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I wouldn't start from here

Anam A. Choudhury
WHEN considering our pre-election political mess, with the Al and the BNP locking horns, it would be helpful to remember the story of the Irish traveler who asked a farmer for the quickest way to Dublin. Came the reply: "I wouldn't start from here." Nobody knows where to start to put an end to this political stalemate. At the heart of this mess is the issue of caretaker government. The BNP reckons that without caretaker government in force during the forthcoming election, the AL government will take full advantage of incumbency and mobilise massive state resources to boost the campaign and get re-elected.
On the other hand, some BNP activists reckon the AL will never agree to reintroduce the caretaker system as it is apparently riding a tiger, and if it loses the tiger will ensure their demise. Moreover, incumbent governments rarely plan for their own downfall. All the same, the well of mistrust on both sides runs deep. Bangladesh can ill afford this gridlock. Political deadlock may trigger unrest on the streets. This country has been down that road before, with disastrous results. No one has much confidence that our fractious political leaders can actually come to a negotiated settlement .What happens if they prove incapable of coming to a consensus? Such a scenario will at least precipitate" a functional anarchy" at a time of great promise for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has the misfortune, in terms of its public image, of being one of the world's most corrupt economies. Shame was the first response of many people in our country at the news that the World Bank had cancelled the proposed credit for the Padma Bridge project due to allegations of sleaze.
This decision caught many political observers, and even some members of the governing AL party, off guard. This is because of the government's inability to see a situation in terms of what is good for the country vs. what is good for an individual. It has tarnished Bangladesh's image around the world.
The government’s failure to start building the Padma Bridge and other infrastructures to match the growth of the country will play strongly in the next election. It is unfortunate that in Bangladesh both the major parties take power after free and fair democratic elections only to subvert democ-
racy; and it is no surprise that in election after election the electorate has shown its anger and dissatisfaction by voting out incumbents routinely for the last two decades. The opposition party uses the government's failure, and public anger, to win the election and virtually slide into office by default.
It is rather pleasant to think that the Arab world is gradually embracing democracy and bidding farewell to the arms and dictatorship; but the danger is that some extremist forces will exploit democratic processes to gain power. Islamist parties do well whenever democratic elections are held.
In Tunisia, Ennahda, a once outlawed Islamist party, will lead an assembly to draw up the coun-
Our good fortune is that our constitution was founded on secularist principles and our secularised society makes faith based politics difficult. We can't imagine racial conflicts like those that still divide the African countries and religious strife such as that afflicts certain states of India from time to time.
try's new constitution. Party leader Rachid Ghannouchi, who for decades lived in exile, is known to be hostile to the Western ideas and thinking -- for him democracy is un-Islamic.
Egypt's newly elected President Mahammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, another hardliner, pledged to rescind the Camp David peace treaty of 1997 signed by Israel and Egypt. It seems very likely that new regime will harden its stance towards Israel and may not accept continuing occupation of the Palestinian territories conquered in 1967. Arab’s mightiest country might drift out of America's orbit and may seek new friends in the region. In such a case, the Middle East may turn into a political minefield for the US and its allies. It is a situation that will make Iordan, Morocco and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
very nervous. The US needs the Middle East to be stable and democratic. The alternative is collapsing countries awash with terrorists and extremists groups.
America is trying to promote peace and secular democracy in the Muslim world, but Muslim leaders are keen to incorporate Islam into democracy, and critics fear that harsher tenets of Sharia law may creep into it in the process.
Malaysia's Sharia courts operate in parallel with civilian ones and deal mostly with moral offences. Muslims caught drinking or philandering face fines or caning. Not to speak of Pakistan, a country that received more than $20 billion in US aid over the past decade but gave safe haven to Osama bin Laden for years.
Our good fortune is that our constitution was founded on secularist principles and our secularised society makes faith based politics difficult. We can't imagine racial conflicts like those that still divide the African countries and religious strife such as that afflicts certain states of India from time to time. Yet for all the anger about this government's inability to learn from missteps, incompetence, alleged corruption and its misguided attempt to lash out at the media for reminding it of its failure, progressives and alarmists reckon that a vote for the BNP/Jammat alliance is akin to hiring al-Qaeda to take care of airport security. People of Bangladesh and the West Bengal traditionally overstate the danger of faith based politics.
Surprisingly, BJP leader L.K. Advani is trying to build bridges with secular non-Congress players and also trying to convince Shiv Sena and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that to win the next general election the National Democratic Alliance's PM candidate must be a secular one. That’s why Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is often mentioned as a possible NDA PM candidate and future prime minister of India.
1 think there is a deep cynicism among our politicians about the universality of democracy and freedom. It is as if they’ve forgotten their own experience and lengths to which they had suffered to defend democracy and freedom.
Now the whole nation is looking to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to show them the starting point. The writer is a former Investment Banker.