Bangladesh's model

[amar11432]

Bangladesh's model

It offers an alternative for countries immersed in conflict

By Robert I. Rotberg

February 17, 2008

With Pakistan on edge ahead of Monday's parliamentary elections and opponents vowing to oust beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf, this is a good time to look at how another nearby predominantly Muslim country is faring under military rule.

Bangladesh and its nearly 150 million people have remained stable and largely peaceful under a very differently focused strongman, Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed.

Under Moeen's direction, the military intervention in Bangladesh has been largely measured. His approach offers a potential alternative path for developing countries immersed, as so many are, in interminable political conflict and infected by rampant corruption.

Bangladesh, once known as East Pakistan, has been a sovereign nation for less than four decades. It wrenched itself from the heavy grip of postpartition Pakistan only in 1971, after a short but bloody civil war.

Since then, however, Bangladesh has been convulsed by its own internal battles. Many have occurred between civilians, and some between soldiers and civilians. But almost all have been about control and the spoils of Bangladesh. Few of the differences among the various contenders, whether in uniform or civilian dress, have been about ideology.

Chief among the civilians have been the dynastic political oligarchies of the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party. The Bangladesh National Party has been somewhat closer to India, and India's size, interests and relative economic power have greatly affected Bangladesh. But otherwise, there is little to separate the Bangladesh National Party from the Awami League.

What the two have most in common is a striving for power, a power that has provided access to great wealth. Transparency International has rated Bangladesh either the most corrupt country in the world, or nearly so, consistently since the 1990s.

Many nations are riven by ethnicity, language, religion or caste. Not so Bangladesh, one of the most homogenous large nations on Earth. About 95 percent of its people are Bengali-speaking Sunni Muslims.

The country was governed by Britain and British India until partition in 1947 as East Bengal; from partition to 1971, it was run by Musharraf's predecessors in what was then known as West Pakistan.

The American-trained Moeen assumed power in January 2007 after Bangladeshis, prompted by the Awami League, rioted in the streets of Dhaka, the capital.

The protests were aimed at the corrupt rule of the Bangladesh National Party and the prospects of unfair elections that would perpetuate BNP power.

Moeen expressed shock at television images, broadcast around the world, of Bangladeshis killing each other and destroying Dhaka.

The army had to separate the politicians, according to Moeen, and intervene to prevent bloodshed. Indeed, at the time and since, Bangladeshi public opinion has broadly supported the intervention.

The Awami League and the BNP had been feuding, with occasional bloodshed, since 1991, when civilians led by Khaleda Zia of the BNP replaced a previous military junta.

Power changed hands a few times over the next decade. But the various governments brought little economic growth and/or stability to Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Moeen's intervention, unlike Musharraf's coup in Pakistan in 1999, led not to direct military rule, but to the installation of a caretaker government of civilians. Moeen and the military act as the behind-the-scenes backbone of a largely technocratic government.

The acting president is styled as "chief adviser." The various Cabinet ministers are called "advisers" as well, such as "foreign affairs adviser," and so on.

Though Moeen and his fellow generals hold the ultimate reins of power, they largely try to stay in the background. Moeen "consults" with the chief adviser only a few times a week, according to officials. And he refrains from issuing "orders."

That makes Moeen's approach unusual, and conceivably more effective than the common, hands-on approach of soldiers in the developing world.

Moeen frequently reiterates that, as promised, full civilian rule will resume and elections will be held in December. Indeed, Moeen asserts that the dangers of soldiers staying on too long are greater than the risks posed should politicians reassert control and further corrupt the country.

Moeen has not invented a mechanism for vaccinating Bangladesh against a resumption of the feud between the Awami League and the Bangladesh National Party. Nor will he. The army also refuses to intervene in the court cases now under way to determine whether former political rulers should be convicted of corruption, and thus of misrule.

Ready or not, the generals in Bangladesh will let civilians retake power in less than a year, in December.

Conceivably, a new national security council could be installed constitutionally to give the soldiers some continuing oversight of the country's political direction. That would be innovative, and it would provide another lesson for Pakistan and troubled developing countries everywhere.

Moeen and his colleagues are attempting to craft a new trajectory for a troubled Muslim country, a nation with its own potential for Islamic extremism. So far, the generals have succeeded in at least charting a new path between corrupt, inefficient civilians and heavy-handed military tyranny without arousing civil discontent or demonstrations.

Their quasi-democratic instincts could plot a path for others, even Pakistan, to follow.

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Robert I. Rotberg directs Harvard University's Kennedy School program on intrastate conflict and is president of the World Peace Foundation. He recently returned from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...,6941469.story

[PoorFan]

Lets have election first as the road map, and a smooth power transfer, then talk about model. Besides few years back 'Caretaker Govt.' itself was a model as some of our politicians claimed with pride. Now we know how easily these model could get corrupt or become a new way of conflict. ... All it depends on intention ... otherwise all it become worthless.

[bdchamp20]

Bangladesh is not 95% Muslim

[Ehsan]

Damn man, I thought I would see some new bangladeshi model (read: hot chick).

[shaad]

It would be nice if Rotberg did a little bit of fact-checking before submitting this op-ed, laudatory though it is -- I don't think we're 95% Sunni Muslim (according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and Statistics, we're 89.7% Muslim and 9.2% Hindu), and it was the AL, not the BNP (and it's Nationalist, not National that the "N" stands for in the acronym), that was closer to India. But still, it's nice to get some good press.

Frankly, I think we're much better off than Pakistan, but that's primarily a reflection of two issues, both of which have more to do with providence than governance:

1. A largely homogenous ethnicity and language that eliminates most of the basis for separatist sentiments present in both Pakistan and India.
2. A strong sense of Bengali cultural identity, which prevents our primary religious identity from becoming dominant and leading to overzealous excesses and resulting strife.

For what it's worth, I've generally liked what the current administration has been trying to do. It has not always been completely successful, and it has taken missteps, but its heart seems to be in the right place. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Let's see when elections come about and what happens then.

[Fazal]

What BD Models? Male or Female? Are they good looking or what? Even Better than Monalisa?

[Tigers_eye]

Is dhatani of Justice department part of the Model?

Jei jhari disey baba'rey baba...

[amar11432]

Originally Posted by PoorFan
Lets have election first as the road map, and a smooth power transfer, then talk about model. Besides few years back 'Caretaker Govt.' itself was a model as some of our politicians claimed with pride. Now we know how easily these model could get corrupt or become a new way of conflict. ... All it depends on intention ... otherwise all it become worthless.

If you are having doubts about the upcoming election it is understandable. But keep in mind that the Top players in BD Fakhruddin Ahmed & General Moeen U Ahmed were BOTH trained in the USA. They know better than me that if they don't hold an election, the USA(republicans) will smite us down.

[amar11432]

Originally Posted by Ehsan
Damn man, I thought I would see some new bangladeshi model (read: hot chick).

Sorry to disappoint you bro, but there is a report of BD corporations using hot chicks exclusively for customer care executives (has pics). http://bangladeshcorporate.blogspot....adulators.html

[Rifat]

hahahahahahahaha, i got mislead by this thread