Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) Chair Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman on Saturday said Bangladesh’s civic discourse must move beyond emotion-driven politics toward careful, evidence-based analysis and constructive public engagement.
Speaking at the PPRC’s flagship webinar series ‘Ajker Agenda’, he warned against an entrenched “tag culture,” where political opponents are labeled for cynical purposes, noting that such practices continue to poison public life and obstruct honest assessments of governance and policy performance.
Reflecting on the broader national context, the economist and social thinker said if their elected government succeeds, that is ultimately good for all of them as citizens.
“We must learn from the mistakes of the past while taking responsibility for improving the present. Building consensus within society cannot be the responsibility of the state alone,” he said, noting that civic and business actors have to bring evidence-based accountability pressures on the government while strengthening national unity through credible public discourse.
Policy analysts, legal experts, private sector leaders, security and geopolitical strategists came together to examine the early governance signals and medium-term implications of the new administration at the event titled “3 Months of the New Government: A Preliminary Review.”
The session was moderated by PPRC Chair Hossain Zillur Rahman and included panelists Bangladesh Supreme Court advocate Jyotirmoy Barua, former President of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Fazlul Haque, Chairman of Osmani Center for Peace and Security Studies Lieutenant General (Retired) Dr Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman and former Ambassador Sufiur Rahman.
Stronger Policy Direction
While participants acknowledged the difficult context in which the government assumed office, they also emphasised the importance of moving beyond blame politics toward practical reforms, institutional accountability, meritocracy, and stronger policy direction in the coming months.
Focusing on the institutional dimension of governance, Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua spoke on institutional reform, politicisation within state institutions, and the continued weaknesses in administrative and judicial culture.
“The key question for these three months is whether we have moved away from the politicization of institutions. Progress has not so far been visible. Civil administration appointments have signaled old patterns and police morale remains to recover fully. Mob violence and weak law and order continue to be serious concerns,” he said.
Former BKMEA President Fazlul Haque said the government has had to absorb the failures of the interim administration, while also confronting the added pressure of the Middle East crisis.
He stressed that with private sector credit at its lowest level, exports declining, and an investment-friendly environment yet to be fully established, Bangladesh urgently needs a bold contractionary budget and decisive measures to capitalize on the country’s $800 billion garments market opportunity.
“The effects of the war are not limited to rising oil prices alone. Multiple markets and the tourism sector have also been affected, leading to significant cost-cutting at the consumer level. As a result, we are gradually losing market share of our products as well,” he said, adding that the impact of the war has therefore been multilayered and has added considerable pressure on the government from the very beginning.
Bangladesh’s Strategic Environment
Chairman of Osmani Center for Peace and Security Studies Lieutenant General (Retired) Dr Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman said with the shifting regional landscape marked by intensifying great power rivalry, Bangladesh’s strategic environment is increasingly shaped by forces that are no longer distant but directly embedded in its immediate neighborhood.
He talked about competing influences from India and China, a deepening US presence in the Bay of Bengal, and the growing securitisation of shared resources such as water are compounding national anxieties, alongside the unresolved Rohingya crisis and uneven patterns of international burden-sharing.
“Bangladesh must master the art of adversarial cooperation with meritocracy, balancing ambiguous relationships across the India-US-Bangladesh and China-Pakistan-Bangladesh axes to survive and secure its interests,” Mahfuzur said.
Participants noted that while the change of government generated public hope, visible progress on institutional depoliticization, law and order reform, investment climate improvement, and strategic geopolitical positioning remains uneven.
The challenge of inherited structural burdens - fiscal, institutional, and diplomatic - was acknowledged, but panelists stressed these cannot indefinitely serve as justification for delayed action.
Former Ambassador Sufiur Rahman emphasised that national unity is essential for strengthening Bangladesh’s position in both multilateral and bilateral negotiations and cautioned against the tendency to dismiss all previous initiatives solely for political reasons.
He noted that deeper engagement with ASEAN remains strategically important for long-term economic and diplomatic gains, while also cautioning that China’s regional dominance continues to be a critical factor shaping the country’s policy space.
Sufiur argued that meaningful progress requires recognizing valuable past experiences and building upon them where necessary.