Saturday, August 25, 2007
Bangladesh arrests university teachers after riots
(Category: Politics issues)
URL: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/207277.asp
In Bangladesh, 5 university teachers were arrested for being involved in a protest which erupted into a fight with the police. This was not the only arrest made in Bangladesh recently. Since Bangladesh imposed an emergency curfew after months of riots over claims of vote-rigging, there has been chaos and unrest in the country, and many citizens have been arrested for being active in demonstrations. In my opinion, the curfew was unnecessary, and the government should instead tackle the problem directly.
The “problem” currently at hand is the allegations of vote-riggings. As there are claims of corrupted politicians who have been rigging the voting system, the government should seek to find them instead of trying to control the angered population. The solution is rather simple: the government should “weed out” the corrupted politicians, and organize another election for the citizens. I feel that this is a much better answer for the citizens than trying to control them by force. The protests were not completely unjustified: as a democratic country, the citizens should have the last say in the selection of their leaders.
However, the government may be using the curfew as a temporary measure to keep the population under control while they are sorting everything out. It is understandable that finding out the corrupted politicians is easier said than done – if they have the power to rig the voting system, they should also be able to clear any traces of themselves. Hence, it is not right for the protesters to blame the government for the curfew. The government has also been trying to give in by easing the curfew for several hours on some days.
I feel that the curfew is not helping the current situation much, and has instead created more demonstrations over the freedom of the population. However, there do not seem to be anything else that the government can do. Their only option currently is to sort everything out as soon as possible and hope for the best. They can also keep the public aware of what they are doing through the media and let them know that the government has been trying their best. The citizens, too, should learn to be apathetic and not create more trouble. It is their own country after all, and they should cooperate for it to progress.
Hence, I think that it is necessary for both the government and the citizens to cooperate in order for the country to progress. The government should speed up and get everything in control as quickly as possible, while the citizens should try to understand and stop protesting just to get their point across, and soon, the chaos would subside.
Signing
off, [Ķσάιά ßέάŕ].
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