Integrity, accountability, efficiency, everything is almost extinct here

A lot more things can be added to the list of extinct and endangered species. To lengthen the list, one can easily add freedom of speech, fair elections, merit, ethics and much more. And on the flip side, top examples at the moment of those that thrive and flourish are the two retired chiefs of the army and the police force.

All these days we were crying ourselves hoarse about the syndicates. We were so up in arms against the potato, onion and egg syndicates. Sometimes we would speak out loudly and sometimes in a more constrained matter about rice, soybean oil, sugar and chickens. Mutton and beef were out of reach and so off the list.

Despite all the hue and cry, the syndicate-walas were never to be found. They are reportedly beyond reach. Prothom Alo, on 30 May, added two drops of curd to the pure milk of the syndicates. The headlines read: "Four MP's business booms after joining syndicate".

The report said the recruiting agencies of the four members of parliament had sent 7,000 to 8,000 workers to Malaysia. According to the regulations, the cost for sending each person is below 80,000 taka. The good news is that, by virtue of the recruiting agency syndicate, the cost borne by each Malaysia-bound worker was over 500,000 taka!

When the price of eggs shot up from 130 taka a dozen to 150 taka a dozen due to the syndicate, we created an uproar, writing reports and columns, and blabbering away on the TV talk-shows.

Like charging 7 to 8 times higher than the fixed rate in sending the workers overseas, if an egg seller wants to sell eggs at 850 taka to 900 taka a dozen rather than the actual price of 120 taka a dozen, then perhaps we will buy one or two eggs, carefully place them on the table and look at then yearningly while chewing on a dry piece of bread.

The Malaysia migrant syndicate was discovered. Another newspaper first broke the news of Benazir Ahmed's endless wealth. There was a huge commotion and we hope the commotion ultimately leads to punishment. The migration syndicate big bosses haven't gone on retirement. They will all sit in their seats in our great parliament when the budget session begins at the end of the week. They are not likely to retire anytime soon.

In the next parliament election, these syndicate members of parliament may be nominated once again due to their popularity, like the huge popularity of Anwarul Azim. May they continuously prosper while we sit and twiddle our thumbs.

A few observations on endangered or near-extinct matters. A young acquaintance of mine graduated from university, looked around for some days, and then finally went back to live in his village home.

They used to have a two-storey market in the village bazaar near Dhaka. As far as I remember, the shops on the second floor were rented out quite cheaply. The young man enthusiastically decided to set up a kindergarten school on the second floor. According to what he told me over the telephone at the start of the year, there was an association comprising 20 to 25 kindergartens and at every meeting each kindergarten had to pay the association president 1,000 taka. The money would have to be paid to the local education office so that the kindergarten children can get the government textbooks for free.

I have been talking to that young man again recently. He said that he was preparing questions for the half-yearly exam. I stupidly asked, aren't the teachers supposed to draw up the questions, why you? He replied, sir, if I ask the teachers to draw up the questions, they leak out the question papers. I asked, to students of Class 2 and 3? He said, yes sir.

Another story - my childhood friend became a reputed physician. He first worked at a government hospital, retired from there and then became a senior physician in a private hospital. Recently he retired from practice. He went to the private hospital where he worked on some small errand. As he left the hospital, he slipped on the pavement outside and cut his foot. Blood was oozing out profusely. He has quite a long white beard. I didn't hear about this incident then.

A few months later he was recounting the incident to me, "Shahdeen, not a single person came forward to help me. Luckily I fell in front of my own hospital. The hospital guard helped me, took me inside to get treated."

On 29 May 2024, Prothom Alo ran a report that repayment of interest alone on loans will be Tk 1.25 trillion in the coming financial year. From my calculations, I understood that we will have to pay around 3.5 billion taka every day to repay just interest alone on our domestic and foreign debt. That means, around 20 taka a day per head. The infant born today or who is just a month old, or two or five years old, will also have to bear the burden of this interest. Each and every infant of ours is being born with a debt around its neck.

Many are often heard to say, our ethics and morals are lost, have vanished. How did this happen? Those who are carrying out so much development in the country will not like the answer to this question. The answer is loud and clear, and it is democracy that has first and foremost been vanquished. What remains is the ghost of democracy.

First we lost democracy. After democracy was lost, it became a ghost. Accountability followed suit along with freedom of speech. Institutions were weakened. No matter how tightly the throat of the society and the state was grasped and rhetoric of "zero tolerance" was spewed out, the looters turned a deaf ear.

There is very little chance of democracy returning any time soon. Under the existing system, the dominance of the criminals will steadily grow. The South African elections were held on 29 May. From 1994 till date, that is, for the past 30 years, Nelson Mandela's African National Congress Party has won each and every election and remained in power. South Africa's present population is around 60 million, that is, around one-third of our population. Around 25,000 people were murdered last year in that country. Unemployment among the youth there stands at 40 per cent. We are mere minnows next to the corruption of their leaders.

However, from the news of the past few days, it is becoming steadily clearer that the manner in which many government officials, political leaders, businessmen, are growing so mighty and powerful, the people are wanting to flee the country in any way they can, even at a cost of Tk 1.8 to 2 million, to anywhere they can go -- Iran, Turkey, Libya, the Middle East -- just to escape from their clutches. This exodus will accelerate and crime will soar, as long as democracy remains as elusive as a ghost.   

* Shahdeen Malik is a Supreme Court lawyer and teaches law at the University of Asia Pacific