What use is a system if its core values don’t hold true anymore? Is it any more useful than theories that never get out of books and move onto reality? When a system fails, is it because it had flaws of its own, or is it because we weren’t able to live up to its ideals?
Sadly, democracy has now become such a questionable system in Bangladesh. Although it is still the structure that prevails, it is a structure much deviated from what it was supposed to be.
Democracy promotes the ideas of freedom of political expression, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and equality for all citizens before the law. In a land where power determines who holds the reigns, it has become difficult for the general masses to be able to give their opinions about how the reigns should be held. It falls to the hands of the powerful to make all the decisions.
In Bangladesh, corruption and connections are two “c-words” that are well known to all. These words have changed the true meaning of democracy being a system “by the people, of the people, for the people.”
Thus, authoritative decisions that affect the whole nation can be undertaken regardless of general opinion. As a result, matters like the Rampal project in the Sundarbans sparks conflicts around the country.
The democracy of Bangladesh is dominated by extra-judicial killings, corruption, religious extremism, lack of security, political instability and so on. Violations of human rights and lack of accountability from the government is weakening, and the equality between citizens has become a challenge.
The freedom of our political system is something of a fantasy, as experience shows our parliamentary democracy has never been able to properly function due to one-party dominance and the opposition’s boycott.
Freedom of speech and freedom of media are functional only in theory. Besides, time-to-time restrictions imposed on the media, provisions like the Official Secrets Act (1923) and the Printing Press and Publication Act (1973), are instruments that are obstructing freedom.
Attacks on journalists, arbitrary arrests, torture, forced confessions and disappearances are on an alarming rise nowadays which has forced the citizens to lose faith in the security of their lives.
Unfortunately, no matter how educated you are or how qualified you are, even if you are working for a change that will make a good difference, you wouldn’t be able to execute things properly unless you were in complete harmony with the powerful.
You could make your voice heard but whether or not it will be given any heed to would depend on whether your words are glorifying or demeaning the status of the dominants. Thus, democracy ends up being much more about chance than choice. You can’t choose to make a difference, you have to first get the chance to do so.
Nevertheless, democracy is an appropriate political system for Bangladesh. It is facing its current failure and disapproval just because of the misconducts of those who hold power. Whether or not things will change is a question yet to be answered. Meanwhile, common people are the ones who have to bear the brunt of the consequences.
We urge our leaders to start holding the reigns the right way, and to start working selflessly for Bangladesh and her people. To run a country is not a simple job, and when it is the leaders themselves who complicate things, maybe what the nation needs is a fresh start and new leaders to follow.
