Preventing political somersault

Abu Yousuff Zobayerullah

HISTORY of modern world agrees that in spite of the continuous barrage of advices/support/aid from the developed countries, Third World countries maintain a volatile socio-political environment. Military coup or multidimensional political somersault is the order of the day. It is quite unfortunate for the people and also for the leadership that they are yet to figure out how and why it happens, let alone when it takes place. It is extra conducive in a country where the leadership is encircled by associates with minimum sense of patriotism and is totally consumed in enjoying power. To avoid such intermittent political fiasco we need to learn how to detect it. Only then we would probably be wise enough to prevent it. People have experienced the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and President Ziaur Rahman, somersault of President Ershad, failed attempt of Chief of Army Staff General Nasim, crisis of 1/11 and so many others. So, what is the lesson? Blame the people, opposition party or the leadership? It is our attitude that prevents us from taking the right lesson from these bloody incidents and for which we continue to suffer endlessly. A very common environment among all Third World countries is brazen corruption and complete absence of accountability. Such an environment helps the perpetrators to play with Third World countries at ease. The question is how and who will change our attitude/environment from the present counterproductive one to a vibrant productive platform like Japan, Germany or other developed countries? During the by gone days it was the axiomatic task of the leadership, but today it is done by social engineers or psychological warfare experts. Their professional responsibility starts from shaping the perception of a target audience, up to the level of blowing up public sentiment at a desired time. For the social engineer the target audience is both their own and the enemy country. The best and the latest example is the clash between Chinese authority and Google search engine. Google has its own agenda but the Chinese authority does not want someone to shape their people's perception and be victim of ideological subversion. Chinese social engineers are smart enough to perceive the invisible disease and the inevitable threat it carries in destroying the heart and mind of the mass. This is basically a combined effort of espionage and ideological subversion, wherein about 15% effort is spent behind espionage but rest is allotted for subversion or mind control. This is the area where the developing countries are absolutely at the mercy of the perpetrators. They do not know how their own people lose loyalty and sign up with the hostile social engineers, let alone sense how they shape the perception of own mass by using own print or electronic media. This is a special skill where war becomes redundant if applied effectively. An organized military or political debacle does not take place all of a sudden through a violent upheaval; it is painfully organized and orchestrated from the beginning to the end. To understand that one has to have minimum idea about Ideological subversion or active measure or psychological warfare. We can clearly recall that before 1/11 ambassadors of different countries were extremely busy in visiting leaders in power and in opposition; they did not even leave out the military higher echelons and the election commission. In the end the result was 'normalization' through 1/11. The situation was slowly and gradually taken to such a height that the traumatized mass was made ready to accept any change whatsoever. This is the typical style being applied over and over again. Love and power both make people blind, but the difference is visible at the end. Blindness in love gradually goes away but in case of power things get further obscured. It is important to know how people are blinded by power. It is done by (pseudo) loyal agents in place (AIP) or agents of influence (AOI). They may belong to both bureaucracy and the chain of political leadership. 1/11 is one of the best examples for us Bangladeshis. President Rafael Correa of Ecuador fired his defence minister, army chief of intelligence, and commanders of the army, air force, and joint chiefs. He appointed a seven-member commission to look into possible CIA infiltration of his military's intelligence. He is both fortunate and intelligent to comprehend his country's security environment and take pre-emptive action timely. A similar situation has been pre-empted by the Turkish government in February 2010. They have arrested some 50 suspects (serving and retired high ranking defence officials) plotting a coup against the Erdogan Government. The world is fully aware of the recent political somersault of Kyrgyzstan government. To create an environment conducive to a coup de main or political debacle, the perpetrators ensure that the party in power is suggested to opt for multibillion dollar mega projects like, big international airports, deep sea ports or hydraulic dams, four lanes high ways, express ways, etc. On the other hand the mass is made to suffer on a daily basis: intolerable traffic jam in cities, electricity shortfall, problem of drinking water etc. The party in power is coerced to take steps that make the political situation volatile and prepare a covert third party (Killing Squad) to conduct violent action at a time most suitable. However, the impression would be that the action was conducted by the party under pressure. Looking at the success rate of the perpetrator in destabilizing our socio-economic and political environment it seems they are unstoppable. Although in the last 39 years we have experienced many coups and political upheaval, the case of the Third World is similar to that of a patient with a long history of a chronic disease. However, the regrettable aspect here is that the patient never becomes an expert of that disease; he requires a doctor. We are suffering from a disease named 3rd world syndrome; this is chronic but not acute. We cannot gain experience as we are at the receiving end and failing miserably to develop any defensive mechanism to prevent it from recurring. Let alone subverting enemy population we cannot make our own people patriotic or loyal to the organization they serve. This is a serious weakness in our national security; we have to learn the methodology of ideological subversion as soon as possible and apply positively to vaccinate our own people against hostile surreptitious offensive. It is well proven that no amount of physical protection is enough to save the life of a leader. We need to make our people patriotic enough wherein they would value and love their leadership and never join an orchestrated violence organized by the perpetrator. No such attempt could take place on Jyoti Basu of West Bengal, Mohatir Mohammad of Malaysia or Lee kuan Yeu of Singapore; we have something positive to learn from there. The only other alternative to winning the hearts and minds of own people by the leadership is to give it up to the control of hostile social engineers.
The author is a freelancer.