'Bangladesh, SA both trying to institutionalise democracy'

The visiting South African National Congress member Andrew Feinstein, MP, yesterday said that Bangladesh and South Africa had similarities in institutionalising a system of multi-party democracy. A member of South Africa's parliamentary committees on trade, industry and public accounts, Feinstein was speaking at a dialogue on "Role of truth and Reconciliation Commission: Coming to Terms with the Legacy of Apartheid with some lessons for Bangladesh." The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a local think-tank, organised the discussion meeting at its conference room. The visiting South African parliamentarian gave a resume of the legacy of apartheid and the reconciliation process in his country under the dynamic leadership of President Nelson Mandela. CPD Executive Director Prof Rehman Sobhan moderated while Dr Kamal Hossain, Dr Hammeda Hossain, Barrister Moinul Husein, AMA Muhit, Dr FRM Hasan and Barrister Amirul Islam, among others, participated in the discussion. The participants discussed how best Bangladesh could learn from the South African experience to develop the country. They were all praise for the farsightedness of the Nelson Mandela's African National Congress in running the administration of South Africa in the post-apartheid period.