One example of decadence of the present BNP rule is mirrored through the demolition of the road dividers on the Dhaka-Tongi highway and demolition and re-building of other road dividers all round the city for the perceived beautification of our dear capital. This shows the extent of indiscretion and disregard for public money spent on useless projects. We have seen in the last two and a half decades how road dividers had been demolished and re-built time and again on the whims of the party in power. This is seemingly an easy way of putting money into the pockets of the contractors who in turn provide handsome rewards to the ruling party hoodlums and sycophants. While most of the roads in Dhaka city are in deplorable condition and heaps of garbage not cleared even from the proximity of the residences of many ambassadors, the perfectly built dividers on the airport road were removed by planting trees. This is extremely dangerous for the drivers and passengers alike.

Our media is not silent about the failures of the successive governments. But every government that comes to power gives a damn to the fair criticism. Sometimes honest comments by editors are taken as partisan and investigative journalists fall victim to the arrogance of the ruling party which does not spare the means to cause even physical harm. That should not happen in a democracy which is supposed to tolerate differing opinions. The fact that a government is elected by the people does not give it the power or authority to do things against the interest of those who put the party in power.

The question is why should every government that comes to power behave in the same way. The answer is, the two major political parties do not seem to have any outstanding and dedicated leader who can guide the nation with a vision. I believe there is nothing wrong with the ordinary Bengali people. They are hard working and are ready to respond to the genuine calls for doing what is good for the nation. Essentially our politics is mastan based and none of the two major political parties could unfortunately get rid of this perennial problem. The nature of politics is such that the leading political parties nurture and rely on the mastans. So long as the political parties remain dependent on them, the two evils of the society -- violence and corruption, of which Professor Chowdhury and we all are concerned -- can never be eliminated.

As a member of the civil society, let me put forward some of my thoughts on what is to be done in the future. Let me sum up as follows:

Stop Corruption in Politics by Transparency: I always believed that if our ministers and political leaders were honest and competent it would be difficult for the bureaucrats to engage in corruption. In the first place what we need to see is the transparency of funds of the political parties. The important thing here is to know who donate to the political parties. There should be no secrecy about it. It is perfectly all right for some one to support one political party or the other. But anyone who donates to a political party must be identifiable. This would allow the public to see if money is coming from unlikely source like mastans or government officials who have the easy means to collect bribes or funds for political parties due to the nature of their jobs. It is the common perception that major political parties rely on such illegal means to generate funds. Consequently, they remain hostage to the mastan-dominated society and can do nothing to remove either violence or corruption.

Build an Honest and Responsible Parliament: A Parliament should be like a boxing ring where the politicians should fight out their differences, well I mean not physically like the boxers but relying on law, substance of the matter and parliamentary decency. As an ordinary citizen I at times witnessed parliamentary debates which were of such low calibre that it was difficult for me to imagine that I was listening to our elected representatives, Many of the elected members seem incapable or unwilling or both of dealing with the national issues rationally and intelligently. Their debates never rose beyond blaming each other for something wrong in the country.

Secondly, the members of the parliament must resist the temptation to increase their own perks and benefits. Immediately, they should abolish the duty-free import of cars for them. This is unparallel anywhere in the world and was introduced in our politics by a corrupt dictator who overthrew the decent President we had.

Thirdly, the parliamentary laws must be reformed to ensure regular attendance of the parliament by elected representatives. The Speaker should approve any leave of absence only for a particular number of days. Unauthorised absence must be penalised by deduction of pay. Additionally, a lawmaker must lose his / her seat if he / she is continuously absent for more than a certain number of days.

Reduce the Lifespan of the Parliament to Three Years: I have been watching the working of our Parliament since our independence. I have come to the conclusion that we are not yet mature and ready for a five-yearly parliament. A most developed and sophisticated society like Sweden had a three-yearly parliament until recently. They have now graduated to a four-yearly tenure of the parliament.

The reason I am saying this is that our elected government never seemed to have taken the electorate seriously in the first two to three years and did irrational things as I mentioned at the outset. Psychologically they think that the next election is too far to do good work now and engage in doing mundane things that benefit individuals and not the nation.

Secondly, the opposition, wary of a wait for long five years, feels suffocated without any tangible programme and go for nationally harmful action like hartals and agitations. This usually starts happening towards the end of the third year of the government in power.

Thirdly, a parliament of shorter duration would work positively in two ways -- (a) the ruling party would try to do good work in the belief that the election would come soon, and (b) likewise, the opposition would be in good earnest to show their programme to win the hearts and minds of the voters. Therefore, the country as a whole will gain and we, the helpless citizens, will be spared of the traumatic agitations and the businessmen can heave a sigh relief for sparing them of ruinous hartals and destruction of valuable national property.

Strictly Impose the Rule of Law: If anything, our country needs to see the operation of the rule of law. We have the laws but their application is selective, depending on who you are. Essentially, the political leaders should keep their hands off and not interfere in the operation of the law by the administrators and the judicial apparatus. The government officials and the judiciary must be allowed to work without fear or favour. The separation of judiciary is of immediate necessity.

Introduce the Merit Based System in Bureaucracy: The country today is watching in great despair and helplessness the utter incompetence of bureaucracy coupled with rampant corruption. Two vital things are missing: (a) First of all, a bureaucrat today is not judged or rewarded by his merits and performance but by the standard as to what extent he can satisfy the illegal abdars of the ruling party. (b) Secondly, by the same token he is encouraged to become corrupt, both financially and intellectually, by the demands of the ruling party.

Prime Minister's Secretariat Must Follow Hands-off Policy: It is the common knowledge now that the chela-chamundas working in the Prime Minister's Office tend to think they know all and utilise their clout to disrupt implementation of the right policies.

This must stop and the secretaries of the government must be allowed to take the decisions without interference. The rewards and punishments should be handed down according to their performance and nothing else.

Bureaucrats Must Serve the Same Ministry During Their Career: Here is a point of departure from what happens now. The present system of the government service, barring the army and the foreign office, is chaotic. The officers move from one ministry to another without having the opportunity of thorough specialisation in a particular field. Therefore, all future recruitments should be ministry-specific, that is to say, an officer who decides to join the Ministry of Finance will serve there, including the field offices, until the retirement. This will allow them specialisation and not render them as jack-of-all-trades. The Ministry of Establishment should be abolished and each Ministry should decide its own policies and promotions.

Finally, Let Us Pray for a Lee Kuan Yew or Mahathir Mohammad: Our pray to the God Almighty should be to get a national leader who would do everything for the sake of nation building and not for enriching the members of his/her family. We need a visionary, dedicated and competent leader like Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew or Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad, who made their nations great and retired gracefully. Is that too much to expect?

The writer is a former Ambassador / Secretary to the government.