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| Bangladesh |
| Military-backed govt to build new brand of democracy in Bangladesh |
| 2007-04-03 |
| Bangladesh’s army chief Moeen U Ahmed said on Monday the military-backed interim government would build a new brand of democracy to overcome the country’s chronic poor governance. “We do not want to go back to an ‘elective democracy’ where corruption becomes all pervasive, governance suffers in terms of insecurity and violation of rights, and where political criminalisation threatens the very survival and integrity of the state,” Lt Gen Moeen said. “My contention is that had corruption not been a persistent factor, the full economic potential of Bangladesh could have been realised at a much faster rate,” he told a regional conference of the International Political Science Association in Dhaka. Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed inaugurated the one-day conference. “Had poor governance not been a conspicuous phenomenon in our democratic politics, the per capita income would not have stagnated to its current level of $482 but reached a more respectable $920 with every possibility of breaking the $1,000 barrier in the coming years,” Moeen said. “I reckon Bangladesh will have to construct its own brand of democracy recognising its social, historical and cultural conditions with religion being one of several components of its national identity,” he said. Bangladesh, now being ruled by an interim government headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed and strongly backed by the military, has been under a state of emergency since Jan 11. Moeen called for a major overhaul of the country’s political landscape, saying previous democratic governments had bred corruption and crime. He defended the emergency, saying it was “consistent with the democratic development” of the country. He also repeated his backing for the current interim government, which is carrying out a major anti-corruption campaign as part of sweeping reforms ahead of new but as yet unscheduled democratic elections. “I believe the current transitional period allows us an opportunity to develop a new concept and find a new sense of direction to the future politics of Bangladesh,” he said. “The country has principles to live by and purpose to strive for, and this needs rethinking so that we can reinvent our system of governance with new leadership at all levels.” Moeen did not elaborate on the new brand of democracy. But he appeared to be sending a message to the political parties that there would be no election before political corruption is eliminated, or drastically curbed. Last week, he said politicians had failed to give the country anything good in its 36 years after independence. |
| Posted by:Fred |