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Text: Zhang Runchen
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introduction
Bangladesh, the country so hardly has any presence in the international arena.
Once part of Pakistan, Bangladesh was also known as "East Pakistan" and was once a focal point in the conflict between India and Pakistan. But since Bangladesh became independent at the instigation of India, it seems to have "disappeared".
Today, Bangladesh has a huge population of more than 100 million, which should be a huge blue ocean market. However, international capital is afraid to avoid Bangladesh, what is the real Bangladesh like?
(Bangladeshi Girl)
1. Evil that cannot be eradicated
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has few high-rise buildings, and the vast majority of people live in bungalows and shacks. In fact, the city of Dhaka is a huge "shack pile", starting from the center of the city, all kinds of shacks made of garbage continue to extend outward. In addition to shacks, the most common type of construction is the plank house.
(Bangladesh)
Those who live in wooden houses are no longer even "paupers", but "citizens" of Dhaka. Those who live in ordinary apartment buildings can even be called "middle class". Bangladesh has a dense network of rivers, and the capital, Dhaka, also has many rivers, but these rivers have now become "garbage rivers", and the rivers are full of all kinds of household waste.
(Bangladesh)
Many poor people actually depend on this garbage to survive. And the source of this garbage is the rich areas of Bangladesh, yes, there are rich areas in this country, and they are quite luxurious. This is one of the most ironic points in this country.
Dhaka's affluent area is quite beautifully built, with wide and straight roads, shady trees, and fresh air. Dhaka's affluent districts are two worlds apart from the slums that make up the vast majority of the city. Almost all of the wealthy areas are single-family villas, tennis courts, clubs, wineries, five-star hotels, it can be described as everything.
(Affluent District, Bangladesh)
Like the rich areas of every poor country, the rich areas of Dhaka also take security seriously. Armed security guards are so common here that it can even give the illusion that there seem to be more armed security guards than there are in the household. Dhaka's wealthy districts are even better than those of some Western countries.
But judging by the data of Bangladesh, the country should not have such a luxurious and wealthy area...
Bangladesh, long before 2004, was rated by the United Nations as one of the "least developed countries in the world". The United Nations even provides Bangladesh with a $2 billion in free economic aid every year, which is not a loan and does not need to be repaid. It can be seen how poor Bangladesh is in this country.
(Affluent District, Bangladesh)
The reason why Bangladesh depends on the United Nations for aid is mainly because the World Bank's credit rating for Bangladesh is too low, and Bangladesh's economic structure is no longer even necessary to reform. Even if it provides a loan to Bangladesh, Bangladesh will not be able to pay it back.
(Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh)
Bangladesh's per capita GDP is less than $3,000, less than a quarter of that of the mainland. Its land area is 147,000 square kilometers, which is 40,000 square kilometers smaller than our Hubei province. But Bangladesh's population is more than twice as high as that of Hubei Province, which now has more than 170 million people.
In 2004, the number was only about 130 million, which shows how fast Bangladesh's population is growing. Bangladesh is also the most densely populated country in the world. With a population of 170 million, it is strange that the population density is not large in a country less than the size of Hubei Province.
(Bangladesh)
In particular, Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is home to nearly one-tenth of the country's population alone. However, Dhaka's urban environment is very different from other Asian cities with higher populations, such as Shanghai or Tokyo, and even compared to Mumbai in India.
This also shows that in Bangladesh, the gap between the rich and the poor is very huge, even a gap that cannot be bridged at all. The reason for this huge gap between rich and poor is largely due to systemic corruption in the country of Bangladesh.
2. Evil that cannot be eradicated
Bangladesh is ranked first from the bottom in the Corruption Perception Index published annually by Transparency International. According to a poll by Transparency International, 68 percent of households in Bangladesh said they had been asked for bribes by the national judiciary. Forty-nine percent of families have offered bribes to the national judiciary.
(Bangladesh)
Seventy-one per cent of households believe that the national judiciary deliberately slows down the processing of cases because they have not received bribes. Sixty-three per cent of families had solicited bribes from judges, 74 per cent had paid bribes to the education department for their children's enrolment, 40 per cent had paid extra fees to the hospital for admission, and 41 per cent had refused to tip medicines.
From the above data, we can also draw a conclusion, that is, corruption in Bangladesh is an all-round corruption that involves all aspects of the country. Almost all the people in this country, as long as they have a little power in their hands, will inevitably go to corruption and ask for bribes.
The political environment in Bangladesh is similar to that of the Philippines, and although the country has a multi-party system, it is in fact the political families who hold the power of the state. In fact, the so-called multi-party system is nothing more than a gate valve system with a new skin. But the situation in Bangladesh is even worse than in the Philippines.
(Bangladesh)
There is no political bloc in Bangladesh that has absolute right to speak, unlike the Aquino, Marcos, and Duterte families in the Philippines. Bangladesh has a large number of similarly sized political blocs, but despite this, the gatekeepers in Bangladesh still have an absolute national voice.
"Walking relationships" is very common in Bangladesh and has almost become a "Xi custom". Bangladeshis depend on power for land, income, jobs, housing, schooling, employment, and even personal protection. As a result, Bangladesh has developed an intricate network of relationships that reach the highest center of power in Dhaka.
Because corruption in Bangladesh is so rampant, it is almost a sparse and common situation for civil servants to be paid for their salaries. Civil servants have no way to get promoted, but they still need to support their families, so asking for bribes has become almost their "only way out". Systemic corruption in Bangladesh is not only a kind of "upward and downward effect", but also a kind of "helplessness".
(Bangladesh)
However, the masses at the bottom of Bangladesh have no object to continue to exploit downward, and can only silently bear the oppression from the top. Since 2001, Bangladesh has continued its anti-corruption efforts, but its effectiveness has been extremely limited. To this day, Bangladesh remains the "most corrupt country" in the world.
3. Extreme revolt
Extreme poverty and extreme corruption will naturally lead to the germ of extremism. Bangladesh is a poor country, a corrupt country, and equally a dangerous country. This danger does not only come from the terrible typhoons and tropical cyclones in Bangladesh, but also from the people of Bangladesh.
Since the nineties of the last century, extremist forces in Bangladesh have been on the rise. Bangladesh is a Muslim country, and the number of Muslims in the country even accounts for more than 80% of the population. This, coupled with the impoverished environment in Bangladesh, has made it a "fertile soil" for Islamic extremism.
(Bangladeshi Terrorist)
The Bangladeshi government has included 12 religious extremist forces in the list of terrorist organizations. Imagine a "Hubei province" with 12 extremist terrorist organizations in the province. In the hands of every organization, there is a "lot of blood debt", and you can imagine how terrible Bangladesh is.
The Bangladesh Jihadist Congress Party is the largest terrorist organization in Bangladesh, with 5,000 core members and 100,000 ordinary members! In 2005 alone, the organization carried out 350 terrorist attacks in 63 of Bangladesh's 64 counties and major cities. The 2005 attack on the Chittagong courthouse caused more than 100 casualties and shocked the world.
In addition to this, there are other terrorist groups in Bangladesh that are planning their own conspiracies on a daily basis. It can be said that in the country of Bangladesh, there are terrorist attacks every day.
(Bangladeshi Terrorist)
Twelve religious extremist groups and 13 left-wing extremist groups together constitute the "terrorist ecology" in Bangladesh. Interestingly, however, in addition to opposing the government, these extremist groups also engage in "infighting" with each other. Of course, in their own eyes, this is not infighting, after all, each of their organizations has its own philosophy.
(Bangladesh Military Police)
Extreme poverty, extreme corruption and extreme danger make up the nation of Bangladesh. And in this case, it seems completely unrealistic for Bangladesh to want to develop. The future of Bangladesh is still bleak.
(Bangladesh)
Resources:
CHEN Songtao. "Poverty Governance in Bangladesh: Lessons and Sticking Points." Indian Ocean Economies Study 1(2018):17.
Bangladesh - the most corrupt country in the world[J].Integrity Outlook, 2004(8):46-46.