To end inequality, Bangladesh needs to improve democracy, rein in corruption

Below is the translated version of the speech delivered by Dr Akbar Ali Khan, a former adviser to a caretaker government, at a discussion on the Liberation War and Bangladesh's 50 year-long journey since arranged by the Center for Governance Studies on Monday.

I am very happy to have had the chance to meet so many of the heroic fighters I worked with during the Liberation War after so many days. Seeing so many of them here fills me with hope. I am very grateful to the Center for Governance Studies.

I would like to begin by making a proposal. I noticed a juxtaposition in today's discussion. The one who introduced me, spoke in English. I am speaking in Bangla. This is a very obvious contrast.

I can tell you the reason for this. I teach at a private university. The medium of instruction there is English. We have to speak in English. If we use Bangla, then we lose our jobs.

There are reasons for that. The Bangla language is not yet suitable for higher education, but you have to understand what I am saying. The Bangla language is suitable, but knowledge is developing. Thousands of new books are being published every year. If those books are not translated into Bangla, then the knowledge they contain cannot be used. This is why we are taught in English at our private universities.

But so far, we have not seen any initiative from the government to restore the Bangla language in its rightful place.

The Bangla language is a major part of nationalism in Bangladesh. Those who do not have faith in the Bangla language, do not have faith in Bangladesh either. Therefore, of course, the Bangla language must be respected. But we couldn't do so.

To do this, the government needs to take an initiative. It won't happen overnight. It is only possible if a 15-20-year master plan is undertaken.

I would like to make a proposal to the Center for Governance Studies. When they arrange programmes only for the Bangladeshi audience, it is perhaps necessary to use the Bangla language.

English can be used if it is an international conference where foreigners participate. I put forward this proposal for the consideration of the directors of the centre.

The heroic freedom fighters have said a lot about the Liberation War. I could not fight with weapons in the Liberation War. I fought the war of liberation with a pen. My misfortune is that I am unable to do so now. But the heroic freedom fighters, who really fought with weapons, these friends of mine, are still truly able. I wish them good health.

General Ibrahim has said that the Liberation War of Bangladesh was a people's war. Just as soldiers took part in this war, as the police and BDR did, so did the peasants, the clerks and the government employees. People from all walks of life took part in it.

The Liberation War of Bangladesh was not a military coup. It was a people's war waged by the common people. If we keep this in mind, then it will be much easier to evaluate our Liberation War.

Freedom fighters Helal Morshed Khan and Jafar Imam said that India had taken part in our liberation struggle. Of course, India contributed to our victory in the 1971 Liberation War. Shouldn't we be eternally grateful to India for that? This could not have been heard in 1971. This question has been raised recently.

I want to give a straight answer to this. Lord Palmerston was the prime minister of England. During his tenure as foreign minister, he spoke about national interests, saying, "There is no eternal friend, there is no eternal enemy. Our interests are eternal."

India knows this and Bangladesh knows it too. There is no such thing as eternal gratitude anywhere in the world. This is not a personal friendship. It is a friendship of a nation with another nation. The state to state friendship will be there when our interests are aligned. If there is a conflict of interest, then there will never be a lasting sense of gratitude. The statesmen in India who helped Bangladesh are well aware of this.

In 1971, I met Mrs Indira Gandhi and the defence minister of India. They said, "We want you to live independently." They never imagined that Bangladesh would be forever subjugated by someone else.

It is not possible. Those who think so are living in an imaginary world.

Today, Bangladesh completes its 50th year. We have achieved a lot in these 50 years. In 1970, more than 70% of our people lived below the poverty line. Now, only 20% of the population is below the poverty line. It is an unimaginable achievement. At that time, no one thought that Bangladesh would be able to reach this stage.

If we look at the social and economic indicators, of course we have a reason to be proud.

But two things need to be kept in mind. One is that whatever we have achieved, we have achieved in comparison to what we had in 1971. Poverty has not only decreased in Bangladesh. It has decreased all over the world.

The poverty line is measured through using national and international standards. According to international standards, 40%-50% of the people in Bangladesh are still below the poverty line.

There are also errors in international measurements because, with economic development, the demand for essential goods and services is increasing. Taking that into account, Bangladesh still has widespread poverty. We have to be careful about this.

The second thing we need to be aware of is that we have improved in many indicators. But we have not progressed in all indicators equally. The way we have gone up, we can also go down at any time.

Let me give you an example. According to the UN Development Program, we once rose just above the minimum level. Then we went down again. Now, we have climbed out of the minimum range once more. This shows that there are ups and downs in improvements and as such, we can fall back at any time.

We want everyone's food needs to be met. The per capita food supply in our country is now much higher than it used to be in 1971. But are people getting drinkable water to digest this food? Are 80-90% of the people in our country getting pure water?

Once, amid much fanfare, the government said that 97% of the people in Bangladesh were getting drinkable water. Are they really getting it? I don't see it.  Considering the effects of arsenic and other poisons and the lack of drinking water in coastal areas, more than 40% of the population are not getting drinking water. They need that water to digest their food. This is not a situation where poverty can be alleviated.

Therefore, while we have eradicated poverty in some places, we have not been able to do so in other places. We have to move forward in a coordinated manner. And we need to be aware of the weaknesses that we have.

Bangladesh is an ideological state imbued with a certain spirit. There are four pillars of this spirit of our Liberation War: nationalism, socialism, secularism and democracy. Bangladesh's nationalism is based on these four pillars.

Of these, we have achieved nationalism. I don't think there is any possibility of changing the geographical makeup of Bangladesh. India will never take our land. If India takes it, they will be defeated. They will not be able to survive as a democratic state.

Pakistan will not be able to take us anymore, either. When exploitation was possible, they occupied Bangladesh. With this, Bangladeshi nationalism was established. We have no reason to worry about these.

Instead, we need to worry about democracy and secularism. Although we see secularism and democracy as separate pillars, in a country where there is no democracy, secularism cannot be sustained.

In that situation, secularism can only be established for some time. But whenever there is a change in the regime, the fragility of this secularism will be exposed. Therefore, democracy is needed for secularism.

Here Mr Helal Morshed Khan has said that there are different types of democracy, and he left asking what kind of democracy we wanted. I will say that we need liberal democracy. There will be no progress with illiberal democracy.

The democracy upheld by the spirit of our Liberation War was liberal democracy. In such a democracy, only elections alone are not enough. It also needs respect for each other's views. The role of civil society must also be there and there must be the rule of law.  

In these regards, however, Bangladesh is still weak. Democracy needs to be strengthened. If we can't do that, good governance will not be ensured in the country. And if good governance is not ensured, the rights of the people will not be ensured and foreign investment will not come. This means that our economic development will be hampered. Despite having political rights, the people of the country will still remain deprived.  

The establishment of democracy and good governance, however, is not so easy. It needs to be pursued. First of all, all political parties have to believe in democracy. Unfortunately, there are many political parties in Bangladesh which only pay lip service to democracy, but do not really believe in it in their hearts.

Bangladesh needs to be aware of another issue. We have set socialism as the goal. This socialism, however, is not classical socialism. It is the socialism in the spirit of the Liberation War, meant to reduce discrimination among the people.

In Bangladesh, discrimination and inequality are increasing. All the calculations that we have demonstrate that income inequality in 65% of the countries of the world is less than that in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is among the top 33% countries in terms of inequality.

The inequality here has increased over the last 25 to 30 years. One of the reasons for this is the rampant corruption in the country. Corruption, black money and government patronisation of corruption is on the rise. If we do not pay attention to this inequality, various kinds of chaos may arise again.

That is why if we want peace and continuous progress, we should look into all these problems.