As scepticism mounts and electoral timelines remain vague, questions about the interim government’s long-term ambitions are becoming harder to ignore
The latest buzzword in Bangladesh is reform. A report by Reuters, datelined August 16, 2024, and carried in the Dhaka Tribune under the heading. “Student protestors plan new party to cement their revolution,” quoted Nahid Islam, a coordinator of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement and an advisor to the interim government, as saying, “The spirit of the movement was to create a new Bangladesh, one where no fascist or autocrat can return,” and adding that to ensure that “we need structural reforms, which will definitely take some time.” The government, he further said, was not considering calls from the Awami League and BNP to hold fresh polls as early as fall.
According to a report in The Daily Star, datelined August 18, 2024, and carried under the heading “No option but to succeed: Yunus,” the interim government’s chief advisor said, while addressing foreign diplomats during a “Meet and Greet” session at a hotel in Dhaka, that the interim government would hold a free, fair and participatory election as soon as it could complete its mandate to carry out vital reforms in the election commission, judiciary, civil administration, security forces and media. He added that the students wanted meaningful and deep reforms, which would turn Bangladesh into a “real and thriving democracy”.
Things have been moving. In his address to the nation on September 11, 2024, Yunus announced the names of the heads of six commissions of reform along with the areas of governance they would address. Thus, Shahdeen Malik would lead the Constitutional Reform Commission; Justice Shah Abu Naim Mominur Rahman, the Judicial Reform Commission; Badiul Alam Majumdar, the Election System Reform Commission; Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, the Public Administration Reform Commission; Safar Raj Hossain, the Police Administration Reform Commission; and Iftekharuzzaman, the Anti-Corruption Reform Commission.
Yunus stated in his 32-minute speech that the commissions were expected to start their work from October 1 and finish within the next three months. Thereafter, the interim government would, on the basis of their report, organise discussions with major political parties and, in the final stage, hold comprehensive consultations, spread over three to seven days, with representatives of student bodies, civil society, political parties and the government. He added, “This discussion will finalise the outline of the reform plan and provide an idea on how it will be implemented.”
There was, however, a stumble as early September 18, 2024, when it was announced that the Constitutional Reform Commission was to be headed by Ali Riaz, a Distinguished Professor at Illinois State University in the United States, and not Shahdeen Malik who, one learnt subsequently, had himself opted out, citing his own work load.
Even if the move does not make much of a difference in the commission’s work, it indicates inefficiency and thoughtlessness. The interim government should have got Malik’s consent before announcing his name as the head of the Constitution Reforms Commission. Besides, work has not been progressing fast enough. A report in the Dhaka Tribune, datelined October 14, 2024, and carried under the heading “Badiul Alam: Election Reform Commission reviewing laws, regulations,” quotes Badiul Alam Majumdar, head of the Constitutional Reform Commission, as saying that laws, regulations, and rules were [being] reviewed as a part of the election review process, “to gain a clear understanding of electoral reforms.” The implication is that the commission had yet to get a clear understanding of its task. At this rate, it is unlikely to finish its work within 90 days of starting it.
Delay is almost certain to happen because the introduction of the proportional representation system is being considered. According to Riadul Karim in his piece, “Proportional system scheme in discussion,” in Prothom Alo English (updated on October 15, 2024), the proceedings of a a virtual discussion meeting showed that while the BNP opposed the decision and the Awami League’s view was not known, both ‘eminent personalities” and the other political parties favoured it. Given the BNP’s opposition, there is bound to be heated discussions and delays if the Constitutional Reform Commission considers proposing such a change.
Given the difficult and contentious nature of the political and administrative terrains to be covered, progress in the other sectors of reform would also be slow unless the commissions have been told what to recommend and the members have agreed. Hence, the urgency of the question, when would the elections be held? The urgent need for an answer is sharply underlined by the absence of the announcement of a timeframe, to say nothing of dates, for holding elections to the new Jatiya Sangsad or National Parliament. Continued silence on the matter is bound to raise the question: is the interim government planning to become permanent?
Some may regard this as an unwarranted question. The complete overhaul of the civil administration, foreign ministry, judiciary, police and military under way, is, however, significant in this context. The plea is that these have to be rid of those complicit in the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government’s gross human rights violations. Given, however, the very large number of people shunted to sinecures, sacked or compulsorily retired before time, the question arises whether all of them were actually guilty, or the interim government is staffing the administration, judiciary, police and military with people who would support its bid to stay indefinitely in power.
The prospect must worry the BNP. With the Awami League being sought to be systematically crippled through murder and large-scale imprisonment, it has every chance of sweeping the parliamentary elections, which have become due following the dismissal of the former parliament on August 6, 2024. It might also ask whether the reforms are so important as to make their completion a pre-requisite for holding elections.
The argument, articulated ad nauseum, that reforms are need for holding free and fair elections and preventing the return of an autocrat to power, is ridiculous. If free and fair elections could be held earlier under caretaker governments, these can be held again under a caretaker government whose composition is sanctioned by all or a majority of parties in Bangladesh.
The point needs to be made because the importance of reforms as a means of ensuring a “real and thriving democracy,” is highly exaggerated. The impeccably democratic constitution of the Weimer Republic could not prevent Hitler’s ascent to power through the electoral process. No constitutional safeguard can prevent a legally-elected leader becoming a tyrant, or a military coup, or a violent mass-movement forcing the ouster of an existing government, a telling example of which has recently been provided by Bangladesh itself!
The harsh reality is reflected in the sage words of late Justice Learned Hand of the United States who said, “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can do even much to help.”
(The writer is a consulting editor of The Pioneer; views are personal)
