A slow train is coming

BOB Dylan, one of the greatest singer-song writers of all times, who won Nobel prize for literature in 2016, wrote and sang a song in 1979 which goes:

Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted,

Can’t help but wonder what’s happenin’ to my companions

Are they lost or are they found?

Have they counted the cost it’ll take to bring down

All their earthly principles they’re gonna have to abandon?

There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend

 

I had a woman down in Alabama

She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic,

She said, ‘Boy, without a doubt,

have to quit your mess and straighten out,

You could die down here, be just another accident statistic’

There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend.

 

…

Man’s ego is inflated, his laws are outdated,

they don’t apply no more,

You can’t rely no more to be standin’ around waitin’,

In the home of the brave,…

Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan,

And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend

…

… But it sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets

There’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend.

Match this 1979 song with the present realities of Bangladesh. A sage’s premonition, indeed. Match our current situation with the first stanza which translates into something to the tune of losing some of our unknown dearest companions while we have gained surprisingly, some new friends in the students and people who we did not know. Ponder on then as to what might be the cost of abandoning our mundane principles, which we paid very heavily in blood and life.

Then, Dylan admonishes us to quit our mess and straighten out which, nevertheless, could cause us death, which will just be counted as another accident statistic. How amazingly prophetical! Take the next stanza which says, man’s (woman’s) ego, which is inflated, his (her) law which are outdated and which do not apply any more. Then, Dylan says, ‘But one cannot rely no more to be standin’ around waitin’, In the home of the brave, … Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan’.

Finally this is what he had to say — irrespective of the worldly possessions it is painful to see that our loved ones are turning into puppets. But all is not lost yet, according to him, because a slow, slow train is coming up around the bend.

Short analysis of situation

WHAT are the predicaments that may befall us? There are multiple facets to the inkling in the horizon. But first of all, we take our hats off to our valiant, far-sighted, intelligent, knowledgeable and die-hard students and their leaders who also mastered the support of common, the toiling people, who were in the jaws of an unbearable life, gasping under the heave of unbearable market conditions because of the greed of a few.

We have plethora of players swimming in the stormy, choppy and muddled current, some for good and some for bad, while some others are frothing in the mouth. Then, there are contending global powers themselves to play, sooner or later, their due parts. On the home front, there are the students, ordinary people; politicians, good or dangerous, the schemers and the somersaulting ones; the legal and illegal forces with arms; the confused police and the other allied forces; goons, thieves, arsonists and snatchers; lackeys and the bootlickers; the undue beneficiaries; minorities and the games that some of them are playing to the tune of hegemons; the media and the journalists and the blinds and addle-headed ones among them, who harm the country more than they serve a given cause; other professionals and officers, some hiding and some dancing; forecasters and fortunetellers; muscle-flexers and threatening posturers; the dark forces and the peddlers of country interests; people who dislike discipline and civility; those awe-stricken unprepared cronies who could not finish eating their portion of the pie yet and those who siphoned off or were in the process of doing so.

The most apprehensive, among all these, are the contending global powers who are salivating to gulp a piece of the cake when the water is conveniently muddled. How to tackle and manage them? If we have to choose among them, who we should lean on? The stage is, however, already set that shows in the identity of our ad-interim advisors.

Already dirty palace intrigue has bared its fangs. Looting, arson ajd vandalising have tarnished the national image; some of which have been found to be the expressions of political vendetta to create an environment for external interference. The vestiges of the fallen power remain in different nooks and corners, among high and low officials and political goons at different tiers and among some with poorly developed analytic brains who see wrongdoings but either deny or want to remain indifferent and oblivious of the facts that brew before their eyes. They either are undue beneficiaries or were blinded by some poorly understood reasons.

What should draw our utmost attention right now? It is to maintain the law and the order at all cost so that no one can take the advantage of the current situation. This will require the positioning of people who are known for their strong stand, courage, honesty and wisdom, in important positions and as heads of all important and critical offices.

It will be imperative that no rumors of any kind fan incorrect information. Controlling rumors should be a priority along with assurance of especially safety of all kinds to the minorities, including the freedom of their religious practice and of their voice. This will take away the steam off those who are hatching plots to destabilise the country, in its, as of now, shaky journey to democracy. Plotters should be quickly taken by the horns for which the law enforcers and the courts should remain functional to their full capacity until the present volatile situation comes under control.

Next in order of priority should be the financial and economic front. Banks should come to a normal functioning condition. The Bangladesh Bank should spearhead this. This requires that the anomalous posting of inexperienced and unintelligent and dishonest officials in the Bangladesh Bank are sent on retirement to pave the way for efficient, hard-working and committed officers are brought to the helm of management. Its oversight functions should not only be fully restored but enhanced to an effective level. This needs to be done without delay as we need to restore confidence in people about the banking system. This will need the stopping of flight of money any further and bringing back the stolen money from abroad. For this, we need intelligent and smart people in nodal positions of the banking system. They will be expected to also establish order in the system so that financial management is transparent without any scope for pilferage through any hole in future.

We expect that the interim government does not try to lengthen its stay unnecessarily. This may be helped if well-thought-out terms of reference is drawn for the members of the interim government. Its priority should be to gift a free and fair election to the nation within three to four months. Lingering may spawn ambition among the members of the government and they may delay their primary responsibility that we have seen in the past. We do not expect that the interim government will implement everything — the implementation of which will take at least two to three years, which is not the mandate of this government. Shadowy quarters may take the advantage of the legal issues, raising hue and cry and creating a confusing political environmental that may sway to yet unknown and unpredictable directions. The argument that the interim government advisers are the best ones is dashed a little by the lop-sided representation and inexperience to manage governance of the country in the past. The argument that selection is better than election is disrespectful to the collective wisdom of the people.

Some suggestions

{1) Erect a monument for the fallen heroes so that the nation remembers them and showers respect on the departed souls that sacrificed their dreams for our emancipation; (2) remove heads of all constitutional bodies and personnel from important and critical institutions and offices as the first step, especially from security apparatuses, since they are tuned to a particular way of governance that did not require brainpower rather blind allegiance; (3) step up intelligence, as the second step, to preclude adventurous moves; (4) immediately, as the third step, start legal proceedings against all murders, enforced disappearances, abduction, unlawful detention, extortion, arson, forced entry into private property that occurred in the past and that might occur in future. Those who killed police personnel should also be tried and punished. (5) make the judiciary independent of the executive; (6) make the police independent of civil administration and politics; (7) create an environment where everybody will be able to vent their views, ideas and critical analysis without any harm to anyone or getting threatened for their opinions; (8) pave the way for a law to prevent misinformaton and disinformation; (9) enunciate politically independent student activities and ban politically-oriented student bodies in educational institutions; (10) form advisory bodies for ministries with advisers with no experience or for ministries that are technical in nature but has an adviser from a different background; (11) develop an appropriate and adequate remuneration package, including yearly increment in percentage of their basic salary, which will reflect the market price index accurately; (12) revise the primary and the high school curriculum heavily criticised by parents after examination; (13) create a directorate general of public health; (14) bar people with dual nationality, with split allegiance, from any executive, critical or state positions; (15) banks are public property as they survive on public money. The sector should be reformed to make thievery impossible; (16) bring back a caretaker government system; (17) develop a culture of safe and civilised traffic; (18) repeal all coercive laws. A constitutional amendment should ensure that any such laws may not be enacted in future; (19) give teeth to the Human Right Commission, the Election Commission, and the Anti-Corruption Commission so that nobody can tinker with these constitutional bodies by overstepping legal processes. Create/invoke a post for the ombudsman for these bodies and also for the income tax department; (19) prevent rent-seeking in nodal institutions and organisations, especially in income tax; (20) place people with integrity, courage, self-respect, experience and vision as institutional heads.

AM Zakir Hussain is a former director, Primary Health Care and Disease Control, former director of IEDCR, DGHS, former regional adviser of SEARO, WHO and former staff consultant, Asian Development Bank, Bangladesh.