The case of the certificate-faking Secretaries is a source of shame and rage for many. These officials managed to get certificates, one is not sure when, and used it to gain benefits. In the latest instance they used it to get job extensions but it’s a common practice among bureaucrats. There are many who have done it because moving ahead using whatever means possible is what the establishment does.
It’s unfortunate for the individual officials that the government decided to scapegoat them. It’s even worse when there are many in service right now that will probably not be caught for whatever reasons. It’s not the certificate faking that’s the issue but that cheating is a valid form of self-promotion in this country without shame.
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It’s a bit of a mystery why these people so used to power wielding would resort to this level of chicanery unless they were quite certain that it was common practice. Given that several to hundreds have actually done and gone away with it, their crime was not in producing fake certificates and having their services extended, it was in getting caught. Does it mean that the civil service network is breaking down? We should be more interested in that and not who is getting caught and why. It’s a dal-bhat matter.
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The 1971 liberation war means different things to different people. Apart from independence, all anti-colonial struggles also produce privileges and there are those who control them. In case of Bangladesh, while the country became free, the state became weak and a nearly non-functional administration emerged. And the new mandarins sprang up quickly who formed an alliance of their own to protect these privileges. In the post-liberation days, anybody could be accused of being a Razakar and hounded out, their property and privileges taken over and ‘collaborators’ and ‘FFs’ became a buzzword to share or deny war booty. It’s in this environment that the FF certificates made an entry.
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The ordinary FFs were supposed to be integrated into a proposed national militia in 1972 but that never happened. They never got these promised privileges but others did. This was particularly so in three sectors, armed forces, bureaucracy and the informal “real estate” sector which basically meant other people’s property. In the army, privilege distribution was a simple matter as many got 2 years’ seniority, and though it caused considerable unhappiness, faking was avoided. However, this was not so in the bureaucracy where many were accused of being collaborators and denied jobs while others got cushy and profitable seats. So certificates were both a protection against being a dalal and a route to get better jobs. In this hunt for privileges, an FF certificate, real or fake, became very useful. Hundreds must have passed out through the gates of the Secretariat who were beneficiaries of such schemes. So it’s not a new activity, not a new fakery. It’s just that the government has decided a catch a few about to go into retirement.
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An FF certificate is a great honour to have and to hold but when it can be used to gain benefits, it’s inevitably going to be soiled. By attaching privileges to an FF certificate, barring medical benefits, the entry of abuse was ensured. Such certificates could work only when this privilege distribution was streamlined and made official instead of clandestine operations where anyone with a sum of money could buy one. It’s not that the certificates are a problem, but that there is no protection of the integrity of the certificates. Once it becomes clear that this is also a permit to buy things, the matter of real or fake certificates is not that significant.
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So what did these delinquent officers do? Like most officials, it’s important not to have shame and as the representative of the executive they know it has no value. Their brother officers were doing it, their superiors were doing it, their leaders were doing it, and just about everyone in power was doing it so why should they be left out. Had they been a handful few it would be a different matter. But when everyone has a finger in the pie, why blame some of them too much? It’s the system not the security guard who is to blame.
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The response of the Anti-Corruption Commission which is waiting for Ministerial clearance to file charges also means passing the buck as much as possible. It doesn’t seem like it is as big a matter as we are making it out to be. In fact, some claim, our toothless ACC is there to protect such accused and in this case they will ensure that nothing serious happens. The political signal is what that matters and it seems that the government may have said, “this far and no far.”
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For us it means something different because such acts to us are betrayal of what we see as the spirit of 1971. To us, the sacred shroud has been defiled and the acts are profane. In other words, our response to it is as we would see something sacrosanct, something akin to faith or religious symbols. But it’s we who have given 1971 that meaning and it’s us who are being shocked. In a society where the vulnerable and weak have so little voice and rich and powerful can get away with everything, this was only to be expected. The fake certificate-wallahs are no greater sinners than the corrupt officer who takes money to illegally hand over land to developers or allow poisoned medicine into the market. They do it differently that’s all.
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Or is it possible that when we talk about 1971 as being a national triumph, are we being fake too since it has brought joy to so few? Perhaps it’s these fakers without shame knew the truth all along. That our freedom fight in the end didn’t matter much. It was the guaranteed way to gain benefits. It’s only the denied who care about 1971. The liberation war belongs to the ordinary people and they have little transaction of a state that encourages fakes.
Source: bdnews24
