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To the Editor
Murky millionaire
Does the government take the electorate and general members of the public as fools? I am simply agitated with the news published in your daily on the subject which refers to a Minister of the ruling party protecting Mr. Mahbub who has gone to the extent of suggesting that no drastic action be taken against him.
Did the government know about Mahbub's clandestine and corrupt practices when he was reinstated? Why did the government fail to take any action after he was arrested from the Zia International Airport? At a time when the government is considering replacement of the Home Minister on grounds of remarks made by him as having
embarrassed the government, is the mighty Mahbub causing no embarrassment to the government? At a time when in the name of curbing terrorism the law enforcing agencies are picking up individuals at random without any warrant of arrests what seems to be so extraordinary that he cannot be hauled up?
Strangely enough if and when the government feels the need to arrest an otherwise peaceful citizen believed to be belonging to a different faith away from its own there is no dearth of action. In no time the law-enforcing agencies pound upon the respective individual.
Day by day we are loosing our faith in this government. Our problem is also of yet another dimension, after this who? I hope and pray
that a "drastic" change takes place in our political leadership and save us from our agonies which we had been undergoing for decades.
S. Chowdhury
Dhaka
There they go again...
The American Judge Potter Stewart once wrote, "Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself." Judging by the recent actions of the Bangladeshi government, the last six months marked a supremely unconfident time in its history.
First, the government rashly banned the "Cocoon of Terror" issue of the FEER. As columnist Afsan Chowdhury waggishly noted, "We, the national media, criticise the government and say everything
against them but they end up banning the FEER for a story that has nothing original in it."
Then came the action against ETV. Now the censor board has refused a certificate to Tareq Masud's new film "Matir Moina".
The timing of this ham-handed attempt at censorship could not have been worse for the government. The ban was announced two days before the film was due to open the prestigious Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Now the government will have to face the firestorm of bad publicity that will follow this action. In the end, after receiving the inevitable protest letters and condemnation from free-speech groups, the powers-that-be will have to retreat and grant the certificate. The result will be another
public relations disaster for a government that already risks becoming an international pariah due to global negative publicity about attacks against Hindu community, inclusion of two Jamaat members in their cabinet and the infamous FEER cover story.
Why do Bangladeshi governments (both the AL and the BNP) keep doing these things? The list of failed censorship attempts by various governments is endless (Farhad Mazhar's "Ansar Rebellion" article, Badruddin Umar's language movement, etc.). In almost every case, after repeated national and international protests, the government has had to retreat from an announced ban. But none of our politicians seem to learn anything from past fiascos.
Naeem Mohaiemen
New York, USA
* * *
Your editorial of 16th May says it all. But I just wish to be clarified if Tareq Masud expressed (to BBC Bangla) his suspicion that the picture failed to receive the blessings as it showed scenes of '52 language movement and '69 popular uprisings giving credit to other quarters.
Tareq Masud should have found some way to praise the role of BNP and Shaheed Zia in some popular and democratic movements, even if not relevant to the theme.
MAH
Dhaka
JICA protests
With reference to the "Unfair Japan
Scholarship selection" (May 14) by Mr A M Kamal, I would like to lodge a strong objection to his comments.
The Japanese Government and JICA have introduced a new ODA scholarship program from this year. The objective of the program is to support Bangladesh Government's effort to human resource development that will, be the basis of the nation building and development in various aspects. Under this program elected candidates will get opportunities for master degree level studies in Japanese Universities.
As the writer mentioned there are four stages for the candidates screening process. In each process, the results had been scrutinised by the Japanese Executing Organisation, Japan International
Co-operation Center (JICA) and approved by the members of the Operating Committee that consists of the officials both from the Government of Bangladesh and the Japanese side. The final selection was done by the members of the Operating Committee and not individually by the Economic Relations Division (ERD). Being a member of the Operating Committee and an interviewer for the final selection, I strongly oppose the comments made by Mr Kamal and clearly declare that there was no intervention from any outsider at all.
Takashi Sakamoto
President Representative.
Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA)