EBangladesh » Election

“The thing I found most interesting was that there were definitely more women voters than men voters. I spoke to one voter called Rahima who was carrying a tiny baby. She told me that she was suffering from a leg injury and she had a small child but she was still adamant about voting. I asked her why voting was so important to her. She told me that she had very few rights in her life so when she was given an opportunity to exercise her right, she was not going to waste it.”

-Tulip Siddiq

Election Special: December 31, 2008 Headlines

E-Bangladesh — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:35:46 +0000

BDNews24.com:

The Daily Star:

The New Age:

The Independent:

The New Nation:

The Bangladesh Today:

Hasina vows to honour people’s verdict

Indian Express:

Morning in the East

AFP:

Bangladesh poll winner urges rival to accept defeat

Reuters:

Battered Bangladesh sees some hope in vote results

LA Times

Bangladesh stability is fragile as former prime minister wins election

Himal South Asian:

After the Emergency: Bangladesh Votes

NDTV.com:

Hasina signals tough stand against terror

UPI Asia:

Bangladesh election: Winners and losers

Op-eds:

BNP’s Claim Of Polls ‘Blueprint’ Negated By Commonwealth

Rezwan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:03:57 +0000

“We don’t have any evidence of election engineering. I believe that other national and international observers also did not find such evidence. Our hope is that winner and losers will work together for the country.” – Head of the Commonwealth election observer group Cassam Uteem

Sheikh Hasina in a press conference

DrikNEWS — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:34:38 +0000

Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, in her first public speech on after her election victory, urged all parties to work together for the betterment of Bangladesh stressing the role of the opposition in future governance.

Dhaka, Bangladesh. December 31 2008
Photo- Munira Morshed Munni, DRIK News

Democracy Returns To Bangladesh

Mashuqur Rahman — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:00:21 +0000

Photo: Munem Wasif, DRIK News.

A Muslim majority country of over 150 million people just held a high-turnout peaceful democratic election. The secular Awami League won a landslide victory in Bangladesh’s parliamentary elections and is poised to send back to power Sheikh Hasina – one of two women who have led Bangladesh in the past – as the country’s Prime Minister. In the process, the Bangladeshi voters sent the Islamist political party, Jamaat-e-Islami, into political oblivion. The Jamaat secured 2 seats in the 300 seat parliament while the Awami League secured 230 seats. This election was a stunning repudiation of military rule and of the Islamists in a country that has suffered from both. However, as democracy triumphed in Bangladesh, the world barely took notice.

It has been a long and painful road back to democracy for Bangladesh. Nearly two years ago, on January 11, 2007, the Bangladesh army seized power in a military coup, ostensibly to save the country from political violence ahead of impending parliamentary elections. The army seized power with the tacit support of Washington and London, and was cheered on by elements of Bangladesh’s civil society. The army postponed elections, declared emergency rule, suspended fundamental rights, and launched an “anti-corruption” drive to apparently root out political corruption (a favorite excuse of all military juntas). In sweeping raids the army arrested major political leaders, including Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia (the leaders of the two largest political parties in Bangladesh), and charged them with corruption. As the two major political parties faced army pressure, the Islamists were ascendant. The army also tried to engineer a political party of its own. In the process, nearly half a million citizens were arrested and many were tortured. Journalists were intimidated, beaten and tortured into submission.

While 150 million Bangladeshis were living under the gun, the United States State Department looked the other way – even refusing to acknowledge that a coup had taken place in Bangladesh.

It all looked to be going swimmingly for the military. They had devised a “Minus-Two” plan. The aim was to exile the two leaders of the major political parties and engineer Bangladeshi democracy with a prominent and permanent political role for the military (a la Pakistan). The plan ran into problems when the two leaders refused to go into exile and the political parties, especially the Awami League, refused to buckle. So, the army jailed the two leaders on corruption charges. The army also soon heard from the Bangladeshi people. As Bangladeshi students took to the streets, the army cracked down. But in its heavy handed response to the uprising, the army had shattered the illusion of benevolent rule of the gun. The army had turned on its own people. It was now only a matter of time before the army would be forced to exit. The only unknown was what shape the exit would take. The political parties now had the initiative and they used it to great effect.

From the beginning, the army had a window of two years to either consolidate its position or exit – a timetable that coincided with the end of the Bush administration. Right on schedule, the army is set to leave power in Dhaka just as the new administration takes power in Washington.

Now, as the army is about to leave power and hand democracy back to the people of Bangladesh, questions remain and the damage must be assessed.

The army has made a mockery of the rule of law in Bangladesh. The army set up kangaroo courts and forced politicians into jail – some on charges of massive corruption and others on absurdly trumped up charges. Yet, ahead of the elections, most of these corruption charges have mysteriously disappeared. The two leaders – Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia – were charged with massive corruption. They were considered so dangerous to Bangladesh by the army that they were held under special laws in the interest of national security. The United States cheered these arrests as the “rule of law”. An unaccountable regime was locking people up and running kangaroo courts while the most prominent democracy in the world applauded. It was a sad spectacle. Now, those charges are gone but the mockery of the rule of law remains.

The entrance of the army two years ago was enabled as much by Bangladeshi civil society as it was by the United States and the United Kingdom. The lure of reengineering the political system by force was too much for civil society to resist. The hard work of democracy – the need to make your case to the population and earn their vote – was not required. It was a short-cut to the fast lane of politics. Civil society sacrificed the fundamental rights of Bangladeshis in the “national interest”. It was argued in breathless op-eds in major newspapers in Bangladesh and in the halls of power in Washington that the smart kids could “clean up” Bangladeshi democracy – with the help of the gun. They rested on the fairy tale that unaccountable power at the barrel of a gun, and the suspension of fundamental rights, was a pathway to a functioning democracy. In this fairy tale, they neglected Bangladesh’s own history with military rule and the previous long struggle back to democracy. By enabling the military in its coup, civil society has legitimized military intervention in Bangladesh. This will be a difficult genie to put back in the bottle.

As Bangladesh now attempts to send the army back to the barracks, it must find a way to ensure the army stays there in the future. Bangladeshi democracy was nowhere near perfect – no democracy is. But, in spite of the corruption that existed in Bangladeshi politics, Bangladesh prospered economically and had managed three free and fair democratic elections and peaceful transitions of power over 15 years. Now, Bangladesh must restart that clock. The Bangladeshi Constitution, with its enumerated rights, is a strong foundation to build toward a lasting democracy. But, it cannot be done if military intervention is considered legitimate.

Bangladeshis are a resilient people. Democracy is Bangladesh’s original birth wish. After all, the country gained independence because its people expressed their will at the ballot box and then gave their lives to defend that vote. That is a legacy that every Bangladeshi must remember and honor.

Perhaps it is fitting, then, that the people have now voted overwhelmingly to send back to power the Awami League – the political party that led the independence movement for a secular Bangladesh. Perhaps it is fitting, then, that the Bangladeshi people have once again rejected military rule and the Islamists.

Today, Bangladesh’s future looks a little brighter. The Awami League comes to power with the hopes of 150 million people placed in its hands. There is much work to do, and much damage to undo. We watch, with hope.

Mashuqur Rahman [http://www.docstrangelove.com] is one of the highest read Bangladeshi-American bloggers. Critically acclaimed for his incisive analysis on Bangladesh, US foreign policy and dedicated advocacy of human rights.

[Read posts by Mashuqur Rahman]

Election Special: December 30, 2008 Headlines

E-Bangladesh — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 04:06:52 +0000

BDNews24.com:

The Daily Star:

The New Age:

The Independent:

The New Nation:

The Bangladesh Today:

AL victory is ‘victory of spirit of Liberation War’: AL

The Financial Express:

Ruling, opposition parties will work for country’s welfare, hope businesses

The New York Times:

Secular Party Wins Landslide Victory in Bangladesh

The China Views:

Analysis: Why Awami League wins landslide victory in Bangladesh Parliamentary elections

DAWN:

Clashes erupt after Khaleda rejects poll results

The Telegraph: Calcutta

The Economic Times:

Hasina’s victory in Bangladesh may open up new frontiers

The Hindu:

Historic triumph for Hasina

Gulf News:

Op-eds:

Victory is a political fiction

Arifur Rahman — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:19:55 +0000

A cartoon by Arifur Rahman

Appointment By The People, For The People

j@shadakalo — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:44:15 +0000

Replies from the people of Bangladesh regarding the application for the Prime Minister position in Bangladesh.

Appointment Letter:

To:
Sheikh Hasina Wazed
C/O AL

Dear Mrs. Wazed:

Congratulations. We are happy to inform you that your employment application for the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh has been accepted.

You have been accepted to lead the country on a five-year contract employment basis.

During the application review process, we considered your previous employment history from 1996 to 2001, and your performance during that period. Upon review, we found that you did an adequate job.

But don’t get too elated. To be honest, the applicant pool was rather thin this year. Your toughest competition came from your immediate past predecessor, who left such a wide swath of destruction around her that we had no trouble making up our mind and rejecting her; after which there was only you left to be picked.

Given your predecessor’s performance, note that we will keep a very close watch on you and your cohorts, and we will exercise our option to remove you at the expiry of the contract if your job performance is not adequate.

We do sincerely hope that you will not disappoint us. If you do, learn from your rival what fate awaits you.

One suggestion: go easy on trumpeting 1996-2001 as the ‘golden era’. We still remember that Bangladesh landed at the top of the list of corrupt countries during that tenure for the first time.

On election night, there were reports of violence perpetrated by your supporters. This is the time to rein them in, or you will forever lose control of them.

But let us focus on the future and positive outcomes. Know that we wish you well and hope for your success in the future.

Sincerely,

Voters of Bangladesh

Rejection letter:

To:
Mrs. Khaleda Zia
C/O BNP

Dear Mrs. Zia:

We regret to inform you that your employment application for the position of Prime Minister of Bangladesh has been denied.

During the application review process, we considered your previous employment history from 2001 to 2006, and your performance during that period. Upon review, we found that not only you did not do a good job, you brought along relatives who stole from people and profited at the expense of this country.

You also underperformed as manager–you hired people with little skill based on their friendship with your son, and let them flaunt the laws and regulations at will.

Your government landed Bangladesh at the top of the list of corrupt countries four years in a row.

Lastly, you allowed, with your full consent and knowledge, the establishment and growth of a colony of blood-sucking leeches also known as Jamaat, and their even more dangerous cousins, HUJI and JMB. You and your ministers denied the existence of a terrorist named Bangla Bhai, and your ministers directly aided and abetted this extremist.

As such, we are awarding the job to another candidate better suited for the position.

Please note that this denial is not final: you are welcome to apply for the job again in five years when it becomes available again, but you have to prove that you are better than the incumbent if you wish to gain employment.

Until then, we wish you well and hope that you will use this time constructively for the betterment of your governance and managerial skills, and not on destructive practices such as hartals, etc.

Sincerely,

Voters of Bangladesh

J @ Shada Kalo [http://shadakalo.blogspot.com] writes using a pseudonym and is best known for exposing government, military, corporate foul plays through whistle-blowing investigative reports.

[Read posts by J @ Shada Kalo]

Peoples’ Verdict

E-Bangladesh — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:19:09 +0000

“People never erred in taking decisions in the past; it was the same this time. They’ve rejected the dishonest and corrupt people in a free and fair election,” – home adviser MA Matin.