Being a Bangladeshi living abroad I have been following fall of democracy caused by an emergence of alternate source of power and governance in Bangladesh. Like most others I have been relying on media and media solely have been serving our worries keeping us informed. But to my surprise I found my self worrying more and left horrified; I couldn’t help noticing the recent tabloid culture in leading Bangladeshi newspapers. In academia, definition of fair and unbiased journalism clearly mentions that a bias-free newspaper should at all times maintain a particular level of quality/class, where publications consist of proven facts and/or findings from some qualitative investigations. But journalism based on mare “talk of town” or quotations from few jealousy-driven individuals, reflects nothing but practice of poor yellow journalism. It resembles characteristics of western paparazzi instead.
As a close associate of Harris Chowdhury, former political secretary to the Honourable Prime Minister, who has also been a valiant freedom fighter; I have known him from close distance throughout his political career. From being ex-president of “Jubodol” in early 80’s, to joint secretary general of BNP chairman in late 90’s I have been following his career as a political secretary to the Prime Minister. Our leading newspapers have recently presented few well-investigated and hence well- confirmed corruption facts and figures from a number of former ministers and lawmakers; such as luxurious cottage, plot allotment and theft of government land; which I think is indeed praiseworthy. However, as long as Harris Chowdhury’s corruption records are concerned, I have not yet found one real proof consisting of numbers and/or similarly obvious. The so called facts such as “Harris Chowdhury is a partner of the JH consortium in KL twin tower” and many more, published in the newspapers are rather bogus. I took the initiative myself to query about this JH consortium and not to my surprise was confirmed by the KL twin tower officials that there is nothing under such name exists at all! Hence the so called hot cake Ajker-Kagoj tried selling, is made-bitter by rumours and spoofs by few envious individuals.
While Ajker Kagoj talks about Mr. Chowdhury’s recent relationship with secretary general Mannan Bhuiyan and party chairman Khaleda Zia; I took the liberty to consult few senior party officials including Mannan Bhuiyan himself and reviewed a number of previously published media reports. The reality appears to be that as soon as the former government handed its power to the caretaker government Mr. Chowdhury took a few days off due to the fact that he has been physically unwell as Mr. Chowdhury still suffers from the usual side affects caused by Chemotherapy he had to undergo to treat his Non-Hotchkins Lymphoma cancer. During that short leave period, Mr. Chowdhury refrained from attending few party meetings while maintaining regular contact with the party leaders. He was again back in the picture in no time while his name was proposed as a nominee to compete for BNP from Sylhet-5 with regards to the long due election of 2007. Sylhet-5, at the same time, was highly desired by Jamaat – E – Islam. So far the reality has been that, followed by a constructive negotiation, BNP agreed to let Jamaat contestant to run for election from Sylhet-5. Mr. Chowdhury happily agreed to that despite his huge popularity in the area. Only prioritising interest of BNP in order to maintain BNP-Jamaat alliance, Mr. Chowdhury decided to take back his nomination form. Mr. Chowdhury’s attempt has been highly appreciated by party secretary general Mannan Bhuiyan and party chairman Begum Zia herself. Thus questioning Mr. Chowdhury’s relation with BNP party leaders seems to be a gross pre-conceived attempt to publicly humiliate the former political secretary.
It remains obvious why the Daily Ajker Kagoj came up with a lengthy report today, mentioning neither one individuals name associated with this particular investigation, nor one obvious finding to prove him, as mentioned, king of all corrupts. This vague and as believed, deliberate misleading and victimising article is published right on time while BNP raised voice strongly against the interview of ex- PS to the Prime Minister AHM Nurul Islam published in Daily Prothom-Alo on 19th February. Although I don’t know how ethical it has been of Mr. Islam is to step away from his oath as a government official not to disclose sensitive official matters; I do admire Prothom-Alo’s bold attempt to publish the interview on front page. Yet it could have been more creditable to publish such articles followed by interviews of victimized officials during the reign of BNP government.
This part is worth mentioning that Mr. Islam vaguely held Harris Chowdhury solely responsible for working in the interests of former Prime Minister and her son which appears to be slightly ambiguous; he further goes on and mentions some rumours about Mr. Chowdhury’s under-desk income through lobbying in his office. Yet Mr. Islam calling attention unto those rumours leaves us in the dilemma about Mr Chowdhury being on top of the so called corrupt persons list. This further leaves room to question Mr Islam’s role while holding the ex- personal secretary post to the Prime Minister; the point being how this so called severe corruption practice from the political secretary to the PM have gone unnoticed by Mr. Islam, and even if he did take note of such activities, what steps had he taken in this regard?
Now heading back to “annoyed-yet-reluctant” reactions of BNP lawmakers followed by the published interview; it is fairly strange and indisposed of them to provide neither a witness, nor any evidence contradicting any of Mr. Islam’s remarks. They have merely attempted a rather weak gesture demonstrating their aggravation by faxing a protesting letter to the Prothom-Alo office and thereby washing their hands off the issue as a whole. I appreciate Daily Star’s columnist Rakib Hasnet Suman’s brave effort on drawing readers’ attention on corruption allegations against Khaleda Zia and her son Tareque Rahman getting stronger day by day. This should act as an eye opener to all who believed in the Ajker Kagoj reporter’s vague attempt to move the spotlight to Harris Chowdhury.
My understanding from all these is, that Mr. Chowdhury simply remains the victimized defense mechanism of the real corrupt party chief and her son; as obviously he is of no use to the system which exploited him and his named acquaintances beforehand. So must we think he should surrender and spill few more beans? Or, shouldn’t media step back to its mandatory role and reveal reality? We understand media to be the voice of people, not a mare weapon of conspiracy. It is a shame when we Bangladeshis are fighting corruption in every segment; our media still continues misleading us lacking accountability within itself, proceeding in a tabloid manner. Media is to be used to serve broader purposes rather than practicing yellow journalism and promote propaganda dedicated to serve interest of a group or individual. This questions the basic definition of media. As a proud citizen of the nation which is on the verge a revolutionary era of constructive reform in every sector, I would like to draw everyone’s attention to this and make a say to end this tabloid culture.
Dr. J Smith
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