Feature

An open letter to the politicians

Shamma M.Raghib

Dear politicians,
I am excited to let you know that I am lawfully a voter this year. But… I am already in a dilemma. Only you could help me solve this impasse. I do not know whom to vote for. I represent the majority of Bangladeshi students (real students, not political party oh-so-fake-students), and as a youngster I need someone to look up to, someone like Mr. Mahathir to lead Bangladesh for a couple of years and turn my beloved country to a land of peace and serenity. You, dear politician, as a leader are teaching me some really cool stuff- like the rule 'private property is public property, so break at will'. I have also learnt the blame game. I have learnt that it doesn't matter whether or not you did something good when you were in power, if the opposition does it, then it must be illegal or unlawful and there must be violent protests.

I am looking forward to be the future Prime Minister of this country and you are teaching me how to tell my party-men to call for hartals and violent protests every time we disagree with those who are in power. You are also teaching me that political parties need to be family based. So I am thinking my 14 year old brother will campaign for me as well. Maybe I will make him the party advisor. Another tactic that you have taught my subtle mind is that no matter how illiterate you are, you can still make it as a top-level politician. You have taught me corruption at all levels. This is so darn good! Come to think of it, you are earning extra cash through extra khatir! I mean ultimately I AM doing well even though my country has a name in the most corrupted list!

Wait a minute, my parents haven't taught me all this bulls*%t! You know what? You are the reason young people like us are refusing to vote. YOU are the reason why young people like us think it is so cool to destroy private properties. YOU are the reason we are learning the demeaning and oh-so-low crime called 'corruption'! YOU are making us afraid of being active in Bangladesh politics. YOU are making us think that any politician is corrupted. In truth, some are not. In each of the political parties registered in Bangladesh, there still are one or two remarkable ones who actually entered politics with hopes of doing something good for their beloved country, the one for which they fought nine months of bloody war! The system has become so corrupt that any man or woman who might truly want to get to a position to make the world a better, freer, saner place to live has to compromise with corrupt people to have a chance. Do this, and they become even more corrupted!

Sure, we dumb people will elect whichever of you will promise the best entertainment, cradle-to-grave security, or suppression of the opposition they think is having too much fun -- at the expense of those of us who'd rather just be left alone! Democracy is when the whole country gets what the majority of voters deserve. But that 'majority' has NOT been voting for ages. You know why? Because they do not know whom to vote for! They very-darned-well know that all those beautiful sweet words you promise them are not to be fulfilled…rather the country is to be pushed to darkness and violence by your party people!

I lost all my respect for you. And yes, I am still aiming to be a good politician.

There is a threat to you that someday someone might force you to see what kind of a scoundrel you have become. The days of being a fresh-faced idealistic believer in freedom and the common good are long behind you, aren't they? We, the people of Bangladesh, know about the exercise of power. We've felt the sting back in 1971 and on many instances before that. I know what your attitude is right now - "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain.” Well, I am requesting you to please read between my fingers.

I am quite sure the law guarantees freedom of expression to us citizens, not just those who are registered, active voters. These self-righteous accusers who use this argument apparently are dumb. Right now, at the end of this article, I am unwilling to vote. This is because there is a fundamental difference between the misfortune of being splashed by poop and deliberately soaking your head in an unflushed commode.

The difference has to do with self-respect.

Dear politican, show me someone worth voting for. Deliver an honest, straightforward, freedom-loving, peaceful and able leader a respectable candidate who is running out of a sense of duty, rather than a lust for power or a mission to turn Bangladesh to a desert. Do that and I'll wait in line to vote. I pledge my allegiance.

Yours truly,
Distant-future Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh