Editorial

• State of local government
• Earthquake preparedness
• Think outside the box...!
• Democracy and mob action
• Will street violence dent dialogue?
• English mania in China's job market

Any talk of local governance in this country brings up the question of the form of government. Since we have a unitary form with a highly centralised system of administration, the concept of local government, prima facie, becomes a contradiction since local government basically means maximum decentralisation of administration allowing the local communities to deal with all matters that concern them through their elected representatives. This leaves the state or central governments to deal with law making, national budgeting and external relations. Unlike most countries, power in Bangladesh is centralised in the hands of the prime minister who runs the affairs of the state through a hierarchy of bureaucrats at the national, divisional, district and upazilla levels. Despite being the world's eighth most populous country, Bangladesh does not have governments or legislatures at the provincial or state level to share power, although many sovereign countries around the globe having a population of less than half a million have strong systems of local government. Small population is no bar for them to have strong local government institutions free from interference from the higher authorities.

The announcement by the Minister for Local Government Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan on Tuesday that his ministry has taken up for implementation a Taka 14,215 million project to strengthen the local government bodies and help expand their activities is a matter of both hope and worry. Hope because the local bodies have for long been deprived of financial and other resources to undertake any significant development programmes. Worry because of serious concern about the country's ability to make appropriate use of such a large fund. Most of the funding will come from the World Bank, UNCDF, UNDP and EU; while Taka 5,409 million will be contributed by the Bangladesh government. Mannan Bhuiyan talks of money but not of any agenda that the local government institutions will be vested with full autonomy to make laws and execute projects without political interference from the top. The past experience of politicisation and siphoning off hefty chunks of funds has left a bitter taste in the mouth. The launching of the project in the election year will undoubtedly create an apprehension that much of the fund may travel into the pockets of party stalwarts. The government should take care to dispel such apprehension before allegation of corrupt practices cloud the political atmosphere even more.

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A note of warning was dropped some time ago by a team of US earthquake specialists about the possibility of Bangladesh being rocked by a major earthquake in the near future. And a recently conducted workshop in Dhaka underscored that unlike other parts of the world, Bangladesh with its very heavy concentrations of people, structures and resources in a few cities, could experience great devastation in its present unprepared conditions in the event of a major earthquake. The American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (ABIS), BRAC University and the Bangladesh Earthquake Society organised a seminar on Tuesday in which the participants reiterated these views. Furthermore, they stressed the catastrophic effects of any earthquake in the urban areas of Bangladesh in the absence of any substantive preparation to cope with the post earthquake conditions.

The apprehensions voiced were perceived all too clearly during a number of recent collapses of multi-storied buildings. At Savar such a building collapse left many garments workers dead, while a similar collapse occurred two months ago at Tejgaon in Dhaka and another earlier in the Mirpur area. In all of these cases, the structures collapsed even without a mild tremor, as these were not constructed observing the building code. There are many other such structures in existence and one can imagine what could happen in the event of an earthquake of even moderate intensity. These accidents show the urgency of enforcing the building code very rigorously from now on, to demolish all very old structures and to rebuild new ones in their place by scrupulously observing the building code. However, a few defective structures can probably be made secure with some remedial measures. The activities of Rajuk and other governmental agencies need to be stepped up for the purpose.

The country's lone earthquake observatory at Chittagong is presently in near obsolete condition. Its monitoring capability is not adequate for a country, prominently located in one of the world's active seismic zones. The merit of having earthquake-measuring devices across the country is that these can give quicker indication of a major earthquake before its occurrence. People also need to practice some precautions leading to saving of considerable lives and resources. Relevant government departments need to issue regular educative publicities to warn and advice people about how to prepare for earthquakes, to save their lives and assets as far as reasonably possible. The weeks of efforts, which were required to clear the site of the building collapse in Savar showed that such capabilities are lacking. So mobilising for earthquakes need to begin with full seriousness and no delay, if Bangladesh is to head-off an earthquake tragedy. With planning and thorough preparation, devastation from an earthquake can definitely be minimised, if not totally averted.

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Was walking with a friend, the other day, who is not only the chairman of a bank but also the head of a huge business, when we were joined by another acquaintance of mine. I turned to introduce him to my friend. "Now how do I introduce you?" I asked, "as banker or businessman?"

"As a person who thinks outside the box," he said and I did just that. When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity; ink didn't flow down to the writing surface. In order to solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did Russians do…………………??

The Russians used a pencil..!

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soap box, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soap box that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soap box went through the assembly line empty.

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soap boxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a lot of time and money to find a solution.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etcetera but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soap box passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Both these instances are about simple solutions when people thought outside the box. A box is the lines we draw round our thinking. Parameters we place round ideas. It's like a person who wants to remodel his flat and walks in and looks at bedrooms with walls all around, while the interior designer sees no walls. He has broken the walls in his mind and he creates designs from endless space. When you think, let your mind roam free. Break down walls, which limit the solution, and let the sky be the limit to the answer to a problem. People who do this are called ingenious, they look at you puzzled and ask, "But it was so simple!" The Russian's pencil and the rank and file employee's fan were simple, so simple, because they thought out of the box.

Start doing so yourself and watch solutions to problems coming along. Think outside the box...!

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Mob action is, I fear, emerging in democratic societies as an all too frequent attack on elected an government. Is this a threat to democratic principles or is it a corrective mechanism to constitutional abuse by a democratic government? Democracy is based on three ideas: representative government, an independent judiciary, and an executive to administer the laws. The people's representatives make the laws, the executive administers the laws and the judiciary insures that the laws are followed, both by the executive and the citizens. If citizen have complaints against a democratic Government they have three paths to seek redress: First they can elect new representatives (and a new executive if chosen separately from the representatives). Second, they can go to court seeking to stop the actions of the government when such action is against the law. Third, the people can meet, talk, discuss and demand changes in behaviour, resignation of officials, etcetera. There are clear limits on the last of these: when there is mob violence or when the police use excessive force; this is inconsistent with the principles of democratic rule. Indeed in a well functioning democratic system there is no room for mob action!

While we all profess to like and to support democracy, we do not always like the outcome. Democracies tend to very conservative and changing things is often very difficult to accomplish and very slow to implement. In the real world there are many many imperfections and there are numerous examples of irreconcilable positions. In such cases we may see an explosion of mob rule should government fail to act judiciously.

We examine four recent examples of mob rule in democratic regimes and how these worked out: The Kansat incident in Bangladesh; the immigration demonstrations in the USA; the riots in France against labour legislation; and finally the mobs driving Prime Minister Thaksin out of office in Thailand. In each case there is a conflict between government and a group of people. In each case mobs are trying to change a legal action by a democratically elected government.

What we learn from these four examples are two important but little recognised characteristics of modern democracy.

(a) Modern communication, particularly, pervasive international television, imposes on democratic governments the necessity to consult and to work with the population promptly to solve problems. Arrogant assertion of governmental authority and trying to maintain secrecy will fail. Television coverage destroys governments, which insist on actions that are against a group's interest, without building public support. No government can hide from this scrutiny.

(b) Democratic systems have to deal with problems, and cannot ignore them. In each of the four cases the governments simply refused to deal with the underlying problems for protracted periods. None of the branches of government was able to act, and eventually, the problem exploded out of control. The failure of government in these four incidents reflected neglect of serious social issues combined with governmental arrogance.

Kansat : The shortage of electricity being generated in Bangladesh resulted in failure to supply energy to rural electricity co-operatives. The allocation of available electrical energy by the PDB was probably unfair, with the REB consumers receiving less than their share. But they are just poor farmers so who cares was the attitude of the authorities. Over the past five years the REB expanded connections far faster than the increase in available energy. This led inevitably to many rural communities not receiving the required quantum of electricity. This treatment was particularly unpopular when the electricity was needed for pumping irrigation water. While not providing electricity, the basic charges were still being collected! That this annoyed the farmers should surprise no one. No one tried to deal with the real problem. REB kept on expanding the number of connections even though there is no energy available. REB's co-operatives kept on trying to collect money without delivering service. This reflects a complete insensitivity to its customers. If the expansion reflected pressure from MPs trying to satisfy their constituents, the irony is evident - the population, rather than pleased, is incensed. It is surprising that no one seemed to worry about this. The MPs did not fight for their constituents, cases brought to the courts were handled slowly and without much attention, and, of course, the Ministry did not even realise these people of the "lower income" groups existed.

Neglect of the situation by the REB and local administration led to mob action. Gunning down people, who had a legitimate complaint arising from the stupidity and failure of government, is prescription for disaster.

Are you surprised? Arrogance, neglect, and slow judicial response are all too common in democratic governments.

Think about it - a group of poor people trying to irrigate their crops, promised electricity, for which they paid but were denied; with foolhardy attempt to terrorise them by shooting them down, by widespread arrests, by a government run wild! The mob tried and eventually managed to wake up the very group whose purpose is to serve them.

Illegal immigration in the USA: In the United States the government has neglected the problem of illegal immigration for years. Illegal immigrants are an important part of the labour force, doing many jobs at illegally low wages and limited, if any, benefits. Many businesses depend on these workers. Mostly Americans do not care about this situation. There are now reportedly 11-12 million illegal immigrants in the United States and this number is increasingly rapidly - the American economy is expanding strongly and there are many job opportunities. Only limited efforts have been made to penalise companies hiring illegal immigrants. In effect the US government turned its back on the issue, never providing sufficient resources to enforce the law. Consider the parents who pay no attention to their child's studies but when he comes home with poor grades, blame him! The United States has laws, which it has not enforced. Now it has a problem and blame is directed at the illegal immigrants when in fact US society condoned this by neglect. President Bush to his credit, having decided to take up policy reform in this area, opened debate and encouraged legislation. A small group of extreme conservatives persuaded the Home of Representatives (lower house of the US Congress) to pass a draconian bill that makes an illegal immigrant a felon, calls for deporting all illegal immigrants, and requires construction of a fence along the Mexican-US border (now only partially fenced). If such a law came into effect, it would have a devastating effect on the illegal immigrants. But in fact the US government has neglected the problem, in effect condoning it through neglect - just as the REB tricked people into believing that they were going to receive a regular supply of electricity! The Hispanic population in the United States are largely recent immigrants, most of whom have legal status. They were incensed at this bill passed by the House. They also vote! Large protest demonstrations took place. These demonstration woke up many to recognise there may be a serious political cost to such punitive legislation. The Senate [The upper house of the US Congress] tried without success to formulate a law that would provide a fairer deal for the illegal immigrants. The outcome of all this remains uncertain in mid April 2006. The use of mobs to influence legislation is a sign of "single issue" politics. The US Hispanic community feels strongly that illegal immigrants should be given an opportunity to become legal participants in US society. If this becomes the main issue on which Hispanic voters judge political candidates, then they will achieve passage of a moderate law or prevent passage of a law such as that drawn up by the House of Representatives. Most Americans, the polls tell us, are against the illegal immigrants but for them this is not the primary political issue.

Neglect of an important problem and then heavy handled attempts to deal with the consequence of that very neglect lead to mob action to correct the politician's policy. This is what happened in both Bangladesh and the United States. Of course, in neither case are we through with this. The REB faces many more prospective revolts and this will undermine the financial position of REB and may cause it to lose donor support. In the United States the most likely outcome is no immigration legislation at all, achieving nothing.

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With only some few months to go before the election, the government of the day needs to shake off the inertia, become proactive to allay suspicion of trying to rig the next polls by way of implementing the reforms of caretaker government and EC, which with its current system has to be sent packing for a practical one. Only looking for good candidates, while backbenching the urgent reforms is akin to putting the cart before the horse. The uneven ground for contest of election has been solidified by politicisation and the misuse of funds and authority of the government. For election, a level playing field is necessary just like trade. A free and fair election then will lead to a peaceful transition of power and it would be unwise to resort to excuses or political posturing or to kill time on various pretexts or alibis.

The election itself seems like a no-win game. BNP loses a lot of edge due to anti-incumbency and to its own petty doings. But the AL has not gained any ground either with hired crowds at Paltan, where crowds go to get amused by comical speeches. The so-called popular vote is still a myth. But the AL is too stubborn to adjust to realities.

This is why Muslim League became irrelevant, and now the AL risks suffering the same fate. The splintered and lumpen left, now on the last leg to political oblivion, does not add much to AL's strength.

According to World Bank, criminalisation of politics and political row between two major parties in the country have allowed extremist groups to indulge in recent series of violent incidents in Bangladesh. The US Embassy has the caveat expressing deep concerns over renewed political confrontation and said political interests should be advanced by democratic means, not by street violence. But it seems no one who matters cares? When warnings fall on deaf ears, what can be expected but dire fallout! What was the last rally by BNP at Muktangan meant to do but flex muscles and rattle sabres? Yes, a leader inspires by example, a ruler inspires fear and hence must be sent packing bag and baggage.

The leader seeks out the best and brightest for a country to blink on the radar screen nationally and internationally, while a despot or ruler is only interested in succession, no matter whether the country is verging on ruin. However, in sum, the AL-BNP slugging and slanging match has been taking its toll.

In a country where economic offences or crimes go unpunished and yearly ADP is routinely under-achieved, great hullabaloo is made over the annual budget.

The national economy already shows fault-lines. But amidst many melodramatic socio-political events, tall talks and comi-tragic incidents ending in newspaper headlines with copious flow of information and gossip, an over-ambitious, unrealistic and ballot-box oriented budget with a bloated ADP will be on the anvil with the strident rhetoric of pro-poor economic growth as has been the case for last four years but people remained far worse off with more and more people being pauperised and marginalised. There is huge deficit in public trust in the country's economic management and they indeed want a change for the better and the mood is real.

The Prime Minister in one of her public meetings spelt out all the achievements during her tenure and made new pledges and urged the people to vote again for the alliance in the forthcoming polls if they want peace and development. These are fresh vows, while old pledges remained awfully forgotten. Her inept administration still thinks that the situation would be more hunky-dory but for the AL's perfidy. And sadly, BNP is repeating the AL's mistakes at the fag-end.

Voter listing hangs in void and becomes iffy on legal tangles. Hasina tells in Mujibnagar Day discussion that her party will not sit for talks to hammer out a consensus for reforms, if BNP's rag-tag team coalition partners are kept in government side. BNP secretary general does not want AL to interfere with BNP's member selection. We think in such a situation reforms dialogue will be procrastinated or go nowhere. Let the discussions be between two major parties, who can later, brief others in the respective camps.

Let us turn to the caretaker government. It is an unorthodox constitutional authority, designed to be neutral and empowered to hold the election in 90 days. Its mandated with all executive and the residuary powers of an elected government, which it is not.

In other words, it is not a referee but is vested with the functions of 90-day governance with the aid and assistance of persons in the services of the Republic; and unless necessary, it may not make any policy decision. Its proviso does not leave anything to chance or misanthropy. The contrariness to the instructions of the 13th (Caretaker) amendment arises only when, as some initially thought, you want to have the cake and eat it too. After all, an election is a contest when the numbers on either side of the divide are neither apportioned, nor divined. There can't be two winners at the same time. However, power struggle is not antithetical to a representative political order. Even as the incumbent may be faulted on umpteen counts - governance, prices, corruption, power outage et al - originally caretaker reform lyrics were looked at as another AL ploy - and the AL's caretaker card was said to be like a straw in the wind at the worst of its best, and grossly suspect as attempts at polls disruption at the best of its worst.

But eventually the urgent question of reforming the caretaker system was qualified, gathered momentum and came to the fore and this issue of all issues was championed not by AL alone but by the civil society at large of the country as soon as the position of the CA was politicised by changing the retirement age of the Chief Justice.

All could clearly see through the scheme of things, if they had no jaundiced eyes seeing everything yellow. However, over time there has been enough of controversy and stalemate over the dialogue for reforms and if there be any impasse in the proposed talks, a breakthrough have to be a must and should not be allowed to remain a chimera.

Then, in any manner of logic or crystal gazing, it is pretty difficult to see why the 14-party opposition combine has resorted to agitational politics! The reform issue is being addressed at a higher political level.

The fact of the matter is that the two most important politicians of Bangladesh at the moment, the regal, flamboyant and boisterous Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and the charismatic, hilarious Sheikh Hasina Wazed, are such poor losers.

Both of them enjoy huge support from the voters but quite apparently they do not know how to add value to it by earning respect. They both have been, and Begum Zia still is, head of government, that is in control of the executive power of the state, but they have grossly mishandled it and let it be abused. They would have performed better, one believes, if they truly accepted the fact that popularity is like shifting sands but love and respect are more enduring.

Popularity, one may say, is sometimes a freak but love of the people for a leader needs to be earned through good work and respect has to be gotten by even harder work and fine character. Neither of them has yet been able to enter the hall of fame, which preserves the names of great people.

One does not have to look for problems in Bangladesh. Those not only show up at your door but many of those crash in to your home. How much the country wishes that the two most important politicians it has at the moment tried to solve some problems instead of adding more? Does Sheikh Hasina care to know how many people in Bangladesh at this moment think of her as trouble? Does Begum Zia, with all her governmental and party machinery at her command, have figured out how many people think of her as one who sits pretty and lets her activists cause trouble for the country and the people? Boycotting parliament or lobbying with the international community to paint a devil of the rival in power doesn't help.

On the contrary, these invite unflattering words from foreign VVIPs. Such perorations are no longer classified as interferences in the internal affairs of a country as it used to be deemed in the good old days.

However, truly, in a country where the government and the opposition alike can do no

wrong, representative political order, whether Westminster or else, the rote of elections every five years is all about accumulation and monopoly of power on the winner(s)' part and obstructionism on the loser(s), part in as many ways as are not civil by any norm. One regrets to say that while the former goes on accumulating power to no end, the latter is loath to accept the reality of defeat.

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To those in Bangladesh what the Chinese people are undergoing will sound quite familiar as they have, and in many cases are still going through that experience. English-learning craze is sweeping China many kindergartens offer English education to help prepare children for a "secure" job in the future. In a kindergarten in east Beijing's Chaoyang district, where some 100 children are enrolled, neither teachers nor children are supposed to utter any Chinese word in class. All signs inside the kindergarten are written in English. Set up in late 2000, the kindergarten aims to "meet the needs of social development." says a teacher. Concerned educationists claim that some primary school students cannot write even a coherent paragraph in Chinese, but they excel in writing letters in English. Since the late 1970s, when China opened up to the rest of the world, a lot of emphasis has been placed on learning English for better job opportunities and international exchanges. The language, which was taught only in high school, is now part of the primary school curriculum.

In some experimental schools, English is taught from grade one, and considered as important a subject as mathematics and Chinese. Gu Haibing, a professor with the National Economic Management Department, Remin University of China, does not conceal his amazement about the time and money spent on English learning. Mastery over English has become a criterion for individual evaluation at school and job applications. An Qi, who majored in mathematics from the Capital Normal University, was the last one in her batch to find a teaching job, despite an excellent academic record. "I had a hard time because I didn't have the College English Test certificate." says the girl bitterly. "They (interviewers) told me that English is required in teaching, but I couldn't see any link between English and mathematics, the subject I would teach." Haibing adds, "It seems that those who cannot speak English are considered second-class talents, and those who cannot read English are considered third-class talents. Anyone applying for a senior position must pass an English test, even if it is not required for the job. This is snuffing out talent."

Craze for English has made China the single largest market in the world, with nearly 20 million potential customers, according to the American College Board. Insiders estimate that the profits made by the sector equal the annual output for a relatively-developed medium-sized city in China. In Beijing alone, with 600,000 people wanting to improve their English, the English-training market is worth an estimated Yuan 2 billion (US $240 million) annually. Despite the craze, there are no substantial gains in the long run for students learning English. A survey conducted by 21st Century Talent News, a popular newspaper on campus, shows that 74 per cent of the college students found English irrelevant for their study and future career. They nevertheless continued learning English because "it's compulsory." The students also revealed that English took up half their studying time.

Dr Wu Mei, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communication with Macao University, blames the leading Chinese news media for allowing "English to enter China's national television and public places at an astonishing speed." in the past few years that has been very harmful and distorting of pragmatic perception. For instance, she says, China Central Television (CCTV), the country's leading TV network, has its logo and acronym solely in English, although its audience are overwhelmingly Chinese. "In contrast," she says, "even the major TV networks in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao have Chinese logos." But in China, English is now ubiquitous. "It's not only in the media but even the road signs, commodity brands and outdoor posters are in that language."

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