A webinar on Bangladesh's democratic trajectory
Bangladesh is on the right track
I moderated a webinar on 28 November titled ‘Is Bangladesh on the Right Track? People's Demands and Leadership's Response’. It was hosted by the Asia Democracy Network and Sydney Policy Analysis Centre. The panelist were:
Shafiqul Alam, the Press Secretary to the Chief Advisor
Cynthia Farid, expert on constitutional law
Israfil Khosru, entrepreneur and writer
Zafar Sobhan, editor of the Dhaka Tribune
I am indebted to Mubashar Hasan and Aaqib Md Shatil for putting this together.
Further reading
Fear In The Air? 5 Reasons Now Is The Time To Invest In Bangladesh
Sylvana Quader Sinha, 26 Sep 2024
Abul Kashem, 6 Nov 2024
Bangladesh staves off more Adani power cuts
Chris Kay, 7 Nov 2024
With millions due to Adani Power, Bangladesh struggles to make green energy shift
Md Tahmid Zami, 8 Nov 2024
জিরো পয়েন্টে আওয়ামী লীগের ‘জিরো পারফরম্যান্স’ কেন
সারফুদ্দিন আহমেদ, 11 Nov 2024
আওয়ামী লীগের ফাঁকা আওয়াজ, বিএনপির ভোটের তাড়া ও রাজনীতির সমীকরণ
মহিউদ্দিন আহমদ, 13 Nov 2024
তারেক রহমানের এই দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি কি বিএনপির ‘ঘরে’ ফেরার লক্ষণ
সাইমুম পারভেজ, 14 Nov 2024
Siddhartha Dhar, 15 Nov 2024
রাজনৈতিক দলগুলো সংস্কার না চাইলে দ্রুত নির্বাচন দিয়ে দেব
Prof Yunus interviewed, 20 Nov 2024
তারেক রহমান কি জিয়ার যোগ্য উত্তরসূরি হতে পারবেন
সুবাইল বিন আলম, 20 Nov 2024
Sukanta Halder, Md Asaduz Zaman, 21 Nov 2024
Rejaul Karim Byron , Asifur Rahman, 29 Nov 2024
I'm very skeptical of the economic reform commission. All they will do is create a committee of so-called enlightened men and women who have a bunch of arbitrary power to investigate someone for "corruption". There will many more stupid regulations on the banking sector despite the fact most of the NPLs were concentrated in the public sector banks.
Instead of having of anti corruption committee, perhaps they should stop passing so many stupid laws.
Besides the real reform would be privatising state owned assets and indexing public sector wages back to the pre 2015 levels. It will substantially reduce our debt, increase productivity and enable the government reduce tariffs which makes up a significant proportion of our tax revenue. But unfortunately these proposals does not fall in the category of Muslim middle class populism so they wouldn't be enacted.
Given that right after Mujib's assassination, the Jamat Islamic party was legalised despite their overt opposition to our national independence and collaboration in the Bengali genocide. Given that by the 80s the dictator had declared bangladesh as an Islamic state, the concern of Bangladesh becoming an Islamist country is 100% justified. Even I'm worried about this.
Just a few days ago the ISKON members are being arrested for sedition. What a fucking joke. If the same standard was applied to Muslim leaders, 95% of them will be jail right now.
People are quick to bring up India's support for the Hasina regime. But where is the populist anger against China and the Gulf monarchies who also supported the regime. Both of these actors also supported Pakistan during the war and were against our independence. Many current day populists will bring up America's support for Pakistan during the war as well but selectively exclude these other actors. Curious how the memory of the Muslim middle class works.