Corruption of BanglaDesh: a perspective

by Rashad Chowdhury

October 2002

In last few years, BanglaDesh has been steady climbing the corruption ladder and now occupies the top most corrupt nation's position as per Transparency International's corruption index. This steady incline should not be looked upon with a short-term view or solution. Corruption in BanglaDesh has been actually in the making since her colonial times. Some even says that corruption and Bangladesh are synonymous. But history shows us that BanglaDesh have not been corrupt in the past and to the contrary we observe a highly organized, corruption free productive society. And with a little bit of adjustments in her ruling and educated class's perception, BanglaDesh can again be corruption free in the future.

Bangla was mostly known for her high trading, high quality products and her vast agriculture during most of her history. Ibn Batutta who visited Bangla in 1345 wrote, "I have seen no other country where provisions are cheaper then in this". Barbosa wrote in the year 1516, "..the Kingdom of Bengala, in which there are many towns….. among whom there is much trade and much shipping to many parts" The coins used by traders in the past had a preference for currency from Bangla. Mandeville wrote in 1750 that "The Bengal Sicca rupee is best of all…..." Bangla minted coins were something like the common currency of the region like Yen or Dollar is for the world today.

The goods produced in Bangala was also of very high quality and in the pre-industrial age, the high productivity of Bangala's "cottage" industry was known around the world. In Shabeni's book 'An Account of Timbuktu and Hausa', he describes the clothing of Sultan of Timbuktu, the richest African City States, "The sultan wears a white turban of very fine muslin, the ends of which are embroidered with gold, and brought to the fronts; this turban come from Bangala" The cotton industry of Sonargaon Region, ghee, spices, shipbuilding around Chittagong, gold and silk embroidery in Dhaka, ivory Furniture from Sylhet, brass sculptures of Dhaka are just to name some of the major products of pre-colonial Bangla. All these goods and products were produced not due to corruption, but rather for the lack of it.

According to Karen Armstrong's book Islam, Pre-Palassey Europian powers were average traders trying to do business in Inde and especially Bengal. She also describes that Europeans could not really compete with quality of products that Bengal and Moghul India produced in the pre-Palassey era. In his book "The Great Hedge", Roy Maxham describes that 70% of England's imports come from Bengal. But the fine products and high quality of luxury items produced in Bangla changed almost overnight during the period after Palassey which Armstrong calls "Plundering of Bengal".

In Battle of Palassey, Nabob’s army of 40,000 lost the battle to a tiny 2,000 men army of the English, due to palace conspiracy against the Nabob. In this process, the world saw the making of the first Multinational Company and its handy work. Robert Clive, the general who won the battle of Palassey, got a bribe of 234,000 rupees and annual income of 300,000 from estate plus a private estate of 880 square miles. When Clive returned to England in 1760, he was the richest man in England. With his money, he bought control of the company so he did not have to share his booty and he even bought politicians to control the English Parliament. The company officials from top to bottom plundered Bangla indiscriminately.

In the Gentleman’s Magazine of September 1771, a Mr. Urban wrote from Calcutta, "….. the natives complained to the Nabob at Murshidabad, that the English had engrossed all the rice…. The complain was laid before the President and Council by the Nabob's minister, who resides in Calcutta; but the Interest of the Gentlemen concerned was too powerful at the board; so that the complaint was only laughed at and thrown out…. one of our writers at the Durbar …worth a thousand Rupees last year, has sent down... 60,000 sterling, to be remitted home this year...". James Novak wrote that Bengal known as the 'Paradise of the Nations' during the Mughal era soon became a famine prone devastated country after the company takeover.

Mir Jafar who became the figurehead Nabob after Palassey soon realized the company’s design for this country and revolted. The English deposed Mir Jafar and instituted Mir Kasim in power. But he too soon realized the companies corrupt practices and wrote, "They(English) forcibly take away the goods and commodities of the royts and merchants for a forth part of their value…..they oblige the royts to give five rupees for goods which are worth but one rupee…." People of Bangla had never seen or known corruption of this scale. During the last great famine in 1943 also artificially caused by the English, 3 million Bangalee died. According to James Novak, this last famine really broke 'Bengals back' and she was never able to recover. Bengal, which even at the worst of times had a positive Trade balance became a debtor nation since the 1940's.

When the English finally left in 1947 they left behind a ruling class who thought like the English. The new graduates of Dhaka University did not see themselves in the shadow of their forefathers but rather saw themselves in the shadow of the recently departed colonialist. New factories built without real understanding of the actual need of the masses. Local industries that existed for thousands of years were ignored while investments were made in the name of modernization that only imitated the bygone colonialists. Following the modernization Mantra, BanglaDesh built the largest bridge in South Asia at an expense of $1 Billion while most of her river are being silted or becoming non-navigable. The natural mode of river transportation is being replaced with a solution that will take years to be effective mode of transportation. According to the neo-colonialists, native things became a curse that needed to be cured.

Ruling class of BanglaDesh forgot that countries like United States that became developed in the last century did so by not following colonial rules but following which best suited their needs. Today, BanglaDesh face the dilemma of corruption due to failed policies of a misdirected effort by the misdirected class of people. By following the ways of the old masters, the corruption just perpetuated into every segment of the society and has bought the masses more misery and suffering. To this very day, the same practice continues where ruling class follows charts dictated by the World Back, IMF and scores of other international bodies and who has tons of development solutions for BanglaDesh.

Although things seem to have improved for the masses from the last 30 years, they are still worse off then they were 100 or 250 years back in a relative terms. Maybe, for a corruption free BanglaDesh, indiscriminate importation of someone else's solution for Bangla's problems needs to be checked. Wal-Mart and Enron investments may be good for a million people, but not good for the masses. The mass of BanglaDeshis may be better of wearing locally made Saris and Panjabis which can potentially employ a lot more BanglaDeshi's in related industries. As history has shown us, corruption is not the nature of the people, but only a product of BanglaDesh's unique predisposition. With history's tendency to repeat itself and future's prologue being the past, BanglaDesh can bank on her past to chart a future that is corruption free.(And with a little attitude change for BanglaDesh by ruling and educated BanglaDeshis themselves).

 

Resources:

-Bangla Desh: Reflections on the Water by James Novak

-Islam by Karen Armstrong

-The Gentleman' Magazine, September 1771.

-Maharastra Purana: A 17th Century Bengali Poetry

-The Great Hedge of India by Roy Moxham

-Banga Definition

http://www.bibliomania.com/2/3/260/1269/19876/1/frameset.html

-Noam Chomsky's views on Bengal:

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/year/year-c01-s04.html