Bangladesh’s iron lady seeks re-election

DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (pic) is poised to win a record fourth term in the country’s upcoming election.

This Sunday’s polls, the 11th since Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971, pits 71-yearold Hasina against a united opposition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Kamal Hossain, 82, a former foreign minister.

This time, more than 104 million people are eligible to vote. Nearly one in 10 are young voters, including many first-time voters, in one of the world’s largest democratic exercises.

After a decade of rule by Hasina’s Awami League party, Hossain, once a close aide to Hasina’s father, Bangladesh’s founding president, has risen as the primary challenger, attracting the interest of Bangladesh’s growing middle class and western diplomats not wholly convinced Hasina’s development gains justify her increasingly heavyhanded rule.

“Development is not only economic growth, it has a far broader meaning which includes human rights, rule of law, inclusivity, accountability and good governance, all (of which) seem to be missing here,” said Illinois State University politics professor Ali Riaz.

The run up to the election has been marred by allegations of arrests and jailing of thousands of Hasina opponents.

About 600,000 security personnel, including thousands of military soldiers and paramilitary border guards, have been deployed across the country. State police have barred opposition marches and foiled rallies. At least six people have been killed in campaignrelated clashes that local media report were perpetrated by rulingparty activists backed by police.

BNP spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said more than 12,000 opposition activists have been injured.

Facebook last week shut down a series of fake news sites spreading false information about the opposition that a threat intelligence consultancy determined was created by government associates.

Earlier this year, Hasina spearheaded a draconian new digital law that has been said could be used to silence government critics.

With Hasina’s hold on the state machinery increasingly clear, doubts have arisen about the fair- ness of the vote.

“So far the indications do not suggest we have a level playing field in place for the election to be fully free and fair,” said Iftekhar Zaman, head Transparency International’s Bangladesh chapter.

While rights groups sound the alarms about the erosion of Bangladesh’s democracy, Hasina has chimed a different narrative, highlighting economic agendas that has propelled Bangladesh past larger neighbors Pakistan and India by some development measures.

Bangladesh ranked 136 out of 189 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index, which factors in life expectancy, years of education and gross national income, jumping seven spots from 2012.

The World Bank praised it for sharply reducing the percentage of its people living in extreme poverty.

Bangladesh’s garment industry exports US$30bil (RM125bil) a year to supply the racks of global fashion retail giants Zara, H&M, Uniqlo and others, making it the second-largest in the world after China.

After an assault by Islamic militants in 2016 in which 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners from Italy, Japan and India, were killed, security officials under Hasina launched a massive crackdown, apparently destroying their network.

Again, Hasina elected to handle the crisis in-house rather than engaging international players, and successfully suppressed claims that the Islamic State was involved.

Hasina’s security officials have killed more than 60 radical Islamists including some commanders since 2016 in a zero-tolerance campaign against hardliners.

The same groups who criticise Hasina’s heavy-handedness in civil matters have lauded her treatment of Muslim Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar.

She ordered border guards to open the frontier, allowing more than 700,000 refugees to take shelter in camps near Cox’s Bazar.

Despite some external pressure, she has maintained a policy of voluntary return.

Still, Hasina’s profile of courage has been tarnished by her intolerance of domestic critics.

Last week, Hossain urged supporters who might fear violence and intimation and stay away from the polls.

“My appeal to the people: Be brave, this is our right,” he said.