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Download PDF Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has demanded immediate resignation of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Justice M Fazlul Huq for what it said his hostile attitude towards the 14-party combine.
The demand from the SCBA came within three days of his taking over the charge of an adviser to the caretaker government.
“Justice Huq has lost his neutrality by making arrogant comments on the political stand of the 14-party alliance with regard to overseeing the actions of the non-party caretaker government to judge its impartiality,” SCBA President Barrister M Amir Ul Islam said at a press conference in its hall room.
He termed Justice Huq’s remarks as a clear interference with the rights of political party guaranteed under the constitution. “Justice Huq also violated his oath of office by expressing his ill will against the 14-party,” he said.
Eminent jurists Dr Kamal Hossain, Dr M Zahir, Barrister Shafiq Ahmed and Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, who were present at the press conference, also echoed similar views about the resignation of Justice Huq for his “snide” remarks as an adviser that impaired the image of the caretaker government.
Reacting to the comments of Justice Huq, Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud said political observation is required for probing government’s impartiality.
He termed the caretaker government a “deformed baby” and said, indicating adviser Justice Huq, why did he raise the question of animal. “The baby must be under strict observation to see if he inherits any deformity.”
Referring to the ongoing reshuffle in the civil and police administration by the president and chief adviser in order to de-politicise the administration, Dr Kamal Hossain said: “It’s nothing but an eyewash. All the changes in the administration, even allocation of portfolios to the advisers, have been made through remote control keeping the switch in the hands of the immediate-past four-party alliance government.”
He said the prime task of the caretaker government for holding free and fair elections is to reconstitute the Election Commission by removing the “controversial” CEC Justice MA Aziz and his colleagues, but the government has not yet taken any steps in this regard.
Pointing a finger at Justice MA Aziz, Dr Kamal said: “It is not his personal property he inherited. He must be removed forthwith as he violated the court orders and failed to present a fair voter list.”
SCBA President Barrister Amir Ul Islam said the allocation of portfolios to the advisers “have not been done properly and ignored the expertise of the advisers in their respective fields.”
He urged CM Shafi Sami and Lt Gen (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury to quit voluntarily from the caretaker government as “their professional dignity has been undermined by allocating them less important portfolios.”
Abdul Baset Majumder, Mahbubey Alam, Barrister Rafiqul Islam Mian, Khandkar Mahbub Hossain, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, Abdul Matin Khasru, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, AM Amin Uddin, M Enayetur Rahim, Bashir Ahmed, Mahbub Ali, Nurul Islam Sujan and Abdul Mannan Khan were, among others, present at the press conference.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
CHAPTER ONE
POLITICAL LEADERS AND WORKERS
INTRODUCTION :
In 2007 we have got an altogether different government in Bangladesh. This government is different because of many reasons including its wonderful successes in :
(i) Creation of independent Judiciary,
(ii) Bringing even the most powerful culprits/offenders to justice and
(iii) Success in establishing discipline, honesty and accountability in many sectors.
While this is the bright side of the story, the darkest side is, this government would handover power to the elected government after one year and then, by all possibilities the previous types of leaders would be in power. By every likelihood they would repeat their usual actions. At that time, under their fresh oppression and injustice, what the people would do are :
(i) They would lament for the short-lasting sweet days under the caretaker government and
(ii) The architects of the ‘golden days’ would witness, how the dirty bulls smash their enviable achievements.
The peace loving citizens of the country should endeavor their best in order to avoid seeing such a pathetic situation. If we really want to assure that we would need two things :
(i) Fresh, dedicated, honest and intelligent leaders in our political arena and
(ii) A political and administrative mechanism capable of retaining the honesty and accountability of the political leaders and bureaucrats.
The probable ways in which these can be done will be the subject matter of our today’s discussion.
OUR POLITICAL PARTIES :
In Bangladesh we have got two major types of political parties. These are : (i) Normal parties and (ii) Profit-oriented parties.
(01) NORMAL POLITICAL PARTIES : These are parties which are formed with the honest intention of serving the people and the country. However, on the basis of the basis of the socio-economic systems they follow they may again be divided into two : (a) Rightist and (b) Leftist.
(a) RIGHTIST : The party working for the continuation and betterment of the ongoing economic system is known as the rightist party. The countries of this region follow some sort of capitalistic economy. USA is pressing hard to introduce their type of economy, where money reigns over everything. To keep the poor citizens away from agitation they have introduced state sponsored social service schemes. Such schemes are so expensive that a country like Bangladesh cannot even think of adopting those.
(b) LEFTIST : The party targeting for achieving Socialist political and economic systems are known as leftist party. It is interesting to note that even though Bangladesh has been declared as People’s Republic, which is another name for democracy, the leftist party targets for the socialist type of election, where there is no space for democracy. Even the Socialists themselves call it the “dictatorship of the proletariat”.
(02) PROFIT-ORIENTED POLITICAL PARTIES : These are the parties formed by individuals or groups for the purpose of the continuation of the family rule, or the rule of people belonging to certain sect or faith. In Bangladesh we have noticed the following three varieties of such parties :
(a) PARTY OF THE MID-LEVEL LEADERS (EXTINCT) : During British regime in India some mid-level leaders, who could not get higher positions in
the party in fair completion formed their own platform by utilizing some aspect of human psychology. Muslim League is one such party that banked on religion. This extremely powerful party of Pakistan has now suffered from natural death in Bangladesh.
(b) PARTY OF THE GENERALS : In any country the army is the most powerful and permanent entity. USA, the most renowned exploiter of the wealth of the third world countries has been found to utilize the chief’s of the armed forces of the developing countries in order to ensure their interest. Taking the above two scopes, the chief of the army has been found to capture power in many countries. Some of these generals are so greedy that in spite of their apparent failures they do not like to handover power. As a means of sticking to power they have been found to form political parties, through which they intend to continue ‘rulers of family’ for all times to come. In Bangladesh we have seen two such parties.
(c) PARTY OF THE FOREIGN AGENTS : Some political are formed solely for safeguarding the interests of some foreign countries or agents. In Bangladesh most of such parties are financed by the Gulf countries. USA, a secular country has also been accused for similar patronization.
PROBLEMS WITH OUR POLITICAL PARTIES :
(01) NORMAL RIGHTIST PARTY :
Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) : This party is rightly credited for playing crucial role during the liberation of Bangladesh. After Pakistan, USA is the number one country that played hostile role during the liberation war. The role of Pakistan against Bangladesh is obvious because Bangladesh fought for cessation from their unjust rule. But the antagonistic role of the powerful, resourceful, democratic and secular country like USA against the birth of a secular country is a great mystery. However, it is obvious that the success of Bangladesh in this war infuriated USA. This country continued its hostility against the heroes of liberation and Bangladesh Awami League. Awami League could reign only for a short period during 1971-1975 and 1996-2000. Those who fought for the liberation of Bangladesh were active workers of this party. But when this party could not rise to power because of manipulation of election by the generals, most of their workers got frustrated. The two generals used to maintain paid musclemen. In such a situation Awami League also needed to do the same and hence, the party was in need of money. This created scope for some of their greedy leaders to acquire wealth. During the time they were in power (1996-2000) the party collected huge sum for those who wanted government permissions, sanctions etc. in business. The party was headed by Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation. In spite of prudence she showed nepotism for her relatives and made many efficient leaders to feel deprived.
It may be mentioned here that the US type of capitalism is not appropriate in our country. As a country USA at one time got wide scope of accumulating and creating wealth because of huge land and mineral wealth, cheap labor (slaves from Africa), war-time opportunities, scope of selling war-weapons, capability to maneuver the decisions of the governments of some poor and religious countries etc. With this huge wealth USA has been able to tackle the ill-effects of their type of capitalism. Their citizens who turn victims of capitalism are given social security assistance by the government. Naturally, when that type of capitalism will be introduced in Bangladesh (the process has already begun), lots of citizens will be affected. But the country is not financially solvent to run that type of social security schemes for the affected citizens.
(02) NORMAL LEFTIST PARTY :
Communist Parties (CP) : It has been found that generally the honest, dedicated and sincere type of people form such parties. But they lack the intelligence to realize that there is no room for democracy in Socialism. Also socialism cannot be introduced in a country declared as “people’s republic”. If Socialist type of administration is to be introduced in a ‘people’s republic’ or a ‘democratic country’, then what they need is not politics, but revolution. Before the moral deaths of the socialist countries such countries used to help the leftist parties with money, knowledge and weapons. In Bangladesh the followers of this party took active role in the liberation war. Because of their sincere, honest and dedicated workers these parties have got logical rights and potentiality to run the government. But in order to do that in a republic, what they need first is free themselves from the illusion of communism and realize the essence of democracy. In the contemporary world it is impossible and unnecessary to ensure “Equal” opportunities for all the citizens that even the socialist countries endeavored to ensure and then failed. However, (01) Ensuring the minimum basic needs for all, (02) Ensuring justice for all and (03) Maintaining competition for the purpose of efficient growth may be taken as the workable alternative.
In their capitalistic system USA has not been able to establish peace and harmony in the society and has given birth to numerous hazards. But that should not mean that a peaceful country cannot be established under Democracy (political system) and fair competition (Economic system). Capitalism, devised by USA is definitely defective, and it is so defective that it cannot even satisfy their common citizens.
If one studies the history of USA, one may not find it difficult to understand what made USA to adopt this defective system. During the 500 years of their history the common people (most of whom were slaves and poor immigrants working for few affluent families) could not organize themselves and to raise their voice for equal rights and justice. By utilizing this scope the few affluent people established a system that could mostly serve their interests. When this system created pains for the common people, the country could manage ‘social supports’ from the abundant wealth they possessed. However, the cost of satisfying the huge demand of the capitalists and that for social security services went beyond certain limit, the government had to look for wealth outside its territory. Creating war-like situations for selling war weapons, manipulating the decisions of the governments of the poor countries etc. were devised as solutions to combat those problems. What is more important and relevant to our discussion is, the capitalistic system of economy has contaminated their democracy also, where money manipulates the free will of the voters.
(03) PARTY OF THE FIRST GENERAL :
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) : Major General Ziaur Rahman formed a chain of parties where BNP was the last one. With patronization of
USA, his objective was to rule the country under the disguise of democracy. Naturally he
(i) Assembled the greedy politicians in his party,
(ii) Forced the honest leaders to shun politics by sending the “join my party or perish” call and
(iii) Manipulated the system of election.
He used the government fund to purchase and maintain the politicians. In its second phase (1990-1996 and 2001-2006) BNP allowed the political workers to collect money in illegal ways in lieu of paying money to the party’s fund.
The bureaucracy could not take steps against them for political interference. It is almost sure that all the persons who joined the two generals’ parties (BNP and BJP) did so due to greed for money or power. These parties were formed with the sole objective of ensuring the interests of the two generals. They later annexed a number of ‘big and sweet sounding’ principles to the party’s manifesto. From the very beginning BNP was after killing and dishonoring the freedom fighters (excepting the few who joined hands) and encouraging those who played hostile role during the war for liberation.
(04) PARTY OF THE SECOND GENERAL :
Bangladesh Jatiyo Party (BJP) : Established by M.G. H.M. Ershad this party also has got history similar to BNP in point of humiliating the freedom fighters, patronizing the enemies of freedom, allowing party workers to collect fund and so on. H.M. Ershad, its founder was accused in the past for transferring huge sum to USA. Even though there were several endeavors to find out the fact those could not materialize for lack of cooperation. Like BNP Ershad also leased many
Establishments or wealth to foreign firms by harming the interest of the country.
(05) PARTY OF FOREIGN ORIGIN :
Religious Parties : The religious countries and the secular country like USA patronize the formation and flourishing of such parties. The religious countries consider it a pious job to help religious activities. USA does the same such that they can use the religious parties for pressurizing the government and manipulate their decisions in their favor. Such parties have already established numerous income-generating firms inside the country, part of whose income is now utilized for bearing the cost of their political activities. Such parties in general worked against the people of Bangladesh and helped the Pakistani government during the war for liberation. The first and last thing about the religious parties is, it is not possible to establish or run “Democracy” in any religious country, because democracy stresses equal rights for all, where as the religious parties stress on the interest and superiority of any particular religion. Till today no “religious” country has been able to establish democracy. The Gulf countries and Pakistan may be good examples.
PROBLEMS WITH OUR POLITICAL LEADERS :
Above we have presented a brief description of our political parties during the period 1971-2006. During this period the type of people who practiced politics were mostly of following three types :
(i) Greedy and less-caliber people, who wanted to make big name and money through politics. Such people in general joined in all the parties.
(ii) Sincere type of people who wanted to do something for the country and the people. Such people joined in Awami League and Communist parties.
(iii) People who were funded from abroad. The foreign agents did so in order to ensure their interests and /or ideologies.
In the above situation we may find that in Bangladesh we have only a few dedicated and honest political leaders and workers in Bangladesh Awami League and Communist party. Needless to mention that these people had to continue strong fight against the hostile political parties in order to maintain their existence and honesty. It is obvious that there is no dearth of dedicated, honest and sincere persons in our country. But most of them did not have the interest to join ‘politics’ because this noble profession has already been polluted. In such a situation, the caretaker government should endeavor to create a situation in which persons with good qualities may like to join in politics. We painfully notice that the present activities of the caretaker government are centered around the established political parties only. It is obvious that the established parties have got experienced organizers, fund (hidden or open) and logistical supports for conducting political activities. In case they caretaker government cannot create conducive situation to attract better-quality persons in politics in the coming days, then all their painful endeavors would end up in vain.
CHAPTER TWO
QUALITIES OF THE POLITICIANS
INTRODUCTION :
The essentiality of honest leaders in our political arena is known to al. However, even if honest leaders are available there is no guarantee that they would remain honest during the tenure of their post. Such people deviate from the honest path due to numerous reasons. We mention here a few :
(i) Personal greed,
(ii) Wife’s or family members’ insistence,
(iii) Demand or pressure from his party,
(iv) Insistence of the local and foreign firms to accept gratification,
(iv) Insistence from foreign countries,
(v) Thoughts of insecurity of his family in future etc.
While we can say, reason nos. (i) to (iv) are illogical, we believe reason no. (v) is quite logical and ethical in our country, where the government or the private employer does not have any well-spelt provisions for the family of a person who expires or gets crippled man while in service. It is a known fact that the capitalistic system of economy, invented and introduced by the USA creates problems for the innocent, poor, humble and honest people. What is ironic is :
(i) USA, the country which is constantly pressing the developing countries for introducing ‘capitalistic type of economy’ does not say anything about helping the ‘victims of this system’.
(ii) In order to take care of the affected people USA themselves has introduced social security assistance in which they help all the citizens, irrespective of whether they are honest or crook, or whether they were actually affected or not by the expansion of the capitalistic economy.
(iii) Knowing fully well that most, if not all, of the developing countries do not have the resources to introduce and run the social security
scheme, USA is pressing them to introduce this system.
(iv) Quite often our leaders and bureaucrats speak highly of the US-capitalism, without any knowledge of its ill affects and without knowing how USA combated those in their land by taking remedial measures.
DEVELOMENT AND CULTURE OF HONESTY IN BANGLADESH :
There are numerous factors which develop and nourish qualities like honesty, sincerity etc. Earlier the Bangalee parents, neighbors and teachers and even the government endeavored for the growth and culture of these qualities among all, specially the children. They followed numerous ways including advise, reading books capable of improving morality, staging suitable drama, composing songs with similar spirits, instances (like, giving prize for honesty, punishing for immorality) etc. Now the government and the society have stopped those practices. In addition, the imported western medias are constantly preaching their “cultures” in this land. The world already knows, what type of people those teachings create in their society. Nowadays, the discovery of a good man of child with good equalities in Bangladesh should be considered just ‘accidental’. Naturally we find extremely few honest persons in the society. Needless to mention that only honest leaders working at the top are capable of creating honest people in the country.
For arguments sake let us say that we have designed a mechanism in which only the honest persons will be allowed to compete in the election. Does that solve the problem ? The answer is “no”. “Why ?” ‘Honesty’ is in fact a quality whose continuation depends on a number of factors like time, place, surrounding environment, attitudes of the friends and associates, person’s actual need, person’s responsibility to the family members, the state’s commitment towards the fulfillment of his needs, quantity and quality of probable gratification etc. If
a rich businessman or a fat-salaried government servant accepts gratification, it is logical to punish him. But is it logical to punish a poor man, whose honest earning cannot meet his minimum demand ? Or a responsible father, who saves money for his family for hard days ? Please consider that they are the citizens of a country that has absolutely no commitment to assist the people in distress.
It is a common experience that the honest persons do not remain honest unless their salaries/allowances are satisfactory, the working environments, conducive and there are provisions to help in hard days. The politicians of this country have spoiled the environment of creation of honest people in this land, because they themselves were not honest. At present the government has captured some of them mostly in money laundering activities. However, their offense in money laundering is just negligible in comparison to what they did in the sphere of deterioration of men’s qualities. The two generals who formed political parties for the purpose of elongating their and their families’ reign introduced all sorts of dirty tricks in politics. In order to assemble musclemen around their parties they allowed the hoodlums to continue their business on condition of payment of commission to party fund. The leader coming from the family of the father of the nation formed ‘foundations’ and now it has been revealed they used to collect booty from the privileged businessmen for, or in the names of those foundations. However, the caretaker government seems to have the intention to combat such a situation and to re-introduce ‘politics of the honest people’ in the country. The net findings of the above discussion are, honest persons would not remain honest unless :
(01) The working condition is conducive and
(02) The compensation conditions (by the government or employer) are favorable.
(01) CONDUCIVE WORKING CONDITION :
The caretaker government has arrested many persons who accumulated wealth illegally. In addition to punishment their “illegally earned wealth is being confiscated”. Even though the laws to this effect existed in the country none of the past governments enacted those. Now, if it is established that from now onwards the government (through its anti-corruption department) would go on continuing this practice, then definitely the greedy persons would be alerted and a situation conducive for nourishment of honesty will be created. The situation may be further modified in the following ways :
(i) All persons holding ‘strategic positions’ and posts and those working in ‘posts with the scope of illegal earning’ have to submit statement of wealth before joining, then annually and within one month of the resignation or dismissal from the post.
(ii) The government would forfeit the illegally-earned wealth and give other punishments.
(iii) The forfeiture would depend upon the person’s income and gravity of the post. Imprisonment would act as substitute for wealth. Thus while a common man may be asked to return all (1.0 time of the illegally accumulated wealth), a person working in the law enforcing positions may be charged 2.0 times, one working in important administrative posts 2.5 times, judiciary and democratically elected positions, 3.0 times, anti-corruption department 4.0 times and so on.
Even though the return rate may seem quite ‘high’, an honest man has absolute no reason to be afraid, if however justice can be ensured in the land. Needless to mention that such a system would discourage dishonest persons to join such posts or seek people’s mandate in the election.
FAVORABLE COMPENSATION CONDITIONS :
While only the above working conditions may be sufficient in case of the persons with fat salary and those enjoying big savings and/or paternal wealth, it would be inadequate and highly unethical to apply the same for the poor persons or low-salaried employees. We have already mentioned that it is not possible for a country like Bangladesh to provide social security assistance for all the citizens. However, it is quite possible for the government to make such provisions for the families of the poor and honest persons, who face death or physical disability due to situations beyond their control. However, such compensations should be extended only to the persons who do not have any indication of dishonesty during his service.
There is every reason to believe that the government has no ethical right to enforce such stringent measures till they introduce compensatory measures for the affected innocent persons. The compensatory measures for the affected persons may be any of the following :
(01) Payment of monthly salary (excluding personal allowances) of the affected person till the speculated end of service, plus payment of pension benefits at usual rate.
(02) Payment of survival allowance to the family members till the speculated end of service.
(03) Bearing the costs of the highest-level of education of the children (maximum two numbers).
It would tremendously help the country in gaining honesty if the caretaker government could introduce a “contract form” for all working citizens. In this form both the “working conditions to be performed by the person” and the “compensatory measures by the government or employer” should be clearly written. The representatives of the government and the persons working in important or strategic positions (including those elected by the public) may sign the form in the court of law, where the court would assure that both the parties would abide by those.
OTHER QUALITIUES OF THE ELECTED MEMBERS :
We have briefly described the various ways of establishing the practice of honesty in the context of Bangladesh. In order to get honest services from an elected member, not only he, but the high-positioned people working around him also need to be honest. That is why we have proposed the above measures for all such persons. Now we shall discuss how we can culture or ensure other qualities in the elected members. From the instances of the past we can say, running the government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh from the position of a prime minister or president was not at all a difficult job. The person working in these position in fact gets the assistances of intelligent, educated and experienced personnel at his/her disposal. That make his/her job extremely easy. When a lady with the record of failures in three subjects in the Secondary School Certificate examination can successfully (?) run such a post twice, even a little boy can understand how easy the job is. Well, if a person with that caliber can somehow run the government, definitely honest, intelligent superior-caliber persons would be able to contribute much more.
Once we can establish that for a person there may be little or no financial gain in holding such posts (where the rule would confiscate the illegally-earned properties along with other punishments), we believe, those who strive for these posts for financial interest would be discouraged. Such a situation may attract intelligent, educated and non-greedy type of people to politics.
CHAPTER THREE
PREPARATION FOR THE DESIGN
INTRODUCTION :
Earlier we have discussed how we can discourage dishonest and greedy people from politics by transforming this job as a non-profit making one. After ensuring this we need to formulate mechanism in which only the persons willing to take it as challenge would come. Quite often we have heard the members of the parliament to (i) Cut jokes, (ii) Call bad names, (iii) Use false accusations to demoralize others, (iv) To feel happy to have seen ‘lively debate’ etc.
Can one imagine that the members, who were sent in that extremely costly ‘house’ in order to make policies for solving the problems of the country and her people and to find out solutions along with development alternatives spend time in that way ? If the people can express their hatred for such activities of their representatives, then probably the ‘jokers’ may feel discouraged to go there. The elected leaders, specially the ministers should be interviewed by the journalists on a regular basis. If the “fortune-seeker jokers” with immense love for “lively debate” can be discouraged and suitable environment is created, then there is no reason why patriotic educated persons would not step in politics. Their presence would compel the ‘low-caliber jokers’ to keep away because of the feeling of inferiority complex. The counter argument to this proposition may be, in the past many educated (some even with Ph. D.’s) persons played submissive (your-most-obedient-servant type) role to one less educated prime minister. It happened so because of two reasons :
(01) The lady prime minister was the lone image-bearer of the party and
(02) The associates assembled around her not for any patriotic reason, but for money and other privileges introduced by the founder of this party.
The above instance however, teaches us one thing. For creating interference-free environment in politics “image-bearing persons should be avoided because of their natural advantages of image and using the same for continuing dictatorial rule and collecting fund”. In the past many superior quality leaders could not get appropriate positions in the party because of the ‘dictatorial mentality’ of the above type of persons.
Earlier we have discussed that in case persons working in important jobs (including political parties and elected posts) may be assured of government’s help for accidental incidents and at the same time, brought under accountability in points of wealth-accumulation, then honest people may feel attracted to this noble job. However, there may be one exception. Let one Mr. X is elected in a position (say, parliament member, minister etc.) and leaves the same after 5 years. The anti-corruption department checked his wealth-statement and found it satisfactory. Does that indicate that the man did not accept any gratification ? The answer is “No”. Because it might so happen that this person accepted huge gratification in the name of giving jobs, tenders, business, licensee etc. and then spent the sum for his party’s activities or deposited in “foundations” where he was a stake-holder. So, in order to keep the political activists honest we need to further ensure that :
(01) The cost of maintaining the political party shall be minimum. The parties would have to maintain all accounts and to keep those open for examination by the party members and appropriate government authorities.
(02) No member of the party shall act as stake-holder in any sort of ‘foundation’.
FINDING OUT SUITABLE LEADERS :
The above discussion has revealed how we can find out the most appropriate persons (political leaders) for the most important job (ruling a nation) of the country. The preconditions of creation of such leaders are :
(i) The government must be accountable to the elected political leaders (i.e. their families must be given adequate compensation in case of accident or sad demise).
(ii) The elected political leaders shall be accountable to the government (i.e. they must submit wealth statements before joining, annually and then after their terms are over, where irregularities would be paid with severe punishment).
(iii) They must not bear any image that may create ‘image for dictatorial rule in the party’. Even though it is expected that the sons/daughters of dedicated political leaders would be equally or more dedicated to nation’s interest, in practice we have seen numerous deviations.
(iv) They must not be the stake-holders in any “foundation” or similar organizations. We have been compelled to make such comments because of our recent and bitter experiences.
Even after ensuring all these conditions, it won’t be possible to get sweet fruits unless the formation of the political party is easy, transparent, hazard-free and its formation and maintenance are inexpensive. These however, may be ensured through meticulously designed systems in points of:
(01) Registration of the party,
(02) Party’s structure
(03) Party’s formation and
(04) Maintenance of accounts
(01) REGISTRATION OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES :
The Election Commission is now formulating the process of registering the political parties and various established parties with records of big failure are expressing their comments. We suggest that in place of doing that the EC should
introduce (in fact, sell) an intelligently designed Registration Form and Registration procedure all by themselves and ask the interested people to use those. The Form should be extremely easy and inexpensive such that only a few like-minded people can make use of those at affordable cost. If such a system can be introduced, then by all possibilities, the common people would utilize this opportunity before the big parties could arrive at decisions. Through this procedure those willing to participate in national politics should be asked to registrar chapters of political parties in any of the following four levels :
(01) National (capital),
(02) Division,
(03) District and
(04) Upazilla or Thana.
The same form can be used in all the four levels. Since it is not possible for the common people to form the country-wide party at the initial stage, they may be asked to register their chapter in the three local levels (i.e. excepting the National level). In doing so they would not have to mention the name of the party. The Registering authorities would give them a temporary Code name. Such a name may be, say,
03-DHA-BAR(01). It means the chapter is a District level chapter (indicated by 03), it is under Dhaka division (DHA), name of the district is Barisal (BAR) and it is the 01 (i.e. First) chapter registered under this category.
In the same way, another name, say,
04-RAJ-RAJ-PUT(07) means, it is a Thana level chapter (04), it is under Rajshahi division (RAJ), name of the district is Rajshahi (RAJ), name of Thana is Putia (PUT) and it is the seventh (07) chapter registered under this category.
The Election Commission may allow certain time, say three months for registering the lower level chapters. After this time they may give one month
time for registration at the national level. Please allow me to explain why we have suggested registration of the central one at the end. At present the EC is continuing discussion with the established political parties and they are taking upper hands for obvious reasons. If the people are asked to registrar chapters at lower levels, if the form is cheap and the registration process is easy, then there is every possibility that the common people who did not participate in politics earlier would utilize the opportunity. Such a practice would altogether jeopardize the previous ‘calculations’ of the old and established political parties. Earlier, the political parties used to fix up everything by themselves at the central level and then forced their associates (or workers) at lower levels to swallow those. If this system is introduced, the political party would have to give importance to those at the lower levels. After the registrations at three levels are over, it will be the time for registration at the central level. What would happen in such a case are :
(a) The established parties would have to look for registered chapters at lower levels, where there will be a scope for both the stake-holders to evaluate one another.
(b) Some of the chapters would discuss among themselves and may form altogether new parties.
In order to registrar a party at the national level, one would need the name of the party, its principles and objectives. It can annex chapters at other levels only after they have accepted their principles and objectives. We know some established political parties are now bargaining with the EC and some of them are even threatening to boycott the election. If the common people register the lower level chapters first, then that would compel them to participate in election. Alternately, their boycott would not hamper our election.
CHAPTER FOUR
TOOLS FOR ELECTION
INTRODUCTION :
At present Bangladesh Election Commission is working for holding general election in the country. For this purpose they are devising systems and taking new programs, the first one of which is the preparation of voter list. In addition they are having discussions with the established political parties. It seems as if they are thinking of finalizing the “tools for election” on the basis of such discussions. It is known to all that that in Bangladesh all the political parties have proved their inefficiency. In view of the same the caretaker government on many occasions has declared their intension to incorporate fresh people in this arena. But strangely we have not noticed any serious endeavor on their part to incorporate fresh brains. The present program of EC in finalizing things as per discussion with the established political parties may result in disaster because of a number of reasons. Some of these are :
(i) The EC’s ‘extreme honor and care’ for the established parties would make the parties to think that they are extremely important in this program. Naturally they would endeavor to squeeze out optimum benefit from the EC.
(ii) The EC’s discussion regarding various instruments and tools of election with such parties may create golden opportunity to infuse their ‘motivated’ ideas.
(iii) When the parties would realize that the EC cannot hold the election without their endorsement they may raise unnecessary, complicated and unsolvable issues in order to waste time and thus to push the EC to the dead end.
(iv) Whatever logical and appropriate provisions the EC may fix, it is almost sure that the political parties would not agree to those not because those are bad, but because they are aware that their “difference of opinion” would elevate their state of bargain.
(v) The finalization of the tools of election by discussion with the political parties may result in provisions that might ensure their return to power.
In such a situation the most intelligent job for the EC is to incorporate fresh people and to introduce mechanism in which such people may feel safe to come. If the EC can ensure that then the political parties would realize that their bargaining tendency or non-acceptability would make them to ‘miss the big train’.
Now we shall present samples of a few “Election tools” that we believe, are capable of attracting fresh and educated people. These are :
(01) PARTY’S REGISTRATION,
(02) PARTY’S STRUCTURE,
(03) PARTY’S FORMATION and
(04) FUND PROCUREMENT.
(01) PARTY’S REGISTRATION :
We present hereunder a sample Registration for the purpose of registration of the political parties :
APPLICATION FORM FOR REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTY
Chapter : National(01) / Divisional (02) / District (03) / Thana (04)
01. NAME OF PARTY : …………………… ……. …….. ………. ……….. …………
Or temporary Code name : ……………………………………..
(Applicable in case of Division, District and Thana levels)
02. PRINCIPLES : ……. Nos. (Applicable for the National Chapter only. These will be applicable to the subordinate chapters after annexation. Total 05 to 10 Principles to be enclosed as Annexure – A)
03. OBJECTIVES : ……. Nos. (Applicable for the National Chapter only. These will be applicable to the subordinate chapters after annexation. Total 10 to 20 Principles to be enclosed as Annexure – B)
04. MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE : ………… Nos.
(Limit : National 80 -100. Divisional 50 -70. District 40-60. Thana 30 – 50. The list with posts to be enclosed as Annexure – C)
05. MEMBERS OF THE WORKING COMMITTEE : ………… Nos.
(Limit : National 70-80. Divisional 60 -70. District 50-60. Thana 40 – 50. The list with posts to be enclosed as Annexure – D)
06. ENTRY FEE AND MONTHLY CONTRIBUTION FOR THE MEMBERS :
(i) Members of the Central committee :
(a) Entry fee : Taka ………….
(Limit : Central 4000-5000, Divisional 2000-3000, District 1000-2000, Thana-Maximum 500 )
(b) Monthly contribution : Taka ………….
(Limit : Central 400-500, Divisional 200-300, District 100-200, Thana-Maximum 50 )
(ii) Members of Working Committee :
(a) Entry fee Taka ………….
(Limit : Central 3000-4000, Divisional 1000-2000, District 500-1000, Thana-Maximum 400 )
(b) Monthly contribution Taka ………….
(Limit : Central 300-400, Divisional 150-250, District 50-150, Thana-Maximum 40 )
07. CONTRIBUTION FROM SUPPORTERS AND COMMON PEOPLE :
(i) Contribution from supporters : Taka ……….
(Limit max.: Central 250, Divisional 200, District 150, Thana - 100, maximum two times a year)
(ii) Contribution from the common people : Taka …………
(Limit max. : Central 50, Divisional 40, District 30, Thana- 20, maximum once a year)
08. CURRICULUM VITAE OF THE MEMBERS (containing following information):
(01) Name. (02) Photograph (03) National Identity Number, (04) Father’s name, (05) Mother’s name, (06) Date of birth, (07) Permanent address with phone no., (08) Present address with phone no., (09) Marital status with names and dates of birth of children, (10) Educational qualification, (11) Present profession, (12) Past profession(s), (13) Previous political affiliations, if any. (14) Affidavit.
AFFIDAVIT (sample) :
I, the undersigned do hereby affirm that all information stated above are true to my knowledge.
(i) I affirm that in my past life I was never a loan-defaulter in any financial institution, given punishment for any criminal offense or discharged from service for inefficiency or corruption.
(ii) I authorize the authorities to disclose the above information for public viewing and verification. I understand that in case any of challenge, the authorities would invite me to clarify the situation, in which case either I shall defend myself or withdraw my membership.
(iii) I understand that my party with be abide by written constitution. In case I discover any deviation, I deserve the right to take the defaulter to court of law.
(Affidavits are to be enclosed as Annexure – E )
(02) PARTY’S STRUCTURE :
The number of posts in various committees has been mentioned earlier. The structure indicating the number of office-bearers will be as per following schedule :
(a) STRUCTURE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE : (There will not be any single president of the party). Members of the Presidium - 1/%, Secretary – 2%, Treasurer 2 nos. Other positions shall be decided by the chapter .
(b) STRUCTURE OF THE WORKING COMMITTEE : Members of the Presidium - 1/%, Secretary – 2%, Treasurer 2 nos. Other positions shall be decided by the chapter.
(c) FIRST TIME FORMATION OF THE COMMITTEES : The various chapters have to apply for registration showing the full-fledged Central and Working committees. Since there would not be the scope of election within this short time, the like-minded people would choose the members and their positions as per their conveniences. The EC would register such chapters if other conditions are fulfilled. After registration the Central committee shall work for two years and the Working Committees, one year. Later however, all the committees shall work for two years, such that the election of the Central committees will be held in the odd years and that of the Working committees, in the even years.
(d) FORMATION OF THE SUBSEQUENT COMMITTEES : The subsequent committees will to be formed by ballot votes given by the members. The time of election, voters, election procedure of these committees are given hereunder.
(03) PARTY’S FORMATION (sample):
The process in which committees at various levels will be formed has been shown hereunder.
(i) CENTRAL COMMITTEE :
(a) National Chapter : Time : Odd Year, December month. Election : Through ballot votes by the members of the National chapter and postal votes by the members of the Division, District and Thana chapters.
(b) Divisional Chapter : Time : Odd year, November month. Election : Through ballot vote by the Divisional chapter and postal votes by the members of the District and Thana chapters.
(c) District Central Committee : Time : Odd year, October month. Election : Through ballot votes by the District committee members and postal votes by the members of the Thana chapters.
(d) Thana Central Committee : Time : Odd year, September month. Election : Through ballot votes by the committee members of this chapter.
(ii) WORKING COMMITTEE :
Time of election : The elections will be held in the National, Divisional, District and Thana chapters exactly in the above manner in the even years.
Voters : Only the members of the respective working committees would act as voters.
CHAPTER FIVE
RETAINING THE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY
FINANCING THE POLITICAL PARTIES :
In any democratic country the question of financing the political parties is extremely important. It needs a lot of money to run a party. Ideologically speaking, the supporters of the party should bear the cost of the party. But in practice it happens differently. The ethical and moral qualities of the people of this world are not that high as to inspire them to fund the country’s political parties without any apparent benefit. There may be several options to finance the political parties. These are :
(i) THE GOVERNMENT MAY FINANCE THE PARTIES.
(ii) THE PARTIES MAY BE ALLOWED TO COLLECT FUND FROM THE PEOPLE.
(iii) ARRANGEMENTS MAY BE MADE TO MINIMIZE THE COST OF POLITICAL ACTIVITIES.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS TYPES OF FUNDING :
We shall discuss the first two options of funding along with their advantages and disadvantages.
(I) THE GOVERNMENT FUNDS THE POLITICAL PARTIES : This system is already in practice in the countries with fascist or Socialist countries. Even though democracy is absent in the socialist countries, in order to prove the existence of some sort of “democracy” these countries at times use some mock parties. In all cases the government fund is used for bearing the cost of the parties. There is no reason to include the Socialist countries in the domain of democracy. However, even in the democratic countries at times tyrants (mostly army generals with blessings from USA) grab political power and then introduce new
political parties. They allow other parties to compete in the election. Even though these parties need to bear their costs, the huge cost of the party formed by the government is borne by the government. The names of some tyrants and their countries may be mentioned here :
(a) Pakistan – Ayub Khan (inventor of Basic democracy) and AKM Mosharraf blessed and backed by USA.
(b) Bangladesh – Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad blessed and backed by USA.
(c) Indonesia : President Sukarno (inventor of Guided Democracy), election manipulation engineered by USA.
(ii) THE PARTIES ARE ALLOWED TO COLLECT FUND : If the political parties are allowed to collect fund without any control from the government politics turns to a good business. Naturally money-hungry and less educated persons rush in this arena and drive out the sincere, honest, educated and polite ones. In case of collecting money the parties usually do not collect money from the common people. They believe this might disclose their fund position and may displease the common people. So, they collect fund from limited number of rich people or firms. In such case they enter into negotiation and agree to give them ‘business’ or ‘privilege’ if elected.
FUNDING PHENOMENON IN BANGLADESH :
It may be interesting to see the above phenomenon as was practiced in Bangladesh during 1975-2006.
(a) The political parties used to collect money saying, they would give bigger business if elected. Since it was not always known which party would win, quite often the big businessmen used to give money to all the potential parties either expecting business or apprehending enmity.
(b) The ruling political party used to collect money in lieu of giving business or assuring “peaceful business” amidst turmoil. In this case the party created chaotic situation either through their musclemen or by nourishing the hoodlums.
In Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad used to collect money mostly from foreign countries or foreign companies by giving them privileges. Ershad’s KAFCO case is a notable example of how a national leader can harm the interest of the nation for selfish gain.
Now we shall cite some examples of fund collection as practiced during Khaleda’s and Hasina’s regimes.
KHALEDA ZIA : Her party used to collect money from foreign and local farms at the highest level where her sons and relatives played crucial role. She allowed her party workers to collect and grab money in order to keep them satisfied. She allowed her party leaders to continue monopolistic border business with India. Since she assured the businessmen ‘peaceful environment in chaotic situation’, she was in need of continuing chaos either by her party’s musclemen or patronizing the local hoodlums.
Consequences : The above activities brought for her blessings from two powerful countries, USA and India. It resulted in increase of price of commodities and services. It helped to create turmoil inside the country and turned the life of the common people miserable.
SHEIKH HASINA : Her party used to collect money mostly from local farms at the highest level where relatives and party leaders played crucial role. Party workers however, were not allowed to collect money. There was less border business with India.
Consequences : Booty collection helped to increase the price of commodities and services. India got no reason to be satisfied, where as USA continued hostility to see this party in power. They could not forget that this party materialized the liberation of this country by foiling their conspiracy and hostile activities. There was no ‘booty-collection’ in lieu of assuring peace. Life and living was comparatively peaceful (excepting periodic attacks of the terrorists using the name of Islam).
WHAT LEADS TO THE ILLEGAL COLLECTION OF FUND ?
Democracy is a system where the people elect a party, and not a person. For convenience of administration one person takes the leadership and act as their leader of the group. So, norms say, whenever this person would loose the confidence of the party, he would loose that position and another person would take the lead. However, this natural phenomenon did not work in Bangladesh during the regimes of Khaleda and Hasina. In their parties both Khaleda and Hasina used to enjoy extremely high and privileged positions for their inheritance or image. Also, so far as is known, the parties’ funds were managed by these two ladies and their relatives. In such a situation there was no possibility of changing them from that position in persuasion of the spirit of democracy. As soon their positions were established like the Himalayas, the big businessmen knew whom to satisfy. In case there was a probability of change, would the businessmen give booties so easily ? Or would the powerful President of a country get the scope to make telephone call to the ruler of a tiny country and to request him for giving business to certain firms or persons ? The above discussion indicates why an “all-powerful” and constant leader of the ruling party is so harmful for democracy. Now, we shall discuss the situation of democracy in USA.
DEMOCRACY IN USA : A CRITICAL APPRAISAL :
The discussion prove that an “all-powerful” and constant leader of the ruling party cannot ensure democracy and hence the country’s interest. It also prove why the spirit of democracy is missing in the ‘presidential form of democracy’. In USA the “all-powerful” and constant leader of the elected (popular) party is known as the President. This man’s position, power, influence and activities have created the widest scope for his party to collect booty from the companies and firms not only for their internal business, but also for those outside USA. The President of USA is in a position to decide which company would supply ammunitions, war-time supplies and even relief-goods in Iraq. He may call the rulers of other countries and suggest which firm should be given the job.
USA is an extremely resourceful country with less population and no religious biasness. If planned intelligently, their government could easily assure adequate wealth and peaceful life and living for each and every citizen of this great nation. But what happened in reality ? They have food problems, jobless situations, high crime-rate and many other negative aspects. Quote : “More than 1.3 million people do not have adequate food in New York city” – New York city coalition Against Hunger (AFP, Samakal, Nov. 23, 07). Majority of the people who lost homesteads in Katrina are yet to be rehabilitated. There is no dearth of jobless men in USA.
While such is the scenario inside the country, USA has wasted and still is wasting billions of dollars for the cause of creating wars and in the name of rehabilitation works outside USA. Numerous US companies are utilizing the services of experts and the common people from outside USA in the name of outsourcing (since it is helpful for their business) by depriving the US citizens. Even though the “all-powerful” president of the elected party remains above all criticisms for his anti-patriotic jobs, a popular leader cannot do that. Probably this is the greatest weakness of USA’s constitution that makes its own people
and the people outside USA to enormously suffer at the cost of affluence of their rich men (capitalists). If one carefully analyses the fiscal policy of the US government one may be amazed to see that the government spends a lot of time and energy in devising ways in order to “TRANSFER PUBLIC FUND TO THE HANDS OF THE CAPITALISTS”. Creating wars or war-like situations outside USA does in no way help USA or her population. But it creates golden opportunity for their government to transfer tax-payers’ money to the capitalists, who are the manufacturers of war items.
POLLUTERS OF DEMOCRACY :
Democracy was invented long ago in the Greek city states. Since then there have been lots of improvement in the system of election, selection of candidature, duties and responsibilities of the electoral college, privileges attitudes and tasks of the candidates etc. In view of its apparent failures in many countries it may be opined that still today it could not achieve perfection. Many dictators have endeavored to declare their “own system” in the name of democracy. Those who endeavor to sell out their own systems in the name of democracy or endeavor to pollute democracy belong to the following groups :
(i) Religious tyrant,
(ii) War tyrant,
(iii) Capital tyrant,
(iv) Image tyrants etc.
The claim of the Socialist countries to have democracy was never accepted by the intelligent people. We may cite few examples:
(i) RELIGIOUS TYRANT : The religious leaders in fact continue tyranny by interfering with human rights through religious doctrines. By using this privilege the religious chiefs themselves turn to dictators in the religious countries. The bad news is there is little hope for the Gulf
countries to become democratic and the good news is, Nepal, the one time religious country is gaining potentiality to become democratic.
(ii) WAR TYRANT : The practice of the generals to continue as dictators in the name of democracy is known all over the world. Some of them have invented peculiar varieties, (For example : Sukarno invented “Guided Democracy”, Ayub Khan, “Basic Democracy” etc. ), where as most others pollute the system of election.
(iii) CAPITAL TYRANT : Taking the scope of big cost in the election the US tyrants have foiled the spirit of democracy. They nominate and manage to elect only their selected person for the post of the “all-powerful president”, such that this single man may ensure their financial interests at home and abroad. The Presidential form of democracy is best suited for such a purpose.
(iv) IMAGE TYRANT : As of today the parliamentary form of democracy is the best type of democracy. But the spirit of democracy may vanish in this system also due to two main reasons : (01) When the system of election is polluted and (02) When the leader of the popular party attains unquestionable authorities due to ‘image’. In such case the leader can act as the “all-powerful president” of the presidential form of democracy. This phenomenon took place in Bangladesh during Khaleda and Hasina’s regimes.
PROBLEMS WITH THE CURRENT FORM OF PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY :
It has been already mentioned that till today democracy could not achieve perfection. As days go on there happens numerous changes in the familial, societal, regional and global issue. Naturally Democracy, the people’s system of administrative need to change itself to accommodate, address and take care of the new situations. The democracy that worked so well earlier in the Greek city-states do not work that efficiently in the contemporary world. We may find out
some reasons for it. Some of the significant differences in between the “city-level” and “country-level” elections may be mentioned here.
COMPARISON BETWEEN ELECTION SYSTEMS IN THE “CITY-STATE ” AND “REPUBLIC” :
(a) In the city states the citizens used to meet in a public place and elect their representatives in a direct process through secret or ballot votes. The same is not possible in case of republics with large territories. So, an indirect system of election had to be devised.
(b) The nature of jobs in a city was rather ‘tiny and simple’ in comparison with that of a country. So, what a single person in a city-state could perform is not possible in a country. Naturally the ‘single person’ of the city-state should be replaced by the “group of leaders of the popular party”, and not by a single man. We may find that the spirit of democracy was lost wherever there was any endeavor to replace the ‘group’ by a ‘person’. For example we may mention the cases of President of USA and image bearing Prime Ministers of Bangladesh.
(c) When the elected head lost confidence of the voters (as evident through subsequent elections) in the city states, it was easy for them to re-elect another person. For practical reasons this is not possible to follow in the countries. So, the way the system of direct vote of the city has been replaced by indirect vote in the country, the system of ‘anytime replacement of the head” (‘single person’ in case of city state and ‘group of elected leaders’ in case of countries) should have been replaced by a suitable system. In the parliamentary system, whenever there is ‘voting’ in the parliament on a popular issue, the “absence of majority votes in favor of the ruling party” leads to its fall. Such a system makes the elected government extremely weak.
(d) Even though basically defective, the Presidential system has been able to somehow overcome this weakness. The system followed in the
parliamentary system is defective because, the party elected by the people by majority votes cannot fall only because a few members have changed allegiance. Such a system compels the top leaders to keep on gratifying their members such that they may not turn hostile.
SUGGESTIONS FOR REMOVAL OF WEAKNESS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY :
The defects in the parliamentary system may be amended in the following way :
(i) It may be decided that a party elected by the majority of votes must run the government for the stipulated period (say, 4 or 5 years).
(ii) The voting in the parliament on various issues should be held through ballots, where majority vote would decide only the fate of the proposal and not that of the ruling government. The members of various parties can express their free will on the voting-matters only if this situation is ensured. In the present system the ‘whips’ need to keep on whipping respective members such that they do not caste vote in other ways. Such a situation is sure to generate rivalry and enmity among the members.
(iii) In case the ruling party is indulged in anti-people activities, the people can easily pay back in the following election.
(iv) In the city state the leader was elected on the basis of majority of votes, where as in the republics the party wins by the number of members. Since various constituencies vary in physical parameter, number of voters, number of candidates etc. the above system of finding our popular party is erroneous and it bears no ethics and logic.
FURTHER MODIFICATION OF PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY :
In the present parliamentary system of democracy there are scopes of improvement. We mention some proposals to this effect.
(01) FINDING OUT PEOPLE’S MANDATE FROM THE VOTE COUNTS : The votes counted in various centers of the constituencies should be use to find out the following : (i) Total votes secured by various political parties, (ii) Percent of total casted votes secured by each candidate in his constituency.
(02) DETERMINING THE WINNING PARTY : The political party securing highest vote should be declared winner in the election and be invited to form the government and to rule for the stipulated period. Such a system would stop the hazardous situations and complexities arising out of ‘lack of majority members’, ‘need for coalition’, ‘uncertainty in the question of coalition’ etc.
(03) DETERMINING THE NUMBER OF WINNING MEMBERS : The number of winning members in various parties should be declared on the basis of total votes secured by each party. For example, there were 30 millions registered voters and 25 millions casted their votes. Now we shall consider this 25 million as 100%. Let the five parties A, B, C, D and E secure notes in the following order : A – 20%, B – 15%, C – 22%, D – 35% and E – 08%. It is obvious that party D was the winner. Now say there are 300 seats in the parliament. So, the number of seats for these parties will be :
D – 105 (35%), C – 66 (22%),, A – 60 (20%), B – 45 (15%), E – 24 (08%).
(04) FINDING OUT THE WINNER MEMBERS: The winning members in various parties would be declared on the basis of the highest votes secured by such members. For example, the X party has secured 5% votes and say, 5 seats. Say, their top 8 candidates have secured votes in various constituencies in the following sequences : 45%, 34%, 32%, 30%, 29%, 25%, 23% and 20%. Naturally the top 5 candidates will be elected.
CHAPTER SIX
MINIMIZING THE COST OF POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
INTRODUCTION :
From our previous discussions it is evident how crucial the question of funding of the political parties is. We are aware that due to a defective system of financing the political parties, the government of USA is after activities like :
(i) Creation of war,
(ii) Expensive and longtime rehabilitation works in the wart-trodden countries,
(iii) Creation of war-like situations,
(iv) Creating unfair business opportunities for their companies in the outside world etc.
Unless we can formulate a very intelligent system of this finance, we find no hope of improvement of our political system. The government of the country cannot finance such parties because in that case politics may turn to a profitable business. On the other hand, if the political parties are allowed to collect fund from the people or companies (like what happens in USA), the political parties would act business organizations. In such a state, they would poke their long noses secretly or openly, in the government business, resulting in what is now happening in the USA.
In the above situation the best way to ensure fair game in politics is to “ensure mechanism in which the political parties may continue activities at minimum cost, mostly from self finance”. In addition to ensuring the mechanism, the government may extend help by subsidizing their various programs and activities. In this part of this article we shall discuss how the cost of politics can be minimized in the context of Bangladesh.
In view of the (i) large area of the constituencies, (ii) high cost of materials and services and (iii) limited resources of the honest persons in Bangladesh, it seems
that in spite of honest endeavor on the part of the government, the cost of running a political party and compete in elections might be quite high. In such a state, the government may allow the parties to collect fund from their supporters and the common people in limited quantity. They however should in no way be allowed to collect fund from firms, companies or organizations.
It is obvious that in case there is no honest system of fund collection of the parties and the cost of election turns quite high because of “mutual competition” the political parties would naturally collect fund in unethical means, including “negotiation with the foreign countries or agents for mutual interest”. If the common people disagree to help the political parties on their own, then the government should enlighten the people by informing that that : By contributing to the political parties :
(i) The voters help to keep the cost of commodities and services at minimum level (In case the parties collect money from the businessmen, then they would increase the price of commodities and services at their sweet wil).
(ii) The voters help to establish moral and ethical control over the party workers (They attain the right to ask, “Why do you waste our money ?, or why should we spend our money for your party ?”) This process would lead the political parties to feel obliged to the common p
November 30th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
I request all to give kind reading to my article.
Prof. Bijon B. Sarma
November 30th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
CHAPTER SIX
MINIMIZING THE COST OF POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
INTRODUCTION :
From our previous discussions it is evident how crucial the question of funding of the political parties is. We are aware that due to a defective system of financing the political parties, the government of USA is after activities like :
(i) Creation of war,
(ii) Expensive and longtime rehabilitation works in the wart-trodden countries,
(iii) Creation of war-like situations,
(iv) Creating unfair business opportunities for their companies in the outside world etc.
Unless we can formulate a very intelligent system of this finance, we find no hope of improvement of our political system. The government of the country cannot finance such parties because in that case politics may turn to a profitable business. On the other hand, if the political parties are allowed to collect fund from the people or companies (like what happens in USA), the political parties would act business organizations. In such a state, they would poke their long noses secretly or openly, in the government business, resulting in what is now happening in the USA.
In the above situation the best way to ensure fair game in politics is to “ensure mechanism in which the political parties may continue activities at minimum cost, mostly from self finance”. In addition to ensuring the mechanism, the government may extend help by subsidizing their various programs and activities. In this part of this article we shall discuss how the cost of politics can be minimized in the context of Bangladesh.
In view of the (i) large area of the constituencies, (ii) high cost of materials and services and (iii) limited resources of the honest persons in Bangladesh, it seems
that in spite of honest endeavor on the part of the government, the cost of running a political party and compete in elections might be quite high. In such a state, the government may allow the parties to collect fund from their supporters and the common people in limited quantity. They however should in no way be allowed to collect fund from firms, companies or organizations.
It is obvious that in case there is no honest system of fund collection of the parties and the cost of election turns quite high because of “mutual competition” the political parties would naturally collect fund in unethical means, including “negotiation with the foreign countries or agents for mutual interest”. If the common people disagree to help the political parties on their own, then the government should enlighten the people by informing that that : By contributing to the political parties :
(i) The voters help to keep the cost of commodities and services at minimum level (In case the parties collect money from the businessmen, then they would increase the price of commodities and services at their sweet wil).
(ii) The voters help to establish moral and ethical control over the party workers (They attain the right to ask, “Why do you waste our money ?, or why should we spend our money for your party ?”) This process would lead the political parties to feel obliged to the common people, who would act as their fund-provider. This is the reverse situation of the “forceful booty collection” adopted by Khaleda Zia’s party.
(iii) The voters indirectly discourage the political parties to collect fund from foreign countries (This is done mostly in the name of religion or with the secret negotiation of giving business).
HOW TO KEEP THE COST MINIMUM :
The cost of politics and election may be lessened by adopting the following measures :
(01) LESS COST OF MATERIALS FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITIES : Politics is a group activity including longtime discussion and exchange of ideas. Earlier a lot of money needed to be spent in transport and assembly for such purposes. Now lots of ‘meetings’ can be avoided by exchanging ideas though e-mail, telephone, mobi-phone, tele-conference etc. So, the government should ask the political parties to utilize these opportunities in order to lessen the cost. Quite often the members of political chapters at various levels (like, Thana, District, Division and National levels) need to elect members in other chapters. The cost for such voting can be minimized by introducing postal vote, mobi-confirmed message or vote etc.
The government may give subside in order to keep the price and fees of registration and election materials required by the political parties.
(02) GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES FOR MEETING AND MEETING PLACES : The government may allocate small office rooms for limited number of political parties. The public halls may be allocated to these parties at cost price as per predetermined schedule. The authorities at Thana, District, Division and National levels may allocate hall rooms (Public hall, auditorium etc.) and open spaces for holding meeting to the top few parties at reduced rate. The spaces may be allocated in cyclic order, like, First weekend of the month – A parity, Second weekend – B party and so on. The government may also arrange common projection meetings for the candidates from all the parties.
(03) ALLOWING PARTIES TO COLLECT FUND FROM THE PEOPLE : We have already mentioned in the previous section of this article that, at the time of registration the political parties would mention the amount they would ask for contributions from their members and supporters. In addition, the government may allow limited number of parties (determined on the basis of votes secured
in the national election) to collect fund from the common people. In this case the rate will be nominal and it would be allowed only once a year.
PATRONIZATION BY THE GOVERNMENT :
In order to prove that politics is a honorable job and should be continued throughout the year (not only few months preceding the election) the government may assign responsibilities of some national celebrations on selected political parties. This may be done in the following manners :
(01) The responsibility of the celebration of national days (like : Independence day, Victory day, Bengali New Year etc.) my be given on the top few political parties in a cyclic order. A committee formed with government personnel and members of one of the parties may finalize the program and arrange everything by themselves. The money allocated by the government for this purpose may be given to the combined committee. Such activity on one hand would create scope for the political parties to go near the public and prove their worth. On the other, it would create scope for the people to compare the activities of various parties. After the voters witness several such celebrations, they would be able to evaluate the parties in view of their efficiency, sincerity and honesty.
(02) The office bearers of the top-few parties may be issued identity cards by the election authorities. Such identity cards may enable the holder to get preference in getting transport ticket, appointment with the government official etc.
WHICH PARTY CAN GET FINANCE :
It is not possible for the people to finance all the parties when their numbers are many. So, the government should keep the number within a reasonable limit. For Bangladesh this number may be maximum 4. The parties may be
selected after the countrywide election, where the four parties wining maximum votes, (but not less than 1% of the total casted votes) may be given this status. However, there may arise problems in selecting such parties before any national election.
DETERMING TOP PARTIES BEFORE ELECTION :
It may be possible to find out the top (say) 4 parties even before the country-wide general election if the registration procedure for the political parties explained in the earlier section of this article is followed. In that case the government would allocate certain points at the following rate (say) for the registered chapters :
(i) Divisional Chapter – 50 points each,
(ii) District Chapter – 25 points each
(iii) Thana Chapter – 10 points each.
The intending people would be given a certain time (say, three months) to register their chapters at the 3 levels mentioned above. Then they would be asked to register the National Chapter. At this time the National chapter would be required to enclose documents of all the lower-level registered chapters willing to annex with them. The government can then easily evaluate the parties by counting points.
MANAGEMENT OF FUND BY THE POLITICAL PARTIES :
The government would introduce stringent rules and regulations in managing the fund of the political parties. All contributions and fees would be collected through receipts in which the payee’s names and details would be carefully recorded. Non-named and low-priced coupon may be used for collecting contributions from the common people. The political parties would re required to open accounts and to make large the transactions through the bank. These accounts will be audited every year.
ELIGIBILITY TO COMPETE IN THE NATIONAL ELECTION :
(01) EXPERIENCE IN PUBLIC WORKS AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES : In seeking nomination in the national election the members would need minimum two years’ experience in any Central committee or four years’ in Steering committee. It is not possible to apply this regulation at the initial stage. So, at the initial stage the parties may be allowed to choose their candidates in the way they feel convenient.
(02) PERSONAL HONESTY : The intending member would be required to publish detail accounts of his immovable properties and assets along with the bank accounts of his and wife’s direct relatives (i.e. son, daughter and their spouse, his and his wife’s brother, sister and their spouse etc.). Also he has to disclose the names of his and wife’s close relatives serving in the high ranking government posts. It has already been mentioned that the successful candidates would have to give statement of properties and assets again, within two months of his dismissal from or tenure of the post.
CONCLUSION :
As the title indicates, this part of the article was aimed at showing how the cost of political activities and election can be minimized. We have proposed an “entire package” starting from Registration of the political parties, Fees, Collection of contributions to Process of monitoring parties’ activities, Process of monitoring party members’ and candidate’s honesty etc. We believe, in case the proposal is taken for consideration the entire proposal should be considered. Trying it partially may not bring any fruit.
Those who think that Democracy is the best tool for political administration are correct. But those who think Democracy has already achieved its “best form” are wrong. The reality is, as a system Democracy needs to be modified in various countries on the basis of :
(i) Mentality, socio-economic condition and cultural needs and aspirations of the people,
(ii) Potentialities and constraints of the country,
(iii) Probable interferences from outside etc.
In point of Democracy Bangladesh is a mysterious country. It took birth from a country (Pakistan) that never saw and still do not see the same in their land. The country started its mission for democracy in 1971. Then the mission got polluted in the hands of two generals (1975-1990) who foiled people’s will with their privileges of (i) Foreign patronization, (ii) Army’s support and (iii) their accessibility to government fund. When it was known that no fair election is possible in the hands of such tyrants, the people protested. As a result of this protest a new concept known as “caretaker government” was invented.
The concept of Care-taker government worked so well in 1991, that many democratic countries thought of accepting this model in their respective countries. But then the ruling government polluted it first time in 1996 and then finally, in 2006. At this time it was crystal clear that this concept cannot work when there are “money hungry and submissive to foreign agents” type of people in the government. In 2007, a new type of caretaker government has been formed and it is still working. This government is not only thinking of reforming the system of election, but also of reforming various associated links. This approach should be considered wise, because as a matter of fact it is not possible to achieve the sweet fruit of democracy without the reformation of the associated links. In this connection, in the running article we have stressed upon the need for superior-quality people for the success of democracy. In order to encourage such people we have suggested among others, measures for making political activities and election extremely low-cost. We believe the measures proposed here will be of immense help in inviting superior-quality
men in the arena of politics. In preparing the proposed measures attention has been paid to ensure the following :
(01) The common people should become conscious about politics, which plays crucial and supreme roles in determining the conditions of their lives and that of their country.
(02) Political activities should be performed at nominal cost.
(03) Political activities should be continued throughout the year and not only on the year of election.
(04) A fair competition should be created among the political parties in points of pleasing the common people by charging less for the party, spending less for political activities and showing more efficiency.
(05) The political parties should remain accountable to the common people to the extent where they can ask, “not you, but we are the masters of your party because we provide the cost”.
In the present context of Bangladesh, if the above proposal is accepted, then it may be seen that the cost of registering a Chapter at Thana level by like-minded persons may not be over Taka 2000.00 (Application form -Tk 100.00, Registration Fee -Tk. 1000.00 and other ancillary cost, say Tk.900.00). That of the District or Division may rise up to Taka 5000.00 or so. We believe the like-minded people with no hunger for money but mission to serve the country can afford to spend this little sum. In that case they might feel interested to register such Chapters. It has been mentioned that in case of the lower 3 levels they can register without the name of the party. Finally, the parties formed at the highest level (National chapter) may come to annex such chapters in their own interest.
If the money hungry businessmen discover that (i) there is little or no monetary gain in this job, (ii) it involves risk because of declaration of wealth, (iii) his inadequacy of knowledge may be exposed in the environment of educated and intelligent people etc. then they may feel discouraged to politics.
On the other hand, if the superior quality people find that :
(i) The cost of politics is within their reach,
(ii) The fellow members in the parliament are not below standard,
(iii) There is no mechanism in the party in which he may be asked to give enormous sum of money to feed the party etc.,
Then, and then only they may feel interested in politics.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCLUSION
BANGLADESH, THE MYSTERIOUS COUNTRY :
Bangladesh with her about 130 million people accommodating in a relatively small land measuring 1,45,570 Sq. miles, frequently visited by natural calamities and often agitated by man-made hazards has can rightly be called the “mysterious country”. Some of its reasons are the following :
(i) Where as no Muslim country, (including her mother country, Pakistan) ever got a taste of democracy, this land strived hard and then enjoyed it for a little while. And whenever there happened any case of pollution of democracy by the local tyrants (patronized by the foreign agents), her people fought, shed blood and sacrificed lives relentlessly for regaining the same.
(ii) In 1971 the country achieved liberation with the help of two secular countries, India and USSR. In this fight their enemies were : Pakistan (Muslim country with one of the world’s best fighting force), USA (world’s mightiest and one of the wealthiest country) and China (strong and resourceful country of Eurasia).
(iii) Even though Islam is said to be against performing arts (as might be evident from the scenario in the gulf countries), Muslim populated Bangladesh is extremely rich in performing arts. One principal means in which the war-stricken country of 1971 became successful in achieving sympathy of the common people all over the globe (including USA, but not China) was through performing arts.
(iv) Frequently visited by natural disasters and hazards, many a times Bangladesh refuted the ill-predictions made by reputed scholars and world-renowned medias.
In the contemporary world, such strong desire of the followers of Islam may be considered as a great exception. When the system of election for democracy was polluted by Zia-Ershad gang during 1975-1990, Bangladesh invented the concept of the “Care-taker government”. When this concept was polluted by Khaleda in 2006, the pro-democracy people staged their hardest fight to foil her conspiracy. Its natural outcome was the “Extended Caretaker Government (ECTG)”. This government is now after inventing a mechanism of fair election. The country’s previous experience says, this time also some foreign agents would play their usual to role to foil their noble desire. Such agents may be considered quite dreadful specially when we know that as a mother Bangladesh produces both “Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman” and “Mirjafar-Nizami”.
AN EARNEST APPEAL :
In this age of science and technology we enjoy seeing every notable incident taking place at the remotest corner of the world both in color and sound. There was no way for the people of this world to forget the anger, the fight and the sacrifice the workers of the Bangladesh Awami League in December ’06 and January ’07 when Khaleda’s police were beating them with long bamboos supplied by China and the Muslim terrorists, firing at them with weapons supplied by the Muslim countries. As an ordinary citizen of Bangladesh I earnestly appeal to those who had the scope to see those ‘heart-rendering scenes” to request to their respective government not to extend their dirty hands against these democracy-loving peoples.
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE EXTENDED CARETAKER GOVERNMENT :
While the responsibility of the previous caretaker governments was to hold election only, that of the present Extended Caretaker Government is quite extensive. The ECTG wants to create an environment in which free and fair election can be held for the formation of a pro-people democratic government. They have rightly discovered that they cannot ensure such a situation without
restructuring some of the government machineries and mechanism and they are now doing those. Due to their unimaginable courage and determination we came to know :
(i) How corrupt and dishonest some (if not all) of our top politicians were,
(ii) No one including the top-level tyrants are over the rules of law,
(iii) How important the job of confiscation of illegally-earned wealth is for establishing ‘forceful honesty’ among the citizens, etc.
WHAT ABOUT ELECTION ?
Something can be said well only when it ends well. Even though all the positive steps taken by the ECTG deserve commendation, the only one act for which the ECTG will be evaluated and remembered with honor or hatred in the coming days is, how they conduct the election. As of today we don’t find any intelligent step, work-plan or mechanism by the Election Commission of the ECTG. On the other hand, what they are doing may be called just the usual jobs. Some of these jobs (like preparing voter-list) have gained some sort of modernism. But ECTG cannot claim much credit for it, because it happened so mainly because of the ever increasing accessibility to modern technology. In other sectors however, the ECTG is proceeding in the most conventional way. For example, they are holding discussions with the political parties, all of whom demonstrated worst type of corruption, failure and foolishness in the past. The ECTG is asking for their suggestions. Naturally the political parties took it as a scope to bargain and they are after getting their programs and projects materialized by the ECTG. We find no wonder in such reactions of the political parties.
However, the above attitude of the Election Commission is against the mission and motto of the ECTG, because the ECTG gave us the idea that the political parties are corrupt. In fact the daring activities the ECTG did by arresting the top
leaders of the political parties and publicly exposing their corruptions gave the people the same idea. Now, after doing all these, when the Election Commission asks for their suggestions regarding how to register the parties, how to arrange election etc., we become utterly confused and dismayed to think, what they are after. Are they after brining one of those parties in power ? What ‘great benefit’ of the country and the people would they serve by bringing one of them to power again ? Is it to ensure “ a general pardon for their leaders serving jail term” and start their previous activities anew ? (It should be borne in mind that as soon a new party is in power, it is empowered to do almost anything including removal of any or all the previous laws and imposing new ones). Yes, it is true that during the reign of the present ECTG we have seen the practice of the excellent rule of “confiscation of illegally-earned wealth”. But who can give the assurance that this rule would not be waived as soon any of the present parties rise to power ? The ECTG has no scope to feel contented to think that they have done a great job until they can create a mechanism that would retain most, if not all, of their hard-earned positive acts in the coming days.
WHY THE ELECTION COMMISSION IS ACTING IN THIS WAY ?
When the ECTG has taught us to know and we have already known that our political parties are corrupt, what made our Election Commission to flatter the political parties ? Are they afraid that in case the political parties disagree to participate in the election then they would fall in great problem ? I don’t know whether they think in this way or not, but the reality is, they would fall in real problem in case the parties disagree to participate. And once the parties can feel the weaknesses of the election commission, they would start bargaining and since the objective of all these political parties are the same (earning money and fame in the name of politics), there is every possibility that they might form coalition for achieving better bargaining status.
ABOUT THE ESSENTIALITY OF THE PRESENT POLITICAL PARTIES :
The existing political parties shall remain essential for the Election Commission until and unless fresh people enter in this arena. In the environment where there will be wide scope of earning illegal wealth (probably the rule of confiscating illegally-earned wealth shall be waived by the winning party within six months after election), where less-educated and inferior-caliber people run supreme, where the party would ask for money from the elected members, where the hoodlums would offer their help in lieu of money etc., there is absolutely no hope for better-quality, educated, superior-caliber and honest people to enter in politics. Naturally, in case the ECTG and the election commission want to see a total change of the environment that previous corrupt political parties are efficient to create, they would have to invent a mechanism to invite such people.
MECHANISM FOR INVITING FRESH PEOPLE :
We have already discussed that better quality people may join politics only if :
(i) The cost of the activities of the political parties is minimized,
(ii) The cost of election is drastically reduced,
(iii) Politics is transformed into a day to day activity,
(iv) The government incorporates the services of the political parties in the national activities and celebrations,
(v) The accountability of the political parties and the activists are ensured etc.
In the previous sections we have discussed how these can be ensured through a proper registration system. A careful study of the proposed “Registration system” might reveal that in this system a group of say, 60/70 like-minded people can form the chapter of a political platform at Taka 2000.00 to 5,000.00 only. If such a system can be introduced, we are sure good people, other than professional politicians would be interested to enter in politics. In such a
situation, the Election Commission would not have to worry for parties interested to participate in election. It may so happen that the established old political parties may fall behind the race due to the creation of platforms of the non-professional politicians. In such a situation, there is every possibility that the established political parties would lose their bargaining power. If good quality people enter in politics and can somehow kick out the old ‘known-faced party members’, then we can be sure that we shall see the materialization of the dream expressed by the ECTG.
CONCLUSION :
In conclusion I shall add, in any country the politicians are the most important people. In USA the target is to send mid-caliber people to politics such that the businessmen may continue their activities with minimum government interferences. However, the reality is, of all the professionals like Scientists, Engineers, Doctors, Economists, Sociologists etc., the politicians are the most important because they act as the guides for the others. In such a context I have presented a proposal, a mechanism in which the superior quality people may be encouraged and the low-caliber professional-politicians may be discouraged in the sacred arena of politics. I do not claim that this is the only mechanism to invite better-quality people. There may be many others. Also the proposal presented here has got wide scope for betterment. I would request the ECTG and the Election Commission to consider my proposal in the above context. Whether my proposal is accepted or not, I know, in absence of suitable a mechanism capable of discouraging the previous political parties and encouraging the good-quality people, all the hard-earned and marvelous achievements of the ECTG would flow in the drain.
(THE END)
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BANGLADESH NEEDS
FRESH LEADERS AND
METICULOUSLY DESIGNED SYSTEM
PROF. BIJON B. SARMA