Fooling all the people all the time
American president Abraham Lincoln said the immortal words: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."
The words are as fresh and relevant today as ever before, especially to Bangladesh.
When one hears politicians -- including the prime minister and opposition leader -- talking in a jingoistic fashion and in condescending tones, one feels revolted. The people are not as ignorant as they once were, or do the political leaders not realise this?
Prof. Musa Bapery struck the nail on the head in an English-language newspaper recently when he observed that it really doesn't matter to the ordinary people in Bangladesh which political party is in power because they and their cronies are the real beneficiaries.
To prove it to yourself, do the math. To become an MP in Bangladesh in some cases can cost as much as $1 million. Now consider the pittance in salary they receive each month, multiply this by 12 (for the year) and multiply that by 5 for the five-year period in power and it doesn't add up or make any sense whatsoever. It actually costs him/her crores in taka to serve the people, so to speak. They're either all saints or sinners, but definitely not very good in business management.
Once they gain power, they want their $1 million back with a healthy profit on top! Although this is far from being in the better interests of the nation, it does make good business sense for the individual. And when we all realise that a government is a "business" that controls all businesses and not some kind of de-facto parenthood watching over and protecting us, the better. They're all out to get what they can for themselves -- first! If we happen to benefit from the crumbs, that's either our good luck or they've made a serious mistake!
A politician once told me: "Politics is no place for an honest person," and this I believe.
When I read about noble, patriotic Bangladeshis like our Nobel laureate Professor Yunus (his mistreatment is our shame) and well-wishing foreigners like Sir Frank Peters voicing their opinion in the better interest of the nation, I feel sorry for them, especially Sir Frank who has yet to learn the raw truth about Bangladesh politics.
If you want to do business now, you pay baksheesh to the power that be or wait another couple of years and pay it to whoever is in power then. To the people it doesn't matter, they're not beneficiaries and trust too much in whatever government is in power to do what is right and proper and what Allah would wish.
Maybe Abraham Lincoln was wrong. Maybe you can fool all of the people all of the time. No doubt the major political parties are actively researching this.
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