Building Trust amidst Corruption in Bangladesh

Abstract

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, became an independent state after the civil war of 1971 and joined the Commonwealth in 1972. It is a densely populated South Asian country with some 142 million people who commonly experience natural disasters in the form of floods and cyclones in the flat land and delta of rivers on the Bay of Bengal. Poverty is widespread with GDP per head estimated at just $444 in 2007, or almost half the population living on less than one dollar per day (Oxford Economics, 2008). Since independence, Bangladesh has experienced political turbulence and spent 15 years under military rule until democracy was restored in 1991. Continuing unrest and violence have been a major impediment to economic growth set alongside the increasing strength of Islamic fundamentalism. Politics have been dominated and polarised by the two largest political parties, long-time rivals the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The October 2001 elections produced a BNP victory in the form of a 4-party alliance. The opposition party, Awami League, refused to accept the result and from 2001-2006 their attendance at parliament was sporadic, claiming discrimination by the BNP speaker. Violence and political strikes/hartals have accompanied the political turmoil. In August 2004, twenty people were killed and more than 100 injured in a grenade attack at an Awami League political rally. In January 2005 the former finance minister, Shah Kibria, was assassinated along with four colleagues and over 70 injured in an attack at an AL rally in Northern Bangladesh. Since summer 2006 opposition parties, directed by Awami League, claimed that the BNP-led government was seeking to manipulate the electoral infrastructure and announced in January 2007 a boycott of the general election. The parliamentary elections were cancelled. On 11th January 2007, the President declared a state of emergency and a reconstituted unelected military-backed caretaker government was put in place. Under the constitution, executive power rests with the caretaker government until a prime minister heading a new administration is sworn in following a parliamentary election. Foreign governments were keen to see emergency rule lifted and the restoration of full constitutional rights amidst reports of human rights abuses and mass arrests. Parliamentary elections were held on 29th December 2008 to a new civilian government after two years of emergency rule. One of the most fundmental obstacles to building trust in Bangladesh is the pervasiveness of corruption at many levels: parliament, elections, and the delivery of core public services. People feel powerless to address the excesses of corruption and have lost faith in the democratic system. The role of the caretaker government was to tackle polarization and patronage and, in so doing, to establish trust in the democratic process. This paper considers the ‘success’ of building and maintaining trust in Bangladesh’s parliamentary democracy