For Bangladesh PM, authoritarian tag is 'badge of honor', son says on poll eve

DHAKA: Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina considers being called authoritarian by the western media a “badge of honor”, the leader’s son told Reuters on the eve of a national election on Sunday.

Hasina, who is widely expected to win a third straight term in office, has been hailed domestically for fast economic growth in the past decade and internationally for providing refuge to Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in neighboring Myanmar.

But her government has been accused of suppressing dissent and jailing critics, including many supporters of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Many journalists say she has intimidated the media by using vaguely worded laws against them.

Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed, however, told Reuters there was space for dissent in the Muslim-majority country of 165 million people, and that the Western media was unfair in its portrayal of his mother.

 “You know what my mother told me this morning? ‘Branded authoritarian by the Western media now is a badge of honor’” Wazed, who lives in Washington D.C. and runs an IT business in the United States, said in the prime minister’s official residence in Dhaka.

 “Don’t you see anti-government posts on Facebook? Do you not see that? You are free to write whatever you want but you are not free to hurt someone. If you write something false and that causes an attack on someone, should there be no consequences?”

He said the ruling party would reconsider a tough new media law it introduced and another it has tightened if it retains power.

The 47-year-old, who entered politics reluctantly and has declined to take a senior position in the ruling Awami League, said he was not keen on becoming prime minister.

 “Anything is possible, but interested? No. Possible perhaps, but only time will tell,” said Wazed, who is also the information and communication technology adviser to the prime minister.