Third force

I had been following with interest the new political developments taking place with the possibility of a third force emerging under the leadership of Dr. Kamal Hossain and Dr. B Chowdhury . The development or formation of a third force in a system, where two major parties are dominating strongly, is not after all a bad idea. The third force in a system, where two parties play political musical chair, has played constructive roles in some well-established democracies.

The Liberal Party in Britain, The Australian Democrats in Australia, where I live, and there was one short-lived force in New Zealand, are a few worth mentioning examples. The Liberal Party in Britain and the Australian Democrats are still the third forces to reckon with while the one in NZ has just about faded.

The Australian Democrats (AD) as a political party was formed and launched by one Mr Don Chipp who was a long time member of the Liberal Party (one of the Australian major parties which is now the ruling party) and an MP in the lower house where the government is formed. He had been a minister in the late 60's and early 70's. He had a fall-out with the next Liberal PM Malcolm Fraser and was not included in the subsequent ministry. He resigned from the party and contested his seat as an independent but failed to win. He then decided to form and launch his own party Australian Democrats and contested upper house senate seats in various states. He won with one or two others in other states. The senate elections are run in a different system in Australia which is another story to tell some other time.

Over the last few years the AD party strongly contributed to the Australian political system and is still continuing to do so. Don Chipp while launching his party was asked as to why he was launching this while fully knowing that he would never be able to form government. His simple answer at the time was "to keep the '...' honest". Since then the AD had maintained a balance of power in the senate, the upper house of review in the Australian parliamentary system. Both the major parties all along had to negotiate with the AD for the passage of their bills. Senate is the house of review in Australia and the bills can be rejected and sent back to lower house for amendment.

In the absence of honesty in Bangladesh politics and a unicameral system one wonders what sense will it make to have a third force. New Zealand has a unicameral system, the third force has failed as it evolved. The AD as a party is in decline among Australian public right at this moment because of internal leadership squabbles. The founding leader Don Chipp has long retired from politics. Another force Australian Greens is growing fast in its place.

Dr Kamal Hossain and Dr B Chowdhury are two very highly respected veterans in Bangladesh political arena. I have no doubt about their honesty, patriotism and integrity but I have some doubt about how successful they will be in their endeavours.