Decades ago, Sylhet municipality (before it became a city corporation) had an admittedly crazy candidate for the position of chairman: A Mr. Saiful. The whole town knew he had mental problems, and he openly discussed it. His campaigning was novel, too: he declared, in open meetings, that he was going to take a total of one crore (10 million) taka in bribes, after which he will do real work.

Would you be surprised to hear that Mr. Saiful, a crazy person with a declared manifesto of taking bribes, defeated major party (AL, BNP, JP) candidates and was elected? The heavily favored AL candidate and the challenger BNP candidate both lost despite rigging the vote in many polling centers.

People were so disgusted, they voted Saiful (also known as Chokka Saiful) as the Chairman.

People have power to vote, and they wield that power thoughtfully. A cartoon published on Nov 5, 2008, after Obama was elected says “the most powerful person in the free world is a voter”. We thought this would be appropriate for Bangladesh as well.

We saw this in 1991–pundits were predicting an AL win, but people remembered that AL formed an alliance with Jatyo Party/Ershad and punished them by voting for BNP. BNP went to power and abused it, so people voted for AL in 1996.

You’d think AL would learn by then. They conducted business as usual, and was kicked out of power in the 2001 election. Which brings us to 2008, and the massive boot given to BNP by the voters in Bangladesh.

Awami League leadership and specially Sheikh Hasina will do well to remember this history. A landslide victory does not mean a license to mess with the constitution or the civil rights of people. It does not mean an unrestricted license to steal for the petty thugs in the party (or the big thugs in the party). It does not mean a massive revenge campaign against BNP rank and file members. Above all, it does not mean the laws of the country won’t apply to Awami Leaguers any more.

May AL and Sheikh Hasina find the wisdom to govern wisely.

-

J @ Shada Kalo [http://shadakalo.blogspot.com] writes using a pseudonym and is best known for exposing government, military, corporate foul plays through whistle-blowing investigative reports.

[Read posts by J @ Shada Kalo]

Appointment Letter:

To:
Sheikh Hasina Wazed
C/O AL

Dear Mrs. Wazed:

Congratulations. We are happy to inform you that your employment application for the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh has been accepted.

You have been accepted to lead the country on a five-year contract employment basis.

During the application review process, we considered your previous employment history from 1996 to 2001, and your performance during that period. Upon review, we found that you did an adequate job.

But don’t get too elated. To be honest, the applicant pool was rather thin this year. Your toughest competition came from your immediate past predecessor, who left such a wide swath of destruction around her that we had no trouble making up our mind and rejecting her; after which there was only you left to be picked.

Given your predecessor’s performance, note that we will keep a very close watch on you and your cohorts, and we will exercise our option to remove you at the expiry of the contract if your job performance is not adequate.

We do sincerely hope that you will not disappoint us. If you do, learn from your rival what fate awaits you.

One suggestion: go easy on trumpeting 1996-2001 as the ‘golden era’. We still remember that Bangladesh landed at the top of the list of corrupt countries during that tenure for the first time.

On election night, there were reports of violence perpetrated by your supporters. This is the time to rein them in, or you will forever lose control of them.

But let us focus on the future and positive outcomes. Know that we wish you well and hope for your success in the future.

Sincerely,

Voters of Bangladesh

Rejection letter:

To:
Mrs. Khaleda Zia
C/O BNP

Dear Mrs. Zia:

We regret to inform you that your employment application for the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh has been denied.

During the application review process, we considered your previous employment history from 2001 to 2006, and your performance during that period. Upon review, we found that not only you did not do a good job, you brought along relatives who stole from people and profited at the expense of this country.

You also underperformed as manager–you hired people with little skill based on their friendship with your son, and let them flaunt the laws and regulations at will.

Your government landed Bangladesh at the top of the list of corrupt countries four years in a row.

Lastly, you allowed, with your full consent and knowledge, the establishment and growth of a colony of blood-sucking leeches also known as Jamaat, and their even more dangerous cousins, HUJI and JMB. You and your ministers denied the existence of a terrorist named Bangla Bhai, and your ministers directly aided and abetted this extremist.

As such, we are awarding the job to another candidate better suited for the position.

Please note that this denial is not final: you are welcome to apply for the job again in five years when it becomes available again, but you have to prove that you are better than the incumbent if you wish to gain employment.

Until then, we wish you well and hope that you will use this time constructively for the betterment of your governance and managerial skills, and not on destructive practices such as hartals, etc.

Sincerely,

Voters of Bangladesh

-

J @ Shada Kalo [http://shadakalo.blogspot.com] writes using a pseudonym and is best known for exposing government, military, corporate foul plays through whistle-blowing investigative reports.

[Read posts by J @ Shada Kalo]

In the past only once had the leaders of the two dominant political parties and rivals Khaleda Zia and Shiekh Hasina cooperated. The heads of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Awami League (AL) have not met or even spoken to each other for more than a decade since 1990 when they had worked unitedly to oust the military autocrat H.M. Ershad. Many believe that for the sake of the country’s future it is high time that they forsake their differences in order to bring in a democracy that they had failed to establish after the ’90s mass upheaval.

by: Azizur Rahim peu, DRIK News
Dhaka, 1990

“AL, BNP and JI have upgraded their websites. BNP projected ads in the TV channels. Till now, I have got no message from any candidate but got a message to my mobile from GP to vote for joggo prarthy.

Thanks GP. We are in favor of honest and competent candidates.”

- An Ordinary Citizen