Daily Star decries misrule by Hasina Jun 27, 2013 The editor of a mass circulation pro- ruling party English daily yesterday came down heavily on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and said it is a government mainly running on arrogance, whims and vengeance. “It has missed a historic opportunity to bring about a ‘politics of change’ and transform Bangladesh and its politics through its huge parliamentary majority, something that the Awami League had promised people it would do if voted to power, said Mahfuz Anam. He went on: “People voted it (Awami League) to power, but the AL did not keep its promise. Instead of ‘Politics of Change’ it reinforced ‘old politics’ with arrogance, whims and vengeance.” Mahfuz Anam said: “Nothing exemplifies these three traits more than the arrogant manner in which the Padma Bridge loan was cancelled, the whimsical way in which the caretaker government system was abolished and the vengeful manner in which Prof Yunus has been treated for the last four and half years and the way Grameen Bank(GB) is being proposed to be dismantled.” He said: “As we have repeatedly written, only one man stood between the World Bank (WB) loan and the Padma bridge. At the end, it was supreme arrogance that made Sheikh Hasina side with that ‘one man’ ( in spite of pleading by most of her cabinet colleagues and senior leaders) in total disregard of a “public good” that would have directly benefited millions of people, given additional GDP growth and impacted positively on the overall economy. Arrogance overtook everything, including and ironically, self interest.” In a front-page commentary, the Daily Star editor said, the chest-thumping and crowd churning talk of “self- financing” is a cheap play on national pride and can be termed as the biggest defrauding of public sentiment after the Share Market and Hall Mark scams. “As our finance minister very well knows, the only ‘real’ measure of public wealth is “opportunity cost”. Of course, Bangladesh with nearly $40bn annual income from just garments and remittance can “self- finance” not one but several Padma Bridges. But should it, given the need for resources in many crucial fields like rural infrastructure, roads, railways, waterways, telecommunication, energy, industrialisation? These are but just a few areas where an absence of crucial funding is holding growth back.” “Only the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand can say that we did not need those billions of dollars of nearly zero-interest money, “ Mahfuz Anam said. As for national pride, far more insult, humiliation and bad name for the country resulted from the loan fiasco than can ever be gained from “self- financing”, which is a bad financial decision to say the least. Some day this government will be held accountable for such neglect and downright “dishonouring” of the public interest. Mahfuz Anam also wrote about the way the non-party, neutral caretaker government was abolished by Hasina. “It took our PM two weeks to order her parliamentary party to abolish the caretaker system. Such a fundamental constitutional amendment passed with no questions asked? Something that was literally pushed down the throat of the people with nearly three years of street agitation and debilitating general strikes from 1994 to 1996, was changed by the ‘whim’ of the leader. There was no debate, no discussion and no questions asked. The ‘sovereign’ had asked and the pliant House delivered.” He went on: “The foolish opposition by its stubborn, unthinking, nonsensical and self-defeating boycott made the task that much more easier. “Nothing illustrates better the vengeful nature of the PM and the government she leads than the way Prof Yunus has been treated for the last four and a half years and by the plans being floated to dismantle Grameen Bank (GB). Ironically, both the present Finance Minister and the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, who must play pivotal roles in this process, know GB well. Deep within their hearts they must know that what they are doing is unjustified, unjust and downright wrong. Yet they are part of the destruction of the most famous body created by this “much maligned” country, an institution that was given the highest honour the present world can possibly give —the Nobel Prize. “It is public knowledge that the finance minister is angry with Prof. Yunus. But anger cannot be the basis of action against an institution that brought unmatched glory and honour for our people at the global level. As for the Governor, that just an extension of service can muffle his conscience is very hard to believe. Both are honourable men. But their failure to raise their voices at such a crucial moment reserves history’s judgement on them which, in my view, will be harsh”, the Daily Star editor said. bdinn/news/daily-star- decries-misrule-by-hasina/
Posted on: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 02:42:17 +0000
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