The Daily Star, one of the critical corporate media of Bangladesh reports on 13 July, 2008[]:

According to an industry ministry proposal sent to cabinet division early this month, the NCC recommended: “In order to make the mill productive, it is necessary to hand over the mill to an organisation that is disciplined and neutral. Therefore, it will be rational to handover the mill to the Army for its revival.”

Nice Recommendation! But it is not clear why they did not make the same recommendation for the other two mills when the NCC feels that productivity comes from only ‘the disciplined and neutral organisation’ like ‘Bangladesh Army’.

In the same news the newspaper has a different tone than usual and includes comments in favour of NCC’s proposal by Zaid Bakht, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development:

Its better that the mills are run directly by the army and not an organisation like the Sena Kalyan Sangstha (Armed forces welfare association), which he says, will not make the effort viable.

The process indicates an alternative way to accumulate the corporate power by controlling and administering the state-owned industry. After the 1/11 turnout of events we heard many things about the army’s role and their part in the public administration but not so much on their involvement in the corporate arena. The process of formulation of the National Security Council is still now in the pipeline which can take a more prominent role than NCC. This handover of the state-owned industry to the army might be the emergence of a pattern of the army’s intervention in the corporate power structure. Or it may be the starting point of conflict of civil corporate power with the emerging armed forces corporate. Because civil corporate thinks that privatisation is the only solution for the state-owned industrial crisis.

The international weekly magazine ‘Economist’ published an article on Bangladesh’s anti-graft efforts on November 08, 2007, in which they wrote:

For the regime, the anti-graft drive has had some useful side-effects. The intelligence services are systematically acquiring shares in private media companies, by offering the release from detention of their owners in return.

So it is clear that a part of the media industry of Bangladesh has been working in a conditional way, some visibly under self censorship. Now it can be deducted that the media industry works not only in favour of the civil corporate, but is also paving the armed forces foray in the corporate world.

It might be good time for Naomi Klein to start writing another book on corporate power, on their new characteristics especially in some Asian states.

Almost a year ago, a middle-aged Bhutanese woman trader in the Indian border town of Phuentsholing sounded an ominous note for Bhutanese democracy. “We have heard about the polls on the Indian side,” she told this correspondent. “Sometimes, unexpected incidents also come out with the elections. We do not want those here in Bhutan. After all, we are a peace-loving nation.”

In Bhutan, she added, “Today we have no strikes. Everything is on schedule. But there is lots of news about bandhs (strikes) in India that even take innocent lives. I am even scared of thinking such incidents will follow democracy in our kingdom.”

No incidents have been reported so far but multiparty democracy survived when two members of the opposition, drubbed so thoroughly in elections in late March that they won only two seats, last week decided not to resign in shame and will instead form a loyal opposition – against 45 members of the royalist party. Indeed, on the same day as the two fledgling lawmakers agreed to join the parliament, a knot of protesters gathered in the capitol of Thimpu to demand that the king bring back the absolute monarchy.

It has to be frustrating for the abdicating king, Jigme Khesar Namgye Wangchuk, who has been trying for more than two years to make his isolated kingdom into a democracy. Weaning his subjects away from the kingship, however, is not easy in a country whose relationship to its royalty stretches back through at least four generations of absolute monarchy, and to generations beyond count of previous dynasties as well.

Certainly, if this were a laboratory for democracy, Jigme supplied some of the very best equipment. He told a stunned nation in December 2005 that he would leave the throne in favor of his eldest son, the crown prince. Parties were carefully prepared, with the royalist Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party accepting a design of three flying birds as its poll symbol, while the People’s Democratic Party used a white horse.

Using some of the world’s best technology, including electronic voting machines imported from India, and running through two mock polls beforehand to educate Bhutan’s isolated citizens on how to vote, the country held a first round of elections for the upper house of parliament in December and January.

Then on March 24, Shangri-la stepped into the abyss. The date was declared a national holiday. With nearly 40 international observers looking on, Bhutan took the final step to convert to multiparty democracy.

It might well have been the most scrupulously non-partisan election ever held in Asia. Members of the royal family and Buddhist clerics were barred from voting. The counting began immediately after the polls closed, and the result was broadcast live through the Bhutan Broadcasting Service and Bhutan Radio. Nearly 80 percent of 318,465 registered voters exercised their franchise.

But as for multiparty democracy, the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party (Druk Phuensum Tshogpa) headed by former Prime Minister Jigme Y Thinley and closely allied with the king, won 45 of 47 constituencies. Palden Tsering, the winning party spokesman, told reporters that nobody expected such a landslide. “What I can say is the people have decided,” he said. The defeat for the opposition was so overwhelming that opposition leaders decided to resign from the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament.

“Two members in the opposition bench will hardly form an influential opposition,” Tashi Tsering, the People’s Democratic Party spokesman, told reporters in the capital of Thimphu.

The luckless opposition argued that while their candidates had been received by rural people with great enthusiasm, the dominant party abused its position and violated campaign guidelines. Later, the opposition decided to just resign their two seats, a move that was reversed later.

Parliament is expected to open next month, when the king invites the leader of the majority party to form a government for a five-year term. Before the government starts functioning, a speaker to the lower house will be elected. Meanwhile, Jigme Y Thinley has taken over as Bhutan’s first elected Prime Minister. It was understood with the offering of Dakyen (ceremonial scarf) by the King to Mr. Thinley.

The isolated Buddhist kingdom sandwiched between India and Tibet (China) is known for its unique measure of the standard of living, the Gross National Happiness index rather than the internationally recognized Gross Domestic Product. Smoking is banned throughout the country, with education and health care facilities provided free for every Bhutanese citizen. Television didn’t appear until 1999. The Internet followed later.

Tashme, the PDP leader, who spoke to this writer from party offices in the capital, acknowledged that Bhutanese voters felt the king had asked Jigme Thinley to form the DTP, and that the party capitalized on its perceived alliance with the royalists.

Certainly, the royalist election manifesto tried to exploit the happiness effect, saying “In pursuit of gross national happiness, growth with equity and justice, we offer our unwavering allegiance to the sacred institution of monarchy, the life-force of our nation and dedicate ourselves to realizing the vision of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo (king), His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, for a united, progressive and happy country,” adding “We shall be guided by His Majesty the King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, in our pursuit of Gross National Happiness through a true and vibrant democracy.”

Some PDP candidates alleged that electronic voting machines had produced skewed results, a charge rejected by an Indian election official. “The largest democracy on the globe (India) has been using electronic machines for many years with perfect results. Moreover, the Indian chief election commissioner categorically declared that the machines were foolproof,” stated the election officer, based in Guwahati.

“I agree there should have been a stronger opposition for a successful democracy in our country,” said a Thimphu-based political commentator adding, “But now we cannot help, but accept the verdict of the polls.”

I just came across a news article in DNINDIA which forced me to write something. Here is the excerpt  that I want to quote.

“The general is here to get the Indian political establishment to advise Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party not to take part in the national elections scheduled for later this year.”

It is a good thing when two neighboring countries military chiefs visits and discusses national security but it gets controversial when an army Chief visits a certain nation to lobby against two ex-prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina and Khaleda Zia. As an unelected government official, it is unconstitutional for an Army chief to visit foreign nations and discuss internal politics. He doesn’t have people’s mandate to host such a dialog.

This is a just recent example of how Bangladesh government is running under the shadow of military dictator. We must have election in Bangladesh as soon as possible and give people back their basic human rights. And General Moeen must stop interfering in the national politics while serving as a Chief of Army Staff. Otherwise Bangladesh Army will get controversial because of one man’s wish to be a King illegally.

Update 2/27/2008

This article by Bhaskar Roy interestingly encourages General Moeen U’s activities and actually calls him the “leader of his country“. Article ends with,

“There is a lot to be done in the Indo-Bangladesh relations. It is for Dhaka to grab the opportunity. Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed should return from India as an encouraged leader of his country.”

I don’t recall General Moeen U Ahmed being elected in any election to be called “leader of his country”. He is a military personal and a government servant. I am ok calling him “Leader of Bangladesh Army” for his current position, but not “Leader of the country”. India, as being the largest democracy in the world, should not encourage military dictatorship in the region for its own shake. What’s your thought on this?

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Zulfikar Ali  [http://www.bangladeshpolitics.org]  is one of the young analysts of the politics of Bangladesh living in USA. He uses to write as a Guest Blogger for E-Bangladesh. 

My memories of December 16 go back to 1990. It was the time when HM Ershad had just stepped down and the first caretaker government, led by Justice Shahbuddin Ahmed, was in charge. The people of Bangladesh were beaming with new hopes, the hope for a democracy, the hope for a society devoid of any injustice and inequality forever, the same hopes that drove our liberation struggle but were not realized after we earned our freedom. The level of optimism was simply stupendous, enough to stir the minds of millions of school going children like myself.

On that day, I went to the Shaheed Minar along with my father, a freedom fighter. I saw thousands of people getting ready for a victory rally. There were colours all around, colours of the sarees and punjabis, colours of Bangladeshi flags waving all around. Drums began beating and the rally moved along. I don’t remember the route of the rally, all I remember is that I never got tired, for the rally was so much joyful and enjoyable.

In the following years, I went to Shaheed Minar a couple of times during the Bijoy Dibosh, but the exuberance and the optimism was missing. After a while, December 16 just became another holiday for me, I used to go to the Shaheed Minar in the afternoon and spend some time there, but nothing much to ruminate about.

However, one thing was common in every Bijoy Dibosh, my mother used to hoist the national flag on every occasion. In our apartment building, only a couple more families used to do that and it was not so prominent a practice among the middle/upper middle class families of Dhaka. In 2004, I noticed that many small shops and hotels decorated their shops with small paper made flags, but not too many big shops and hotels used to do that.

I went abroad for my studies in 2005. Therefore I missed being in Dhaka on December 16 in 2005 and 2006. So this time, after a gap of three years, I am yet again in Bangladesh to celebrate the great day of our victory against Pakistan.

From the beginning of December 2007, I noticed that many cars, buses and trucks are hoisting small red green flags of Bangladesh. As December 16 approached close, the frequency of encountering such a flagged vehicle increased rapidly. I myself bought a couple of flags for our cars. On late night of December 15, I noticed a number of young “Djuice generation” representatives raising a huge flag on their cars. In the morning of December 16, the majority of the cars in Dhaka were holding a national flag. I was surprised to see that the majority of buildings have also raised Bangladeshi flags. Many rickshaws were decorated with flags and many shops of Dhaka city, mostly small and medium ones, were holding flags as well.

I had to go to Comilla on this victory day and so we started early in the morning. In Dhaka city, there were many flags, but just after reaching the Shonir Akhra area, I got simply amazed! There were flags all over the area, on top of virtually every building, in front of every shop. The car moved along the Dhaka Chittagong highway. There were small villages on each side of the road. In almost all the villages, I saw decorations with paper flags. There were paper-string-flag replicas of our national “Smiriti Shoudha.”

As our car reached Comilla town, the frequency of flags went more intense. Cultural programmes were going on all over the Comilla town. When I reached our destination village, I found out cultural shows are being held by the village school. I heard that there were night long musical shows on the previous night. The festivity of our victory was felt even at such remote areas.

On my way back home, I felt proud to be a part of the nation which fought for its independence. I felt proud for our nation which holds the spirit of liberation after so many years. I felt proud for our spirit of liberation which is getting stronger day by day. Don’t worry comrades, no matter how insolent or impudent the war criminals and their henchmen might be, the spirited people of Bangladesh will neither forget the history, nor forgive the perpetrators of the heinous war crime which took place on this land in 1971.

Nevertheless, the hopes I saw in the face of thousands in 1990 was it there in 2007? All the years in between has mauled democracy (1991-96), criminalised it (1996-2001), corrupted it severely (2001-2006) and has ultimately killed it (2007 onwards). The rays of hope have faded away quick, this time it was the reiteration of our democratic principles and our hate towards the war criminals which prompted such a jubilant celebration of our victory, I gathered.

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Guest blogger Robin Milford writes using a pseudonym and is an ICT executive.

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[Photo/Banglar Chokh: Waiting for relief.]

[Abu Jar M Akkas, Bangladesh. Back from Sidr-devastated Patuakhali.]

Future looks bleak for about a thousand and a half cyclone survivors in two Mirzaganj villages of Patuakhali, at an aerial distance of about 153 KM from Dhaka, as short-term aid activities, which could ensure them a bare living for now, would hardly hand them a means to earn their living in coming days.

There are many who were partially affected by Sidr that struck the coast on November 15, yet there are many others who lost all they had — homesteads, family members and a meager living.

The villagers of Charkhali and Golkhali are now left with a dream of better days only if they are given the support they need to start farming and that too not before November, when they were supposed to harvest their aman crops which were washed away or damaged by the cyclone, as the paddy fields now lie waste.

Most of them also need to leave behind the trauma, still evident in the face of many, they had gone through on the night of November 15.

Forty-five-year-old Rizia Begum, who lives on the road passing by the villages at Subidkhali that became cratered for a stretch of about five to 10 feet every 20 feet, Friday said her house was damaged when tidal surges, whipped up by the cyclone to a height of six to eight feet, rushed in at about 10:30 PM.

All her family members clung to a floating auto-rickshaw that got stuck between the damaged house structure and an electric pole for about 10 minutes the surge lasted. When water flushed out, they found themselves half-naked. The strong current took their clothes off. And they had to search for about four hours to find a boy of the family who is one year and a half old about a quarter kilometer away.

When they took the boy home, people said he would not survive. A local physician, known as Doctor Aziz, treated the boy and he recovered. All his family members walked into the house of Aziz who provided them, along with about a hundred such people, with food and old clothes.

Like many others in the locality, she said there was no announcement on PA system about the warning. They heard it was local warning 4, which they watched on television and heard on radio. Most of them were also unaware that it was revised upward to great danger signal 10. Yet, she said, “We did not believe in the warning and did not think tidal surge would sweep us. There were many such warnings before, but nothing happened.”

Although many of them received tents, clothes and food, they all reached the villagers two days after the cyclone. By the time they had lived on food supplied by people financially better off or relatives less affected in the locality, said her husband, fifty-year-old Abdul Latif.

They remained busy looking for the dead or missing and relief supplies started reaching them. Naimul Alam, administration manager of the Youngone Corporation Bangladesh of Korea who has been managing the company’s relief operation at Mirzaganj in coordination with the administration since November 24, said, “I have surveyed all the houses in the two villages. There are about 1,200 to 1,500 people living here. Two hundred and sixteen bodies of the villagers were found. Sixteen could not be found. And all the families are affected, partially or fully.”

As goods started pouring in, the administration with the help of the villagers cut the trees blown over by the cyclone into pieces to clear the road, leading to neighboring Barguna. The villagers also repaired the road up to a certain distance towards Barguna so that people could walk by.

Some of the villagers who lost their houses received tents and they started living on their land with a bamboo structure with the tent used as the roof and a bare fencing with what they could gather. Some are not living under the open sky as the tent is there, but they have no fencing around. Abdus Sobhan and his wife, Anwara, who lived on fishing, lost their house, and they could erect a structure to spread the tent over to save them from rain and the sun.

Two girls of a middle-class family by the economic standards of the locality were digging earth with spades to repair their damaged house. They all survived by clinging to a large tree, which was also blown over, during the tidal surge. One of the girls, Sajani, a student of Class X, lost all her books. “I have lost all my books. I need the books as the exams are around the corner. Our teachers said they would give us books. But we do not know when we would get them,” she said, looking down at the earth in despair. The other girl, Baby Akhtar, a college student, just could say she wanted books.

People hustling for relief goods or medical treatment offered by non-government agencies Friday said they were better off as they could get at least two meals a day, clothes to wear and even medicines to treat minor health problems and injuries.

One of them, Yusuf Shikdar, who lives on farming and share-cropping, had stood in the long queue for a packet of food since morning. He said not many people in the area contracted diseases worth mentioning. “But we need support to carry forward. We get food, clothes and all. But we need something to arrange for the means of living for the coming days.”

“We have lost the aman crop. Now we will try to grow sweet potatoes, chillies and other such vegetables after November. And we will try to earn living for the rest of the year by working with some factories or from carpentry. But I have lost one of my cows. I need to stand on my feet again,” said another, Babul, who owns a small piece of land, looking up in the sky.

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Guest blogger Abu Jar M Akkas [http://newsroomnotes.blogspot.com] is Joint News Editor, New Age.

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