Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-A legal case against a Briton living in Bangladesh threatens to reopen Western concern about the erosion of democratic norms in the South Asian nation.
Despite criticising the country’s January 5 elections, the US and European Union had decided to work with the government rather than take a confrontational approach, reports monitorglobaloutlook.com.
Investors should keep an eye on the May 11 court appearance by David Bergman as his case could darken the tenor of Western engagement.
The country’s International Crimes Tribunal has initiated contempt proceedings against Bergman for these three posts he wrote on a personal blog that monitor’s the tribunal’s activity.
In the estimation of our correspondent in Dhaka, the court could very well find Bergman in contempt – as it has once before two years ago.
If so, Western outcry will depend heavily on the punishment.
The court could simply warn Bergman, as before, or it could take more drastic steps such as deportation.
“In that scenario, it will draw foreign attention, and I’m sure David will also … [call up] his contacts,” says our correspondent, who is personally acquainted with Bergman.
“That would start up a fresh debacle for the government and pressure from Western European countries about the freedom of media and expression.”
Bangladesh currently presents a bit of a conundrum for Western governments.
On the positive side, the country remains economically important as a major source of the West’s manufactured garments.
The government and Western business groups have worked together to improve worker conditions following the Rana Plaza factory collapse.
And the mostly Muslim population has historically been able to embrace both secular parties and political Islam within a democratic system.
It’s that last point that’s growing murkier. Last year, Bangladeshis in large numbers turned onto the streets to insist that the International Crimes Tribunal mete out capital punishment to various Islamists implicated in war crimes during Bangladesh’s war for independence.
It since has. The protests also took on a secular edge, with some demonstrators hoping to diminish the political influence of Islamists.
This suited the secular-oriented government at the time, which since won reelection in January after the Islamist-allied Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the vote.
Bergman, a journalist and lawyer who has married into a prominent Bangladeshi family, has criticised the fairness of some of the tribunal’s proceedings while supporting the broad impulse to prosecute the past war crimes.
In short, what had been a fairly competitive two-party system is growing more lopsided, with the government drawing criticism that it is gaining advantage by cutting democratic corners. If deported, Bergman’s status as a Briton will focus international attention on these trends and further tax Western government patience.
For the business community, the weakened opposition has meant fewer disruptive political protests – for the moment.
But in the longer-term, the country’s export economy is heavily dependent on Western goodwill.
Yet the government does not appear terribly worried, and in its triumphalism runs the risk of an overreach.
“When I was reporting about the election, senior members of the ruling party were expressing that they would probably have to hold [another] election in two years. Now, three or four months after the election, when I speak to them they are confident that the government will continue for five years,” our correspondent says.
BBN/BB/AS/30Apr14-1:00pm (BST)
