that, as in many historical occasions in the world, the best response is to set up a National Government. Firstly, this would obviate the need for a military takeover, which is not considered a desirable outcome in modern times.

Secondly, and more important, it would provide a forum within which the energies of the nation as a whole could be merged into an united effort to eliminate the distortions of recent times and to take a positive approach to the revitalisation of the economy and the structures of good governance.

In effect the currently warring political parties of Bangladesh would be required to set aside their differences for a while and instead take up a joint position in which they share objectives, namely those of the development of the country in peace and harmony.

The primary function of political parties in a healthy system is to mediate socio-economic conflicts in such a way that they do not get out of hand and bring down the polity as a whole. In Bangladesh however this function is totally neglected.

“On the contrary the political parties seem to be themselves the source of conflict!” And not just any conflict but one in which each major party aims to physically and conceptually destroy the other.

It seems as if the two main parties do not consider each other to be legitimate organisations, and so cannot abide power passing to one or the other. This can only happen when two such parties do not share any common positions whatsoever.

If such extreme polarisation continues and the political parties are seen to be not the means to finding solutions but to be themselves the problem, the general public will surely conclude that we do not need a political class at all!

This is especially the case when all that the political parties seem to be good for is to enrich themselves and their cronies by manipulating the power of the state to serve their private interests, instead of those of the general public.

This could be considered another important reason to set up a National Government. Namely to reverse the polarisation and instead to force the political parties to find some common ground while submerging all their differences for a temporary period of, say, 10 years.

The need of the hour is for the parties to unite around some core principles, those that promote the national interest. The objective behind these core principles can be expressed simply: to enable all the forces in society to pull together in such a way as to bring about the economic development of the nation as a whole.

Whether in the construction of major infrastructure projects or in bringing about economic and social discipline the political parties must, for some moderately long period of time, understand that their sole role is to deliver an enabling framework within which the energies of the common man and woman can be applied productively.

When matters of genuine choice emerge, such as the decision of whether to go for open-pit coal mining or not, the National Government must address the issues with the greatest welfare of the people in mind and not for narrow political advantage. Only if they see that these decisions are being made with the general interest in mind will the people who may be aggrieved by such decisions accept them.

In short it is being proposed that for a period of 10 years or so the normal political process of jockeying for special-interest advantage be suspended. Instead, the National Government will be tasked with bringing about a single united effort to tackle the really severe planning and execution problems that are currently looming, and to do so with the urgency, dedication and honesty required to deal with a “national emergency.”

Just as, for example, this happened in the UK during the Second World War, the political parties of Bangladesh must today be big enough to drop their sectarian attitudes and instead find ways to work together towards a common goal, namely, that of generating economic and social renewal on the one hand while taking all measures to avert a general breakdown in financial and administrative discipline on the other.

Focus on the future

This period of political hiatus must be used to create a platform, a shared base, on which to build a powerful future for the nation. And the prospects are truly glittering. Given a decent system of good governance the people of Bangladesh could achieve miracles of development and mutual prosperity. All observers are united in sensing the enormous potential that lies waiting to be unleashed in this country.

And at some point, which will also become naturally evident, the normal political process could be resumed. To continue the example mentioned above, the Second World War had not even formally ended when the UK’s National Government was dispensed with. As everyone knows, the spectacular outcome was that the Conservative leader of the victorious war effort (Churchill) was voted out of office and a Labour Prime Minister (Attlee) took over!

So in Bangladesh too, when the time comes, the political parties will certainly regain their respective roles of governance and opposition; but this time hopefully with greater respect and tolerance for each other and for constitutional principles, due to their having had the experience of working together over a decade or so.

This article is not addressing the issue of how we actually get to a National Government but only why it is badly needed. Nor are the details being discussed of how such a government will itself have to be regulated so that it is subject to checks and balances and does not have a completely free hand.

It is to be hoped that the collective wisdom of the people will respond to the need for a fresh approach to save Bangladesh from what may otherwise prove to be an irreversible spiral into disaster. Interestingly, the current Honorable prime minister’s thinking in proposing an all-party interim government would seem to be broadly aligned with this kind of an approach, in which the national perspective is raised above narrow political interests and bickering.

It is the writer’s honest belief that there is enough latent good will among all sections of society to ensure that the whole political class will voluntarily agree that there is no alternative but to accept some sacrifice of its current unlimited one-sided power, in the interests of the nation as a whole.

This article is written in a spirit of dispassionate analysis without any desire to blame any particular grouping but only to promote the national welfare. If there has been any failure it has been a collective failure and we must all pull together to redeem it.