Its seems clear to the people of Bangladesh that the government had no choice but to increase oil prices just because they are forced by the so-called development partners. It seems that the International Monetary Fund is insisting the price hike to sanction the loan which is the first loan that Bangladesh will take from the IMF in last seven years. It is quite difficult to understand the effectiveness of $1 billion loan from the IMF which will be given part by part in three years, compared with the damages that the forced economic reforms in the name of structural adjustment programmes that the donor is forcing upon Bangladesh. The chairman of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission in a talk show was trying to justify how it was mandatory for us to listen to the IMF as this could lead to ‘bad relations’ with the donors. The question rises to my mind is that if we have to listen to them all the time and make economic reforms according to their will, do we really need a democratically elected government who makes promises on economic reforms? Because it seems crystal clear to me that the political parties are not the ones making the decisions.
The developing countries are also getting numerous suggestions from the western ‘big brothers’ on ‘strengthening democracy’, ‘listening to the voice of the people’ etc. The paradox lies in the facts that as the westerners are telling us to strengthen democracy while they themselves are taking away our right to democracy by the actions of organizations alike the IMF. This is nothing but reflections of the colonial attitudes of the westerners and it seems that Bangladesh is happy with the organizations publishing reports stating ‘Economic prosperity’ of Bangladesh and thus our country is falling prey to these imperialistic organizations. And as usual, the ultimate sufferers are the general mass. It is time we break out of this imposed paradox and I strongly believe that by we can still make healthier progress even without suggestions of these organizations.
Monojit Saha
Dhaka