'The new future that has dawned must be made into a reality'

Human rights, freedom of speech, even the right to life had been snatched away. Inflation was at an all-time high. Unemployment was at an all-time high. Rule of law was non-existent. The interim government has a challenging task ahead, reforms are on the table, and hope is in the air.

These observations were made by panelists speaking at a discussion on 'The Monsoon Revolution' - An Agenda for a New Bangladesh'. The event, held yesterday, Tuesday, at a hotel in the capital city, was part of the regular Policy Café organised by Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS).

Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, secretary, Citizens for Good Governance, as well as head of the newly-formed electoral system reform commission, said, "All these days we had been standing on a powder keg, but had no idea when it would explode. The students had started off with a quota reform movement which then transformed into an anti-discrimination movement. After all, discrimination had been taken to an extreme."

In elaborating on the various instances of discrimination, particularly where the students were concerned, he referred to how rape had gone rampant on the Jahangirnagar University campus with a Chhatra League leader literally celebrating his record in rape. In general, students were treated badly, they were herded to "gono rooms" (mass rooms) in the halls where they had to live in suffocating conditions. The bright engineering student Abrar Fahad was killed by Chhatra League goons in BUET. The ruling party's helmet brigade would attack protesting students. This July during the protests and police violence, the killing of Sayed in Rangpur shook everyone to the core. It was a turning point.

"The powder keg turned into an inferno and the prime minister eventually had to flee," Badiul Alam Majumdar continued, adding, "This has brought forward a new opportunity and it depends on each and every one of us to make it succeed." He said the, "The new future that has dawned must be made into a reality."

He also explained that the new commission for electoral reforms had just been formed and would officially start work from 1 October. But they had already started on the ground work. "Our electoral system is broken down, the election commission was partisan and not independent," he said.

Barrister Manzoor Hasan OBE, executive director, Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University, began with reference to the 1991-2006 period when democracy had taken shape, elections had been held every five years. The innovation of the caretaker government up till 2006 had introduced an element of contestation. During the 2006-2008 period of the military-backed caretaker government, a number of new acts were drawn up. There was a lot of enthusiasm and expectations.

Then Awami League won a landslide two-third victory in the 2008 election. "That was the slippery slope," remarked Manzoor Hasan, "By force of their majority, the Awami League government changed the constitution. The number of changes they made resulted in state capture of institutions and the civil society space was contained. There was very little freedom for people to express their views."

Coming to 2004, he said that the will of the people needs to be reflected in the new constitution. He spoke of the need to rewrite the constitution and said this required a citizen's consultation process, then a constituent assembly to ratify the new and modern constitution. Once this task was done, only then could there be an election. "If we wait for the next government to change the constitution, there is no guarantee that they will," he said. He marked the priorities as rule of law and the judiciary.  
He also said that the judiciary needed to be reformed and the electoral system needed to be reformed.

Parvez Karim Abbasi, assistant professor, department of economics, East West University, began by deliberating on the problems in hand. He spoke of the previous government being in denial of the state of the economy, the 'cottage industry' of sycophants. "Our economic growth story was a lie, the poverty figures were a lie, inflation is at a 12-year high, the banking sector is in total chaos, there is a dearth of foreign exchange, the taka is tanking, youth unemployment is on a rise and more," he said.

Speaking about the interim government's ambitious programme of drawing up a white paper on the economy, he said resources are depleted, people are hurting and the GDP will plummet. "The silver lining, though," he said, "is that this is all starting from scratch."

He warned against becoming a B-Team for the World Bank or such institutions. He also referred to India and how it had put all its eggs into one basket by backing the previous regime. He said we must engage with India, but on terms of parity.

Parvez Karim Abbasi, speaking about how to improve the ease of business, said there was no silver bullet, but certainly long term and short term steps needed to be taken. Investing in quality education was vital. Also, keeping business out of politics and eliminating crony capitalism was vital too.

As moderator of the discussion, Shafqat Munir, senior research fellow, BIPSS and head of BCTR, said there were lofty expectations ahead as well as challenges to meet these expectations. But, he added on a positive note, there was now a free environment to speak and this was an opportunity for diverse voices to be heard.

He said it was essential to get to the roots of the existing problems because, "we can't talk about a remedy unless we talk about the diseases. It is time for all of us to stand tall and become one person in tackling the challenges ahead."

The presentations of the panelists was followed by a lively interaction with the audience comprising students who had been part of the movement, former civil and military bureaucrats, diplomats, representatives of international organisations, academics, journalists, members of the civil society and more.