Editorial
Four years of parliament
Both sides have disappointed
Looking at the record of the 8th parliament from an objective perspective, we feel compelled to state that it has not functioned up to the expectations of the people, and that it is both the government and the opposition who are to blame for this disappointing state of affairs.We had hoped that with time democracy would have matured in Bangladesh, and the parliament would have emerged as a legislative body worth its name. Parliament is meant to be an august body for deliberation, to be treated with the utmost honour and dignity by both the members and the public at large, where the people's representatives get together to debate the issues of the day. This respect for the institution that we hoped would develop over time is still absent. The ruling alliance has virtually ignored the parliament as a body for legislative deliberation. The parliament repeatedly found itself in quorum crisis, during which it could not muster even sixty members for a sitting, demonstrating the indifference of the ruling alliance to the functioning of the House. The main opposition, on the other hand, has boycotted the parliament since the start, undermining its very functioning as well. Together, they have done immense damage to the House and all it stands for. The Speaker as the guardian of the House failed to rise above partisan considerations so that the opposition members were not apportioned the time of parliament they deserved. In the last four years not one serious issue of national importance has been deliberated in parliament in a meaningful manner. A prime example would be the August 21 terrorist attack on the senior opposition leadership with a threat on the life of Sheikh Hasina which didn't feature the way it should have. The opposition's persistence with the boycott mode meant that they abdicated the responsibility placed on them by the voters. They thus failed to live up to the public trust and to serve the interests of their constituents or the country as a whole. The opposition has rightly complained of the limitations that it is unfairly shackled within parliament, but as we have said before, the complaint would sound more persuasive if the opposition had actually sat in parliament to make the point. The consequence of this irresponsibility on both sides of the aisle has been a devaluing of the democratic process and a diminution of the prestige and importance of the parliament in national affairs. The government and the opposition have combined to undermine the image of parliament in the eyes of the public as the pinnacle of our democratic tradition.
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