[Reader-list] Tahmima Anam on "Bangladesh Rising"

[Naeem Mohaiemen]

The Guardian
31 December 2008

BANGLADESH RISING
Voters turning out in their millions to rout a corrupt regime heralds
a new era of reform

by Tahmima Anam

Something spectacular happened in a small corner of the world on
Tuesday. After two years of military-backed rule, a free, fair,
incident-free election was held in Bangladesh, with decisive results:
a record voter turnout routed the incumbent party in favour of a
secular, progressive alliance.

"Two ladies" is the phrase commonly attached to the leaders of
Bangladesh's main political parties: Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) and Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League - both
women, one the widow of a former president, the other the daughter of
Sheikh Mujib, leader of the independence movement and first prime
minister of Bangladesh.

But lumping the leaders together and calling them the "two ladies" is
not just misogynistic and patronising but seriously misleading. There
is a real difference between the parties, one that is not only crucial
to understanding the internal politics of Bangladesh, but also sheds
light on the rise and fall of religious fundamentalism in the world's
second largest Muslim nation.

The BNP were at the helm of power in the last electoral cycle. During
this time, Khaleda Zia promoted cronies to high positions of power,
corrupted the courts with political appointments, and oversaw the
theft of government funds on an unprecedented level. In 2007, the
party orchestrated a coordinated effort to rig the elections, leading
to the army's intervention and two years of military-backed rule.

In this election, the BNP allied themselves with the Jamaat-e-Islami
and conducted a campaign of fear-mongering, with slogans decrying the
corruption of religious values and predicting a threat to Islam
through foreign influence. By contrast, the Awami League ran a
campaign that was purposefully secular and progressive. Though no
stranger to allegations of corruption, the Awami League cleansed its
party of much of the old guard. In the end, it campaigned on a
platform of change, promising jobs and economic regeneration. The
result was not only victory for the Awami League, but a near
annihilation of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

There has been a lot of speculation of late about the direction -
political and economic - Bangladesh will take. Will it succumb to
Islamic fundamentalism, or will it remain a moderate Islamic country?
Will it ever overcome the many obstacles to progress and turn the tide
in its favour, or will it remain at the bottom of the charts and
development indices, a nation on the brink of failure? When I asked a
prominent journalist why the Bangladeshi stock exchange hadn't felt
the effects of the global economic downturn, he said: "In order to be
drunk, you first have to be invited to the party." In this economic
cycle - luckily, it turns out - Bangladesh wasn't invited to the
party. But the election results may mean the beginning of a new era of
political reform and economic growth.

Bangladesh still has a long way to go. But after all the votes have
been counted, this is what remains: in this poor country, where many
people cannot read or write, where women are still subject to
draconian social and economic realities, where natural disasters
strike with brutal regularity, corruption and religious extremism were
resolutely routed out. People came by the millions to cast their votes
because they knew that on this day, they would have their say. And
speak they did, against a regime that had let them down once too many;
against leaders who had refused to accept the responsibilities of
their offices. Against all odds, Bangladesh is on the move.

• Tahmima Anam is the author of A Golden Age