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Golam Reza was elected a member of Parliament from the constituency of southwestern Satkhira, which is about 400 kilometers from Dhaka. Golam, whose party is part of the ruling coalition led by the Bangladesh Awami League, was driving to the capital on the evening of Jan. 24 to attend the inaugural session of the Jatiya Sangsad.
Upon arriving at the ferry pier at Daulatdia, on the western banks of the Padma river, Golam did not want to join the queue of vehicles on the ferry and in the rush caused a minor collision with a Dhaka-bound bus in front. A windowpane of his jeep broke due to the impact.
Golam got out of his jeep, rushed inside the bus and beat the bus driver, Alal Sheikh, with a shotgun. It is not known whether the gun was licensed or not. Passengers on the bus and other staff protested against Golam’s action, which led to a minor protest by people in the vicinity who pelted Golam with stones.
Local police reportedly rescued Golam and arranged for his safe exit from the scene of the incident. The bus driver was taken to a local hospital for medical treatment. Although the officer-in-charge of the Goalando police station of Rajbari district registered a case against Golam, which was published by the local media, no action has been taken against the lawmaker.
The abbreviation MP stands for a member of Parliament who is responsible for legislating laws for the people and ensuring that they abide by them. However, after Golam’s blatant disregard for the law, it will not be an exaggeration to interpret MP as “muscle power”.
Golam Reza is not an isolated example. On Jan. 22, similar incidents occurred in many places of Bangladesh where ruling party lawmakers rigged votes in the Upzilla Parishad, or sub-district council elections. For example, Abdur Rahman Bodi, MP of the Bangladesh Awami League in Cox's Bazaar district, assaulted at least three officers at a polling center for not allowing him to rig votes in the area. Bodi is still enjoying impunity for his lawless actions.
There have been many other instances of physical assault by lawmakers of various political parties in Bangladesh in the past. However, there are no examples where the government has taken stern action against such lawmakers.
Lawmakers and politicians apparently believe they prove their worth by beating people and public servants. Ironically, these lawmakers represent their constituency and its people in Parliament. However, one must also realize that Bangladeshis in general are not like Golam and Bodi.
So why is the quality of representatives elected to the Parliament and other local governing bodies so poor?
Political parties have followed the negative path of antisocial behavior and activities to seize, show and hold on to power. For example, slogans of various political parties represent their spirit. Many political processions in Bangladesh start with slogans like, “Jalo, jalo, agun jalo,” which literally translates as “light the fire,” but also means intense opposition by burning whatever parties claim as evil. It is too ambitious to expect such politicians to follow the rule of law.
Top leaders of the country’s political parties should understand this reality. Questions must be raised repeatedly, especially by those who lead political parties and alliances, about the concept of the rule of law and the difference in its application in public offices by leaders who disregard the law.
In other words, when Bodi was chosen by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as her party's representative for the parliamentary election, it meant that Hasina endorsed his actions. The fact that no legal action has been taken against him proves the point.
The traditional practice of neglecting lawless actions of public representatives like Reza proves that there is no rule of law in Bangladesh. It is also hard to believe that there will be any room for establishing it as no corrective action has been taken against such persons.
By turning a blind eye to the bad deeds of its own leaders, the government has lost the moral ground to control similar abuses of power by civil bureaucrats and other law-enforcing agents in the country. For example, the police frequently break laws, abuse power and indulge in corrupt practices that affect ordinary citizens.
It is time to rethink the culture of politics in the country. Politicians of the ongoing “Jalo, jalo culture” can only destruct the infrastructure of the country. This cannot contribute to the much-needed intellectual power of the country.
At the same time, failure to take legal action against offenders regardless of their political identities and portfolios will only cause the overall situation in the country to deteriorate, especially the poor state of human rights.
The authorities must prove whether MP stands for “Member of Parliament” or “muscle power.”
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(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national with a degree in literature from a university in Dhaka. He began his career as a journalist in 1990 and engaged in human rights activism at the grassroots level in his country for more than a decade. He also worked as an editor for publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues and contributed to other similar publications.)
