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TO THE EDITOR
A question
Last week a student of mine who is in grade six asked me, "Sir, When Bangladesh Taka (BT) is so strong against the US Dollar, why is it so weak against fish and vegetables?"
Being a maths teacher, I couldn't give him an answer. I simply said, "Ask the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, or someone who understands Einstein's Theory of Relativity.
What else could I tell him to satisfy his curiosity!
Fayaz Khan
Joar Shahara, Dhaka Cantonment
Our manners need work
Every society, in a wider sense, every country has certain mannerisms and practices that regulate the life and activity of its members in order that a nation may progress in
harmony, discipline and peace. But it is sorrowful to say that in our country we notice a serious lack in showing courtesy/modesty among a large number of people's behaviour. Probably Bangladesh is the only country in the world where a courtesy campaign is needed comprehensively. Rushing to occupy seats before one another in busses, bumping women in a crowd, jumping queues are commonplace.
If you attend a ceremony you can find that some people have a tendency to overload their plates with foods and waste most of it. This habit of some of the people does not match with civilised norms at all. Coming late to ceremonies or parties without a genuine cause is another custom in the country. Then there are some people who choose to pick and blow nose in public which is gruesome and irritating. Some other people have a tendency to urinate
in roadside drains and spit on walls and streets after chewing betel leaves. Another annoying factor is people's mad rush to get on either in a lift or any kind of public vehicle without considering whether these are able to carry their load or not.
Countless examples can be given as to how a large number of our countrymen lack the sense of proportion. Like the title 'most corrupted country,' that day is not far away when Bangladesh will be considered to be the most uncivilised country unless there is immediate change and improve in our behavioural patterns.
Rubab Abdullah
Dhaka Cantonment, Dhaka
VCs these days
I refer to the letter from Professor M. Zahidul Haque (Dec 2) of Shere-Bangla Agricultural University Dhaka. My teacher, Professor Haque, has appealed to the gov-ernment and to the civil society to ensure due status/dignity of the Vice Chancellors (VC) of the universities. But he did not mention why the position of VC has been degraded, particularly since the 80s. May I request my teacher, with due respect, to read the article written by another teacher, Dr. Zafar Iqbal of Sylhet University, in the December 2 issue of the Bangla daily Prothom Alo. I think the article is very relevant to the subject matter. However, I would like to add further.
The persons who made VC before and soon after the independence, most of them were truly well known at national and international levels for proven qualities and achievements in their own fields of studies and contributions to the society. They were really imaginative and innovative. The chancellor (President/PM) had to make several requests to take up the positions. ASM Sayem Bose, Professor Matin Chowdhury, Fazlul Halim Chowdhury, MA Raquib, Osman Gani, Zillur Rahman Siddiqui -- are only few to mention. They really enlightened the universities as well as the society. Conversely, look back at the 80s and 90s! It is hard to single out a person made VC due to his contribution to original research or greater contribution to his own area of study or to the society. Rather we see all palm greasers knocking at the doors of the influential student and political leaders. The chancellor is embarrassed and has to bargain with the palm greasers. Now the appointment letter is not delivered to the appointed person proudly and openly, rather it is collected quietly at night with few bodyguards at arms. We know a VC only after he becomes a VC. The name of the VC is so unfamiliar to the society that someone has to research why that person is named as VC. May I request my teacher to look at his own backyard: how the incumbent VC of your university was appointed? The teacher community itself has to ponder why the position of a VC as well as of the teachers is increasingly less valued. Tarik Zaman
University of Sydney, Australia
On third party
It is more evident than ever that the majority of people are disappointed with the existing two-party political trend. People are fed up with their endless baseless pledges and absolute failure in fulfilling them later. In this situation, I think, people will greet any new concept, movement or even a party from a educated person like Dr.B.
People want a change. They want betterment of their lots. There are reasons for people to be convinced because Dr. B is more interested about dealing with the civil society and the intelligentsia and it definitely promises better outcome rather than dealing with the current ones.
For solving political problems, writing the history properly is a prerequisite. At the same time, we should keep in mind that we don't have much time to waste on arguing, "Bangalee or Bangladeshi" or " Allah Hafez and Khoda Hafez."
It is also true that no political party can bring good fortune for us if we keep on cheating, bribing, mugging etc. It is we, the people from all walks of life, who have to carry out our respective duties properly. We have to be sincere at first.
Gullive
Department of Physics, Dhaka University
Living with Kalashnikovs
I must express my heartiest gratitude to the SI of Badda police station and four other members of police who put their lives on the line to recover those lethal weapons and at the same time I pray for their quick recovery who were critically winded. Four AK-47 rifles, thousand rounds of bullets, time bombs and hand grenades were recovered. But what we are afraid of is, this arms recovery will also be forgotten soon. Not long ago about 90 thousand rounds of ammo were recovered in Bogra. The government has done nothing serious about it other than blaming the opposition. This time also the home minister did not waste any time to shift the monkey to the shoulder of the "Third Force." This is a stupendous statement by a responsible minister. I think the government will also do the same as it did in the case of Bogra.
The situation of the country is going from bad to worse everyday. And the ruling party is responsible for maintaining law and order. The opposition is supposed to monitor the acts of the government and take constructive actions for the country. But the careless attitude of the ruling alliance and the rigid ideology of the opposition is every day pushing the country toward a civil war, and we, the common people do not want that.
Romeo Ahmed, On e-mail
Banskhali tragedy and its politicisation
The horror of Banshkhali tragedy has shocked all of us. We condemn such an insensitive and shameful act. The criminals behind this gruesome act should be brought to light and given exemplary punishment. At the same time we sympathise with those who lost their family members in this inferno.
But we cannot support the
politicising of this incident. As it appears from the news published in different dailies, some quarters are trying to colour it otherwise. They are trying to focus this incident in the international media as oppression of minority in anticipation of some political gain. Do they ever think at what cost they are trying to achieve a political gain?
In fact, it is at the cost of image of the country and nothing else. In the international arena, the country has already a tarnished image, which is again due to persevering efforts of some vested corners. Recent effort of publicising the Banshkhali tragedy as oppression of minority by the vested corners would put another coat of defame on country's image.
They think that if this could be established as minority oppression, the ruling party would be in embarrassing position and this will pave their way to power. But which one is important to them, gaining power by hook or by crook or country's image?
Fakhrul Alam
Siddeswari, Dhaka
Banshkhali: Echoes of Partition? The Dec 3 issue of Daily Star printed a haunting interview with Dr Bimalendra Nath Shushil, the lone survivor of the arson attacks on a Hindu family in Banshkhali.
In a revealing comment, Dr Shushil said: "I don't have any hostility or dispute with anybody in my area. Even nobody attempted ever to grab our land properties." He then added, "I have been practicing in my village for the last four years and everybody respects me there...So, I get puzzled and fail to understand why we were attacked".
Like the majority of workingclass and rural population of Bangladesh, the inhabitants of Banshkhali were generally tolerant towards all religions. It seems likely that outsiders, possibly with funding and support from local or national goondas and politicians, carried out this attack to create an environment of religious cleansing.
There are strong parallels to the deadly Hindu-Muslim riots that broke out during the 1946-48
Partition riots. To take just one example, riots were instigated in 1926 to destabilize the status quo and empower openly communal leaders. Following riots in Pabna and Calcutta, the Dacca riots of September 1926 were a direct challenge to the secular Nawab's authority. Events centered on the Janmashtami celebration, a symbol of Hindu-Muslim cooperation. By targeting this event, outsiders managed to invert the symbolism of Janmashtami-- instead of being an example of syncretism, it became a lightning rod for new tensions.
As riots and counter-riots escalated, the role of outside agitation, money and deliberate agent provocateurs became obvious. In April 1927, Chief Secretary Prentice complained about travelling preachers who were fomenting trouble: "Events at Patuakhali have shown how a purely local agitation [which] would probably die-down if the local people were left to themselves is being fomented by outsiders who arrange for the supply of men and money." "
75 years later, shadowy outsiders are at it again, threatening to destroy the communal harmony that exists among the common people. Will we learn from history, or will we repeat it?
Naeem Mohaiemen
Shobak.org
Munna of
Dhanmondi!
"Before he left he shouted at me and told me that he was known as "Munna of Dhanmondi" (as if I should have known of him or perhaps I should have)." During the Eid holidays, as the occasion demanded, I spent sometime reflecting on this line drawn from Kazi Anwarul Masud's posteditorial "An Encounter with Violence" (Nov 23). Why did the mugger on the street have to make his identity known? I am not so much concerned with the declining law and order situation in Dhaka here (or for that matter, Bangladesh simply because there so many people who are) as much as with the psychology of a common criminal. I explore psychology to find a window on the social context.
I have two hypotheses to offer. First, the mugger wanted to get a rival mugger into trouble. Our unfriendly mugger in the proceeding of the crime found out who his victim was -- a retired secretary, diplomat etc. and thought that if he assumed the identity of his rival, the rival would get into trouble. Maybe he and Munna were fishing in the same water and what better way to get the other guy out of business and hopefully in some jail with the help of police! And even if we assume that police won't take him to custody, not so much out of sympathy, but for a payoff, Munna's transaction costs will increase and thus he would become uncompetitive and hence inconvenienced.
My second hypothesis is that the mugger told the truth. He is Munna. But why would he be so foolish as to draw attention to himself? Why not? Like all business enterprises, Munna also needs some advertisement. Advertisement or name recognition or brand-recognition is good for business. It increases productivity and saves transaction costs. Next time Munna stops a passenger of a rickshaw, he would not need to hurl abuses, brandish pistol, just say the magic word, "Microsoft" or "Intel Inside," or in this specific case, "Munna of Dhanmondi." That will do the magic trick. The purse will come out automatically. Few weeks and more purses later, Munna will sit in the comfort of his room and hire some apprentice goons to take charge of the Dhanmondi and nearby streets. Their magic word would be "We are Munna's men." Now Munna has graduated from being a street hawker hawking his ware of violence and fear and in return earning a livelihood to a proper petty bourgeois with some men working for him.
Munna has now become a brand name in the shadowy "surface world" (in the past, it was called underworld, but not any more) of crime and extortion. He has become a new star in the galaxy of the semi-outlaws (I use this new name because some of them are not totally outside of laws; in fact, may even work with some help from the enforcers of law!). I was told that someone recently called
up a company boss asking for some favor and all he had to do was to claim that he was from "SevenStar," a fixture in Dhaka's crime horizon.
A reflection: It is also possible that all Munna wants is recognition. After all, he like many hardworking men on the street is just trying to make a quick buck and has chosen this (dis)honest path of living. And like many people, he is unsure about the line that separates honest from dishonest, which is quickly slipping and what is just and what is unjust is also rapidly becoming vague. Munna is as much a victim of a culture of violence, corruption and crime as some of the victims of his crime. Some philosophers contend that most people are driven to earn recognition. Whatever we do, we need recognition, which is sometimes deemed more important than monetary rewards. This is true for most people whether it is a street criminal or the writer of this letter. We need to find a way of helping people earn recognition but not at the expense of others.
Habib Khondker, Singapore Khoda Hafez vs Allah Hafez: A critical inquiry
(The writer answers)
To the best of my knowledge, the word 'Khoda' refers to 'one and only' God and has no polytheistic connotation. Mr. Tanvir Rahman's relative (Nov 24) is evidently wrong to read polytheism in 'Khoda'. I wish Mr. Rahman had done his own thinking in the matter rather than let others do the thinking for him -- a point that I took some pains to make in my article.
About the pronunciation of 'Khoda', I stand corrected, courtesy of Ms. Mahjabin Ahmad (Nov 21). It is 'Khoda', not 'Khuda.' My thanks to both Ms. Ahmad and Mr. Rahman for expressing their appreciation of the article in the midst of all those headline grabbing events of the past few weeks.
Mahfuzur Rahman, On e-mail