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COLUMN

30 million hands beckon you

HABIBULLAH N KARIM
The disquiet around the region from Afghanistan to Thailand presents Bangladesh in a favourable light for the time being. However, with the parliamentary elections coming up at the end of this month followed by local elections in January, the peaceful ambience will certainly be ruffled in the coming days but by how much is anybody's guess.
The business community of the country, however, is earnestly hoping for a peaceful transition of power to an elected government, despite all the conspiracy theories making the rounds.
For the next government, economic development, at all levels, must be the paramount agenda. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that symbolised the beginning of a new world order defined solely by an open market regime, Bangladesh has been continuously tapped as the country about to embark on an economic takeoff by economic observers from around the globe such as the late World Bank economist Mahbub ul Haq's HDI projections to US investment banks Goldman Sachs' 'N-11' and J P Morgan's 'Frontier Five'. All these positive prognostications have gradually rubbed off on the economic planners on the home front who of late have been vigorously advocating the vision of graduating from a least developed country to a middle-income country within the next decade or so. But getting there will not happen automatically despite strong economic growth in the last 10 years. There arc many potholes along the path to economic prosperity for our nation of 15 crore people and navigating safely through this as a nation will
require a hard-knuckled 'capitano' with a cool head at the helm of affairs.
For starters, 'El Capitano' of the next government must pick his/her team with the same nonpartisan spirit that president-elect of the USA Barack Obama has shown after his landslide win last month. What is at stake is not only the future of the political parties but also the institution of democracy itself and the long-unfulfilled economic aspirations of the common people.
Bangladesh is truly at cross-
roads in its history’ as a landmass and a nation. Geographically, Bangladesh's borders are being redefined as I write this, not by foreign encroachers, but by far more potent an enemy, an unseen one, namely global warming. Facing this nemesis will require much more than setting up a climate-change fund to do cosmetic damage-control to the ecology and drowning landmass of the country. Up to 20 percent of the little land that we have may be lost to rising sea levels by 2050, a time when a child born today will be
only 42 years old. The human and economic proportions of this unfolding tragedy is so enormous that it will require the top executives of the state to look beyond their folds and bring together all the people, all the national experts and all well-wishers of the country as a cohesive force to chalk out and execute a well-heeled economic security strategy over several decades.
As a nation our belief in democracy after a hiatus of two years under caretaker government and our resolve to sustain
economic growth in the face of recessionary pressures in the G-8 nations that account for more 80 percent of our exports, will be tested in the coming days. The political as well as business culture of maximising individual gains, keeping a blind eye on the collective good of the nation, must change for safeguarding the 'commons' such as the receding landmass, fast-depleting natural resources and ill-served masses. The late ecologist Garrett Hardin's the tragedy of the commons' is suddenly upon us both ecologically and socially. For those who may not be familiar with Garrett Hardin, it was him that popularised the game theory that even if individuals make rational choices for maximising gains, the common resources may suffer causing a long-term loss to all. His parables of multiple cattle herders using a common pasture for grazing and of multiple fishermen using the same fishing grounds for livelihood have become classic examples for 'the tragedy of the commons'.
The trade and Industry leaders of the country, the 70 million plus workers of the country and the rest of the population who arc the leaders and workers in-waiting are all looking forward to a prudent, quick-thinking and action-oriented administration that can mobilise the whole nation in addressing our economic woes in an united manner. We can only pray 30 million hands directed at the heavens will not go in vain.
The writer is the president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and can be reached athnkanm@gmail com.