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Changing of the guard

Anam A Choudhury
WHEN you're under pressure, there's tendency to be less daring and more prudent, specially when it is in case of a country long plagued by natural disasters, poverty, corruption and violence. Moreover, recent events have shown that politics in this country may have become overwhelmingly toxic. Perhaps caretaker government has become more realistic about the need for concessions as it knows very well that protests and demonstrations are not unusual in the country that has always been quick to take its grievances to the streets.
As the caretaker government lacks democratic credential, naturally it is far less likely to take risks and navigate in the muddy waters of Bangladeshi politics. Perhaps that's why many people think this govern -ment is virtually under siege politically. On the whole, this administration's record now appears, to some, as also of failure and missed opportunities. Others think they may have made some mistakes, but it was all aoout justice, nototherwise.
Most people lament the decline of moral standards in today's society. No party can really attempt to capture the moral high ground in the arena of politics in this country. Campaign led by caretaker government to ensure clean politics and discourage felons seeking elections shown little signs of success. Sadly, reforms that could make our democracy work better are receiving less attention of both the major political parties.
Often, surprisingly, our politicians can be unanimous and very efficient on issues that affect them all, ignoring the social and moral dimensions of the issues in question. But ironically, political elites don't have strong commitment to due process, rule of law or the fundamental rules of democracy.
Bangladesh has long been bedeviled by corruption and scandals and voters have also grown used to criminal charges against politicians. However, there is no reason for pessimism. Democratically elected leaders of many countries are in the same boat. For example, in India out of 540 odd members of parliament, around 100 have been charged with crimes, according to a recent analy- sis made by a New Delhi based think-tank, the Public Affairs Centre. Of these 100, about 60 face serious charges such as rape, murder and kidnapping, let alone kick-backs and bribery.
In Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, despite numerous allegations of corruption and bribery, wasted no time to consolidate his power and became President of Pakistan. Firebrand billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawtra of Thailand was toppled amid allegations of bribery and abuse of power. Until his ouster he ranked among Asia's most popular leaders. In the month of July, 2008, Silvio Berlusconi, the 72-year-old media mogul and another billionaire Prime Minister of Italy, for the third
time since 1994, very shrewdly passed a bill in the Senate and put an end to all criminal proceedings against him. Very wealthy attorney and powerful Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, resigned this month over alleged corruption charges.
In Bangladesh, moral majority sense a lack of choice in politics. Most people reckon that leaders aren't really leading. Posture and mindset of our political leaders perhaps make it difficult for them to learn from past mistakes -- how can they learn from those mistakes if they don't want to admit them?
Neither big party is in any mood to compromise with the other as they silently prepare for the polls The solution lies not in an obstinate repetition of staying the course
policy, but in realizing the gravity of the situation and formulating a policy based on reality to achieve common goals. Partisan politics must be put aside and all considerations given to smooth and early transition to democracy.
Meanwhile, whole world is on the brink of a financial meltdown. Most Westen) nations are on the slippery slope of recession. No country can isolate itself from this problem. Because of higher food and fuel prices, the rich-poor divide has expanded further in Bangladesh. "There's good empirical evidence on the relations between rising levels of inequality and the instability of democracies, the instability of property rights, higher crime and political unrest and lower quality public service", says Professor Robert Wade of the London School ofEconomics.
The increase in incomes and reduction in poverty in many East Asian countries over the last few years have been unprecedented. The leaders of many East Asian countries realized that if they were to close the income gap between themselves and tire other developing countries, they got to close the knowledge and technology gap first and accordingly they designed their education and industrial policies.
Our educational bureaucracies must come to terms with the realities that our education systems arc not producing enough students equipped with the increasingly complex skills being demanded by
the region's industries. Our public universities are not turning out cutting-edge thinkers. The most powerful challenge to our economy comes from the need to develop talents to fuel success. Both China and India turned to Western universities to help them diversify. British and American universities now run joint-venture campuses in China and India.
Students must be equipped not just to find jobs, but to create new jobs as well. We have to enhance our scientific and technical base from the university to the primary school. How can we accomplish that? We can get in to collaborative ventures with foreign institutions to help upgrade our secondary and higher secondary education systems to produce more professional and technically skilled workforce. We are talking about skilled vocational workers, shop-floor technicians, information-technology workers, nurses and paramedics.
We have so many public schools on public land in the heart of our cities and towns. We can relocate them and then allow companies to develop that valuable land As a part ofcomper-ation, we can build better and bigger new schools and colleges in educationally friendly surroundings. Given the present high prices of land in Bangladesh in prime locations, it could be a win-win situation for both property developers and educational institutions.
East Asian economies are moxing from copying foreign products to creating their own. If we want to catch up with the East Asian countries, we must bring social and political change. Disciplined democracy, robust rule of law, independent and reliable judiciary are essential prerequisite for attract -ing Asian and non Asian foreign investment.
The days of poorly educated populist leaders are over in many Asian countries. Believe it or not, 17 to 25 Chinese politburo members are engineers by training and naturally they are obsessed with building modern economy. Such creative focus remains largely alien to our voters and politicians. We hope that new leadership will bear more resemblance to their counterparts in the rest of South East Asia than to their predecessors.
Anam A Choudnury * a former nvestment banker