Spare change

IS change in the air, as pledged by the ruling AL? The early indications are certainly not promising, but perhaps one should heed the prime minister's admonition that it is still too early to tell.

So let us accept, for argument's sake, that it is too early to detect any kind of a meaningful trend or to sit in judgment on the government's performance thus far. Let us give the new government the benefit of the doubt and wait patiently to see whether it will find its feet as it become more comfortable in office.

Nevertheless, now is a good time to draw up a list of possible indicators, tell-tale signals that we should look for in the coming weeks and months, which will shed light on the direction the government intends to go and suggest whether we truly have turned a corner.

It seems to me that one of the very first tests of the government's commitment to change will be the final disposition of the 122 ordinances that were passed by the caretaker government and which must be ratified within the first 30 days of the new parliament if they are to become law.

The initial signs with respect to how the government intends to deal with the issue of the ordinances have been mixed.

Things started out on the wrong foot with an opaque special committee tapped to provide an initial recommendation as to which ordinances should be passed into law and which allowed to lapse.

Authority for recommending which of the ordinances will make the cut has now passed into the hands of a parliamentary committee, which at least has the merit of being made up of elected and thus accountable parliamentarians.

However, the process by which this new committee is determining which ordinances to recommend for ratification by the full parliament remains unclear. There has been very little transparency as to the selection criteria, no process of public consultation, debate has been sparing, and the basis on which the ordinances are being evaluated remains something of a mystery to the public.

One of the worrying developments has been in the apparent intention of the new government to not approve the Local Government Commission Ordinance 2008, despite the strong support of local government representatives and independent experts for this ordinance, which is key to effective local government reform.

Similarly, the Right to Information Ordinance 2008 was originally slated for non-ratification until the combined voice of the media and civil society persuaded the government to reconsider. This is a salutary instance of the government's sensitivity to public opinion. However, with the entire ratification process being shrouded in opacity, uneasiness remains, and ultimately it seems as though the decision to ratify or not to ratify will be one that the public has little input into.

The one ordinance the fate of which, to my mind, will tell us everything we need to know about the new government's commitment to meaningful change is the ordinance scrapping the parliamentarians' privilege of importing a duty-free car.

Everything one needs to know about the moral seriousness and dignity of our elected representatives can be gleaned from the fact that MPs routinely import extremely expensive luxury cars, sell them on at a mark-up, and pocket the difference.

In the eighth parliament, 275 luxury cars were imported by parliamentarians, almost all of which were then resold at a considerable profit, enriching the MP and denying the tax authorities of an estimated Tk 280 crore in total.

It is bad enough that the people's representatives of a country such as Bangladesh would deem it necessary to travel in luxury cars costing as much as Tk 3 crore a pop, but the smallness of mind and pettiness of purpose of an elected representative lining his or her pocket by abusing this privilege is absolutely mind-boggling.

What sort of a money-grubbing bottom-feeder would stoop to making a quick buck by prostituting his or her dignity in such a humiliating manner? Apparently, a significant proportion of the eighth parliament. It is a small thing, but very telling.

As long as this tawdry exercise in self-enrichment continues, nothing will change in government, and we should not expect anything great from the new parliament.

What needs to change, more than anything, is the mind-set of our leaders, and as long as they use their perch in parliament to make a quick buck as luxury car salesmen, it is a pretty good indication that they won't be serious about attending to the people's business or protecting the public interest.

So let's see if the ordinance banning this parliamentary privilege is passed into law or not. If it isn't, we'll all know what to expect over the next five years.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.