Article with request for publication
HOW "CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS DEPARTMENT"
CAN STRENGTHEN DEMOCRACY
INTRODUCTION :
Democracy, by all means is the best system of political
administration. A peer look at the ill-distribution of the countries'
wealth in the Sheikh administered Gulf countries, or black-dictator
ruled African countries might reveal how superior "democracy" as a
system of administration is. This ideal and noble system, however, is
facing problems in some countries in the recent decades due to
numerous reasons, where the following two are most noteworthy :
(i) CAPITALISTS DISLIKE DEMOCRACY, and
(ii) MONEY HUNGRY LEADERS POLLUTE THE SYSTEM OF ELECTION.
In democratic election there is no efficient and workable system of
collection of fund to be used by the political parties. In my article
on Democracy I have proposed a system of fund collection that might
work honestly and efficiently.
However, even if an efficient system of raising fund for political
activities is ensured, it may not be adequate for disciplining the
dishonest politicians and bureaucrats. However, a tiny organization
titled, say, the "DEPARTMENT OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS" (DCD), however,
can do the miracle.
In the current article I shall discuss details of this organization
and shall request the Caretaker Government of Bangladesh to establish
this department in Bangladesh. We know the present caretaker
government came with a great mission in mind, but then they could not
do much due to their own limitations and hanged situation. Now they
have only a few months to hand over power. Within this short time
they cannot expect do any 'big change'. However, by establishing the
Department of Classified Documents they can solve the most serious
lacking of our democracy. We are sure, this department is capable of
solving many of the problems now being faced by democracy. If
Bangladesh can show success in this field, there is every possibility
that other democratic countries would also follow the suit.
PROBLEMS OF DEMOCRACY :
We have mentioned two major problems of democracy above. Now we shall
discuss those in details ;
(i) CAPITALISTS DISLIKE DEMOCRACY : The big capitalists dislike
democracy and love the dictators. They have discovered that the
dictators or kings can sell, lease or donate any properties to them in
lieu of their selfish interest and they can sign any contract that
might go against the interest of the people. On the other hand, in
the democratic countries the prime ministers need to place those deals
or contracts in the parliament for the endorsement of the members. In
Bangladesh we have seen how KAFCO got natural gas as cheap rate due by
Ershad, the dictator (in disguise of democratic ruler), how coal
mines, gas fields etc. were leased to others by frustrating the
interest of the country's interest and so on. Naturally, the
capitalists (and also some countries) who are after enjoying the
wealth of other nations through unfair means endeavor to foil
democracy.
(ii) MONEY HUNGRY LEADERS POLLUTE THE SYSTEM OF ELECTION : In the
system of Democracy still now there lies a gross deficiency. Election,
which works as the foundation of democracy is an expensive affair for
those who seek elected positions. Naturally only the rich can avail
those opportunities. In such case democratic election may again pave
the way for the kings (affluent persons) to be elected. However, what
is expected in democracy is win of the superior type of people (in
points of knowledge, intelligence, feeling for the people etc.). Only
the political parties may create situation for the election of such
persons. But where would they get money ? The system of democracy
failed to spell out any honest system of collecting this fund.
Naturally the parties adopt all sorts of unfair means for it. Quite
often the tyrant dictators collect money from the government and the
people in unscrupulous means. In Bangladesh, Ziaur Rahman, an ex-army
officer, grabbed power by utilizing the privilege sanctioned to the
armed forces, then collected fund from the government and the people
for forming his political party, BNP (earlier it was known by other
names), arranged election and thus colored himself as "democratically
elected leader", which he never was. Similar was the case with Ershad,
another ex-army officer, who formed Jatyo Party and endeavored to
color himself as 'elected'. Even though the world knows Bangladesh to
have been running under democracy from 1975 to 1990, the country was
in fact ruled by ex-army officers who manipulated the election process
to get the result in their favor. During their regime, only their
parties had the opportunity to collect or grab fund.
In 1990, after Ershad was ousted from power, Mrs. Ziaur Rahman
inherited vast fund collected by her husband for the party. Taking
that privilege and her husband's image, she with the qualification and
efficiency inadequate for being a village member, stood for the
highest political post of Bangladesh. What were the consequences ?
After Zia and Ershad, she and her party (BNP) committed the greatest
and by all means, irreparable damage to Bangladesh.
It is high time for us to investigate to see how inefficient persons
damage the very spirit of the democracy.
HOW DO THE DISHONEST LEADERS COLLECT MONEY ?
Let us take the example from Bangladesh. A certain political party say
'X' has come to power. Let us say, it is basically dishonest.
Naturally we can say that this party came to power because of their
money that they used for accumulating muscle men around. After being
in power, they need a lot of money to feed these muscle men
(miscreants). Also they know, in case they cannot come to power in the
following election, then they would be penalized and taken to
justice by the next government. In such a situation their natural
tendency is to collect as much money as possible for themselves, for
the party, for election and to feed the ever increasing number of
muscle men. They adopt numerous ways for collecting fund. We mention
here three major types :
(a) They may like to sell or lease the counties' properties to
nationals or foreigners AT LOWER PRICE OR RATE, on condition that the
gaining parties would give them kickback.
(b) They may like to give contracts to NON-QUALIFIED PARTIES, on
condition that the gaining parties would give them kickback.
(c) They may like to give contacts and business to the genuine and
deserving parties AT ENHANCED RATE, on condition that the gaining
parties would give them kickback from the additional profit.
In doing the above jobs the dishonest person would need to persuade
the bureaucrats at lower strata to prepare some fraudulent papers,
statements, analysis etc. in order to arrive at the desired 'unfair'
decision. At this stage the bureaucrats at the lower levels are
compelled to do the same either for 'gratification' or for the "fear
of losing the job". When the secretary says, "Prepare the papers in
this way because the prime minister wants this to happen like this",
probably no honest bureaucrat can violate his order. Since we know
that our ministers (and even the president) adopt this policy, at
times the bureaucrats at higher levels give such "orders" to those at
lower levels pretending that" it came from above", even when the
minister did not say anything.
The above reality has created the following evil situations in the country :
(a) The country becomes loser due to unfair deals with the local or
foreign organizations.
(b) The lower-level bureaucrats are compelled to adopt unfair means.
In case there is a change in the government and malpractices are
investigated, the victims suffer from the evil consequences, where as
the upper-level bureaucrats and the ministers remain beyond reach.
(c) Some higher-level bureaucrats get the scope to become rich with
"dishonestly-earned" money.
(d) The ministers get the scope of earning huge money for themselves
and the party, which they are free to use in the following elections.
It may seem strange to know that all the above anomalies may be
stopped by taking a small and inexpensive measure and it is
"Establishing a Department of the Classified Documents".
DEPARTMENT OF THE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS (DCD) :
The Department of Classified Department (DCD) is a very small, but
extremely important department. It would work with a few staff (not
over 25), with 2/3 small office rooms and a large strong room. It
would work directly under the President of the country. The job to be
done by this department are the following :
(a) To keep the common people informed about the role and activities
of this department. They would do this by public advertisements in
various medias and by sending letters.
(b) To receive packets from the senders, to registrar those in the
registrar and then to store in the strong room. Documents older than
25 years may be destroyed or sent to archives.
(c) The documents received and registered by this department shall be
declassified only at the request of the sender or his legal heir.
How would it be possible to resist the malpractices of the politicians
and bureaucrats through the DCD ? The matter is extremely simple. This
department would keep informed the common people and the bureaucrats
that in case a person is approached by his higher authorities to take
any step that goes against ethics, norms, interest of the country or
of the mass people, the person should write down details of the
incident along with the names of those who approached him, what they
compelled him to do, what he actually did etc. in his own interest.
Then he may also collect related documents, if any (like copies of
note sheet, slip, recorded conversation etc.). He would seal the
documents in a suitable-size envelope. Then he would write down his
name, address, date of birth and signature on this envelope. He would
also enclose his photograph to it. Then he would enclose the whole
thing in a bigger envelope, write down the address and send to DCD,
working under the President of the country.
Now say, after a gross injustice, unfairness or fraudulence is
discovered in any wing of the government after a few years of its
occurrence, or may be during the time of the following government, and
the investigating authorities find he involvement of an innocent
victim (say, a bureaucrat), the victim may immediately visit the DCD
and request the Department of the Classified Documents to declassify
the documents he sent to them on such and such date. The DCD would
then open up the outer envelope and check the signature and
photograph. If satisfied, they would declassify the documents. After
studying those the investigating authorities might know who were
responsible to what extent for the fraudulent activities and how far
the victim was compelled to do the same.
HOW CAN SUCH A SMALL MEASURE SOLVE THE GREAT PROBLEM ?
A department comprising of "a few staff (not over 25), with 2/3 small
office rooms and a large strong room" is a tiny matter on the part of
a country. Now let us see the potentiality of this "tiny department"
in eradicating criminal activities and disciplining the corrupt
bureaucrats and politicians.
Say, the DCD is already working in the country. Now, say, a minister
or a secretary intends his juniors to manipulate or manufacture some
papers in their selfish interest. In order to do it, this person must
have to write down or say something to this junior. (At present, I
mean to say, when there is no DCD, there is no organization that can
offer any 'victim of the situation' him any help. The victim knows
that he can inform the anti-corruption department, but he may not dare
to do that because he knows that even the anti-corruption department
works under a minister belonging to the ruling political government).
When DCD has been established and working in the country, he may feel
safe because he knows that the information he would send there would
not be declassified unless and until he himself requests for the same.
It is obvious that he would send a request only when he would feel
safe, may be during the regime of another political government.
As for the minister or the Secretary, this person knows that he may
request the lower executives to prepare documents a per his will. In
doing so any person in the chain may collect copies of documents and
send to the DCD. After the regime of this party is over, he may be
caught red-handed due to the declassification of those documents. Thus
the DCD is capable of :
(01) Acting as great protection for the 'Victims' at the lower strata and
(02) Posing threat like the 'Sword of punishment' for those in the upper strata.
CONCLUSION :
As of today the concept of the Department of Classified Documents
(DCD) exists nowhere, except in the imagination of this author. But
this author is hopeful about its great potentiality and probable
success in reducing corruption. Please note, this DCD has no
similarity or relevance with the procedure of classification and
declassification (after 30 years) of documents, followed by the
government of the United States of America. The author believes, the
proposed DCD is capable of disciplining the political leaders, who
through their dishonesty pollute democracy. The political leaders in
reality are the foundation stones for Democracy. Naturally, we need
honest leaders for better and stronger Democracy. When we do not get
such leaders in the country we need to invent mechanism through which
we can turn them honest. The DCD is one such mechanism.
REQUEST TO HE CARETAKER GOVERNMENT OF BANGLADESH : We know the
caretaker government came with a big mission. Then the government
could not do much because of many reasons including their own fault
and limitations, changed national and international situations etc.
Now they have only a few months to leave. The establishment of the
Department of Classified Documents (DCD) under the office of the
President is a tiny and less expensive project they can do without
pains. Hence I would request them to take active measures in this
regard.
PROF. BIJON B. SARMA, HEAD, ARCHITECTURE DISCIPLINE, KHULNA
UNIVERSITY, KHULNA, BANGLADESH.