JOHN F Kennedy while running for the presidency in 1960 defined the American democracy as: "The child who is born today could be the next President of the United States." In fact, that is the essence of democracy as envisaged by the Greeks in sixth century BC and the core principle of Republics. It is the monarchy that defines the succession and the subjects know beforehand who is going to be the next King or Queen of the Kingdom, albeit, many of them, especially in Europe, only reign, and not rule any more.
Although, heredity plays an important role, more or less, in the political arena in every republic of the world, but in recent times there are only two countries where heirs were publicly declared. And they were the 'Democratic' Republic of Korea and 'Democratic' Arab Republic of Syria. It is needless to mention how 'democratic' those two countries are and what kind of democratic freedom the citizens of the two republics are enjoying.
Recently, Bangladesh has been added to those 'democracies' wherein it has been declared with pride the name of the next Prime Minister of the People's Republic. In response to some criticisms of the senior vice president of BNP, a spokesperson of BNP issued a note of caution to the critics that went like this: "Be careful when you talk about Tarique Rahman. He is the next Prime Minister." The statement gave two messages: firstly, telling in an unambiguous term which party is going to win the next election and who will be the next PM and secondly, since he is going to be the PM, he must be above criticisms, just like the Kings of the Arab countries.
People involved in Bangladesh politics, with rare exceptions, are not immune from criticisms for corruptions. Tarique Rahman, however, possesses the multifaceted characters. His is the only case where a US FBI agent has testified in the Tk-20.41-crore money-laundering case before a court in Bangladesh. Debra Laprevotte, a supervisory special agent of the FBI, vividly narrated before a Dhaka court how she had tracked down the money allegedly laundered by Tarique Rahman and Mamun to a bank account in Singapore.
How does the US view Tarique Rahman to whose (US) leaders his mother wrote an open letter in Washington Times (which of course she denied writing after a span of six months!), asking the leaders of that country to intervene to resurrect democracy in Bangladesh? According to a leaked cable, a US envoy in Dhaka portrayed Tarique Rahman as a symbol of "kleptocratic government and violent politics" in Bangladesh, and even recommended blocking his entry into the United States.The embassy believed Tarique was "guilty of egregious political corruptions" and cited several examples of Tarique's major corruption.
Another cable to Washington on Tarique says that the State Department was considering a determination for visa revocation for him under the Presidential Proclamation. "His antics have weakened public confidence in government and eroded the stability of democratic institutions. His theft of millions of dollars in public money has undermined political stability in this moderate, Muslim-majority nation and subverted US attempts to foster a stable democratic government," reads the cable.
He operated a "shadow government" from his "Hawa Bhaban," particularly on clearing government appointments and contracts, said a cable that WikiLeaks leaked. "He reportedly sold up to one-third of the 60 cabinet slots in the 2001 elections. He is ruthless, exceptionally corrupt, inexperienced in politics or business, poorly educated and unworldly."
Kamaluddin Siddiqui, principal secretary to former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, toldthe US ambassador to Bangladesh: "Khaleda's biggest political failure was to protect her corrupt son Tarique Rahman. PM Zia's indulgence and protection of her corrupt son is the biggest political failure."
One former pro-Chinese ultra-leftist intellectual, who had no conviction on the existence of divinity, called me a few years ago when the current PM's son became a primary member of the AL party, asking for my opinion if AL is not losing moral superiority over the BNP by this action. He was not happy with my response when I said "morality does not play any part in Bangladesh politics." The same intellectual who by this time got the distinction of a 'noted intellectual' for his ceaseless malign campaign against the 'atheists' of the Ganajagoron Mancha, attended a seminar along with his 'brave editor' friend, asking for unconditional withdrawal of all the 'politically motivated' cases against him. Nationalist physicians of hospitals came out on the street asking for his release. I am just wondering how comfortable the 'non-nationalists' patients of those physicians would feel to bet their lives with these physicians. Professors of different Universities came out with group statements voicing their protests against harassment of the future PM of the country. As a Professor myself, I am baffled by the fact that how these professors stand in front of their students or of their own children and lecture them on moral values, the core tenet of this esteemed profession. I myself feel uncomfortable in front of my own Bangladeshi students if they have read my columns, most of whom reflect my unflinching dedication to our war of liberation, which my students may not concur with.
It has been proven, once again, through the results of the CC elections that neither corruption nor moral depravity has any impact on the success in the political landscape of Bangladesh. That leads us to abhor for the day when we would be on the same boat with our Pakistani counterpart when I see a big shade of indignity on their faces when they have to mention the name of their President, albeit democratically elected.

The writer is the Convenor of the Canadian Committee for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh.