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EDITORIAL
Local government institutions
Disregarding the objection voiced by the BNP, the Awami League and some other parties the Election Commission is firm to hold local government elections first. Accordingly, four city corporation poll schedules are to be announced today. Upazila polls will be held in October which the major parties object to as they claim that it is not within the purview of the Caretaker Government (CG). The reason why the major parties smell a rat is the constitutional provision empowers the CG only to hold general elections within a specific time. They also see in it a cause for consternation as the elected head at the Upazila will be in the driving seat while the MP have no say in local affairs. That explains why successive elected political governments failed to hold the Upazila elections. Meanwhile the local government representatives urged the government to hold local government elections before the general elections to reduce political influence on them.
A legacy of the colonial rule that came to be christened as the Local Board in its lowest tier at the Union level, and earned people's trust since it was headed by men of integrity. However, in the early 60s it became tainted and was the target of scorn and ridicule when the first military head of Pakistan, Gen. Ayub Khan, invented what he called Basic Democracy to suit his political purpose of getting through indirect polls. The Union Boards under the Basic Democracy system could not protect his empire; but in the post-independent Bangladesh this institution, renamed as Union Parishad (UP), became an abused one in which corruption was rife. Office bearers of many UPs were of doubtful antecedents, and some of them were crooks and outright criminals: 'wheat thief' became a common nickname to describe most of its functionaries.
The Upazila Parishad Ordinance 2008 has its flaws as it does not address important recommendations like its independent authority for the local government institutions, empowerment of women and so on made in the draft prepared by the seven-member committee formed last year. Policies apart, the goal should be to ensure proper service delivery at the grass roots level. The local government institution as a concept ideally intends to orchestrate development at the grassroots level which is the basic building block in the administration. In addition to fulfilling public needs like infrastructure building, the UP and Upazila level local government shall have to take particular note of the underdogs' requirements. With limited urbanisation in a few pockets, the country is predominantly rural. Hence the central administration must concentrate on and make effort at grassroots level agri-development in which the focal point should be efficient distribution of inputs like seed, fertilizer etc and built-in foolproof arrangement to shelter people who are frequently affected by natural calamities.
It is appreciable that the formation of the Local Government Commission to monitor the functioning of local government bodies is now at the final stage. The present CG has initiated the move to form the commission, to be led by a chairman with not less than two members, to "strengthen and make accountable the local government institutions."
It is advisable that the authorities learn from the past. The Basic Democracy was a hotbed of corruption. An integral feature of this was the use of food aid to finance rural development through the introduction of public works programmes. Thus began institutionalised corruption that fundamentally tarnished the image of local government. It is financial and allied corruptions that are to be checked. This is possible if a gazetted employee/accountant -- responsible only to the respective deputy commissioner -- is appointed to maintain records of financial matters. Besides, provision should be there so that projects under UP can be overseen by local school or college teachers for greater transparency. A system of checks and balance to ensure service delivery in a transparent manner has to be introduced.
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A NEW ERA OF CHINA-TAIWAN TIES
Taiwan Straits to remain tension-free unless the US interferes
Barrister Harun ur Rashid
Historic talks aimed at consolidating a dramatic rapprochement and building trade ties began in the second week of June.
The talks resumed as part of a dramatic warming in relations that began with the election of Ma Ying-jeou (57) as Taiwan's president in March. He took office in May.
Although not a born Taiwanese, the island's 17 million voters (total population 23 million) elected him with 58.45 per cent votes. President Ma has stood on a platform of economic reform and improving relations with China.
Ma has been more aggressive in proposing a radical overhaul of economic ties to allow Taiwanese companies access to the vast mainland China's market while permitting Chinese investors to pump funds into the island's economy. Taiwan is the world's 17th largest economy, mainly on the back of information technology sector but has been performing in recent years worse than many of its Asian counterparts.
Taiwanese have felt that without China's cooperation and money, Taiwan will not be able to compete economically in a globalised world. Therefore the platform of Ma for closer ties with China became attractive to voters. Under the 1992 consensus, Beijing and Taipei accepted the formula of "One China" but agreed to interpret it in their own way, leading to Taiwan's current status of de facto but undeclared nationhood. In 1993 they opened their first semi-official talks in Singapore but they were suspended a few years later.
President Ma offered a mechanism and some thoughts on a formula for achieving a peace agreement with the mainland. For starters, he said, negotiations should be handled through two semi-official foundations set up with government backing in the early 1990s: the Straits Exchange Foundation, which President Ma helped establish on the Taiwan side, and Beijing's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.
Delegation to China
During the second week of June, the Straits Exchange Foundation from Taiwan led a 19-member delegation to China to discuss the modus operandi of how to improve closer relations. Both sides said the restart of the dialogue, which China suspended a decade ago as relations between the long-time rivals plummeted, would be able to serve as a platform to further improve ties. "As long as we have mutual trust and understanding... these talks are going to become an important communication mechanism for cross-strait development," said chief Chinese envoy Chen Yunlin.
On 12 June, both sides agreed to set up permanent offices in each other's capitals to help coordinate future discussions on closer relations. This is a big step forward. The two sides have discussed how to increase charter flights between China and Taiwan. Although Taiwanese businessmen invested quite heavily in China ($36 billion so far), and 50,000 Taiwanese companies operating across the mainland, there is no direct air flight between the two. Charter flights are limited to four holiday periods each year for a total of 324 flights. The agreement will see direct flights between China and Taiwan from Friday to Monday each week, instead of just on national holidays as is currently the case.
The flights will begin on July 4 and involve 36 services between China and Taiwan each week. Carriers from each side will operate 18 flights, according to details of the agreement published on China's official Xinhua news agency. From July 18, each side will be able to send 3,000 tourists to the other each day. Mainland Chinese tourists will have to travel in groups of between 10 and 40 and go through registered tour agencies.
The agreement in effect triples the number of mainland Chinese allowed to visit Taiwan, as under current rules only 1,000 are allowed to travel to the island and they must have a stopover in Hong Kong or another third location. In a sign of an expected influx of mainland tourists, the Taiwanese parliament passed a bill amendment on 12 June to allow Yuan (Chinese currency) to be exchanged in Taiwanese dollars.
Taiwan had proposed "the common exploration for gas in the Taiwan Strait. .... While a lot of people are concerned about global climate change, we want to use exchanges and talks to include joint exploration," Chiang Pin-kun, the chief envoy of Taiwan told reporters.
Chiang said the Chinese had asked for Taiwanese expertise on earthquake reconstruction and had reiterated their wish to offer Taiwan some pandas.
These preliminary steps, some say, are the beginnings of new relationship between the two. Critics of President Ma say that he is secretly working toward reunification with the mainland, although he denies it vehemently. Many believe that in the days of globalisation, economic integration between mainland China and Taiwan could lead ultimately to the union of Taiwan with mainland China
See-saw relationship
Taiwan Island is separated from mainland China by the Taiwan Strait, which ranges from 220km at its widest point to 130km at its narrowest point. After the defeat in the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese war, Taiwan, as identified Formosa, came under the sovereignty of Japan. After Japan's defeat in Second World War, Taiwan reverted to China.
Since the Communists took over mainland China in 1949, nationalist Chiang kai-shek (died in 1975) left the mainland and formed a non-communist government in Taiwan and did not accept the legitimacy of the Communists to rule over the mainland. However in 1972, relations between the US and the Communist China improved greatly and the US recognised the Communist China later. The recognition of the US has changed the dynamics of relations between the US and Taiwan. The US believes in "One China" principle but is against the military or forcible occupation of Taiwan by China.
China and Taiwan, while in practice maintaining a fragile "status quo" relationship, periodically grow impatient with the diplomatic patchwork that has kept the island separate from the Communist mainland since 1949.
Since the election of President Chen Shui-bian and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2000, Taiwan had engaged in policy that widely departs from the KMT party of current President Ma.
Since becoming the first non-KMT leader of the Republic of China in Taiwan, President Chen had invigorated efforts to seek Taiwan's sovereignty. Beijing, in turn, regards Taiwan as a renegade province, and has tried repeatedly to persuade the island to negotiate a return to the fold under terms similar to those governing the former British colony in Hong Kong.
While the threat of hot war appears low, periodic spasms of anti-Taiwan feeling in Beijing, and of pro-independence sentiment on the island, severely strained relations in recent years across the Taiwan Strait.
The relation between the two has been further complicated by the involvement of the US. In 1979 the US Congress passed as law the Taiwan's Relations Act that provided security for Taiwan in the event of attack by China.
In late 2007 when the United States announced the sale of advanced Patriot missile defence systems to the island, China made its displeasure known. Soon after the Patriot sale, China denied a request for routine port access to several U.S. naval vessels, to Hong Kong and the U.S. Navy then sent one of those ships, the carrier Kitty Hawk, through the normally avoided Taiwan Strait.
Over the years, in fact, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan frequently have led to U.S.-China friction and an upsurge in bellicose rhetoric across the Strait.
Hopefully with the initiatives of the new President Ma, Taiwan faces a historic roadway to developing close relations with China. It is expected that tension in the Taiwan Straits will be much less unless the US complicates the situation with China on strategic issues.
The writer is a former Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva.
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VIEW POINT
Intolerance is at trigger point
Alif Zabr
Our intolerance is at trigger point. Our patience is minus zero. We cheat honesty'! We denounce the terrorists, but carry guns. The law applies to others. We are experts in trading hatred.
We should be good in the laundry business-turning black money into white. Grab land and water bodies. We have ingenuity of the negative kind. Our lawyers are making money. We lament loudly for the poor and the deprived.
We cheat ourselves too, but we are not aware of it. We are not scared of examinations-we can cheat our way through. We can fool the Income Tax department. We can not be fenced in. Our inspectors do not inspect, and our teachers work in multi-mode. Our system losses in government revenue collection runs into thousands of crores of Taka, but still our economic growth rate is around 5 per cent per annum! We do not know how to protect our main asset- 130 million citizens.
We cultivate the culture of Matbar (godfather). We have superb gift of the gab, and have proved that language was given to man to hide his thoughts, not to reveal it. We argue with facts, because some of our facts and information are phony.
We teach our young and new generations how to be wily, crafty and slippery. We can shatter ethics with impunity, and seem to get away with it. The civil service has apparently collapsed. The politicians should wear uniform, but carry no arms. We can tell the truth only through occasional oversight, and when RAB rubs the salt into our wounds.
We shed crocodile tears during anniversaries, and wear glycerin cosmetics. Watch the number of anniversaries covered by the mass media, and compare the same in the developed countries. Out of 365 days, there are over 300 anniversaries. We love to live in the past, and dribble past the current national problems.
We are good ambassadors abroad. In our humility we keep a low profile closer to mother earth. But on homeland we are a bit ambitious, yearning for Pajero culture, and hi-rise air-conditioned shopping centres, where majority of the items sold are imported.
The zamindari hangover is still lingering, noting the fondness for rent-seeking business. We prefer 4-wheelers to the 3-wheel cycle rickshaws, and do not feel ashamed of banning rickshaws from the metropolis. We prefer off-road vehicles, for obvious reason-we go off the road frequently, being oblivious to boundary conditions. The rivers and water bodies are drying up; and Dhaka might be sinking slowly within the next few decades due to extensive use of deep tube-wells.
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LETTERS
Preserving history
Dear Editor:
A nation preserves history. But we Bangladeshis do not want to preserve it as we are highly emotional. To others in the sub-continent we are known as Huzzat-e-Bangal. If we go by whims and cheap slogans and rumours based on sentiments and emotions then there is little hope for us. I found no justifications in renaming Jinnah Avenue and Modon Mohan Basak Road as Tipu Sultan Road etc. We also witnessed how crowds broke down and demolished anything having trace of English or Urdu on signs and billboards etc.
Our coming generations have the right to know their past history. Else, they will remain ignorant and it may affect their attitude and mindset towards their history. They ought to know who Mr Mohammed Ali Jinnah was. In Mumbai, historical Mohammed Ali Road is still in existence and celebration of Eid-e-Miladun-Nabi each year on that road is a centre of attractions for peoples of all faiths. It becomes a spectacular show for the Muslims.
Now in reality what do we witness? We find people taking pride in being able to speak in Urdu/Hindi etc. In preference to Bangla, Urdu/Hindi songs are being played through loudspeakers right and left here and there in public places even in the remotest parts of the country. This is tantamount to hypocrisy. We as a nation suffer from a complex. However, one must know that Urdu , a combination of Persian, Hindi and Arabic languages was introduced and developed by the Mughuls. It's a rich language in its original form, usually spoken by the Muslims almost all over India. This is part of the Muslim heritage.
It was through the untiring efforts of our great leaders of those days like Jinnah, Sher-e-Bangla and others against so many hurdles that we the Bengali Muslims founded a separate homeland for us and that created an opportunity for us to find a place in the comity of nations. Later on we won Liberation from Pakistani It is unfair to distort history on whims and cheap emotions. I suggest we should restore the previous and original titles.
We are so fortunate that today we are the masters of our own lot by the grace of Allah. We must rise above all such meanness, petty ideas and prove to be a matured nation.
A. B. Muhammed Zakaria,
124, Whitley Close
Stanwell, Staines
Middlesex, Tw19 7EY
Ignoring the toiling masses' needs is unfortunate
Dear Editor:
"There are different ways of assassinating a man: by pistol, sword, poison or moral assassination. They are the same in their results, except that the last one is crueler." - Napoleon Bonaparte. Here the morality of our nation has been assassinated by the people whom we trusted to be the real servant of the people for doing nation building activities imbued by what oath they had taken after getting elected to the parliament.
But the nation has been deceived by some of the people who did not follow what oath they had taken and instead indulged themselves in amassing wealth for self and family totally ignoring the toiling masses of the country who live on one or half a meal a day.
Possibly they followed the saying that no man can be patriot in an empty stomach. A country which was liberated with sacrifice of three million people lost all hopes of enjoying respectable living with minimum of basic needs of life. It can not be denied that because of some good and dedicated men in the Government we can see some significant progress in some of the sectors, but those people are outweighed and outnumbered both in ratio and moral.
I remember one of the saying of late American President Theodore Roosevelt which reads, "When you educate a man in mind but not in morals you educate a menace to the society". Three/four decades are enough for a country to develop it to a reasonable level which can give a guarantee of the basic needs of the people. We have lots of example in this region.
Let us look at Malaysia, Singapore. People of our country are mad to go there for jobs. What Dr. Mahathir Mohamad did for his country will remain a shining example of what can be done with selfless efforts imbued by patriotism, dedication and determination. Vietnam which saw the world's worst atrocities committed against the nation now stands as a respectable country with all their basic needs fulfilled and take a strong position in the free economy market.
During the past thirty-five years we could do some significant progress in some areas such as: poverty alleviation, education, population control, eradicating crime, keep our rivers/canals pollution free and keep them navigable by dredging, save the jute mills from ruination, increased tea production, attained self-sufficiency in textiles, increased agricultural product by improving technologies, attainment of 100 per cent sanitation, exporting skilled labour after imparting technical training, making tourist spots more attractive for foreigners, export of shrimps etc..
Electricity is another sector where political leaders could not do any significant progress. The power sector will have to face setback as Petrobangla will not be able to entirely keep the commitment it gave to Power Development Board to supply gas to 15 medium and large power plants by 2012 because of gas shortage.
Readymade garment sector which is occupying a good position in the international market should be expanded further. Population control needs priority. If it could be kept within 100 million we could have enjoyed the benefit now avoiding the present food crisis. But lack of visions by our leaders put us in this present precarious position.
Let us now hope that our next government will be like that of what late American President Abraham Lincoln said that a government by the people of the people and for the people represents a good government.
M. A. Alim,
Ex. Banker
Indira Road, Dhaka.
Foreigners never showed so much interest!
Dear Editor:
The political dialogue started in the fourth week of May; but the communication gaps are huge (amongst the citizens, politicians, and the foreign observers who also act as advisers).
The uncertainly might increase after completion of the distribution of the new Voter ID cards. The possession (for the first time) of the digitalised Voter/National ID card is more important than regular elections from time to time for generations to come (one-time operation vs. periodic operation).
The question which arises is: what are the (grey areas) game plans by the different sets of players after this ID project. Why some disagree with the holding of the Local Government elections before the general elections? Why some parties support local elections before the general elections? The criterion is public interest. Now one party has recommended the formation of a new Constitution Commission to review the Constitution; and the sharing of power between the President and the PM.
Second doubt: suppose the two leading political parties decline to participate in the general elections? The authorities (the government, EC, law enforcing forces, etc) would be able to control and maintain peaceful environment (different parties have confidential road maps for survival and power sharing). It reminds us of the proverb: There might be many a slips between the cup and the lips.
Our beautiful forest has to be cleared garbage. This operation sweep-up is not yet complete; and it cannot be completed in one or two phases-as 60 million voters are involved- the majority below the average awareness level (which gives political leaders the advantage of marketing the communication gaps).
Wobbly governance of the newly emerged nations in the third world is not a familiar routine job, as the master plans of the rich industrialised countries, (note how they tackle the rise in the oil prices; and the relocation of factories and IT offices).
Another point: today Bangladesh is under foreign monitoring, due to its strategic location in South Asia (SAARC), and proximity to mighty China, which is a thorn in the Western eyes. Hence be prepared with subtle foreign interventions in our infernal affairs (in 30 years the foreigners never showed so much interest in our general elections!).
A Mawaz,
Dhaka.
We want to trust politicians
Dear Editor:
We are now in the year of 2008. We became an independent country in 1971. During this intervening 37 years, we have seen the governments' of Mujib, Zia, Ershad, Khaleda Zia (twice) and Hasina. We have also seen three caretaker governments for holding free and fair elections during its earmarked three-month period. We are now living under an emergency rule and waiting for a general election in December next.
Highly educated and successful personnel of our society are chosen to man the caretaker government. The way the caretaker government leaders speak and manage to do their job is a pleasure to watch and indeed, they are all civilized.
We, the common people of Bangladesh want to see persons like them to be in the government after election who could really think and talk about the people and the country and effectively carryout their responsibilities. The politicians do politics in the name of the people. Our political leaders still debate on old political and personal issues because they think it make news and nothing else.
The government leaders should tell the people what they can or cannot do for the people and explain the problems they face and the way they intend to sort them out without blaming the opposition. Likewise, the opposition party members, also elected by same people, should clearly tell the government if they found them doing things badly. That is how democracy works in any country.
Bangladesh is a small country but is crammed with about 15 crore. We have to work very hard to make our ends meet. We want to live in peace and harmony and hate chaos and confusion. We have more problems than we can solve. Chaos and confusions create more problems for us common working people. So we don't want the politicians to create any more chaos and confusion in the country as they have done in the past.
Common people want to trust and believe in the politicians. So we would like to encourage good and honest people to come forward and contest in the election. We want politicians to believe in and accept democracy and become patient and tolerate other peoples' opinion and ideas. Unless we can tolerate and respect others' opinion, we can never practice democracy. We want our politicians and members of parliament to practice democracy by tolerating other peoples' views.
Asifami Rahman Saikat,
Engineer
Dhaka.
email: asifcuet@yahoo.com
Phone: 01817-046973
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