I understand that for many people clinging to their tribal allegiance is a matter of self-preservation. We live in a polarized country where too often the only path to personal and professional advancement is fealty to one party or the other, and for many there is little choice but to continue to pay obeisance to one's political sponsors.

Licences, contracts, tenders, positions, favourable treatment, absence of harassment, protection, etc -- all of these are dependent on toeing the party line.

So perhaps it is asking too much for people to sacrifice so much for the sake of their consciences and the country. I don't think so, though.

I retain my greatest admiration for those who are willing to endure the loss and sacrifice that is occasioned by being an independent thinker and being guided by their sense of right and wrong. Bangladesh is filled with examples of such heroes (and I use the term advisedly) who toil in obscurity and often in considerable difficulty, relinquishing any hope of riches or prestige or honour in favour of following the dictates of their conscience and doing the right thing.

Then again, some might argue that however misguided or short-sighted the policies followed by the political party of their backing, that their party can never reach the depths of the other party and thus switching allegiances is unthinkable. In many cases, people carry with them some ancient grudge against one party or another due to some injustice or indignity suffered in the distant past and can thus never reconcile themselves to their once and future nemeses.

But if people are unwilling to abandon their tribal allegiances, there still remains one path left to them in order to bring accountability to the system and to push their party and the polity in a more productive and positive direction.

This is to demand better.

There isn't a single person I have met in this country -- be they BNP or AL or Jamaat or JP or what have you -- who does not concede that there are many things that their party does or stands for that they do not agree with and that they find troubling. There is no one who is entirely happy with their party's record either in government or out, and there is no one who denies that there is much room for improvement.

The question then becomes: what are we doing about it.

Not much is the honest answer, and here lies a big part of the problem.

Political parties ultimately belong to the people. We are the ones who vote for them and it is only through our consent that they are permitted to govern. There is thus no excuse for the fact that the political parties are so unrepresentative of the people's wishes and unresponsive to our needs.

If we are not willing to contemplate switching allegiances -- though I continue to maintain that for the democratic system to work effectively we need to mature enough politically to put this option on the table -- then at the very least we should each be working to reform the parties from within.

This is something that we can all demand, regardless of party affiliation, and would occasion a tectonic shift in power away from the parties and politicians and towards the people, which in a democracy is where it ought to reside in the first place. There is no excuse for us to continue to be dictated to by a small coterie of insiders.

The first reform that each of us can demand of their party is that the party only nominate honest and capable candidates for our constituencies. There is no shortage of good candidates in any of the parties. The trouble is that too often they are pushed aside in favour of local musclemen or party financiers.

Petition your party heads. Tell them that you want a good candidate to vote for and not some thug or money-man. Get together with other members of your constituency and put up a slate of possible candidates who would be acceptable both to the party and the people.

If you are a BNP supporter then make it known that you are bitterly disappointed with the party's performance in office these past three years. Make it known that you expected better when you voted for the party in 2001 and that you demand better for the next elections.

Demand that the government get to the bottom of the terrorism that has disfigured the face of the country during their tenure. Demand that the government root out extremism, even if it means upsetting their coalition partners. Demand that the government not sweep the massive Chittagong arms haul under the carpet.

Demand that the government fulfill its election pledge and separate the judiciary from the executive. Demand that the government provide the opposition democratic space in which to function. Demand that the government crack down on the corruption that is bleeding the national coffers dry. Demand that the government admit its errors, and above all, demand accountability for its mis-steps.

The same goes for AL supporters. Not even the most die-hard loyalist would say that he or she was satisfied with either of the periods of AL rule in the past. If the AL expects people to vote for it in the coming elections it should have to convince its supporters and potential voters that it has learned its lesson and will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Its supporters should demand that the AL put together a credible political platform that addresses the needs of the people.

It is not enough to campaign on the fact that it is not the BNP or that the BNP has not done enough to merit re-election. Demand that it pledge to remove the corrupt and the criminal from its ranks and that it will not condone or defend members like ex-MP Joynul Hazari and the other bad apples whose misdeeds marred the last AL tenure.

Demand that the AL listen to the will of the people and forsake calling hartals between now and election day. Demand that the AL find less destructive means to express their dissent. Demand that the AL fulfill its responsibilities by attending parliament. Demand that the party ratchet down the rhetoric of forcing the government to step down before its constitutionally mandated term.

You get the idea.

The same goes for the supporters of the Jamaat or the JP who confide in private that they are embarrassed by the statements and excesses of some party leaders. The parties belong in the final analysis to the people who vote for them. There should be no reason why a party can get away with policies and pronouncements that most of the people who support it do not agree with. The parties' platforms and positions should be dictated by the people to whom they are ultimately accountable.

This power resides with us. All we have to do is to exercise it. All we need to do is demand better of our elected representatives. The day we see the people demanding of their leaders that our views be listened to and respected and responded to is the day that we will begin to move forward as a country.

But as long as we sit back and permit a few hundred insiders and a few thousand of their sycophants and lackeys to run the affairs of state with no input from the rest of us, we shouldn't be surprised nor can we complain when they continue to run the country into the ground.

Zafar Sobhan is Assistant Editor of The Daily Star.