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| Tuesday, 2 March 2004 |
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Bangladesh as a mirror image of S. Asia by Lynn Ockersz
By an interesting co-incidence, a revealing World Bank report on prevailing socio-economic conditions in Bangladesh has come out at a time when a series of opposition-inspired, crippling general strikes has seized the country. News reports said that violence marked the launching of the fourth general strike in a month by Bangladesh's main opposition party, the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed. Scores of opposition activists were apparently held by police in Bangladesh's major cities as they decided to take the issue of forcing another general election on Bangladesh, out on to the streets. The next parliamentary poll is not expected before October 2006. "We will not step down a single day before our term ends. If the opposition wants to force us out by calling strikes, they are pursuing an unachievable mission", Premier Begum Khaleda Zia was quoted saying. For the seasoned South Asia watcher, there should be striking inter-state parallels here. With the possible exception of India, governmental stability, apparently, couldn't be taken for granted in other South Asian states, including, of course, Sri Lanka. A notable feature of this round of nearly South-Asia-wide political unrest is the ample use of extra-parliamentary means to destabilize governments. That is, the principle issues of states are being taken "into the streets" and are being thrashed out "in the open" by opposition political forces. The question that needs to be asked is whether democratic, conflict-resolution fora and governing mechanisms, such as legislatures, are being increasingly viewed as ineffectual by those sections making a bid for power. Are these structures of governance being viewed as superfluous by disaffected parties? Do they stand discredited in the eyes of power contenders? The increasing use of extra-parliamentary, coercive means, such as wild cat strikes, for the weakening of governments and for the seizing of power in increasing South Asian states, might compel the observer to answer these troubling posers in the affirmative but there is more than meets the eye here. What also needs to be significantly factored in are unresolved economic grievances of the majority in South Asian populations and pervasive corruption and misgovernance at almost all levels of polities. In relation to Bangladesh, the just mentioned World Bank report states that "The overall picture remains dominated by poor law and order, corrupt police, corrupt lower courts, and bribery and extortion across the board". It goes without saying that many of these ills are common to most other South Asian states, including Sri Lanka. The increasing presence of these ills in public life, compels popular scepticism on the effectiveness of prevailing governing structures, though "democratic" they may be. For instance, the perception that "big money" could buy some politicians and be a factor in the switching of political loyalties, could devalue legislatures in the popular mind. The tendency, therefore, to settle the issues of the day, "on the streets", or the use of extra-parliamentary methods and coercive tactics in their resolution, should be seen as proof of a crisis of public confidence in what poses off as democratic governance. A fertile seed-bed for social conflict, indeed. |
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