The army chief's recommendations include appointment of a parliamentary ombudsman, introduction of a "Right to Information Act," creation of a moral high ground against corruption, ensuring of exemplary punishment for all those found guilty of corruption, establishment of an independent and neutral judicial system, social boycotting of the corrupt, and carrying out of the drive against corruption and corrupt people on a regular basis.

While his recommendation of a pay-hike for the police is also a very sensible one, the net total of salary increase may need to be broadened so that this very necessity of lifein this land of constant price-hikesdoes not compel officials to go for corruption for mere existence. Though some officials tend to turn wanton while indulging in corruption just out of greed, inadequate salary is still a major hurdle to remaining honest for many opting to remain so.

Meanwhile, the provision for an "ombudsman" (article 77) in our constitution has been in place since its promulgation. Such is the irony that it could not be put in place in so many years. However, the previous government did appoint a tax ombudsman, the presence of which is still to be felt. Though almost all previous governments toyed with the Anti-Corruption Commission, they used it less as a tool for combating corruption and more as a weapon for harassing the opposition.

Truly, the contemporary war on corruption has been identical with cleaning the Augean stable of unclean politics that has mostly been at the root of all ills, or in other words, the mother of all evils.

For a nation, the majority of whose people are hard working, peace loving, and honest, the stigma of most corrupt country in the world for five consecutive years is indeed gross injustice. Thus, the people have not even an iota of sympathy for the corrupt who imposed such a blight upon them.

It is because of this that the army chief, like many others, feels that the war on corruption needs to be endorsed as an on-going process by the next elected government, and carried on with equal enthusiasm because it has now become a popular agenda. Truly, never before had criminals and the corrupt been brought to face their crimes and, perhaps, none in the country ever imagined that they would one day be made to repay their debt to the nation.

The general very rightly called for a "Right to Information Act" so that corrupt officials could not hide behind the cloak of secrecy and escape punishment. In Bangladesh, the Official Secrets Act (1923), the Evidence Act (1872), Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure (1960), and the Rules of Business (1996), are the major laws that restrict people's rights of access to information. Instead of serving the national interest, the laws became paws in the hands of the state machinery.

While the crusade against the corrupt politicians is very much on course, the campaign against the corrupt officials has yet to gain the required momentum. However, exonerating them for fear of non-cooperation in state functioning may ultimately cancel out the very reason for the current anti-corruption drive.

Many of our officials are honest. However, the number of corrupt ones is not meagre either, which fact must have been further reinforced by the shenanigans of Osman Gani and other forest officials.

Many, thus, termed the forest officials' corruption as just the tip of the iceberg of the corruption that had been practised in the officialdom over the last 36 years. Though politicians plundered the resources of the country for specific periods, many officials had the opportunity to misappropriate public funds and extort bribes for their entire tenure. To be candid, the network of the corrupt percolates down to every single corner of the country.

Interestingly, however, the plea for boycotting the corrupt socially is critical, and calls for a sea change in our attitude. Admittedly, corruption has become monstrous in Bangladesh. However, equally disconcerting was the fact that people seemed to have developed a benumbed acceptance of it. In fact, corruption is a consequence of the way of life in our acquisitive society, where people are judged by what they have rather than by what they are.

This tendency inevitably results in a scramble for the possession of glittering prizes, irrespective of the means adopted. In Bangladesh, the vampire of corruption grew so recalcitrant that the ones against it became anachronisms.

Rather than arresting the voyage down the drain, the politicians in collusion with corrupt officials constantly fuelled that erosion, for which many of whom have already landed in the place they have long been overdue in.

Thankfully, the drive against the corrupt has already borne some fruit in the form of sentencing of some corrupt politicians, while other judgments will gradually be known. Thus, examples are being set.

However, constant vigilance on the part of all stakeholders is the key, so that the corrupt cannot break away through any loophole of the law. It is quite understandable to apprehend that they will definitely hit back if they are provided with a little leeway.

Thus, uninterrupted continuation and reinforcement of the anti-corruption drive is required more for the general people and less for the current governmentthough some fear a backlash against the people in the current administration if the jailed leaders and criminals get an opportunity everbecause the people in the interim government are unlikely to be within their reach forever but the masses will always be there to bear the brunt of their vindictiveness. Such a day should, however, never come along.

Kazi S.M. Khasrul Alam Quddusi is an Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong.