How Bangladeshi Americans can help Bangladesh with their votes

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan wanted to sell AWAC early warning planes to Saudi Arabia. The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) put up such tremendous resistance to the sale that although the Senate narrowly approved the sale, the Reagan administration got the message. From then on, the Reagan administration cleared most of the important political appointments with the AIPAC first, before proposing them. In 1978, the Israeli lobby ousted the Democratic Senator from South Dakota, James Abourezk, who was an Arab American. And in 1981, the lobby used its political and financial muscle to defeat the Republican Congressman from Indiana, Paul Findley, for his supposedly pro-Palestinian views. A more recent example of lobbying is the neoconservative-triggered invasion of, and the ensuing debacle in Iraq.

Jewish Americans are not the only group lobbying for the interest of the country of their ethnicity. Most other hyphenated American citizens do it. In 2002, Indian Americans poured in money from all over the US to defeat Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Georgia's first African American Congresswomen, for her supposedly anti-Indian views. (McKinney was re-elected in 2004). And in the 1990s, Pakistani Americans harnessed their financial clout to defeat US Senator Larry Pressler of South Dakota, who was instrumental in enacting tough US economic sanctions against Pakistan for its nuclear programme.

Bangladeshi Americans, too, can do a lot of good for their country through lobbying and voting. However, the first loyalty of anyone who has taken the oath of allegiance to the US while becoming a US citizen must be to the US and the US only. Fortunately, the interests of the US and Bangladesh almost never clash. The United States considers Bangladesh a friendly nation. And Bangladesh always looks up to America.

For lobbying, the best model to emulate is that of the AIPAC. The AIPAC does not care whether the Labour or the Likud party is in power in Israel. They look after the interest of the state of Israel only. Even when Israelis commit terrorist acts, such as Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 Muslims at Fajr prayer at the Ibrahimi mosque at Hebron during Ramadan in February, 1994, they make a careful distinction between terrorism by individuals, which they condemn, and the state of Israel, which they defend and promote.

Bangladeshi Americans can do the same. Religious violence, terrorism by non-religious elements and corruption in Bangladesh must be condemned for their own sake. These vices, if unchecked, will eat away at the fabric of the nation. Attempts must be made to extirpate violence, regardless of which political party/parties are in power. Unless these plagues are controlled, if not eliminated, Bangladesh may not even exist for long, and if it does exist, it may not be worth having. Those American citizens of Bangladeshi origin who truly wish Bangladesh well can get involved and put pressure on Bangladesh government in power to improve the law and order situation in the country, without resorting to the colonial mentality of asking foreign masters to chastise the Bangladesh government.

There are internal political, social and religious fissures and strife in all countries of the world. Intelligent nations keep their own dirty laundry within their borders. The confrontational party politics in Bangladesh should not be allowed to spill over into the international arena to the detriment of the country's interests. It is important to make a distinction between party politics within Bangladesh and the promotion of Bangladesh's interests abroad.

There is reality and there is perception. The nation and the government must not be in denial of the reality in Bangladesh. It is the civil society that provides the fillip for most of the progress in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi Americans can help by supporting civic action within Bangladesh. Bangladeshi Americans can foster close links, and join forces with the Bangladesh's civic society with the aim of promoting democracy and development, combating corruption and fighting the religious and non-religious militants. With their economic power and immunity in Bangladesh because of US citizenship, they can be a major force for change. They are, of course, free to support and fund any political party or NGO of their choice and they can be a dominant force for the advancement of Bangladesh in every sphere. Dislike for one political party should not lead to actions that negatively impact the interests of all the citizens of Bangladesh. Regardless of who is in power, Ram and Rahim will still have to eat.

Real problems give rise to a perception problem and an image problem. Only by addressing and redressing the real problems, Bangladesh can hope to remedy its image problem. Denial will not help. After helping Bangladesh overcome its real problems by putting pressure on the government to act in earnest, Bangladeshi Americans can work towards helping Bangladesh overcome its image problem. In a globalized world, image matters. Good image helps a nation in leveraging benefits from global political and economic order. Good image engenders foreign investments, better deals for aid, trade concessions and foreign support in crucial national and international arenas.

Advertising Bangladesh's shortcomings only, on the other hand, plays right into the hands of those who do not wish Bangladesh well. Friendly foreign nations will be wary of investing in, and loath to treat a nation with respect, which its own citizens advertise as corrupt, intolerant and worthy of contempt and condemnation. Such mislabeling punishes Bangladesh and rewards Bangladesh's enemies. If patriotic Bangladeshis feel that their native land has indeed degenerated into such an abyss, it is their duty to work to reverse it. It is the duty of a self-respecting nation to resist allowing its political foibles to be rectified through the intervention of the lawmakers of another nation!

If we believe that unless the party we favour is in power, Bangladesh is not worth having, that attitude is not helpful to Bangladesh. Well-wishers of Bangladesh must work to make Bangladesh better, regardless of which party is in power. After all, for better or worse, over the last 15 years, the majority of the Bangladeshis had elected the governments in power. The attitude that "I can't deal with this rotten government, so would the American politicians please condemn and threaten them," can be unpatriotic, if not suicidal.

After the Mr. Narendra Modi-ordered the massacre of Muslim Indians in Gujarat in February 2002, the ruling alliance led by the BJP overtly and covertly supported Mr. Modi. While there was much civic condemnation across India, even the Congress Party, then in opposition, did not come out strongly against Mr. Modi for political expediency. Indian Americans did not rush to their Senators and Congressmen begging them to condemn the Indian government! When the hotelier Patels invited Mr. Modi to be the chief guest at their convention earlier this year, it was mostly the lobbying by Muslim Americans that persuaded the US state department to deny him a visa. I am yet to see Indian or Pakistani Americans, or expatriates of other nations approach American legislators to condemn the governments of their native countries!

There are Bangladeshi Americans in every state of the United States including Alaska. Large concentrations of Bangladeshi Americans can be found in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland-Washington DC-northern Virginia, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and California. Every citizen of the state votes for the governor and the two Senators of the state. Every congressional district of each of the above states and others in the US has hundreds to thousands of Bangladeshi American voters.

Massachusetts, for example, has thousands of Bangladeshi Americans across the state eligible to vote for the governor and the two Senators. Likewise, there are hundreds to thousands of Bangladeshi Americans in each of the congressional districts of Massachusetts and other US states. Bangladeshi Americans can lobby their governors, senators and congressperson in each of these 50 states for the good of Bangladesh. Leveraging a better deal from the US for Bangladesh whether in terms of more aid or trade concession, foreign investments and American support for Bangladesh on other issues of importance to Bangladesh, such as, securing positions of leadership in international organizations, will help the nation no matter which party is in power.

From personal experience the writer has seen that a congressman responds to a constituent's request the same day; the Senators within days. Even the Governor helps his or her constituents in every way he or she can. Of course the reason for such prompt service to the constituents is the hope of securing their votes. The political life of a politician depends on the constituents' votes and the funds they contribute for his/her election campaigns. If there are overriding local, national or international issues that impact America, those issues should be the sole concern of every American as they decide who to vote for.

In the absence of overriding American issues that trump all other election issues, the voter may vote on issues that are dear to him/her personally. For example, if a congressman or Senator's actions or statements harm Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Americans can help Bangladesh by first writing to the legislator for an explanation, and if the explanation is unsatisfactory, by voting to oust the legislator from office, just like every other hyphenated Americans do. On the other hand, if a congressman or a Senator does something good for Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Americans should thank the legislator in writing, vote en masse for the legislator and write the legislator a handsome check!