The long cherished. hard won and eagerly awaited general election Is only 24 days away. The nation is looking forward to a healthy, well fought, free and fair election. Much to the credit of the Ejection Commission and all the political parties we hnvc a 16-point code of conduct to regulate -the behaviour of all those concerned during the coming polls. It Is a step In the right direction and a heartening development that many thought would not ultimately come about.

However not all our steps can be so termed. Increasingly wc arc witnessing a campaign Ing trend, especially among the two leading political par Iles that can be termed as polities of discrediting the other* or belter still, "politics of resurrection the past". Yes, political parties must do every thing to expose the weaknesses of their opponents, fo cub on issues where their post lion has a better public appeal and make capital out of the other fellows' shortcomings This Is In the nature of campaigning and makes for good politics.

However when campaigning is a rehash of Innuendos, exaggeration. half truths and oversimplifications then we have reasons to be worried.

At the moment according to .BNP. if Awami League Is voted to power then our indepen dcnce will be In danger. Awami League says that If BNP forms the next government then wc will have aulocfticy. So as voters. according to the two foremost political parties of the day. wc have a choice between endangering our independence or losing our democracy. What bright prospects wc arc holding out to our people ? Arc these the rewards that they should be offered for having struggled to oust a corrupt regime? Dreadful imagery of people and dogs

eating out of the same dust bin Is being invoked In the public mind -by one party. Including that of the famous or infamous girl In the fishing net'. The other party secs no difference between the rule of Ershad and that of Zlaur Rahman. What can wc expect the general public to learn from all this ? As Awami League will find nothing good In the regime of President Zia and as the BNP will see nothing but hooliganism, mismanagement and corruption In the AL rule, then Is It unrealistic to assume that the people might conclude that both of them arc bad and that we should look elsewhere for national leadership? Can wc not Imagine the devastating consequence of such public disenchantment ? Therefore stop, for God's sake, being so taken up by the exigencies of electioneering. Do not throw facts to the wind or Interpret them only to suit the party position and parade personal prejudices as undeniable facts.

What wc are witnessing is agitational politics spilling over Into agitational campaigning — meaning that It Is overly simplistic and fundamentally negative. The message Is "vole for me because the other fellow is bad". Absent here Is any reference to how good 1 am or my commitment to public service. An essential feature of such campaigning is that events arc placed before the public divorced from their historical contexts. Issues arc discussed de-linkcd from the complex web of national and international factors that affect them and a social reality Is so

over-SimpHfkd that ft fails to serve as an example that wc can learn from

Left out In this muddle is responsible campaigning. Campaigning that educates the public and not confuses them farther; one that restores pco pies faith in the Institution of election. When our people participated In the anil-Ershad movement they were quite satisfied with vague promises of a better future. For. their main focus was on ousting Ershad. But now the lime has come when our people want and must know what plans and programmes our leaders hove

made for our future so that wc. as an electorate, can make the most Judicious choice.

There is. In today's campaigning, too much talk of the past and loo little of the future. One possible explanation for it could be that talk of the past is cheap, and that of the future Is difficult. But II is on what the various political parties arc going to do in the future that should determine who wc should support. As I understand, so far only one real Issue has emerged at the political level. The issue of a parliamentary or presidential form of government. The two types of governments arc not our Inventions. There arc highly successful democratic countries who arc practicing cither of these two forms. The debate here should be. not how good they arc but which suits us better. given our socio-economic and political traditions. But In-

sl< id of improving public un-dcr-i^nd1ng of the und< rlylng tss1K s. wc arc having what Is an emotion charged, vitriolic attack by the proponents of one system on the other. Both the AL and the BNP arc citing the failures of their opponent s governments as the failures of the systems that they represented Ershad s corruption was not Intrinsic to the presidential form of government nor was AL government s klxirteomings a feature of parliamentary system. The two systems, and how they were practiced, arc two separate Issues and should be discussed

as such.

Uk debate on the form of government Is too Important to be conducted In the present fashion It cannot be imagined that In a country where literacy rate Is only 29 per cent, a mcanlnglful discussion on the subject cun be had through mass rallies. Instead both parties should organise discussion of constitutional experts and hold public debates. Including on television, on the related merits and demerits of the two systems as to our specific needs.

On economic issues the two parlies' posilion Is not radically different. The BNP has come out fully behind market economy, to which Al. has also expressed support. AL wants to Improve the efficiency of the nationalised sector to which BNP in not averse. Both parties have, ruled out further national (satIon. As to their commit

meat to agricultural output. induslrtaNoalton. cducattop. health etc. their respective positions are not loo different

This brings me to the all Important issue of cooperation between AL and BNP In the future development of the country. By all accounts, economic development of Bangladesh will require far more ingenuity, energy, resourcefulness, and drive than was required to oust Ershad— Itself a formidable task It has been stated over and over again that no one party or group ean really galvanise the nation towards a collective mass effort which to what to needed to breakaway from the vicious cycle of poverty.

Experiences show that for a democracy to function properly there must be a working cooperation between the gov ernment and the opposition If it Is true for other countries, it to more so for Bangladesh Because of the enormity and diverse nature of our problems, such collaboration between the opposition and the government Is a must. Given their public pronouncements, as discussed earlier, there to the only one major difference between the two leading parties — the form of government they arc. Even here a framework for cooperation had already been worked out during the antl-Er-shad campaign.

Consequently the possibility of a working cooperation between these two parties, as the government and the opposition, to not really far fetched.

Therefore u to tatpordHHhat In the campaign >tagr thepe two parties should not rresdc loo much bitterness and afi mototy thal they And ■ taiptw •ibk to collaborate al a Isler .uqr We are not talking about these two parties forming a government or a roaiillun But of working together for no tlonal development. strcaglk cning demoeraey. mnforrlag public lallh In political partir* and preventing the forces >e reaction and dictatorship (ram gaining ground

BNP has already annourayd its party manifesto Al. to likely to follow suM In a few days let this b», the lurking point In this vital election Let us now haw a campaign based on pro grammes and pokelee. Not vague, populist slogans Bui plana. rcaiiaUe and realtsablr Lct us have a campaign thnt talks about the future posalt>ih Iks and not of the past mk lakes. It might be argued that talking about the past is neves sary to avoid slndtor fokles In th* future But the trend of campaigning Is not one of learning from those mistakes but of rvpcallng them

Together all political par Ues (.specially AL and BNP provide an excellent opportu nlly to establish a functional democracy. With a strong gov ernment and a strong opprisi lion, the country will have a real chance of establishing an accountable, representative and responsible government The seed of It has to b? now; during the eiecttogccr-ing. Too much bitterness, arg mosity and mud-slinging nod. will Inhibit co-operation that the country will need In the future.

Let us stop looking Into the post and focus our attention on to the future. Past only divides The future may heal

f The author (a the Exrcu live Editor of thia paper This cofouni will appear weekly )