Speak the right language

Recently, AL chief Sheikh Hasina asked Khaleda Zia -- the elected prime minister-- to resign. The latter didn't listen for obvious reasons and as a result the people of Bangladesh had to endure a number of hartals and the country lost millions. Now Sheikh Hasina has given another ultimatum (Hasina threatens more hartals at month end, 8 Mar, DS), and as usual, the prime minister will ignore it and we will face more hartals. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that the opposition cannot force the government out of office. In fact, even the opposition leaders know that! So why are these pointless ultimatums? Well, these are simply excuses to undermine the government, harass the public and further sabotage Bangladesh. And so the attack and counter-attack continue and Bangladesh suffers.

To get things right, as usual, our newspapers will write long editorials and people like you and me will write long letters here and there. But who cares about our reaction?

To solve our problems, we need to communicate effectively and make sure the public and the politicians understand each other. For our communication to be successful, we need to speak a language that is understood by both the parties. So now we need to speak "their" language. And what language do they speak? They speak only two languages: vote and violence. Contrary to popular belief, politicians in Bangladesh don't actually need our votes to win their elections. Therefore, our "vote language" is a non-starter. We tried it in the last three/four elections, it didn't work. That leaves us with only one option: language of violence.

If we could get around a 1-2 million people (we are all aware of our country's population, million is nothing) in a rally where the top leaders will be present and demand the following, the situation may improve.

1) Independent judiciary system.

2) Complete press freedom with an independent, non-political regulatory body to protect public privacy and maintain standards.

3) Total ban on forceful "imposing " of political hartals.

4) End of student politics and total elimination of student-wing terrorist organisations.

I think it is time for such drastic action .

Recently, AL chief Sheikh Hasina asked Khaleda Zia -- the elected prime minister-- to resign. The latter didn't listen for obvious reasons and as a result the people of Bangladesh had to endure a number of hartals and the country lost millions. Now Sheikh Hasina has given another ultimatum (Hasina threatens more hartals at month end, 8 Mar, DS), and as usual, the prime minister will ignore it and we will face more hartals. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that the opposition cannot force the government out of office. In fact, even the opposition leaders know that! So why are these pointless ultimatums? Well, these are simply excuses to undermine the government, harass the public and further sabotage Bangladesh. And so the attack and counter-attack continue and Bangladesh suffers.

To get things right, as usual, our newspapers will write long editorials and people like you and me will write long letters here and there. But who cares about our reaction?

To solve our problems, we need to communicate effectively and make sure the public and the politicians understand each other. For our communication to be successful, we need to speak a language that is understood by both the parties. So now we need to speak "their" language. And what language do they speak? They speak only two languages: vote and violence. Contrary to popular belief, politicians in Bangladesh don't actually need our votes to win their elections. Therefore, our "vote language" is a non-starter. We tried it in the last three/four elections, it didn't work. That leaves us with only one option: language of violence.

If we could get around a 1-2 million people (we are all aware of our country's population, million is nothing) in a rally where the top leaders will be present and demand the following, the situation may improve.

1) Independent judiciary system.

2) Complete press freedom with an independent, non-political regulatory body to protect public privacy and maintain standards.

3) Total ban on forceful "imposing " of political hartals.

4) End of student politics and total elimination of student-wing terrorist organisations.

I think it is time for such drastic action.