Abdullah Dewan and Humayun Kabir :

BANGLADESH has adopted a policy of exporting its human resources abroad for 45 years. And, the size of that export, known as expatriate population, has increased by millions. Beyond this practice, Bangladesh also witnessed an ever-increasing voluntary departure of population in the form of brain drain in addition to another category, the unemployed, who left home seeking a secure life and livelihood abroad.

The expatriate community is active in political events in Bangladesh. A case in point to cite is the Awami League members in Europe condemning the filing of cases against Sheikh Hasina, thus displaying the most recent example of Bangladeshi community’s active participation in politics at home. They are the servile flatterers of the Awami League. One would be curious to learn as to what they want and what their basis is for condemning the filing of cases against a fugitive prime minister and kleptocrat.

A joint statement, signed by the president and general secretary of the European pocket of the party, said, ‘False cases are being filed one after another against Sheikh Hasina, who was leading Bangladesh towards prosperity following the ideals of her father. The oppressive forces in power are using their allies to file these baseless lawsuits.’ The statement further added, ‘While Sheikh Hasina was guiding Bangladesh on the path of prosperity, the Pakistan-supported extremist groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Shibir and BNP were engaged in violence across the country.’ Similar statements are made elsewhere in North America by Bangladeshis, who seem to have been politically active when they were living in Bangladesh.

Most, if not all, have since become citizens in their country of immigration. It is implausible that these people living on foreign soil do not want to believe the economic rampage, many of the thousands of illegal killing and mischiefs committed during 15 years of the government led by Hasina and her servile cronies who, since August 5, have become either fugitive or rotting in safe state custody, awaiting accountability and potential incarceration.

In the suburbs of the motor city of Detroit, Michigan, there are pockets of Awami League supporters who used to be actively engaged in Bangladesh politics. They were instrumental in raising funds for the party at home. In these years, the BNP’s overseas pockets have either gone underground or dormant once they found that the BNP miserably failed to force the Awami League to hold free and fair elections in the past decade. What seems puzzling is that no one can explain, with reasons, why they do the expatriate communities indulge in actively pursuing home country politics on foreign soil. They cannot raise funds for their home country political activities, because such activity will be deemed illegal.

Traditionally, the most common practice that these groups follow is to invite a member of parliament or political leader from Bangladesh to speak over a formal lunch or dinner gatherings. On such occasions, the Bangladeshi community invite all categories of people from within their community where both the guests and the organisers indulge in criticising opposition parties and profusely eulogise their leader in the home country with unlimited servile flattery.

Another dimension of Bangladeshi community abroad is the institutional setting of district level bodies and the likes in which people from district associations then get divided again and find themselves in two or three antagonistic groups, divided by party allegiance. Thus, it ends up with two or three associations for each of the districts from Bangladesh. A sense of perpetual conflict ensues throughout the year between these subgroups. Its consequence is that in North America, the apex body, called the Federation of Bangladesh Associations in North America, or FOBANA, now has several entities with the same name, each organising yearly events in separate venues all at the same time. Millions of US dollars are spent in these lavishly organised events each year without any tangible benefits to any of the participating groups.

How does our expatriate people, in general, view such engagements of the politically active population about Bangladesh politics from the other side of the Atlantic? Traditionally, in 25 years, two major parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, invariably adopt a confrontational posture against each other, which only enhances their enmity, rather than addressing political or economic issues confronting the home country. So, the more they can incite their activists and base to inflict maximum aggravations to the other, the better their strength is perceived. The approach, instead of unifying the people, is to divide them, instead of finding a common ground, look for how divergent they can be. Finding a common ground on discordant issues is deemed a sign of weakness, defeat, and humiliation.

One, thus, wonders if there are any national issues and interests that are common to both parties. They differ in almost all issues — political and non-political or economic and non-economic. Only national issues that are common and sacrosanct to both parties were winning elections and grab power at any cost. Add two other activities that both parties commonly perform when they play the opposition’s role — boycotting the parliament, committing violence and burning private and public property in the name of public protests and democratic rights.

The ideological underpinnings of the Republican and the Democratic parties in the United States, or the Labour and Conservative parties in Canada, are as far apart as conceivable and yet, at the end of the day, they find a common ground for national interests. The political cacophonies among these opposing parties, however rancorous they may become, never spills over to the Americans or Canadians serving abroad regardless of their party loyalty back home. This is true of all democracies in the world including India and Pakistan. Bangladesh is the lone exception.

Many Bangladeshis living abroad have apparently brought with them the domestic culture of disdainful political pedigree as their ad-on profile. This has not only divided many expatriates along party lines, it has also tarnished the image of the country on a foreign land. They are everywhere — New York, Washington DC, Boston, Los Angeles, Texas, Canada, England, Australia and all other big cities around the world. Their contentious rhetoric surrounding the differences between their political leaders back home has many times in the past locked them in trading insults and fistfights publicly.

Here are three examples of the most reprehensible incidents among many which disparaged their demeanour and brought nothing but dishonour to the country of their birth.

September 26, 2009: The New York-based pocket of the Awami League and the BNP activists staged rallies in front of the UN headquarters in New York, with the former welcoming Sheikh Hasina on the eve of her address to the General Assembly while the latter protesting the transit facilities to India. Brewing physical clashes and scuffles were averted by the police on duty. These groups often came face to face in confrontational posture in Jackson Heights and other American cities.

July 16, 2010: Awami League and BNP activists clashed seriously at a seminar on Bangladesh ‘Democracy, Good Governance, and Human Rights – Role of Political Parties’ at London School of Economics in which one person was injured and the seminar ended in a bedlam. On January 5, 2011, five BNP and one AL hoodlums were summoned before Camberwell Magistrate Court in connection with the clash.

A bloody clash broke out between the hooligans of the two groups at the JFK International Airport in New York, wounding at least 10 people as reported by the News World of New York. The AL supporters accompanied by their hoodlums assembled to welcome Sheikh Hasina while the BNP hooligans assembled to protest at her visit showing black flags. Here again, the police arrested a few and others escaped arrest.

After the 2009 New York incident, the then foreign minister advised her party’s activists to engage in the politics of the country of their residence and contribute to the development of both their country of residence and of origin. The 2007 caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed recognised the ills of having pockets of political party abroad and accordingly banned party’s front organisations and chapters abroad through the promulgation of the Representation of the Peoples Order Ordinance 2008. We urge the interim government to enforce that Peoples Order Ordinance to maintain peace and harmony among the Bangladeshis living abroad for uplifting the image of their country. This will have a far-reaching beneficial impact on the quality of life of these people abroad and, consequently, on successive generations.

Dr Abdullah A Dewan, formerly a physicist and nuclear engineer at BAEC, is an emeritus professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University, USA; and, Humayun Kabir is a former senior official of the United Nations in New York.