The urging came from the UN Secretary General, António Guterres. He has already been praised everywhere for making the right call at the right time. In his call last Saturday on July 18, 2020, warning everyone against the growing inequality around the world he said that the Corona virus epidemic has brought to the fore the issue of the widespread disparity in the world. It is now at a dangerous stage. Disasters can happen at any time. Corona virus is an X-ray, he said. Through which the fragile skeleton of the social system we have built has been revealed. We are all in one boat. This epidemic must be tackled through the applications of new global treaties and new social theories which can ensure equal opportunities, human rights and freedom for all. Revealing the root cause of the current inequality, he said that the countries that rose to power 70 years ago have refused to bring about the necessary reforms in international institutions. But this reform is very urgent. (Daily Prothom Alo, July 20, 2020, p.7).
Added to that is the new news that Bangladesh is now the best in the world in terms of the novelty of corruptions. The war-torn African country, Somalia, is known to be the most corrupt country in the world. Their Corona protective equipments, stolen from hospitals, are easily available in the open market. Zimbabwe's health minister was fired for buying substandard kits for the Corona test. In the midst of the Corona panic, the news of the misdeeds of the greedy people in the United States, the United Kingdom, India and others are making headlines from time to time. But above all, Bangladesh has made headlines in the New York Times in the international media, ‘Big business in Bangladesh: Selling fake Corona virus certificate’. Bangladesh has done what no one has imagined so far. This fake certificate seller hospital has worked with the approval of the Health Department of the Government. Pictures of the health minister himself and other secretaries at the signing ceremony have appeared in newspapers. But earlier, the minister or his office told that they did not know anything about this. After the picture was published, the minister boastfully remarked, ‘Everyday, we sign off on numerous contracts. But do we read them?
It is unfortunate for the country that despite having hundreds of experienced doctors, a non-doctor becomes the health minister. We don't know how much power the Prime Minister has in selecting and changing ministers. After the news of the six thousand fake certificates giver hospital, a few more fake certificate issuing hospitals have made headlines. We don't know how many more will come. There was no punishment for the sanctioning department or the ministry that sanctioned these hospitals. The health minister was not fired. Rather his arrogance has increased. Why are ministers encouraged to buy foreign kits and ventilators? Everyone knows the reason. Gonoshastho made the kit in the country but it was not accepted although it was beneficial for the people. They could get for an affordable price or even for free. Smaller countries such as Ukraine and Cambodia publish online the names, prices, terms of purchase and list of suppliers of their government procured products. A few more countries have succeeded in reducing corruptions by following them. Does Bangladesh have that courage?
Let's return to the comments of the UN Secretary General. He put his hand at the root of the problem. He called for an overall reform of the world governance system. Otherwise, the whole world system will collapse very soon. Even the planet Earth could be wiped out because of these unscrupulous rulers. The Secretary-General did not give any outline of what that world governance system would be like. And it is not possible for him to give it. But he certainly deserves thanks for realizing the reality. People chose the democracy after coming out of the monarchy. Now it has taken the form of the dictatorship of the majority.
The tyranny of the strong over the weak has broken all previous records. Stealing in super-massive amounts has become widespread with the direct and indirect help of those in power. That is what the Prime Minister has said directly in the National Assembly. That is what is going on through the sons of the democracy. Aren’t the heroes of the fake Corona certificate issuing hospitals such as Regent-GKG-Shahabuddin-Sabrina-Arif, blessed by the government? The country has been running by the bipartisan government and alliance for the last 50 years since the independence. Of these, a dozen railway ministers came and went. But why has not about 7,000 acres of land been recovered by the railways across the country until now? Who has kept these? Why is Buriganga, known as the navel of Dhaka, now the disposal of toxic water? Why the capital Dhaka is sinking with only 63 mm of normal rain? Why Ashulia, the reservoir of beauty, in the basins of Balu and Turag rivers was filled in? The same situation is in almost every divisional town. These are the misdeeds of whoever came to the power whenever. Don’t the people's representatives see how NGO are oppressing the flood victims by aggressively collecting cash installments from them and how people are being evicted from their homes in fear of the loan sharks (dadon merchants) in villages? There is no act of sin that the accomplices of the devil are not doing. But the honeymoon of the democracy is always going on.
Basically, the fundamental problem of the democracy or the current world order is that they do not have any criterion for the truth-falsehood and think themselves above excuses. The accountability to the people is a far-flung subject. The people who are inflated with the arrogance of arms are now the owners of the UN Security Council. There is no misdeed that they do not do. There is only one way to survive from this. That is the fear of Allah. When such people who fear Allah in every step and strive to secure the path of the Hereafter in exchange for this world will be in power in any country or in any world organization then only the needed change in the world will take place. It is the duty of everyone to race in that direction. May Allah help us, Ameen! (President of the Editorial Board).
Written by : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Asadullah Al-ghalib
Professor (Rtd) of Arabic, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.
Translated by : Prof. Dr. Shahid Nakib Bhuian
Ph.D. (USA), MSBA (USA), MBA (IBA, DU), BIS (USA)
Bashundhara, Dhaka.
