An excellent, critical analysis of the caretaker
government's approach. - Archana Abedin
--------------
Bangladesh 2007: Destruction without Creation
By Abeer Mustafa
The Progressive Bangladesh, 11 January 2008
http://www.progressivebangladesh.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&Itemid=29
In a bizarre and tragic way, the semi-destroyed Rangs
Building in the heart of Dhaka represents accurately
the accomplishments of Bangladesh's military-led
caretaker government. The characteristic that stood
out most the last one year can be termed generally as
"destruction."
Reader, before you react instinctively, or before you
feel like interjecting with, "well, you have to look
at both sides, consider the pros and cons," et cetera
– bear with me. This is a strong criticism to make as
the government celebrates its first anniversary; but I
also believe that it is a reasonable argument to make.
I will elaborate in three areas.
The Constitution
Unless you're interpreting law as abstract art, the
government is operating beyond its mandate specified
by the Constitution. It is being run formally by ten
advisors and the Chief Advisor and by authority of the
President – and that's about everything that's
constitutional about the government.
The Parliament has not been in session for over ninety
days, and the government has not held elections in
ninety days, which, according to Article 123(3), is
the constitutional reason by which it can exist. Now,
it can be considered that in view of the political
crisis of pre-1/11, political parties and the people
have granted permission for this government to
continue. But from where did that assumption come? Was
there a public poll, a referendum? If you recall, this
argument came from the caretaker government itself,
which publicized that corruption would need to be
tackled before free and fair elections could be held.
But can such permission be extended from ninety days
to two years? The only way it could be done is by
destroying the meaning of the Constitution as a set of
principles by which the nation should be governed.
The destruction of the Constitution by the
quasi-military government has allowed it to consider
the formation of things like a 'national government'
of eminent like-minded citizens or a constitutional
council to revise the Constitution itself to its
liking. It has allowed the government to plan the
holding of local elections first, which a caretaker
government cannot do if it sticks to the Constitution.
The government has not only tinkered with electoral
rules, but sought the army's advice and approval of
such rules, a privilege not given constitutionally to
the army.
Beyond the façade of the civilian government, key
functions for the last year have been run by a set of
committees led by military personnel, the most
prominent of which is the powerful 'National
Coordination Committee' against crimes and corruption.
It has made, and continues to make, political changes,
economic decisions, including large scale purchases
using public funds (most recently planning for a $880
million subway in the capital city), and continues to
pass laws (signed by the President) – none of which is
mandated to a caretaker government under the "routine
tasks" it is supposed to do constitutionally.
Can a caretaker government, or any government,
contravene the Constitution so grossly? Article 7,
titled "Supremacy of the Constitution" clearly forbids
it, as you can read on the left.
The economy
Over the last year a record-breaking economic crisis
has appeared, almost out of nowhere, and the military
government is trying hard to suppress the
dissemination of information about the crisis.
Inflation has been galloping ahead, putting food and
other everyday items beyond the reach of the majority
of the population. In July, 2007 inflation crossed
over 10 percent for the first time in 13 years. By
November 2007, inflation had crossed 11.2 percent – a
17-year record. The biggest increase was in the price
of food, which by January 2008, was increasing by 13.8
percent, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of
Statistics.
The government has blamed all but itself and its
policies for this. First it blamed political
mismanagement of the previous governments, then it
blamed importers and indenters, then unscrupulous
traders and middlemen, and more recently,
international markets. It has entrusted the BDR, a
paramilitary, a key role in food importation and
distribution, and extended it several rounds of
interest-free loans. It put in the feared RAB (Rapid
Action Battalion) to force price controls on traders
and food-sellers. Basically it replaced a market
economy with ill-conceived military tactics, as if we
were fighting a war over food.
The government summarily imprisoned many businessmen
without regard to the businesses and the hundreds of
thousands employed by them. It asked banks to not
transact with blacklisted businesses, without showing
reason why they were blacklisted, thereby introducing
a credit crisis in the country. Out of the blue, it
began to close down jute mills, laying off thousands
of workers in the middle of a food and price crisis,
and over the last year effectively destroying the jute
industry in Bangladesh while similar mills in
neighboring West Bengal continue to thrive.
Arbitrary military tactics do not attract investors.
In the first fiscal year since the caretaker
government took over, foreign investment proposals
dropped precipitously, by 57 percent. What has
increased is aid-dependence, with Western donors
providing both a diplomatic and economic lifeline to
the government. Net foreign aid into Bangladesh
increased tenfold, from $23 million in 2006 to $239
million in 2007. What has stayed unchanged is
Bangladesh's low position in the various economic
indices: Corruption Perceptions Index (Transparency
International), Ease of Doing Business Index
(International Finance Corporation), Index of Economic
Freedom (Heritage Foundation).
Destruction of political leadership
A revealing recent report in The Daily Star, a
mainstream English newspaper, found that the
government's crusade in business as well as in
politics have been aimed at individuals. General
corruption has remained unchanged.
Most in the country know, but won't admit in public,
that a good number of these individuals have been
targeted essentially because various members of the
current government at one point or another held
grudges against them. The half-a-million arrested by
the government essentially represent a political
purge, a plan some call an exit strategy, and some,
less generous, an election engineering strategy. Why
is it election engineering? Because the government has
passed laws to declare ineligible to run for public
office those whom it convicts, in summary courts and
under a suspension of their fundamental rights.
The Rangs symbol
So here we are. After one year, we have a government
that has proven to be adept at destroying legal
institutions, political systems, and markets, but
woefully incapable of creating anything beyond paper
value. When you pass by the Rangs building, think of
it as a telling symbol of the government's tactics and
accomplishments the last year: it targeted things that
need to be destroyed, it did no analysis of
consequences or alternatives, it unleashed its full
force with no due process, and then left the job
undone and much worse off than it was before. At
Rangs, many have lost their jobs, and workers brought
in by the government to destroy the building have lost
their lives. But just how many have been killed as the
building collapsed, that is, what the human costs of
the government's military tactics are – that we will
not know, because of intimidation and suppression.
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