The four-party coalition government of Khaleda Zia had been in power at the time. The 14-party alliance was in a movement aimed at toppling the government. They were joined by Jatiya Party and a number of other parties. They formed the "mahajote" of "grand alliance". Their continuous boycott had rendered the Jatiya Sangsad (national parliament) ineffective. That is the drama.
One party comes to power and the other one wants its downfall, stays away from parliament. Remaining absent from parliament for 90 days at a stretch would cancel one's membership of parliament automatically. But they are a clever lot! They rejoin parliament just before 90 days are complete, show their countenance and then stage another walkout. They get to have their cake and eat it too. They retain their membership, collect their allowances and benefits. This game of musical chairs continues incessantly.
Back then we noticed some civil society initiatives. A flashback reveals who had said what. We are a forgetful nation. That is why it is necessary to jog one's memory at times.
It was 20 March 2006. Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) had organised Nagorik Sanglap or Citizens Dialogue in Dhaka. Professor Rehman Sobhan presided. One of the speakers at the dialogue was the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, Professor Muhammad Yunus. In his written speech off 'Movement for a qualified candidate', he said, "If corrupt and unacceptable candidates enter the parliament, then corruption will increase to such an extreme height in the next term that unrest and violence will take on mammoth proportions. We have to prepare now if corrupt and unqualified candidates are to be prevented from joining the parliament. We have very little time.
"Where will we get qualified candidates? The politicians will not nominate candidates according to our wishes. As in the past, this time too the election will be held on the force of money and muscle. How to save ourselves from this?
"The election will not be meaningful if we cannot field qualified candidates. Corrupt persons will become candidates and we will vote for them out of party allegiance -- that cannot happen."
On 4 January 2007, Prothom Alo organised a roundtable discussion. Professor Wahiuddin Mahmud was one of the discussants. At one point in this talk he said, "The manner in which there is a polarisation of the two opposing alliances nowadays, can this at all be called an ultimate resolution of ideals? Or is this prevailing political conflict an outward manifestation of the corruption and the commercialisation of politics, the conflict of cronyism? If a sharing of ill-gotten wealth is the main driving force of our power politics, if politics is considered a source of income by a huge number of party activists, then it is only natural that they will fight to death to grab power or not to relinquish power.
Prothom Alo arranged another roundtable on 20 January 2007. This was nine days after the 1/11 takeover. One of the discussants was Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain. He said, "I feel that all the tasks that the political parties did not do or did not have the will to do, should be carried out now, and then the election held. If it takes even six months or a year, or even over year, it must be done. Because after this, even if the politicians have the will, they will be unable to do so. It would be a betrayal of the people to hold the election before the reforms required to consolidate democracy."
Many others had many important things to say at that discussion. I only quoted from three select persons because they are in the interim government and are conscious of their responsibilities. Hopefully they have not forgotten what they had said at the time.
Now let's look at what the politicians of the major parties had said. The 1/11 onset had hit them hard. On 30 June 2007, Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak presented a reform proposal at a press briefing held at his Dhanmondi home. The proposal said, the same person cannot remain party president or general secretary for more than two consecutive terms. Committees would be formed by means of secret ballot. It would be compulsory to selected candidates from the grassroots by means of democratic process. The five-point agreement with Khelafat Najlis, which was contrary to Bangabandhu's ideal of a non-communal democratic social system, was to be cancelled. The party funds would be deposited in the bank by means of the treasurer.
Proposals similar to that of Razzak's were given in separate press briefings by three senior Awami League leaders, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta and Amir Hossain Amu. Suranjit said, "Authoritarian, hegemonic singular leadership is defunct in democracy. The prime minister's office formed on presidential lines, much be dismantled. All important decisions must be taken by the cabinet."
Speaking at a press briefing held at the car porch of the NAM building in Gulshan on 12 July 2007, BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan presented the 14-point "full-fledged reform proposal". Present at the event were Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, MK Anwar, Ashraf Hossain, ZA Khan, Justice Mozammel Huq, Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, Mofazzel Karim, Rezaur Rahman Dina, Rezaul Karim, Nazimuddin Alam, Monir Hossain, etc. The proposals included a balance between the powers of the president and prime minister, an end to hartals (strikes) and blockades, no boycott of the parliament by the opposition, one of the two deputy speakers would be from the opposition, membership would be cancelled of any member remained 30 days absent from the House, Article 70 of the constitution would be amended, etc.
Awami League and BNP are massive parties with huge public support base. But the parties run on dynastic rule, on the word of an individual. Many leaders of the parties wanted to break that rule. They managed to speak out during the 1/11 rule, but only for a short time.
The old order was back again after the 2008 election. The owners of the party went nowhere near reforms. To the contrary, the "reformists" in the party were either expelled or demoted in their party rank. The reformists were termed as military collaborators, conspirators. Since then the two parties dread the 1/11 spectre. They castigate 1/11 at the slightest chance. They have one common dialogue -- why should unelected elements run the country?
The reforms of party, politics and parliamentary government system which were raised in 2007 from within Awami League and BNP, are now being raised. But the top leaders or the parties panic when they hear the word "reforms" in fear of losing their "proprietorship".
It was a military-backed caretaker government in 2007. It came by means of a military coup. It was the armed forces who sat in the driver's seat. Now there is an interim government in the country. It came about through a mass rebellion. This too has military support, but representatives of civil society are in the driver's seat. In both instances we see that it was the politicians who created the scope for the overthrow by means of their corruption, incompetence, envy and ugly cronyism.
There have been 12 parliamentary elections in this country so far. We have seen all sorts of "elected" governments. The politicians ran the country through the elected governments. We have also seen the politicians do not change automatically. They only sit up and take note when given a shake-up from outside. Once the outside quarter moves away, it's back to square one.
Bangladesh's 54 years of politics is a history of breaking commitments. The persons who is a thief in public perception, is the one who raised his voice the loudest against corruption. They say they can't sleep at night out of concern for the people, yet they formulate evil laws to exploit people. The truth is, unless one changes from within, no outer force can make this change happen. The people can only continue applying pressure. That is how things stand.
We often hear it being said that political parties are the main stakeholders of society. They say this to maintain their monopoly on crony rule. It is the citizens who are the main stakeholders of society. The citizens want the political parties to run the state with their merit and vision. Why should the politicians be brokers or middlemen?
* Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and researcher
* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir