Cross Talk
Anniversary at crossroads
Today, right on the dot is the first anniversary of 1/11. The first thing that comes to mind isn't where we have finished but where we had started. One year ago, around this time, we had come dangerously close to what I would call the Rumpeltstiltskin moment. Rumpeltstiltskin is a dwarf character from a fairy tale. In a flight of rage, he tore himself into two with his own hand.
One year ago, we were about to do the same thing. A nation seething with rage was on the verge of tearing itself apart. First round of applause to the army; they didn't let it happen.
There are now many criticisms of what was then the last resort. The army could still remain in the barracks. The country could still roil with hatred and violence. Many more people could get killed, properties could get damaged, and we could live in a gangland turmoil. Many things may have gone wrong since then, but one year ago there were not too many right options. The country was rapidly sinking into chaos.
But one year later, where do we stand? Two days ago, four advisors of the caretaker government turned in their resignations. Roughly a week before them, another advisor had stepped down. Are these indications of instability? No it is, rather, making up for the loss of face caused by the performance and utterances of those advisers.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party candidate for the US presidency, told voters last Sunday: "You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose." If we evaluate the first one year of this caretaker government, it tried to govern like a campaign. It was already popular, yet it tried to win the hearts and minds of people. It ruled with an iron fist but a feather touch.
On this 1/11, we must look back and take stock. What has this government tried to accomplish? Has it tried to right the wrongs? Has it tried to put a derailed train back on track? As a matter of fact, it's not clear what it has tried to accomplish. It had the overwhelming support of the people, yet it couldn't uncouple itself from the perception that it was a military-backed establishment.
It's possible that the bane of its existence was seeded in its creation. There is something called observer effect in science, which refers to changes that the act of observing will make on the phenomenon being observed. May be the way we looked at this government is the way it has taken shape. It, perhaps, failed to rise above that perception.
Henry David Thoreau writes in Civil Disobedience that a government has the choice of being expedient or inexpedient. He argues that men would fain to succeed in letting one another alone and, when the government is most expedient, the governed are mostly let alone. In case of this particular government, people weren't so much worried if it let them alone as people. They were more worried if it was let alone as government, like in the past.
Thoreau further explains that government is only the mode, which the people have chosen to execute their will, and that the character inherent in the American people had done all that had been accomplished. In an ideal democracy, government should be a reflection of the people.
But nobody was expecting that to happen in the last one year. Everybody knew the country was under emergency rule. People were willing to become a reflection of the government. Second round of applause to them because, in spite of two floods, one cyclone and then the tremors of price spirals, half-fed or hungry, they steadfastly stood behind this government with patience.
With five new advisors, will the government function better? I would like to be optimistic, but not bet my bottom dollar. It's being tugged in many directions. Political reforms, natural disasters, economic debacles, trial of war criminals, crusade against corruption, urban-renewal of institutions -- many preponderant tasks have been heaved upon the government.
For its remaining days in power, this government is going to face testing times. It will be lucky to finish what it has started and hold on to what it has done. If it can try and convict all those who have been accused of corruption, if the elections are held and the Election Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission and the separation of judiciary survive future political convulsions, I would save my third round of applause for this government until then.
On this anniversary of 1/11, the country stands at a crossroads. There is an element of a polygon in us. We are a nation with as many angles as we have sides. There is the American side, then the European side, Indian side, Chinese side, Saudi side, and even Pakistani side. But what are the angles in our minds? Are we going to run the country? Or leave it to a cabal of foreign interests?
Looking for an answer.
Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a banker.
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