POLITICAL DECENCY, COURTESY AND DECORUM
- F R Chowdhury 25 January 2019
By deciding to get involved in active politics, the politician gives advance notice of ambition for leadership. The number one requirement for leadership is knowledge. The knowledge could have been acquired through institutional degree, diploma etc. Knowledge may also be acquired through self-study and personal efforts to know things. I can without any hesitation give example of one such person who had all the knowledge and wisdom without any degree or diploma. The person is John Major, former prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Britain has a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch. Interestingly UK has no written constitution. The constitution is nothing other than good practice and procedures that stood the test of time. General elections (to elect members of parliament) are held before the 5 year expiry period of the parliament. The Queen as the head of the state invites the leader of the majority party to form the government. It is interesting to note that though the Queen is obliged to appoint the leader of the majority party as prime minister, it is always regarded as her government because she appoints the prime minister. The PM as the head of the government runs the state on behalf of the head of the state, the Queen.
The British prime minister is answerable to two places. The PM is answerable to the nation through the parliament. In fact a day of the week (every Wednesday from 12:00 12:30) is reserved for the PM to answer the questions from MPs (mostly from the leader of the opposition). Similarly, the PM also sees the monarch to apprise her of all activities (state of the nation). The Queen has no executive powers but this traditional role of being the ultimate guardian does the entire trick. It is in the name of the queen that everything operates. The civil servants cooperate with every government with traditional loyalty and sincerity but the ultimate loyalty remains with the state and the crown. All British missions abroad display only one portrait and that is of the Queen. People and media have every right to criticise the government for any of its actions or policies but say nothing about the monarch because she cannot do anything wrong.
The Queen opens the parliament in a ceremonial way. She delivers her speech in House of Lords who have no legislative powers except for expression of comments and views. The PM, cabinet members and MPs stand around the house. The Queen refers to the government as “my government”. The speech may briefly talk about the achievement of the past but will mostly focus on future work program – especially about the legislation in the pipeline. It is understood that the PM advises the Queen on the contents of her speech but that remains strictly between the Queen and the PM. There is no question of anyone else knowing about it in advance.
By now most of the readers understand as to why I wrote the previous paragraphs. In Bangladesh we have the same parliamentary democracy that UK has. Instead of a ceremonial monarch we have a ceremonial president elected by the parliament. That is why we are a republic and UK is a kingdom. In Bangladesh the president is supposed to be the head of the state, supreme commander of armed forces and ultimate protector of the constitution. He is also the one to whom Accountant General, Auditor General, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, Chairman Anti-corruption Commission and Chairman of the Human Rights Commissions will report. Depending on the system, the governor of the central bank may report to the government or the president. The president is the one to appoint a chief justice and chairman of the election commission. Finally he is the one to whom the convicted person can appeal for mercy. Now comes the big question – do we treat him as head of the state?
Now I have to go back to what I started with. Sadly we are not educated enough. We do not know about political culture. We have no idea of appropriate diplomatic and political conduct and protocol. There is no person higher than the president and he is to be treated accordingly. The cabinet discusses in open meeting about president’s intended speech. Then the cabinet secretary tells the waiting press about the approval of the president’s speech. This amounts to insult and humiliation. By so doing we insult our democratic system. The cabinet secretary is expected to be knowledgeable enough to understand what he should or should not say. There is no reason to identify himself as another clown.
In the UK there is a privy council to assist the queen with her responsibilities. These responsibilities are distinctly separate from party politics. In Bangladesh if we could have a permanent committee to assist the president to deal with all matters referred to earlier. Such committee may consist of:
- The last retired chief justice;
- The last retired cabinet secretary;
- The last retired services chief;
- The last retired Vice-chancellor of a public university; and
- The last speaker of the Parliament (who is no more in active politics).
In the United Kingdom the Queen is the ultimate symbol of unity and nationhood. She is respected accordingly. In Bangladesh the president of the republic is the highest person in our democratic system. He should also be treated in the same manner. The prime minister should understand the importance of apprising the president periodically. It is the president who appoints the PM (even though democratically elected) and the PM runs the state on behalf of the head of the state.
I shall conclude my article with a request to all politicians in Bangladesh to kindly educate them with knowledge. Read about other countries and their culture – their political system and procedures. Let us be civilised and cultured. The sooner we change, better it is. Please change for better.
London, 23-January-2019 <fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com>
