Editor's Pick

Mr. Foley's follies!

12 October 2006, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Habibul Haque Khondker, The writer is a sociologist
Mr. Foley, the Florida Congressman, resigned from the US House of Representatives on September 29, 2006 a day after a media disclosure of his lurid emails to his pages. It was an exposure of a great hypocrisy not just because the Republicans are big on appropriate moral conduct and family values but also because Mr. Foley himself was once a co-chairman of the House's committee to protect missing and exploited children. Mr. Foley's follies cannot be minimised but these are not simply failings of a politician in conducting himself in a morally appropriate manner, rather this episode illustrated the point that American public hold their politicians to morally high standards. I raise this matter not to flay him, or to praise him for his courage of acknowledging his failings and resigning. I dwell on this matter to raise issues of ethics in politics. It may be worth remembering that former U.S. president Clinton's troubles with sex scandals not only undermined him but also in my opinion had huge historical consequences. For example, had there been no Monica Lewinsky affair, Mr. Gore would have been the 43rd president of the United States, not Mr. George W. Bush. America would not be in deficits, the world would not be a mess and many young Americans would still be walking as thousands elsewhere. And we would have Kyoto Protocol sealed.

Now in place of Bill Clinton had it been Woody Allen then there would be no problem. The world of art and cinema has a different moral standard. It is only a gross misconduct -- or the allegation of it - that would land one in trouble as the case of Michael Jackson illustrated. It is the politicians that American people hold in high standards of morality. I only wish the Americans expanded that moral criterion to include conducts beyond personal and outside their national borders, for example, matters related to war.

In terms of differing standards Europe and America present striking contrasts. I know I should not use Europe as a monolithic category because there are marked differences between Poland and Germany, or United Kingdom and France. For example, in Germany and France many were surprised by the Monica affairs as to why it was an issue in the first place. In France, it is rumoured (I say rumour, so don't contemplate law suits!) that one of the past presidents not too long ago had an affair with the then (female) prime minister. My source is not any tabloid but a serious French social scientist. And she told me the story somewhat approvingly.

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In Bangladesh, some people often use such derogatory terms as "prostitutes" to describe the politicians. This label is highly inappropriate with some rare exceptions.

How often politicians lie in Bangladesh? And what are the consequences, apart from an occasional editorial rebuff?
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