The term Peter Pan Syndrome is used to describe a person who does not want to grow up, even in maturity. That person remains eternally immature and behaves like a two-year old. These people never get past the egocentric, narcissistic, immature phase of childhood. We could stretch this syndrome to describe a people or a nation if it fits the description.
I hate to say this, but I am constrained to draw this simile for my dear country Bangladesh after watching the chaos and pandemonium that have been ruling the country for nearly the last nine months.
The way our people behave is no better than a child who wants instant gratification for every demand it makes without caring how it can be met
The rising level of disarray and disorder in almost all sections of society, particularly the education sector, made me wonder if there is any guardian in charge anywhere in the country.
The conduct of people does not suggest that this is a country which has been around for more than five decades, where half of the population can be considered to be past middle age.
Yet, the way our people behave is no better than a child who wants instant gratification for every demand it makes without caring how it can be met. The child wants it now and someone had better give it to him.
Take the instances of demands that have been raised by all and sundry -- students, civil servants, police, businesspeople, transportation workers, and then also politicians. A nationwide forum has sprung where anybody and everybody has a grievance, and they have to have their grievances attended to now.
They won’t give in until their demands are met. Strikingly, in many cases they have won and then new demands from other disgruntled sections arise. This is a never-ending cycle. How and when did it begin?
Nearly nine months removed from massive protests begun by students that morphed into one of the most consequential political movements in history and led to the ouster of a hugely unpopular government and its equally unpopular leader, the turmoil has not yet ended.
There was mass relief and joyous celebration at the fall of a corrupt and tyrannical regime and hope for the rebirth of a long-suffering people began. Along with that, there was a hope that our people who had suffered from an autocratic regime which threw the rule of law to the winds would care for a return to respect for justice, for public institutions, and for each other.
The political party in power held people at ransom through cadres, both official and unofficial. Opposing voices were silenced by illegal means or brute force. The institutions were all there, but these were either rendered ineffective because of lack of governance, or so heavily politicized that people lost faith in them.
One expected a change in behaviour in the country and people after a movement started by our youth but ultimately engaging all sections of people. They thought it would return the country to rule of law and discipline.
An exit from a corrupt clique should have ushered responsible governance and behaviour by people who replaced that tyrannic regime. True, it was not a change through elections, but it was a change effected by a popular movement.
But unfortunately, the change of leadership did not percolate to all levels. If anything, the change has led to greater irresponsibility, lawlessness, and demands for instant gratification, the outpouring of which has brought the country to a standstill.
We understand that years of pent-up grievances can lead to sudden outbursts from suffering sections, and we did see inertia in law enforcement in the first few weeks after July movement. That inertia came from a law enforcement that was partly traumatized by the movement and actions of a corrupt leadership. But we expected normalcy to return once the interim government stabilized.
Unfortunately, that moment of stability does not seem to be there even after nearly nine months since the previous government left. The government does not appear to have control over the events or even the groups that are contributing to this instability.
Students clamour for the removal of the heads of their institutions and take them to the streets at the slightest pretext to have their demands met. Disgruntled employees want to have their jobs back or have their bosses removed from the office by blocking the roads.
A newly-formed political party by our youth often blocks roads to demand instant solutions to their demands. In the latest example, a section of government officials has taken to abstention from work (calling it pen down) because they do not approve of the government decision to bifurcate a government agency.
I could go on with this litany of protests that are currently plaguing the country where our government seems to be petrified to take any action.
We may call our people’s actions to be childlike but are there no adults to take control and say enough is enough?
The root of the problem is as I see it now that there is no command and control in the current government. People at the helm of the government may not be grounded in politics, but they are people with experience in running organizations of reputation. They should know that running a government is not pleasing everyone. Running an administration requires firmness, discipline, and application of law.
It also requires an apportion of failure to fulfil responsibilities to people who are in charge. Head of the government is not the person all protesters should approach to get every demand met. And similarly, all protests are not meant to be demonstrated through roadblocks and office blocks.
People have a right to express their grievances, but this does not give them license to cause obstruction to others’ rights of movement.
Unfortunately, the current chaotic conditions in the country do not indicate that these are going to end soon. It is because so far, we have not seen any instance of a coordinated effort to manage the confusion that reigns in all sectors.
We know that the government is conscious not to interfere with people’s freedom of expression. But that freedom is turning the country into anarchy since it is violating the first principle of human rights which is to obey and respect others’ rights.
The historic movement led by our youth put them into a focal role, and they did well. But the success of the movement in removing a government that failed to give the country rule of law will evaporate soon if the current conditions are not ended soon with a firm hand.
Protests and rallies can be stopped by attending to the problems before they begin and by those who are managing those entities. Make the management of the institutions responsible for solving these problems. They need not come to the street.
Replace management if they cannot solve the problems. Bring discipline to all these institutions. Make the streets safe, not places for rallies. Lastly, make each violator accountable to the law. Perhaps that can bring an end to our Peter Pan Syndrome.
Ziauddin Choudhury has worked in the higher civil service of Bangladesh early in his career, and later for the World Bank in the US.
