The motto of the political leaders should be: unity is first, leadership is next.
   It is time to unite the nation in the name of Bangladeshi nationalism, not that it should be under the leadership of Khaleda Zia. The main reason why she had risen to power was that her opponents espoused anti-Bangladeshi nationalism. Her associates misused the chances, for which she cannot avoid the blame of misrule and lack of transparency. 
   However, there is no time to waste anymore. If the nation fails to find a better leadership, the country will fail to strengthen the foundation of nationalism in the long run. If Bangladeshi nationalism loses its root, some cynical leaders would capture the ground and destabilise the country.
   At this moment, the duty of people-oriented leaders would be to become sincere and unite with one slogan –– ‘Bangladeshi nationalism’. Selection of leadership would be on the basis of consensus. If they run after power, ignoring the interest of the country, they would never be able to capture power, rather would be eliminated soon. A concrete thought should work quickly.
   M Hoque
   On e-mail

The head of the caretaker government in Bangladesh disclosed the plan for general parliamentary election in December of 2008. Voting was due in January last year. It was postponed until late 2008 after months of political violence and weeks of bloodshed in the streets. The political parties ran into a deadlock and the country was headed to a civil war.
   There has been much talk about reform in the political parties to avoid the situation like this in future. The interim government has undertaken a long overdue war on corruption. This is pretty unprecedented for Bangladesh.
   Now what is the point of election if all you do is reject the results? Who needs a parliament, if the opposition would remain absent most of the time? This had been happening for the last 15 years by both the big parties. When Ershad’s government fell in 1990 in the wake of public unrest, a caretaker government was set up to hold a free and fair election. Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won the election and formed the government. Khaleda Zia, the widow of late president Ziaur Rahman, became the first female prime minister in country’s history. Awami League (AL) became the main opposition party led by Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of late president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hasina alleged irregularity in the election and rejected the results, but soon decided to play along and attended the parliament.
   In the following term, after some initial hiccups of February ‘96 election, AL won the election and Sheikh Hasina became the second female prime minister of Bangladesh. However, things hardly changed as Khaleda Zia stole a few page of AL’s book and continued the political unrest in the street. As a result, a failed parliament hanged over the poor nation for one more term of five years. In all these 10 years, while opposition was engaged in all possible ways to ignite a public unrest in the street, the ruling parties were engaged in all kind of corruption. It was in fact a rat race to see who can grab more and how fast. Corruption was institutionalised in Bangladesh by then. Upon coming into power, the ruling parties dismissed all corruption cases filed by previous government and the interim government as being politically biased. Criminals arrested by the previous government and the interim government were released on the plea that they all were political detainees. So everyone knew for sure that there would be no problem even if your party lost the next election. You just needed to survive the next five years, and then your party would be back in power again. You would be able to erase the records of all your bad deeds and get a fresh start in doing more corruption.
   On January 11, 2007, a new interim government was set up. In Bangladesh, the event is called 1/11. The expectation was to unite the divided nation, root out corruption, reform political parties, and then hold a free fair general election so that the country would not go back to the pre-1/11 situation. Two years seemed to be a reasonable timeframe to do just that. I am happy to see that Fakhruddin Ahmed, the head of current interim government, is committed to that timeframe. But all the pieces of this puzzle have to fall in place to do the magic. The question is: are we there yet?
   I am not asking to halt the election nor even to delay the election. I believe the election should be held by end of 2008. Two years should be enough time. But the point is, enough time for what?
   Bangladesh political leaders are not saying anything to assure either the people of Bangladesh or the international community. Finally, here is the billion-dollar question. The party leaders are not saying that they would disclose party financial details — who are giving all these money, how much, and where are they spending it. This is the mother of all corruption. If the criminals and corrupt people put money in the party, it is very logical that they would like to get a return. If you practice corruption in your own party, how could you give the country anything other than the corruption when you get elected?
   The people of Bangladesh have been deceived by politicians for a really long time. The world now wants to see if the people of Bangladesh can get rid of this deception.
   GM Solaiman
   Silicon Valley, USA

A front-page news item published in a local English daily on May 18 was comprehensive. It was based on the viewpoints of some energy sector officials who dwelt on what could and should be done to tackle the problem of the expensive energy imports. If these steps are not taken promptly then our financial and economic collapse is not far away. Unfortunately, our caretaker government seems to have washed its hands off any forward move on the energy sector.
   Similarly, the previous government (BNP) also ignored the sector and cancelled an already signed MoU when they took up the reins of the government. Their whole period was wasted away in trying to maximise their own larder from energy investment! The caretaker government’s attitude on new energy investment is simply –– do nothing! Is this not shirking a critical national issue? But who are we to question why?
   The only positive statement in the news report, albeit without any details, was the good news about the Naphtha processing project. It was reported that this should come on stream by the end of 2009. It would reportedly produce about 1,20,000 tonne of octane per year. At least something is better than nothing. However, there was nothing about diesel oil, our most needed fuel. If it depends on future oil exploration then may be it is at least ten years away if we are fortunate to strike more oil!
   The issue of utilising coal is bogged down in uncertainties and unnecessary controversies. Starting from corruption, down to the ‘babbling’ of our ‘all-talk, no-responsibility’ self-declared ‘Buddhijibies’ who are not prepared to accept open-cast mining. One possible way out would be for these ‘Buddhijibies’ to set up a coal mining company with the government as shareholder and go for the extraction of coal.
   SA Mansoor
   Dhaka